O/T Waterbug 70s 7ft boat with seagull style inboard

[james]

Not a seagull but I thought this may interest some of you on here. i hope this does not contravene any forum rules.
if anyone can share any other information about this type of boat i would like to hear it.
Boat is in Wangford, Suffolk.

A friend and I recently acquired a rather strange little boat. Only 7ft long yet with a little recoil start 2 stroke engines under the seat, similar to a seagull engine but it air-cooled and has direct drive and no reduction gear.
The engine does run, but has only been tested over 1 mile on river Blyth in Suffolk.
I cannot find any information about this online, but it is not a heath Robinson lash-up but a proper production boat. I am assuming it is 1970's and it has a makers plate from burton-on-trent (will check makers name later)
The boat is a “WataBug” and still has the original logo on the stern. Yes I have spelt that correctly, maybe someone had already trademarked the Waterbug name?


The boat is double skinned GRP with a white hull (small repair) in original gel coat, with original orange superstructure which is faded but undamaged.
There is a built in fuel tank with gauge, small well at front (could be used for live bait/catch!?) which has a plywood seat on top, 1 removable GRP thwart in the centre.

Despite being half tempted to stick a silver century top unit in this and then ski off the back, the boat is not practical for our purposes so is up for sale.

This would be perfect for inshore rivers/estuaries, or maybe for children. During testing it had 2 adults with a combined weight of over 30 stone in it without issues, but it was rather cramped.

Looking for offers in the region on £200. collect from Wangford Suffolk, possibly could deliver very locally.

2 adults can easily manhandle this into a 6ft garden trailer, or it may sit happily on a smaller one. No trailer or trolley included. I haven’t tried to fit it in the back of my Volvo yet, but a van should be fine.

I do have some good photos taken at the weekend, once I have extracted them from my camera I will post them or a link to them. In the meantime you can email me at James dot Mitchell at smhp dot nhs dot uk
if you want me to send pic’s direct to you or call Carl Copeman on
zero seven eight three one eight eight three six six seven, please call before 8pm.

[skyetoyman]

found one for sale
http://www.andyseedhouseboats.co.uk/sal ... boatid=872

[Hugz]

Cool, I like that. Wonder how you steer it.

[Dino - UK]

Cool, I like that. Wonder how you steer it.

I was thinking the exact same thing...maybe you just lean it like a motorcycle.

[skyetoyman]

With the holes in the transom , it looks like it's missing a rudder. I'll hunt for a complete picture of one