Otunui paddleboat video on YouTube.

[otunui]

Hi Folks,

If you're interested there is a new video up on YouTube of the Otunui Paddleboat operating on Lake Maraetai in Mangakino, New Zealand. Video was shot in May 2011.

Here's the link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFf72xWjmoQ

Cheers, Capn Pete.

[marinemole]

Great video.

Andy

[PeeWee]

Nice video, the Piano view seems quite sireal   

[kiwimodeller]

Guess we will just have to go via Mangakino when we travel to the model sailing day at Hawera in October. Cheers, Ian

[otunui]

Guess we will just have to go via Mangakino when we travel to the model sailing day at Hawera in October. Cheers, Ian

Be great to see you. Give me a call when you are planning to come through and I'll make sure I can get you out on the boat. Peter 027-418-3930.

[kiwimodeller]

Thanks for that, we have to be in Rotorua on October 16th and Hawera by the 21st. Will give you a call closer to the time, especially as now we have started talking about Otonui my partner has reccollections of going for a trip on her or one of her sisters as a young child in the 1950's on the Whanganui. Pity I wont have room to bring my Waimarie model (picture attached) to put in the water alongside. Who knows, maybe Otonui will have to be the next model paddler I build after the sternwheeler Manuwai which I am about to start. Do you know what has happened to the Hatrick story website, it has disappeared from the Homestead host where it has always been, perhaps they just gave up on the domain name. A pity if it is gone as it was a great resource. Cheers, Ian.

[otunui]

Your Waimarie model is fantastic mate! Beautiful work.

See you in Oct.

Peter.

Thanks for that, we have to be in Rotorua on October 16th and Hawera by the 21st. Will give you a call closer to the time,

[AlistairD]

Is she steam or diesel?

I presume the latter because of the lack of a funnel

Alistair Deayton

[otunui]

Hi Alistair,

She is currently diesel - though I would like to have her DC electric in the future. This boat is over 100 years old and has only survived through adaption, innovation and evolution.

She started life in London, in 1907 then was shipped to New Zealand as a kitset (a full scale model if you like). She was 60ft long with a riveted steel hull, but a tunnel hull (prop in a tunnel) not a paddleboat, and steam powered and ran up the 239 rapids from Pipiriki to Taumaranui on the Whanganui/Wanganui River. They would put steel cables around the winch on the bow and pull her up the rapids until she could make way again, going down was a lot quicker!

She then was converted to a Union heavy oil diesel and continued to haul passengers and freight until the roads went through and the river boats went out of business. A farmer bought her, renaming her Tangahoe, and shortened her to 48 feet to avoid a tax on longer boats, and continued to carry freight and supplies to the farms as needed. She was dragged from her moorings during a storm in the 1940's and lost in a shingle bank for 20 years.

Barree Sproule, a jetboat operator found her in the 1960's and dug her out, refloated her and got her back to Wanganui where she was rebuilt over 8 years. In 1979 she was relaunched again as Otunui with a Fordson diesel and a jet unit, later a stern paddlewheel was added. Later in the 1980's Barree built the 12 foot section with the side paddlewheels, cut her in half and lengthened her back to 60 feet. To drive the paddlewheels, there were two twin cylinder Lister diesels

Barree sold the boat and she operated again on the Wanganui River and for a short time on Lake Okataina near Rotorua before moving to Aratiatia on the Waikato River doing trips to Huka Falls and carrying Queen Elizabeth 2 on one trip. In 2003 she caught fire and burned to the waterline, later sinking.

Barree was told about the being up for tender, bought her off the insurance company and moved her overland again, this time to Coromandel. Again she was totally rebuild. The engine was a 6 cylinder Ford Falcon motor (petrol) running on LPG. Fabulously quiet, this motor had to be pulled as the Maritime Safety Authority wanted additional bulkheads fitted for safety. The cost was prohibitive so Barree took the diesel engine out of his 1996 Toyota Surf and that engine is still there.

Driving through separate  variable capacity hydraulic pumps and motors for each paddlewheel, with a rudder and power steering to keep her in a straight line. She maneuvers beautifully, much like a bulldozer or tank and will spin on her own axis.

The eccentric paddles were added in 2006 angling the blades into the water like a swimmers hand, increasing efficiency by around 40%.

There was a plan to re-install a steam engine but then 3 full-time crew are needed, and a much longer start-up and shut down. As it is, we can do all our checks and be ready for a run in 30mins.

The boat has to pay its own way, we don't have volunteers, or cash handouts to keep her running.That was a bit more info than you asked for, hope you don't mind.

Cheers, Peter.

[Harold H. Duncan]

Hi Peter,
Otunui sure gets around. Have attached (hopefully) a photo of her taken Christmas 2006 up the Coromandal.
Have always intended to find her again, with a view to more photos and a decent measure up for a full set of drawings. Did this for Ongarue a few years ago for the Wanganui Riverboat Centre. Let me know if your interested in my adding Otunui to my list of upcoming drawings. No rush, as the list is a little long at the moment. Still finishing off the ps Manuwai drawings.
Will try to come by later in the year
cheers
kiwi

[otunui]

Nice photo, thanks for that. This was just before she was relaunched after the 2003 fire and subsequent rebuild.

Peter.

Hi Peter,
Otunui sure gets around. Have attached (hopefully) a photo of her taken Christmas 2006 up the Coromandal.
Have always intended to find her again, with a view to more photos and a decent measure up for a full set of drawings. Did this for Ongarue a few years ago for the Wanganui Riverboat Centre. Let me know if your interested in my adding Otunui to my list of upcoming drawings. No rush, as the list is a little long at the moment. Still finishing off the ps Manuwai drawings.
Will try to come by later in the year
cheers
kiwi

[kiwimodeller]

Peter, I presume you know that there is a nice photo of Otonui in the latest New Zealand Today magazine? The editor, Alan Dick makes a very godd job of cruising around the country picking up little snippets of tourist info and things for Kiwis to see and do. Cheers, Ian.

[otunui]

Hello Ian,

No I didn't know, and  thanks for the heads up. I knew Alan had been through (several times) so great to have a photo of the Otunui in "Today".

Cheers, Peter

[otunui]

Hi Folks,

For your information, the 1907 Otunui Paddleboat has now moved to Tauranga, in New Zealand. she's running up the Wairoa River from Waimaino Adventure Park.

Peter.

[Mr Bee]

Hello,
Re the picture of Otunui as Tangahoe above; while I can't say how the boat looked in the 1940s, I can attest that it looked like this in late 1963, when I took the photo with my then-new Kodak Instamatic 100 camera. It was my second trip up the river by road, the first being in 1961 as far as Hiruharama (Jerusalem), but on subsequent visits we travelled the rest of the gravel road all the way up to Pipiriki. I'm sorry I can't tell you exactly where the boat was moored but I am certain it was just before Hiruharama.

 I hope this helps with a little of the boat's chronology.

Regards,

Peter, Brisbane, Queensland.