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B and H B and H
Sunday, 04 May 2008
My two older children, Ashley (9) and Michelle (8), mucking around on Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand. The boat in the background is a long tail boat.

fun at the beach
fun at the beach
Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand
Canon EOS 350D, 17-85mm IS @35mm, 1/400 sec, f/8, ISO100


Long tail boats are common in southeast asia, and derive their name from the long propeller shaft that extends from the high-mounted engine on the back of the boat.

The engine is typically a secondhand car or truck engine, mounted on a swivel, with a propeller attached to the end of a long direct-drive shaft, with no gearbox. The boats are steered by rotating the engine, thus rotating the driveshaft.

The engine can be rotated almost 360 degrees, and when moored, the driveshaft is typically rotated 180 degrees, and the propeller is lifted into the boat.

In the long tail boat in the image shown above, the driveshaft can be seen just inside the right-hand side of the boat.
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