TUTANEKAI
While down South on my Trinidad cruise I spotted Tutanekai dropping off people at the Bay of Many Coves resort in Queen Charlotte Sound. Tutanekai was built by E.R. Lane in Picton in 1930 & measures 42’x10’x3’6”. The zoom zoom comes from a 115hp GM 471 diesel.
She started life as a mothership that towed harpooned whales back to the whaling station. Post those days, she was a mail boat for 30 years, then a fishing boat, & then worked in & around the mussel farming industry for 20 years. When retired she was very run down & her current owner Pete, restored her to what we see today.
These days Tutanekai is the backbone of Pete & wife Takutai’s tourism business – ‘Myths & Legend Eco-Tours’
In the last photo, we see Trinidad at anchor, while we were brunching 🙂
Can any southern woodys tell us any more about Tutanekai?
Harold Kidd Input – E.R. Lane built TUTANEKAI for Charley Perano and K. Sutherland in 1930. Her original engine was a 2 cylinder 18hp Regal. Peranos sold her to M T H Steele in 1936, he sold her to Kennys in 1942, later Queen Charlotte Transport in 1948. Peter Beech owned her in 2002. The Regal was replaced with a 4 cylinder Sterling then a 6 cylinder Hercules in 1935 and a 471 GM in 1946. In 1940 a Government report stated that she had a maximum speed of 10 knots and a range of 180 nm at 8 kn.
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Cooks Trinidad on their circumnavigation
Boat I was talking about.
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E.R. Lane built TUTANEKAI for Charley Perano and K. Sutherland in 1930. Her original engine was a 2 cylinder 18hp Regal. Peranos sold her to M T H Steele in 1936, he sold her to Kennys in 1942, later Queen Charlotte Transport in 1948. Peter Beech owned her in 2002. The Regal was replaced with a 4 cylinder Sterling then a 6 cylinder Hercules in 1935 and a 471 GM in 1946. In 1940 a Government report stated that she had a maximum speed of 10 knots and a range of 180 nm at 8 kn.
QUEEN OF BEAUTY was built by C & W Bailey in late 1896.
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Looks like a lovely boat. Built by a great boatbuilder who was not often spoken of but has a lot of good boats still alive. I had one of his finest, Glynbird, RIP although Thomas (Major) Lane was probably involved after the fire at Totara North because Glynnie was rather larger than he was customarily building at the time. Queen of Beauty was another fine early one that is still alive.
But back to Tutanekai. The zoom zoom (love that term of yours, Alan) is more probably growl growl, drip drip, slurp slurp and modest progress. Nice engines though; designed by a clever man -Boss Kettering- and pretty problem free.
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