Denny Tank Museum
Denny Tank Plaque

Hidden in Dumbarton is a true gem of shipbuilding heritage – the Denny Experimental Tank.  Housed inside the Scottish Maritime Museum building, it should really be called the “Denny Tank Museum” or the “Denny Shipyard Museum” as this is what it’s really about. William Denny, the Dumbarton shipbuilders had their yards here, part of which was a test tank where they tested the speed and efficiency of various hull designs.

The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable and will take you around the experimentation tank and show you how they made models from wax (quite an intricate process) and how they were then tested in tank.

There are quite a few other rooms in the building, some retaining their original purpose (like the drawing office), others with exhibitions about shipbuilding in Dumbarton. I only had an hour there but could easily have spent 3 or 4 hours looking at all the displays.

It’s a relatively small museum but full of interesting information about the ship yard, the things they made and of course, the experimental tank. I liked the fact that you could get hands on and have a go at chisseling a wax hull and test different hull designs in a scale model of the real tank. The real tank is still functioning and you can get right up to it, but it’s not in use anymore.

This is a great place to visit for anyone with an interest in industrial heritage, shipbuilding or engineering or who just likes to see something a bit different. Although there are some static elements to the displays, the fact that you can walk through the workshops and get hands on really brings it alive.  Definitely worth a visit.

For more information, visit: https://scottishmaritimemuseum.org/sites/dumbarton/