FeaTURe
BY aNT WIllIaMS
Aluminium for Africa?
There is a growing awareness of the environmental impacts of products used by boaters and especially those in the safari industry. Aluminium can be considered a “green” product.
M
y quest over the last few months to acquire a new boat has led in all sorts of directions. I touched on it briefly in the Editor’s Comment of the last issue, weighing the pro’s and con’s of big and complicated versus basic and simple. Fond memories of a particular little 10' boat I once owned nudged my mind in new directions and I wrote “It was ugly, and had a long pointy nose that made fishing two people for any period decidedly uncomfortable. A little hand-control bass motor and single light car battery were all the accessories needed, and quite adequate for its intended use.” I had actually bought the boat simply to acquire the trailer which I had other uses for. But the boat was so simple and easy to use, we spent many rewarding hours on little dams a few minutes from home eking out the last light from summer afternoons. As I remembered in that Editorial “... it was all made possible by that little boat, its simplicity and need of little more than to be dragged from the garage and taken fishing every now and again, made it more valuable than I realised back then.” As with all things, there are other considerations. Size equals weight, which means the need for adequate power to drive it. Bigger trailers, more maintenance - the balancing act begins. My recent wonderings through Botswana and Namibia really opened my eyes to a new world of boating. Aluminium construction is not something
we see much of in my home country of Zimbabwe. A vibrant and long established fibreglass manufacturing industry almost precludes aluminium boats. But in Namibia and more so Botswana aluminium seems to be the material of choice. This may be based on that industry being so well established that fibreglass does not feature. But it must have started somewhere, and indeed the waters of the upper Zambezi and Okavango Delta probably prompted the need for a lightweight, shallow-running craft that is durable with low maintenance. My research led me to Maun, where one of the biggest aluminium boat manufacturers on the sub ????????????????????????????????????????????qE????????????? ????t??????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????? ??????????????????????????????=????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????M?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q?????????????????????????)??? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q???????????????????????????????????????L???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)@?????????()X????????????((