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City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
Mark Stanley is a Bates Star Craft owner, classic
wooden motor cruisers from 20 foot day cruisers to
47 foot ocean going vessels built between 1946 and
1975 by William Bates & Son in their boatyard at
Chertsey on the River Thames. Bates aimed to
produce an English built luxury motor cruiser to
compete with the American Chris Craft. Although no
longer a boat builder, Richard Bates, great grandson
of William is still selling boats at the site of old yard.
Seven Bates Star Craft took part in the Queen’s
Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant including the
Mark’s own boat Louis Phillipe (previous page)
from on board which he watched his oars in action on
the day of the Queen’s Gloriana outing at Windsor.
Going With The Current
In order to encourage the use of electric craft, the
Environment Agency has installed recharging stations
at nine locks on the Upper Thames. They cost £5.00
to use, which includes mooring. By 1898 there were
almost 300 electric boats in use on the non-tidal
Thames, about half of them electric launches for hire.
You didn't read that wrong, that’s
1898!
By the start
of the First World War the development of oil
engines had sounded the death knell for electric and
steam propulsion on the river. There was a fashion for
electric wooden canoes throughout the 1920s but by
1930 there were virtually no electric boats on the
Thames until a revival of interest in the mid 1970s,
sparked by the development of electric trolling
motors for fishermen on American Lakes. In 1982
the Electric Boat Association was founded with a
national and international membership – you can
take a look at the wide variety of electric boats of
all ages and styles in the members boats gallery at
It is part of the fun of a cruise on the Upper Thames
to see all the private pleasure boats and read the
deliberately misspelt punning names on the sides
of the massive white boats that invariable have a
man of a certain age at the helm. You do not need
a licence to pilot a private pleasure cruiser on the
Upper Thames but every boat, whether powered or
not, must be registered with the Environment Agency
and display a registration plate, which may be
checked by the lock keepers, whose wages are among
the many things that the registration scheme pays for.
For the calendar year 2013 this costs £17.42 per
square metre, that is to say the length multiplied by
the beam with a minimum charge of five square
metres and a charge of £10 per square metre for any
boat over 80 square metres. Unpowered boats
(excluding houseboats) cost £33.50. All powered
boats must also have third party insurance and a Boat
Safety Certificate renewable every four years.
Mooring fees on the Thames vary, with riverbank
moorings, which don’t usually offer any facilities