Here are some of the better known boats on the NZ coast. If there are any others that should be here, get in touch and I will gladly add them: Especially if you can provide history and any pictures (which will be well treated and returned.
WHAT'S NEW ON BOARD?
 | A new listing on the steamer Tarewai a boat that had three distinct changes i n her life. |
| I have put a full listing on the ST Toia our very own now long forgotten Saint class tug (launched as St Fergus and finally St Boniface) which spent most of her life in Wellington waiting for a big salvage job that never eventuated |
| Lots of new pictures of Parry Bros tugs at work, from various sources. |
| A new listing on the ex AHB tug Te Awhina. |
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Read on and click the appropriate button.
Plenty of work going on at
Whangateau. Several boats under restoration now.
And more to come: Let me know if there are any specifics.
A PHEW THOUGHTS ABOUT ENGINES
I can't help getting all steamed up about a trend for people to do engine transplants -taking out an original but elderly engine and fitting a modern screamer. Fox ll who is currently domiciled at Akaroa has received an engine transplant. The old K3 Kelvin has been replaced by a Ford for convenience reasons it seems. I guess the sad fact is that the newer engines are rather "fit and forget" whereas the older ones do need a bit of tinkering sometimes. (As Peter leGros said "that's what you have an engineer down there for..." Fanatics tend to like tinkering whereas, to someone plying for charter by himself with a load of passengers, it probably wears a bit thin. The K3 is a lovely engine. That engine beat (yeah a little syncopated) was not at all hard to live with and the fuel economy quite good. And what few parts are you likely to need are available. Settler's old engine is looking all nice and polished at the Maritime Museum in Auckland. There was a rumour that they wanted to have it as a running exhibit.
I am happy to say that I now have the K3 out of Fox ll. Here it is in all its glory in the shed.
Do you want to hear a Kelvin ticking over? Click on the picture! Thanks
to Graham and Jane Oliver who have a Kelvin K3 in their longboat Alnwick for letting me
use this wav file. You can see their website by clicking on the profile below
It is slated to go into the good ship "Iona" a 40' Miller and Tunnage boat launched in 1924. I will keep you all posted, don't worry! Click this button to check on progress.
In case you were interested in the "Fox ll" who now has a Ford engine: Alan Calvert took this pic of her on the slip in Lyttleton September 2007.
"Fox
ll" was built as a centreboarder and was converted to a trawler in 1935. She was
fitted with a brand new Kelvin K3 (number 19215) in 1935. She retained some sail and was
rebuilt in the '80s at Birkenhead in Auckland. I had the hots but not the wherewithall for
her and she went south to Akaroa where she remains.
SPEAKING OF ENGINE TRANSPLANTS
In Prof Skipper there is an article by Winston Roundtree which tells of the vicissitudes of the good ship "Marina". Her Gardner 8L3 was replaced by a rebuilt 8L3B and she is going strong. As the author says the 8L3B came out of an Oz boat whose owner is now going broke with the thirst of his new Caterpillar installed to replace the Gardner. Elsewhere in the same mag, Baden Pascoe regales us with the tales of the younger Patterson who had a problem with his old Kelvin in The Eva and worked on on two cylinders having drawn the rods on two cracked cylinders. Try that with a modern screamer. You can't even get at the innards without a laptop on your white overalled knees.
Most of the old engines are so easy on the ear and good workmates. Just need a bit of fettling from time to time. As Athol Burns told me years ago: "No hysterics with old time practices."
Old boats have an easy charm, and if you don't like every aspect of that charm, it ain't for you, chum, buy a plastic fantastic and show off that way.
"There were no hysterics with old time practices" -in a treasured letter to me from the late Athol Burns
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