Auckland

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Since our arrival back in Auckland we have occupied much of our time with live music at The Bunker, a folk club venue on Mount Victoria in Devonport, which is near the marina at Bayswater and in Ponsonby, another suburb of Auckland.

In addition we've been spending our days at the Auckland Traditional Boatbuilding School where we're finishing off a clinker dinghy. The purchase of the said vessel came about after discussions with our friends John and Judy Salthouse, whose boatyard built Marnie in 1985. Judy's brother, Robert, runs the boatbuilding school at Hobsonville Airfield and on meeting with him he advised that the original dinghy to accompany Marnie was built by Snow Waters, a now deceased local dinghy builder who had been their next door neighbour for many years. Coincidentally, the last dinghy he'd been working on when he died, was the same design as the original dinghy aboard Marnie and had been donated to the school. Even better was the news that perhaps it could be available to buy. The nostalgia overwhelmed us, so rather than build a dinghy, we bought Snow Water's unfinished project. For three weeks we've been sanding, varnishing and making seats and floorboards. We are nearing completion and delighted to have been so fortunate as to inherit the rowing dinghy we will name Snowy Waters. The launch date approaches...........

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Photos

Sanding project on Snowy Waters
Sanding then a grey undercoat and an off white top coat with a british racing green stripe for a sporty look to finish it off.

The Auckland Traditional Boatbuilding School
This is where the activities have taken place. Alongside Snowy Waters has been the tender to accompany The Viking; a vessel undertaking a complete refit at Salthouse Boatyard.

Lofting
One of the first steps in building a dinghy. This is an in-house project in order to display the quality of workmanship available at the School.

Ribs secured on the Viking tender
After half an hour in the steambox, the wood is suitable pliable to bend into the shape required for the ribs.

The steambox
Where thin strips of wood turn into the consistency of spaghetti!