Length: 4.57m, Beam: 1.93m
Propulsion: Outboard
Engine: Fully restored 50hp white Mercury
Construction: Bondwood
Owner: Allan Riddell, Nicholson Vic.
Propulsion: Outboard
Engine: Fully restored 50hp white Mercury
Construction: Bondwood
Owner: Allan Riddell, Nicholson Vic.
The boat is named Betty after my late mother. My father, Merv Riddell built the boat in a disused chook shed in part of his poultry farm at Doncaster East in about 1957/58. It is a bondwood runabout, 15’ long, 6’4” beam . I still have the book / plans called Boat Builders Hand Book by William D Jackson that he used. The plan he used was a half cabin called “ Seababe “ with a stepped deck, but he modified it to a runabout similar to a Caporn. The boat was used mainly at McCrae / Dromana and the Gippsland Lakes. I distinctly remember skiing from Metung to Eagle Point Easter 1965.
It is on the original restored trailer and will hopefully be towed by a similar vintage Jag. The boat has been fully restored. To my knowledge there is only one other Sea Babe in Australia which is currently being restored totally originally by the guy who recently restored the 1963 white Mercury for me. The boat was extensively used in the Lakes up to around 1970.
