Canberra's iconic colourful paddleboat fleet will disappear from the waters of Lake Burley Griffin.
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Paddle Boat operator Nick Tyrrell announced the closure of Capital Paddle on Friday afternoon.
"Unfortunately the old paddleboats are almost a half-century old, and although we'd love to see them operate forever they really are just at the end of their useful life. It's practically impossible to find parts for them to keep them going, so we came to the decision with the NCA to retire them before the summer," he said.
![Sarah Bauer, of Watson, right, and Samara Vickers, of Hughes, check out the soon-to-be-defunct Lake Burley Griffin paddleboats. Picture by Karleen Minney Sarah Bauer, of Watson, right, and Samara Vickers, of Hughes, check out the soon-to-be-defunct Lake Burley Griffin paddleboats. Picture by Karleen Minney](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/RXMuw2JbrrS7ELSxSY9rkR/ffdf8e26-2c1a-4c30-a06e-4cc9eabd64d9.jpg/r0_415_7777_4805_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Mr Tyrrell said the paddleboats had reached the end of their useful life and were in need of major repairs which the operator could not afford.
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"Many of them needed major repairs and we couldn't find various central parts for them," Mr Tyrrell said.
"The cost was just exorbitant and we just ran out of time before summer."
![Paddle boats will no longer be a feature on Lake Burley Griffin. Picture by Karleen Minney Paddle boats will no longer be a feature on Lake Burley Griffin. Picture by Karleen Minney](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/XBxJDq6WLub2UphQ8wEq23/9d068a4f-dd9e-4f26-9d38-7afc080b312c.jpg/r0_124_4667_2748_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Many Canberrans will have fond memories of pedalling out onto Lake Burley Griffin on one of the lake's iconic paddleboats.
Capital Paddle was launched by Nick Tyrrell, founder of GoBoat Canberra, in 2019.
Canberrans can still chart the lake with Mr Tyrrell's electric GoBoats.
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