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

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

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

Todays story takes us up to current and 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/

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

Handing over to Sven:

“Now I just had to make a new one and put it all back together. Hummm. My fellow boat owners all came to check out progress and I got the distinct impression that they thought I had killed her. If I am honest I was wondering this myself…. I was going to need lots more kauri. Fortunately Solomon came up with the goods, a couple of large beams that had once been part of a bridge (thanks Mate). One of these was sawn up to make a new inner. I sourced some beautiful bronze screws and fitted the inner back into the boat. I was most relived to see that the stern was now back in shape. All the seams had closed up and she had a nice round bum again. I clearly had done something right. Next up was to make up the new outer. Grown hardwood wasn’t an option so I decided that I was going to laminate one. I made a former and laminated up the new outer. 


New Inner being fitted up. 

Outer laminated and roughed into shape 

New outer stem being fitted.
The inner and outer where then bolted with bronze rod to new horizontal knees inside the stern and at the top of the bulwarks. Whew.

 Now where were we. Bulwarks. I finished prepping for the bulwarks. Fortunately Olaf was back in the country for a Summer break. What better way to relax than giving his brother a hand fitting the new plywood? A couple of exhausting days later and we had the first layer on.  

A second layer was added at both ends for added strength and a certain amount of flare. 

Olaf went home to England and I finished the Bulwarks off with some trim and paint. The bronze rubbing strips were replaced and another milestone reached. The whole top half of the boat was now complete, well almost.

To celebrate I made some bling for her. New nav light and dorade boxes. 


Recently I passed another milestone. Four years on the hard. Every year I tell myself that this summer she will be back in the water. I have only a few more months now if that dream is going to be achieved. We will see. I have moved onto getting the inside back together. New tank cradles have been built and today I installed her new diesel and water tanks. Next up will be building a new sole for the wheel house and replacing the cabinetry that John the previous owner had made from trees felled on his farm. I am looking forward to that. Will let you know how I get on.”

To be continued….  

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

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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.

CLASSIC CLINKER LAUNCH – ELLEN

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CLASSIC CLINKER LAUNCH – ELLEN

Following on from the recent stories on the ex workboat – ARIANA / TE KAWAU, owned by Sven Wiig, today we see the launch ELLEN.

ThE photo was sent in by Sven and is from the Ryland family album, from which Sven obtained the TE KAWAU photos.

In the photo ELLEN is located in Wanganui and owned by Ted and Bill Ryland. Bill also owned TE KAWAU.

Looks like a fun day out with all the flags and the number of crew onboard. An unusual being clinker and double ended – maybe an import? Maybe an ex lifeboat converted to pleasure use, or maybe I’m totally wrong, which is often the case 🙂
Anyone know more about ELLEN

11-07-2025 INPUT ex LIAM DALY – There were at least two other ‘almost identical’ clinker built launches built by  Bob Swanson. One was named – TELSTAR and the other named – MANANA which was often mispronounced Mañana, named after a popular song of the day, translated from Spanish means, ‘tomorrow’ or ‘morning’.

Back in the day, MANANA was at one time owned by Bay of Many Coves identity Errol Christian. Errol installed a huge turbo charged 100 h.p. diesel engine in MANANA which he used as a water taxi throughout Queen Charlotte Sounds. Photo below, Liam thinks the photo shows Errol’s daughter-in law Lou at the wheel.

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

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

Last week we ran a story from Sven Wiig on his wooden vessel – ARIANA, previously named GLENROWAN and TE KAWAU. Sven was looking for any intel on her past , as he undertook a rather epic restoration project. As I always do I asked for some regular updates and photos – well on Saturday the email inbox started to groan when Sven’s email arrived. Slightly different format today, but it suits the story – as told by the man himself.

THE NEW DECK

In May 2020 we bought ‘Ariana’. We knew she needed some work, there were obviously rotten bits here and there and the deck seemed a bit spongy in places but looking inside all seemed pretty sound and she had a brand new engine. How can we go wrong? The owner made me an offer I couldn’t refuse as he said he thought I was the right person to take her on and he wanted me to have her. So we bought her and had her transported down to Wellington and the same truck then took our old boat ‘Primadonna’ up to our good friends in Auckland. 

Ariana arrives in Wellington

We enjoyed Ariana for a year just cruising the harbour and taking friends and family out for picnics. A year later I had a break in work and decided now is the time. Ariana was hauled out at Evans Bay I had six weeks before the next job and I was going to have the boat back in the water before I had to leave town. No problem pull the old ply up put some new ply down, easy. That didn’t go to plan. Pulling up the old ply revealed, compost. A bodged previous repair had been letting in fresh water for many years. I enlisted a friend to give me a hand and we kept digging. We discovered the entire deck structure, sheer clamp, carlins, cabin coamings and bulwarks were all rotten. At this point I made a panicked call to my brother Olaf who is a qualified boatbuilder and asked for advise. ‘No worries, you got this, one piece of timber at a time.’ My partner was less encouraging advising me that the only way forward involved a chainsaw and a skip bin. She was right. I seriously considered this option. Couldn’t do it, I had been entrusted with Ariana and I was going to save her. To encourage my madness Olaf came down from Auckland and gave me a hand to start laminating up the first section of sheer clamp. I continued demolishing pieces of the boat. In between I made new bits to try and keep spirts up. I pulled out the old fish hold, still under the rear deck, to discover ballast in the form of river stones and rusty railway iron. The pile of debris grew, less and less of Ariana remained.

My friend Bede discovering the extent of the rot.

Rotten wood and ballast.

Six weeks passed and I had to go back to work. I had some shear clamp and carlins in place and I had a destroyed boat. Several months passed while I was away working and I returned with new energy. Realising I was never going to get it done alone I convinced two clever friends to give me a hand. Pete, Marc and I started replacing deck structure, framed up and new front cabin and replaced  planking where the rot extended into the top planks. Broken ribs were sistered with laminated white oak and riveted in place. We were making some good progress…

Front cabin framing underway.

Fiddly time consuming work.

New deck beams installed. 

Then the budget ran out and work ground to a halt. Months passed with me only finding the odd weekend here and there to move the project forward. Slowly I finished the deck structure and created a small dog box extension to the wheelhouse, above the old fish hold. One day this will be a cabin for my son. A year had past and finally I could start laying some plywood for the new deck. A job I had optimistically thought I would be doing nine months earlier.

However before I could lay the ply at the stern I decided I had better investigate the lazarette hold. Something wasn’t right back there. I wasn’t to find the full extent of the un-rightness of this area for some time, more of that later. First was to chip out all the concrete that had been poured into the bilge. Several days of extremely unpleasant work later I had removed the concrete to reveal and section of keel or deadwood near the cutlass bearing that was all punky. Degraded by electrolysis. The anodes and bonding wires had taken a toll. I cut back the punky wood until I found good solid timber. Sealed it with epoxy and went looking for some more Kauri. Some large Kauri beams were sourced and a section of keel patched in with new floors. 

Last of the concrete.

Keel patch coming together.

Moving on I built a hatch for the lazurette and laid the last of the plywood. Fibreglass was laid. She finally had a deck again and another year had passed. Two years into a six week project and I was maybe half way finished.

To Be Continued………

THE WINNER OF YESTERDAYS DES TOWNSON QUIZ RE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL DESIGNS – IS KEN MULGREW WITH THE ANSWER 74. As recorded in the Brian Peet book – Des Townson A Sailing Legacy.

CLASSIC WOODEN EX WORKBOAT – ARIANA / GLENROWAN / TE KAWAU

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c.1950’s

CLASSIC WOODEN EX WORKBOAT – ARIANA / GLENROWAN / TE KAWAU

Earlier in the week WW was contacted by Sven Wiig the owner of the classic wooden ex workboat – ARIANA. ARIANA made an appearance on WW back in Oct 2020 – link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/01/10/ariana/

I’ll hand over to Sven to tell the story – 

“Today I had a bit of a breakthrough researching my boats history. You may remember I bought ARIANA in about 2020 and have been searching for more information ever since. A while back I discovered that before she was named ARIANA and before GLENROWAN she was named TE KAWAU as shown in the top photo above which I had just discovered.

The other photos are also from the 1950’s. She was then owned by Bill Ryland and fished out of Wanganui. Bill owned her until 1974 when she was sold to the Turner family and moved to Nelson where John Turner ran her. Sometime in the 1980’s she changed hands again and was renamed GLENROWAN then to the John Stewart who had her converted then I bought her. 

So I’m hoping someone knows who owned her before Bill? The Turner family knew of the boat in the 1940’s as old man Turner fished on her then, possibly out of Picton. My best guess is that she was built by Lanes of Picton but searching the records does not come up with her name. I have been told that she may have been built in Lyttleton so maybe Millar Bros? She is similar to other boats built by Lanes and Millar and Tunnage so who knows? 

ARIANA / TE KAWAU is currently still on the hard where I have been undertaking a major rebuild / restoration of her.”

WW has asked to be kept updated on the project, so fingers crossed for more stories. In the mean time can we learn more about this classic woody.

Check out the size of the snapper on the trailer in the b/w photos

The photos below are from the Oct 2020 WW story.

Ariana At The Paeroa Maritime Museum & Park

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Ariana At The Paeroa Maritime Museum & Park

Following on from yesterdays story on the weekends journey to and from the Paeroa Maritime Museum & Park, today we shine the light on one of the coolest attractions at the Museum.

The classic wooden 34’ launch Ariana , under the command of skipper and tour guide – Peter Vandersloot, takes passengers from the Museums dock to the town dock in the centre of Paeroa township. The journey takes approx. 55 minutes and passengers normally do the return journey via bus – the trip is very tide dependent, so always check in advance re sailings.

I recommend the ride, for me it was the highlight of the weekend, and we were treated to a good old school – morning tea at the RSA, just so good 🙂

Read more on the trip and the other vessels servicing the route at the link below

https://historicalmaritimepark.co.nz/park-services/river-cruises/

Ariana was built by Lane Brothers in Auckland’s Judges Bay in 1923, more about her provenance at the link above.

Ariana

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ARIANA

The build / launch date of Ariana is unknown but she was formerly a Nelson fishing boat named ‘Glenrowan’. Her current owner purchased Ariana in Picton in 2005, after extensive re-building by McManaways of Picton. She was relocated to Napier, where she still is to this day.
Her zoom zoom is from a near new Perkins Sabre model M225Ti installed 2015, current engine hours are only 25hrs, the Perkins gives her a cruising speed of 9 knots. She is 37’9” in length, with a 10’ beam.
Her trademe listing (thanks Ian McDonald) lists a very extensive inventory.
Can anyone help us got with details on builder > year of launch etc?