I Pulled Myself Out of Retirement to Fulfil a Dream

Dileep Balkrishna Naik

There are many things in life that just happen; they are neither planned nor systematically approached.

Many years back I used to make Boats. That was a period when people were apprehensive of Fiberglass and had never heard of jets for Boats. But God led my life in such a way that I went on to make boats and introduced jets on Indian waters.

Similarly there were many other products that I made and introduced in the Indian market. When people were still trying to figure out whether or not to place their belief in our work, we were exporting Boats to other countries. This was all happening in a place farthest from the sea, at Indore in MP.

Then by the turn of the century we stopped making boats and went in to oblivion.

But after 22 long years my old workers come to me and request persistently to restart some work, so that they will be busy and also earn some money in their retired lives.

In the same period a friend of many years comes to me with a request to build a boat that can handle the mighty Ganges, in upstream as well as downstream directions.

So we evaluate different options but most of them are rejected by me or by him on different grounds.

DRIVING FORCE
This was a project where the customer Mr Kapil Datta has been the main driving force. He has been brought up from childhood near the mighty Ganges in a village called Balawalli. When you get up in the morning and swim in the Ganges almost every day, when you use the mighty Ganges as your playground from a tender age, you know pretty much what you are looking for.
His experience on a small boat with the old Johnston OBM (Overboard Motor) of his father proved very useful. Thus he knew fairly well what would be best for him. His constant efforts on digging out information through the internet and YouTube gave us a great base to plan and design a boat that would be right for operation on the upper reaches of the Ganges.

His requirement was for a boat that could sail the Ganges in the dry season, when there are shifting shallows and sand bars, as well as in the rains when the flow is high and you may strike logs etc flowing with the current.

Apart from these technical requirements, my priority was the safety of the family and friends that would be using it.

Well after a year of discussions we decided we would use Out Board jets. We decided on a twin installation for safety. This would give us at least one engine in case the other fails.

We did not have a suitable hull so we had to design the boat from scratch to meet all the requirements.

SETTING IT ALL UP
Work started and the mould was setup. Engines were ordered from Mercury.

These were Out Board Jets from Mercury who have perfected them in the USA where they have been successful for operations on the shallow rivers of the US Midwest. There they are mostly used on light-aluminium fishing boats for working the rivers, carrying two or three passengers only. These boats would be very light for the Ganges waters, where the flow is high and also the floating debris or logs are a constant threat.

We were looking for a boat for a family with space for eight to ten, stability and safety being prime criteria, and speed against current an essential feature.

As we locked on to our aims the designing of an entirely new boat began. Its shape started forming in my mind. My wakeful dreaming every night would gradually lead me to the final shape. Twin engines of forty HP had become available; so we planned the design based on these.

These engines had not been used in India so far. Even in the US they had not been used much yet.

Thus little previous experience was available.

The team of my old boys started coming to work. We set up the mould and one fine morning started work on the hull. That was truly a very exciting day for me. There were too many unknown facts. The outboard was very new and in fact twin installation had not been tried by American boat builders yet. Each day my dreams got more intense and my nights got sleepless.

It was a tough job getting quality and perfection from a small team of workers all over 65, led by me at 77.

It was work from 9-7 pm every day. No Holiday or Sunday was spared; every day was work time.
But finally the hull was completed. Just four of us with one help, we released the boat and put it on the trailer. That was tough for four senior citizens, but more than physical strength our experience and ideas did the job.

Slowly but surely the work progressed: installation of engines, wiring, and steering & controls took time, but everything eventually got put together.

Then after rigging a tank and checking the installation we kicked the engines. The sweet sound of the Mercury engines made us all smile.

That only increased my anxiety and sleepless nights were now a constant companion. The real test would be only on the waters, that too of the mighty Ganges.

The owners came to the Indore site and were thoroughly satisfied with the looks and the quality of the boat.

THE ULTIMATE TEST
It was decided to transport the boat by road from Indore to Balawali in Bijnor district of UP. This place near the Ganga is 35 km downstream from Haridwar.

While the boat was on the road, I took a flight to Delhi and travelled by car to Balawali. I was amazed at the road from Delhi to Meerut which runs only at elevated levels, with no interference at all of two wheelers, animals or pedestrians.

On reaching my destination the first thing I see is our boat sitting there proudly. After discussions it was decided to launch it the next morning.

In the evening we went to the river, the enormous Ganges, to look at the best spot to launch our boat. That meant one more night to face tension and the suspense of what would happen with our launch the next morning.

Finally the time came when we were ready. It was a slow and positive launch. All were excited, but I was gripped by tension. I got behind the wheel and started the engines, reversing to get the boat in to the river.

Soon we were sailing on our maiden voyage towards Haridwar, 35 km to the North. We kept increasing the speed. RPM of the engines was 3,500 for some time, but after half an hour we were pushing 4,200.

The boat was handling well and the speed was looking good. I was still not satisfied; I wanted to find out how the boat would perform at full throttle.

There were so many unknown parameters over its performance as these engines had not come to India yet, and there was no data or test results on twin installation.

After some two hours I pushed the throttle to full power and there was a sudden gush of breeze that swept past my face. I looked in front, then looked to my right on the river. The river to which I had only been praying all this while was suddenly sweeping at high speed under me.

I knew the boat was going real fast. I found myself in a state of mind which I have never experienced before. The fast rush of breeze that hit me was now carrying drops of water from my face. I realised they were my tears rolling down from my eyes!

I have heard of and seen tears of joy and tears of sadness, but these were different. These were tears of success!

I have had success many times before in my life. My best success was the Landing Craft Assault I made for the navy. I was only 40 yrs old then. Making those LCAs on time, and achieving performance better than my own predictions and against all the giant companies of the time, did give me enormous happiness on that night in Mumbai harbour.

This was however something out of this world. I was alone and couldn’t share it with anyone there. I just shook hands with Mr Datta, who was the inspiration and the main reason we were here upon the Ganges now about 20 km downstream of Haridwar. I said to him: “Kapil ji, we have done it. Congratulations to you and to your family.”

My team of boys and their leader in Balawali had given their full support.

In the factory our old team of workers Prakash, Ramesh and Dinesh, who have been with me for over 45 years, were my pillars of strength. Without their faith and unconditional support this would not have happened.

Many thanks again to Kapil ji, my wife Bharati, and my family who have given me unconditional backing in this project.

It’s good to taste success at 77. I’m sure glad I stepped out of my retirement to do it.

Marex Media