I guess it was a prototype. It was and I (I think) the biggest flume ride that Bear (BEstAmustmentRides) had manufactured to date. It was known as their "Grand Flume" ride model. The ride on the whole has been pretty reliable it's hole life. Bar a few issues here and there, I would not go as far to say it is unreliable though. but it does make much heavier use of transport wheels and what not that quite a lot of other flume ride types.
The turntables are quite simple mechanically speaking, just when they do go wrong they can be pain to fix. A few of the major issues the ride has had over it's life, were infrared sensors that control the block systems, getting triggered by splashes. This, alongside being out in the elements for two decades, is what led to the replacement of them all a few years back.
The second thing in the early days were boats getting stuck on the top. Boats are moved through this section by submerged transport wheels on the base of the trough. Certain loadings of boats used to mean boats would not make it between wheels, getting stuck. While a pump does pump water up to this section, most of it just sits in the trough, only enough is pumped up to supply the outflow, which goes down the drop. No where near enough flow rate to move the boats along. Pumping enough water up there to sustain a water flow, would have required some very hefty pumps, given the height. So it was possibly determined that transport wheels were the better option. A fun fact, as I said, most of the water stays in the upper trough. To empty it, there is a screw plug on the base of the trough, just before the drop. The plug is unplugged using a mechanics socket. This will then completely drain the upper trough allowing access to the transport wheels.
If you go on Storm Force 10, look up on the turnaround before the lift for the backwards drop, you can see the box shaped drops in the channel above, along with electrical wiring. This is where the transport wheels are. 10 points if you can spot the birds nest which has been made up there too! I noticed last week too, one of the transport wheel motors in the station making quite a loud noise when operating. Must be on it's way out. Luckily, these are pretty simple and quick replacements.
