Old Ski Boats

I used to see the wooden style on Albert Park Lake, in the early 1950s. Power boating is banned there now.
My memory of water-ski boats at Tooradin is that they were more modern.
I see a lot of modern ones on the Murray.

This photo is from the website for Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, 2006. Queen's Baton took a year to come from UK to Melbourne, travelling via every Commonwealth country. It was quite different in style from Olympic Flame: no racing, no requirement to run. It was carried by worthy community figures, and aboard an extraordinary range of transport (including ships to St Helena and to Antarctica). It was posed in front of symbols of national culture.
I did an article looking at all of the transport vehicles which it had used. It did a lot of long sectors on support cars, but I haven't found even one truck in the series. The best was a wheelbarrow (Soweto, South Africa), and a golf buggy (Hamilton Island); various wheelchairs were used at times.
For this thread, have the photo of it being carried along the Murray in a vintage wooden speed boat at Bundalong: the top end of Lake Mulwala, where Ovens River joins Murray River.
Surprisingly, it wasn't carried on a paddlesteamer anywhere on the Murray, but Mildura boats formed a guard of honour as it was carried over Chaffey Bridge. It was carried on a vehicular punt at Morgan, and a houseboat at Renmark.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Here is the boat that I have owned for 30 years

She is a Meos Hornet and still has the original 318 Chrysler motor with a dog clutch and Tawco marine gear.We have done a lot of skiing in the salt water at Arno Bay in the past along with an annual holliday at Lake bonney Barmera after harvest each year until they closed the lake off due to low water in the River Murray a few years ago.I bought it from a bloke in Adelaide who built it up.She has taught our kids and now their kids to ski along with many others.I even got paid by the Government to teach water skiing in an aquatics program at Arno years ago until they decided that was a luxury the kids could do without.After that successful attempt to get a photo on here I will see if I can do it again.

hows that
Then we got smart after sitting in the sun for too long

Nice boat Ronnie. I must admit I've never seen a 318 marinized, seen a few 265's. I run mine in the salt almost all the time as well, the Brisbane River is still tidal and full salt where we ski, I just flush it out with fresh water when we pull the boat out, though I've got a Chev in mine, mainly because when I put it together the marinizing gear for the Chev was the cheapest.
I did the same thing with the bimini as well, LOL, used it for about 2 months when I bought it then got a bimini, they are great.
This is my current boat, I've had it about 14 years, Sterling/Camaro Pintara, 383 Chev and dog clutch. It replaced the red Lewis in one of the previous posts. Origonally it had a 305 Chev in it, which went through a couple of heads, one cracked, the other rusted through the water jacket into an exhaust port.

This one belongs to a mate of mine. Probobly a bit new, though it is 10 years old, a Malibu. My mate owns a Ski School and this boat has done over 4000 hours, which for a ski boat is big hours, it's been hit by lightning once as well.

I see a lot of speedboats on the Murray, mainly modern waterskiing ones. However, I hardly ever photograph them. I do have more than this one, but I would have to hunt.
This is my favourite base: Deep Creek Marina, between Echuca and Torrumbarry, and on the course of Southern 80. It has a bistro, a supermarket and a fuelling point. Whenever I am there, lots of speedboats call by for shopping or dinner visits, then back to the houseboat or riverbank campsite.

In this view: two speedboats, my Jessie II (9.9 hp Yamaha motor, displacement hull, ~ 12 km/h in normal water), and PV Florence Annie, now sold and relocated to Wentworth.
I have now done the river from Wellington to Barmah, plus some disconnected bits, some branches, and various other Victorian lakes and rivers.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Looks like a lovely spot Roderick. Your boat reminds me of some of the old ferries on the river that are all now gone except for one which is in private hands I think, very similar lines, though that cabin could be off a bay cruiser as well. We were talking about the Murray this morning, I've never been for a look, and my mate said it flows at 1 km/h or 3 km/h in flood. Be good to go and have a look.

Some very nice boats fellas.
Love 'AGGRESSOR'

I did the hunting. These show the fuelling point, supermarket and launching ramp (with a glimpse of the bistro's courtesy bus at the left), and two boats using the facility: Look 'N' Good and Armageddon. They were taken on Wed.28.12.11.
I had launched for a voyage to Swan Hill. Only a few months earlier, the water had been lapping the verandah of the supermarket. On this cruise I did some damage when carried into snags which had fallen to block the river.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Yours looks like good relaxing fun Roderick.Is she an inboard? We used to have a little Yanma diesel on a lighting plant and then a water pump,some of those were used in your stile of boat.Yes the river is certainly a good place for skiing as well, however if I can manage one ski a year to prove I still can is good.

You must live in Brisbane by that big storm brewing in your photo BigCam.Used to be a Pintara like yours up at Barmera while we were there