River Boating Forum

St. Kitts is powered by a Volvo AQ105 engine (2Lt petrol) and uses a Volvo Penta AQ 100 Leg. Seems to average just over 2.5 lt petrol per hour on the river so not too bad. Have done a fair amount of work on her since I bought her 4 months ago. I had to have 4-5 coats of non-slip deck paint sand blasted off before repainting which has now cured all water ingress problems. Just fitted electronic ignition; improved engine starting and running dramatically. Now left with a thorough clean up and revarnish to complete. A cracking boat, and the 9ft 6ins beam is so welcome. I would post a picture if I knew how to.

Just thought i'd say i've seen St. Kitts around for quite a while, she has been up and down the Avon and Severn alot during my boating life! Its nice to see some of the nicer looking boats are still surviving.

Hypnorm; many thanks for the kind words about St. Kitts. The previous owners certainly looked after her, but now is the time for a spit and polish session. Inside she is superb but the exterior just needs a clean, polish and revarnish to bring her back to her former glory. I collected her from Breedon some 4 months ago and sailed her up to Welford without problems, and the came down for the Evesham Boat Festival. A great event as weas last years one. Hope to see you around, if up in my area please let me know.

Nice Birchwood, however I did not know they did radio control versions . I see an aerial, I do not see a pilot. Could you give me secret of the conversion, it has got to be easier & safer to moor up if you can do it from the bank

Nice one Gerbill. I took this picture at the end of my test run so in a way it was remote control. Since then she has been well cleaned externally and is slowly being returned to a better state than when I found her. Unfortunately the previous owner had been ill for some time and St. Kitts had been out of the water so a fair amount of cleaning and emptying the bilges was needed. The main problem was that some 4-5 coats of anti-slip deck paint had been applied over the years which had started to lift and looked a mess. Luckily at Bredon, where I bought her, was a sand blasting facility which was used to remove the lifting paint. A fresh coat certainly improved matters. The inside was in excellent condition so just a general tidy up was only required. As an aside the only radio control that I get involved with is with radio controlled model aeroplanes. Mind you I did see on Waterworld last year a guy who haddevised a radio control system for narrow boats which was superb for going through locks single handed.

Umm, you do not have to tell me about lifting deck paint, imagine 40 odd years of the stuff building up! Not to mention years of paint build up too. I have just spent a few months getting rid of the stuff on the top-sides alone . (You can see my efforts in the Freeman section if interested). At least I get to have a break from sanding for a while now. My next job is to remove a tree next my boat, the damn thing sheds petals like confetti, Not the ideal senario when you are getting ready to apply the paint.

I am interested in the comments by Hypenorm in as much that he has seen St.Kitts on the Severn and Avon over a period of a few years. Since it is almost impossible to find out any history of past owners etc, I wonder if you can help please?

i've been on the severn and avon since a toddler, i doubt i can prove much info but i 'll try.