Vintage Hydroplanes

Prompted by the hydroplane in a recent post, friend Greg sent me the elevation and plan for this little beauty which although small, around 12 feet overall  could actually carry a passenger and looks to be slightly more seaworthy than many example from the day.

 Apparently a lot of this type of craft were raced at Oulton Broad from just after WW2. Power was typically the Ford 1127cc side vale engine (E93A or 100E?) with no gearbox.

The engines were tuned up for racing. The company making all the go faster engine bits was called Aquaplane also became very successful selling their tuning gear into the car market. In the 1950's and early 60's Ford 10 Specials would have sported Aquaplane heads and manifolds and most of the parts are still being made today!