Ah, sorry- when you said 'your boat' I thought you meant Gondola!
Shamrock isn't unique- she has a sister ship, she is a type of Windermere launch that is still being built.
However- she is the only one in private ownership, she is A1 restored- unless you see her in the flesh you can't tell how well Roger Mallinson has restored her and kept her as original as possible. She has also been one of the flagships of the National Historic Ships register for the past couple of years, she is 105 years old and has a wonderful history- being built for a private wool merchant, acquired after the war for public service as part of the now Windermere Cruisers Co., laid up in the late sixties after being converted to TVO power, then Diesel power. She went quickly down the drain until the Company decided to sell the hull before it became a liability.
Roger came forward after being pushed by his family to buy a steamboat- the Company knowing Roger as a local steam engineer knew he would look after the boat and keep her on Windermere and chose to accept his modest sealed bid- Roger never knew what the other bids were.
He restored her along with his late twin brother, Miles. They found once they had stripped the wood back to bare under all the oil and grime and moss that the full teak hull and oak keel and frames were in extremely good condition and Roger realised he had a good chance of restoring her properly.
His work began when he came back from a 6 month navy tour and he chose to start looking for a suitable steam engine- she originally had been fitted with a triple expansion Sissons engine of around 28hp- a rare engine and the best examples now reach around the £35-40000 mark! Roger couldn't find, nor afford one back then. So he decided to use his skills to make a suitable engine.
While in the Navy he had gotten contacts and one told him of a scrapyard at Faslane Naval Base in Scotland- he travelled up and found an alladin's cave of steam machinery- most too large and the others too ugly to go in a launch of Shamrock's calibre. He spied a Duplex steam pump with really well designed steam cylinders and a compact and efficient valve gear. He took this engine and a few weeks later after substituting the water cylinders for a crankshaft and building suitable columns etc he had a twin high pressure steam engine and it looked great too.
He battled on getting the hull ready with help from his family and finally by spring 1978 Shamrock was ready.
Since then he has kept her in the best condition- all with his own labour and money- and has attended all the rallies on Windermere, hosted his own rallies every year in autumn, he has rescued more than once the big 'steamers' on Windermere when they have had problems- Shamrock being the only boat they don't own that is powerful enough to tow them.
She stands for one mans efforts to rescue one of the best examples of her type, she is the flagship of the SBA and provided the inspiration to many- me included- to get into steamboating both full size and models.
In many peoples eyes she is the best preserved and prettiest of all the launches on Windermere and as such when she had her original cabin destroyed in the floods Roger was gutted- after all his efforts he no longer has the energy or the money to do the work hmself and so didn't know what to do - hence why we have rallied round to help get her back to her beautiful self.
Perhaps you could explain to the other mayhemmers and myself why Manxman means so much to people and deserves to be preserved over the other ships that are asking for help?
Greg