Mystery Hull > Riki

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Morning woodys – the above photos were sent to me by Peter Mence, Chairman of the NZ Classic Yacht Association. Peter spotted the hull ‘resting’ in Pine Valley Road, Dairy Flat, Albany.
Someone must know who she is & how she ended up.

Update 01-05-2017 ex Barry Davis – Bay of Islands 1971

Riki BOI 1971

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Boat below ex Tim Evill on Waiheke Island, I hope she was not headed for the landfill, would make a get firewood shelter.

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16 thoughts on “Mystery Hull > Riki”

  1. May I have a look at her please? And a contact name and number. My name is Greg and number is 021 345 984. Thank you

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  2. You sound like the man I need – can I get back to you with waterline dimensions and approx weight once I’ve had a look at her? Greg

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  3. Electric motor and batteries could all be below waterline – certainly better located than a steam plant or an oil burner. And, as somebody has said, take away all the play stuff that everybody seems to think they need, and the water and fuel tanks, the “house” on top too, and she really would cut a good line. Perhaps a short mast for a squarish sail when running with the wind, but that’s all.

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  4. Yeah, sounds as though there is a lot of carrying capacity for extra battery capacity as well as a man and his ladyfriend plus picnic hamper and champers. The compound steam engine and boiler I had in mind for her weighted almost half a ton. Was I running the risk of having 6″ of freeboard?

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  5. Motor inboard electric with controls 85kg, Battery 90kg–like BMW i3
    Performance in that hull- hull speed for one hour or 4 knots for approx 6 hours
    cost -well I dont want anyone to choke on their tea.
    Yes I have been doing a lot of these calcs lately and selling smaller electric propulsion.

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  6. You’d have to factor in an additional weight from a funnel and a device to generate coal smoke as well as smell. No self respecting steamboat would want to smell like electricity and not clank.

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  7. Well we know the person to ask Russell! I wouldn’t mind betting that the weight of a sufficient Lithium Ion cells, matched to the right electric motor and a super efficient prop, would be less than the weight of all that she had before. It certainly wouldn’t end up much more, and would be easily achievable in that hull. If Pete can make an electric car weighting 1.2 tons do at least 250kms on a charge, Riki could do well for similar weight.

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  8. Interesting exercise, Murray. She had the weight of the steam plant, coal and water tanks and all the paraphernalia of a cruising boat. How much would the electric plant weigh? She carried some lead when she was a yot.

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  9. Well with the batteries needed on board to run her at or near 8 knots for that period the waterline will be exceedingly close to the gunwhale, which would look sleek but not very suitable for waves or any sort of work. Just saying..

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  11. Well I’m glad to hear she wasn’t glassed and then all painted up to the nines to become yet another play thing. I want a working boat, strong and heavy, oiled not varnished, all open on top and streamlined above and below waterline. I need a good turn of speed from her and some weight (below waterline) so she is capable of cutting through a stiff breeze and a short sea. I want to fit an electric drive and batteries to give about 5 hours of continuous running at 8 to 10 knots. If I get too hot out in the open I’ll sit under an awning. If it’s too cold I’ll put on an oil skin. Do you think she would suit and do you have her dimensions and any other pictures? My name is Greg.

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  12. I am the current, rather inadequate, custodian of the good steam ship Rikki (named after Barry Brickell’s dog apparently) Built by Ralph in the early -mid ’60s. Can’t remember if it was her or the other steamer Billy Boy that was built at Bayswater. I had a boiler and engine that would have suited her and bought her on that basis hoping I could do her the honours as she had to be moved from Clevedon. The last owner had reefed the seams and taken all the paint off preparatory to splining and glassing. However as the Bard put it, the best laid plans of mice and men often get ferked up.
    Ralph rigged her and sold her as a yacht and she was in the BOI for most of her life in fact. She was the first steamboat I saw on the Waitemata. We were in Schoolhouse Bay and I saw this quaint little counter stern boat with a headsail, long funnel with smoke emanating from it. I chased her rowing as fast as I could up Bonaccord to meet the great man. She was going faster than she looked and by the time I caught up, she was in Cometti’s Bay at anchor. Ralph was cooking the dinner in the firebox on a frying pan and his long suffering wife the late Alison was keeping the kids under control down aft. That’s the life, I thought……..

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  13. Can’t find any references to Riki on the net and I am interested in the hull. Plenty of course to Ralph Sewell and Endeavor and Breeze. It’s a beautiful hull and I am looking for something like this – long WL length, very dyrodynamic and with very little on top, and suitable for an electric drive. Any pictures or plans of her anywhere?

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  16. That hull is Riki, built by Ralph Sewell as a steam launch in the late 1960s. Later converted to a motor sailor. Hopefully its owner (who is known to us) will get on with it and get it restored to steam.

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