Deb and I were down south recently and did the Farewell Spit Bus trip. The tour operators were able to tell us approximately where Arethusa ran aground all those years ago, amazing.
They dragged the boat to the other side of the Spit and relaunched her, about 1.2km's!
Over the years we've got keen on changing Arethusa's wheelhouse to be more in keeping with her age, so at 102 she's undergone some cosmetic surgery :)
We lost 8" inches of headroom in wheelhouse when we installed the Gardner, so we've gone up in height 6 inches and forward 8 inches and gone for more traditional upright windows fw'd.
Arethusa's dry stack has been raining rust into the bilges for many years. Finally got around to an upgrade. This one's made completely of stainless and has no holes where the rain can get in. Way better. Many thanks Shayne for helping me move the mast and get the old one out and this one back in.
We got Jack from Picton back in 2008, an 8'6" kauri clinker. From what we've learnt he was probably built by the Jack Morgan yard in the 60's. If anyone recognises him and has any more history, we'd love to hear it.
Installing the Gardner was a big job. We were out at Ashby's for 10 weeks. Arethusa's engine room has always been an unopened box - rusty steel fuel tanks and decades of oil and fuel leaks had made a pretty good mess. It took days just to disconnect everything, working through dozens of frozen bolts down there in dark and akward places.
Arethusa has always had a weep coming in through the transom. She'd had a slightly dodgy transom alteration many years ago and that had been camouflaged with coverboards and a margin piece. We decided to take these off and have a good look.
For the last twelve months we've been restoring a 4LW Gardner for Arethusa. It arrived on a truck from Picton weighing in at 1.2 tonnes.
We've been using a big ice chest up in forepeak to keep stuff cold, takes 6-7 frozen water bottles to drive it. Most meals on Arethusa happen in the cockpit using the hatch cover as a table, so we now have the fridge right next door to the action.
After selling Arethusa, Hereward Pickmere bought Winsome from his father. She's a 1918 Bailey & Lowe, he carried out most of the charting of his atlas from her. Caught up with David Pickmere in Omakiwi over the weekend and we got some shots of the two boats side by side...
Here's some shots of a beautiful Z-class the Janet-Ann in the Auckland Maritime Museum built by Colin Grant in the 1950's. The Z-class was designed by Arethusa's designer and builder Bob Brown.
Arethusa had developed some good leaks, we had over 200 litres a day coming in. So off to Ashby's to pull all the old fastenings out of the garboard and refasten. Graeme, Mike, Paul and Michael did a great job, we're now down to 15 litres a day.
Arethusa's old cap rails were high maintenance. They were fastened with galv bolts which meant rust, bubbling paint and rot - so thankfully they're now a couple of wheelbarrows of salt laden firewood. No more painting and rust killing, amen to that.
Got a wonderful email from Janet Watkins (Hereward Pickmere's daughter) with the info and pics below. Many thanks Janet, gold.
After four seasons of getting fried on the back deck we've got a boom tent. What a difference. Shade and breeze, no more hiding in the wheelhouse :) Thanks Bev for a great job - perfect fit really easy to put up and down. Thanks John for all custom woodwork at the stern to support it.
I don't know how many season's the old prop had been on the boat but it was pretty well had it. We dealt with Arthur Smith from the Propeller Shop in Whangarei who organised a new 24 x 16 4 blade through Briski's.
We got Alan Boyd from X-Foul-E-8 to strip the hull paint off from the beltings down in July. He did a great job. Three days to get rid of countless seasons of paint right back to bare boards. He probably could of done it in two but had so many folk stop and ask about the process he uses. Sure beats burning it off. Once she'd dried out we were able to prime straight over the top.
Not for sailing, but we may rig a steadying sail sometime in the future. By summer we'll have a boom tent and the boom is great for lifting the dinghy aboard. The ratlines are a great place to climb to get elevation for pictures and when the water warms up no doubt it'll make a good diving platform.
We'd like to find out who Arethusa's previous owners were and if possible, her launch date. If you can fill any gaps, please get in touch.
