Work done at Salthouse

Dave servicing the main engine

Originally Orion had a Dorman 6 cylinder engine. It was replaced with a more powerful Gardner 8LXB in 1974, and this engine was rebuilt from the crankshaft up in 2008 by Dave Shaw. In this photo Dave is servicing the engine before the trip south to Picton.

John scraping the garboard seam

After looking and poking at the garboard seam for a couple of days Nick Peal decided to re-caulk it for the full length on both sides. Here John is scraping out all the putty and any loose cotton.

Garboard seam re-caulked (Video 1 minute)

Nick caulking a butt

Weeping butt joints were mentioned in a survey way back. Here Nick is re-caulking one of several he has identified as in need of attention. Also some butt joints along the garboard are being re-fastened and re-caulked.

Old wooden fishing boats leak, and there's nothing surprising about that. When we went aboard Orion the automatic pump was going off once an hour and pumping out about a litre of water. After a couple of weeks out of the water she will have dried out and may take a few days to take up, but after that we should see a considerable improvement. More to the point, if she meets any weather on the trip south she stands a much better chance of remaining staunch. Each two-starred item on the Jon Jones survey report has been inspected and attended to, and more besides.

Pictures by Sue

Hauling out at Salthouse

High and dry

The wind was fresh from the west, blowing onto the Salthouse jetty. I think Greg and Nick nearly postponed, but she came out just fine: straight, upright, and well supported. It's a great wee slipway, in a lovely setting.

Skipper Brian and his crew

These are the guys who did all the hard and often dirty work of the conversion, and also went on week-long fishing trips to Barrier Island. It's been our great honour to meet them, and we really hope they come down to Picton one day to fish for the blue cod and to have a drink from our bottle.

Brian Gallocher piloting Orion
up river to Salthouse

Salthouse Boatyard is at Greenhithe on Lucas Creek. The upper harbour is lovely, with bush coming down to the water's edge. The deep water is marked by but also taken up with moored craft, and you have to pick your way through them carefully. 

Leaving Bayswater

On board at last

Our first night aboard

From buying Orion until now has felt like a lifetime, though really it is only a few weeks. At times it has felt a bit dreamlike and disconnected, but now here we are. Brian met us and showed us a few essential things, and when he had gone ashore we had a drink in the last moments of the sun, roasted a chicken, ate at the table in the main cabin, and turned in early.

An agony of waiting

Picton Sunday May 7th

An agony of waiting. One sleep to go! We are all packed and organised, and are off to Blenheim airport early to fly to Auckland. We plan to hire a car and drive to Bayswater, and hope to be on board by mid afternoon.

Tory Channel Contracting

That's not Orion on the right

Round the back of the ferry terminal on Lagoon Road is TCC's yard with two cradles, and a jetty. There's a big shed, and inside we met with Shorty and Fred who were "no problem" kinda guys. They're tuned into wooden boats too, so we may find ourselves hauled out here before very long.

Franklin's Boatyard

Franklin's Boatyard, Waikawa

Continuing our search for suitable slipways we looked over the gate of Franklin's Boatyard, Waikawa, Queen's Birthday weekend. It's on the site of the old Jorgensen Yard, and this suggests the slipway might well take Orion. There are two chandlers and several marine businesses nearby at Waikawa Marina.

Havelock Slipway

Havelock Slipway

On our way north in the van we went via Havelock to check out the slipway. We saw two cradles that could take Orion. By luck, we were there at dead low water and got a good look at the channel.

Orion WT28

Lying Wellington, October 1973

Chris Rabey looked out this photograph, taken by him: "John Burns from Napier sent me your address, and seeing you have just bought the Orion, I am sending a pic of her when she was a commercial fishing boat. This is a shot I took of her in Wellington, October 1973. She was Westport registered at the time, WT28. She had a mast forward but this had been removed for maintenance at the time. She was quite distinctive in that she had a large Roadrunner bird painted on the bows."

Post-survey repairs (afloat)

Brian has done those items from the survey that could be done afloat:

• Wood electrolysis around six keel bolts
• Rot in bulwarks

Thank you for doing these jobs, Brian. You have put that engraving piece in there like I never could. You've looked after this old boat so well, and breathed new life into her. I am the lucky one, inheriting all your good work!