I guess you’ve been there a few times with the fabulous Bluebird project.

Oh God yes- it’s often our natural state in fact! Our adage is ‘if you don’t give in you can’t fail’ and usually that proves out, though there are times when you just have to wave the white flag too. Dunlop themselves are an option that we are still pursuing, so we’ll see. But if anyone can give this a shove in any kind of helpful direction, it would be very much appreciated.

Hello again everyone. We’re finally sorted for wheels but now we’re on the hunt for some tyres, which of course seem to be like rocking horse doo-doo. They are the 26×7.75×13 size with the square block grass tread as shown in my archive pics above; we’ve seen one on a Vampire undercarriage leg, and supposedly, later Spitfires with larger wheels used them too..? Dunlop No. seems to be 27A 2087; they still list plenty of smooth treaded tyres in that size but none with the treads, so we’re throwing it out there in the hope that someone may be able to help us source some..?

We might have answered our own question now- the wheels on the Saunders-Roe beaching gear are AH 8405; they still look the same as the Varsity items and are the same 26 x 7.75 x 13″.

Any further input from anyone still much appreciated.

Bill’s ‘rants’ aren’t for everyone- and I’d include myself and the team in that sometimes- but as you say, it’s his ‘blog’ (he’ll hate you for that!) so he writes what he wants. Please, scroll down to the boat stuff that follows- don’t just dismiss almost a full year of effort so easily!