Kaheno Looking For A Cheap Waterfront Bach
This 45’9” 1966 classic trawler styled Carey motorboat is built using stripped planked kauri & powered by a 135hp Gardner 6LS engine. She was converted to a live-aboard & ticks all the boxes for what I call a floating bach.
Asking price on trademe is $249k, I suspect it will sell for less but what ever the price – it’s a cheap holiday home or a city waterfront apartment. Again thanks to Ian McDonald for sniffing this one out 🙂
Update from Ian McDonald
It would appear that the vessel is ‘Kaheno’ – desined by Carey of Picton & built in 1966 by Sinclair & Melbourne. She was once owned by the Salvation Army to service Rotoroa Island. She tragically sank with the loss of 4 lives in the Tamaki Strait circa 1986 whilst carrying timber as deck cargo from memory.
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I tried to stop that sailing when I saw the timber packs stacked on deck, right up to the level of the top wheelhouse..I was a winchman and deckman for the Watersiders Union..I was heading to the Port Buildings at 5.00pmish when I saw her at the dock..A voice in my head said I had to stop it..Packing the timber like that made her top heavy..I ran around trying to get the AHB Wharfinger to stop it, but it wasnt his job..The captain wasnt to be seen. I saw a woman with a baby in her arms sitting in amongst the packs of timber, no lifejackets. I wish I had done more, but who would have listened..The nexr day when I heard it on the morning news I was gutted and always thought of that woman and baby even now.. RIP..boats are not designed to carry heavy loads stacked on deck..I am glad someone made it out alive..
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I helped skipper the Kaheno with Jack Elliot from 1976 to 1980..Great boat twice a week we went to Auckland from Rotoroa Island for supply’s and collecting men with drinking issues..alot of fun sometimes …a man would jump over the side….trying to swim back for a drink… Kaheno could roll a bit with a decent swell..
John bond
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I helped skipper the Kaheno for 3 years with Jack Elliott from 1976 for the salvation Army on Rotoroa Island. Great boat..2 times a week in Auckland, sadly..Jack went down with the Kaheno, best mate I ever had..
John Bond
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In response to Brian Cassidy, there was no timber or cargo on the cabin top. The timber was deck cargo which moved when the boat was hit by a rogue wave. I am one of the survivors of this tragedy and was initially trapped in the cabin. Tragically all the children of Geoff and Annette lost their lives along with Jack Elliot, the skipper.
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Nothing wrong with her design, just idiots loading too much deck cargo. Adding ballast would be the typical reaction from the then Marine Dept who knew nothing about small boat design. Almost as pathetic as the bunch of clowns running Maritime NZ today.
Her designer Roger Cary would have known far more about boats than any person in the Marine Dept.
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Yes I remember seeing her there many times, & as you say, she was always pristine, with the barge a little further out in the bay, behind her.
We dragged right past the barge at 2am one night, in a nor east gale night & just got under way in time, before hitting the reef. — Really spooky in a night like that. — KEN R.
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Yes a 6lx. Her original engine rebuilt and maintained by seagars after her sad mishap along with overhauling all her mechanical systems. The salvation army retreat centre kept her in pristine condition right up to the day she was sold. Geoff the skipper kept her in A plus order and had the trip times down to the last 5 minits.
She towed their barge, deliverd fuel and was the island shuttle for “the guests”
C
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Memory has returned. The bay that the Kaheno sank in was Woodside Bay.Quite a shallow bay so salvage was not too much of a problem.
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Ian is quite correct. Kaheno sank when capsised by a squall. She sank in the bay just east of Rocky Bay.She was top heavy from a load of timber stacked on the cabin top.Three people were drowned in the sea,while a small child was trapped below deck. The body was recovered when Kaheno was salvaged,& slipped in Auckland.
Following an inquiry, concrete ballast was added to the bilges,& no cargo to be stowed on the cabin top.
A sad episode for a very pretty little work boat.
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I can find no reference on Google to a Gardner “6LS” engine, & suggest that perhaps it may be a typing error & the engine may well be a “6LX” Gardner engine. — KEN R
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Details added. Alan H
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