CLASSIC WOODEN EX WORKBOAT – TE KAWAU RE-LAUNCHED

During the second half of 2025 Sven Wiig was undertaking in Wellington a major refit on the ex work boat ARIANA , previously named GLENROWAN and TE KAWAU. WW covered the project in three parts – links below. Last week Sven updated WW on the final push to getting her back in the water.. As we learnt previously Sven has reverted back to the original name – TE KAWAU, we like that 🙂

As previously I will hand over to Sven to tell the story. Enjoy – its a great read.

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

Part two https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/07/14/the-restoration-of-the-classic-wooden-ex-workboat-ariana-te-kawau-part-two/

Part three https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/07/16/the-restoration-of-the-classic-wooden-ex-workboat-ariana-te-kawau-part-three/

MORE HISTORY HERE https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/07/04/classic-wooden-ex-workboat-ariana-glenrowan-te-kawa/

“Time for an update on the Te Kawau project. Winter had me up in Auckland with work. Returning to Wellington in the early spring I got back into the project with fresh energy. First up was the wheelhouse sole. I built a new structure and cut out hardwood ply to line it. Pretty basic but a vast improvement on what had been there.  The small cabin I had created out of the old fish hold got the same treatment.

Time to move outside. First up I fitted a hardwood seat to the stern. This was a request from Jessica. She has visions of lunches out on the rear deck. 

With these projects out of the way and summer rapidly approaching it was time to get started on the hull. 

I started scraping the old antifoul off. Two or three days passed and I had less than a third of the starboard side stripped. Was definitely going to need to find a more efficient process. I experimented with a heat gun and various sanders no luck the old paint was rock solid. Eventually I settled on burning the paint off with a LPG torch. Much more efficient but slightly terrifying. In the space of a couple of weeks I had the whole hull back to bare timber. I raked all the seams out discovering that the whole garboard had previously been filled with mortar. Apparently, this was quite common on old work boats. It had however really damaged the edges of the seam. I decided that it needed some repair and most of it was tidied up and I glued Kauri splines onto the plank edge. There were several other areas that needed a similar treatment. I also removed all the old skin fittings and through-hulls. All seams were given a coat of red lead paint.

I then got a lesson in caulking from one of the old boat builders who is often around the yard. With this new knowledge I set about re-caulking the boat. This is a task that I had been dreading as it had seemed like a dark art, with people warning me it was hard. As it turns out I quickly got a feel for it and fortunately my brother arrived for his summer visit just in time to finish the caulking and get the seams puttied. The putty proved to be much harder work than the caulking. As my boat builder friend advised me “If your hands aren’t aching at the end of the day you are doing it wrong.” A couple of weeks later I had the first coats of primer on and Te Kawau was looking better than she had in a long time. 

The race was now on to get her in the water before my next work project started. The systems all needed sorting out. I spent a couple of weeks plumbing the new tanks sorting out wiring, installing a new hydraulic steering system, etc, etc. Antifouling and propspeed were applied and finally she was ready for launch. Couldn’t quite believe that I had got to this point. There were plenty of times along the journey that I thought she was never going back it the water. One fine Sunday in early February with little drama she was put back in the water. I was expecting that she would have water gushing in but as it turns out the water ingress was not too dramatic and slowly she is taking up. 

There is still plenty to do. The interior has to go back in and both sleeping cabins will need fitting out but in the mean time we can get out and enjoy her. 

PAIHIA – BAY of ISLAND – PLEASANTLY SURPRISED
I haven’t been to Paihia in a very long time, like 35+ years, tend to dodge it when driving north + I do not have good memories having nearly bleed out in an encounter between  a plate glass door and an artery.  We traveled north to perform babysitting duties while daughter was doing bridesmaid duties at a wedding. 
While still a tab OTT touristy / Rotovegas, I was impressed. Won’t bore you with too much but Sunday breakfast at Zane Grey’s, over the water was very good on all fronts – location, setting, service, food and price. Only spotted one woody at anchor.