THE RESTORATION OF THE CLASSIC WOODEN EX WORKBOAT – ARIANA (TE KAWAU) – PART TWO

Following on from last Mondays story on Sven Wiig’s classic wooden vessel – ARIANA, previously named GLENROWAN and TE KAWAU. Sven has just sent in Part Two. 

Todays story takes us up to last week  and we will run Part Three on Wednesday and then woodys we will have to wait for the final part for a little while, but rest assured there will be one 😉

And as highlighted in Part One Sven is looking for any intel on her past , and is very grateful for those that commented last week.

Link to Part One : https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/07/07/the-restoration-of-the-classic-wooden-ex-workboat-ariana-te-kawau-part-one/

Handing over to Sven

“Once the decks were fibreglassed the next mission was to get the coamings and cabin tops rebuilt. Cabin tops were given two layers of ply and clashed in solid. 

The little doghouse extension got the same treatment.

I had hoped to find bronze portholes for the coamings but couldn’t find any in the right sizes and quantity. I decided to copy the detailing that existed in the wheelhouse windows. 

Next were the doors which I repaired and modified.

The wheelhouse sides were repaired with new tongue and groove.

Once all this had been sanded and given a couple of coats of paint the cover could be removed and I could finally stand back and check out my work. I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t like my design choices once I could view them from a distance, but overall I was pretty happy with her. 

Cover off after three years. 

It had been more than three years now since she had come out of the water. Progress was frustratingly slow but with the cover now off it finally felt like I was getting there. Next up was to rebuild the Bulwarks. These had been cut away to gain access to the deck. I started cleaning off the old plywood getting ready to rebuild them. When I got around to the stern post I made a horrific discovery. I had always thought her stern wasn’t quite right I now discovered why. I dug out a large chunk of sikaflex and could see that her stem was cracked almost in two. All the screws holding her planks went straight into the crack. It appears that at some time in her past she suffered a trauma. Maybe she was crushed between another boat and a wharf, or hit from behind? Crikey what to do? All the others in the yard came and checked it out. There was lots of tut tuts and sucking through the teeth. A local boatbuilder suggested I cut the whole back off and put a transom on her. Humm… maybe not. It was not going to be an easy fix hence why it had never been fixed properly. Over the years more and more cotton had been jammed it there, more screws added then the sikaflex. This was why all the seams back there were large and the planks uneven, There was nothing for it in my mind I had to pull it all apart and repair it properly. I spent a good day just looking and trying to work out if I was biting off more than I could chew. Was there an easier way. Nope just had to go for it. 

Dug out the putty and sikaflex to reveal the crack…

I cut off the outer stem which appeared to be a grown hardwood. Maybe pohutukawa? This revealed the full horror of the situation. Yep I was committed now. 

I then carefully removed all the old screws from the planks, removed a knee on the inside and pulled the inner stem out. All that makes it sound easy. In reality it was several painful days where I questioned my life choices. 

The inner stem removed from the boat. The crack when right though all the screws going into the cracked timber. 
To be continued in Part Three – on Wednesday.