Motor Boat & Yachting – May 2018

would be a nice easy launch with the new trailer and we had a very

pleasant day just enjoying the inland waterways around Bristol city

centre. We covered pretty much every inch of Bristol Harbour and

we learned a little about how rivers and locks worked.” The couple

went back on another occasion with friends, locking out into the

River Avon and cruising under the Clifton Suspension Bridge and

down to Avonmouth.

ROLLING IN THE DEEP

With the trailer boating touchpaper well and truly lit, the trips

came thick and fast through 2017, if not completely without

incident. “Fairly early on, we hit a snag launching on the slipway

in Brixham at low water,” says Matt. “The boat seemed to be stuck

on the trailer despite not being attached. A little brute force saw it

fi nally slip off and as Sue took the boat back to the berth, I hauled

the trailer out, only for the problem to become clear. Roller

Coaster trailers use sets of rollers on moveable cradles that support

the boat and allow it to roll easily. What we hadn’t allowed for was

the stepped hull of the Regal. As it rolled back, the step jammed

against a set of rollers, and forcing the boat off had ripped the

rollers clean off the trailer. Fortunately, some young lads playing

in the water by the slipway managed to retrieve them for us so with

a new roller cradle from Indespension, we were back in business.”

But the mishaps didn’t stop there. On seeking advice to avoid the

it was my boat, I’d always deferred to Ed when it came to handling
it. I just sat there and enjoyed it. Now, if I wanted to use it, I just
had to get on with it. Mooring it, driving it, navigating and looking
after it was all down to me.” Sue admits that she found it a little
daunting at fi rst, but quickly got to grips with it. “To begin with,
if other people were on the boat, I’d still stand back and let them
do it, whereas now I don’t – now I just get on with it.”
It was late 2016 when Sue and some friends took Dilligaf round
to the River Dart and cruised it to Totnes, ten miles up the river.
“It’s so peaceful cruising on a river and I knew Matt would love
it. I persuaded him to come along and took him up the river. As
we returned, before we’d even reached Brixham he was already
planning where we could go next!”
A run to Salcombe followed, with a trip upriver to Kingsbridge
and a night on a mooring off the town. Even a rough trip back
didn’t put Matt off and boating for the Westons kicked up a
gear. Sue decided to buy a twin axle Indespension Roller Coaster
trailer for the boat so that she could tow it behind her Range
Rover and suddenly the cruising grounds of Dilligaf increased
from 20 miles up or down the coast from Brixham to wherever
they wanted to drive to.
“We keep the trailer local to the boat in Brixham so that we
can just hook it up, fl oat the boat on to it and go. We started off
in March by taking the boat to Bristol Harbour. We thought that

TRAVEL

The vast Cumberland

lock in Bristol Harbour

proved rather daunting

Its 160hp Volvo D3

diesel engine is both

punchy and effi cient

TRAVEL

The Regal is just as happy

on inland waterways as it

is on the open sea