After 17 years of faithful service, our support boat Te Ruru is heading off for maintenance.
Te Ruru came out of the water this morning at Evans Bay to be derigged and shipped to Morris Metals in Seaview. Morris Metals will repair some known pitting corrosion behnd the pontoons. They will also lift the deck plates and inspect for any further corrosion in the bilges and repair as necessary. WIth the deck plates up, we will be able to properly inspect the fuel system for the first time in many years.
Red Hot Marine will then service the engines, repair and update steering and fuel system parts, install a horn,
completely rewire Te Ruru, and undertake other minor repairs and maintenance.
The New Zealand Community Trust has generously given us the funds we need to replace Te Ruru’s pontoons. These have been ordered, and hopefully will be delivered before opening day.
Some new upholstery will finish off the project.
While its unfortunate timing that that this needs to be done while we are also fundraising for earthquake strengthening, we couldn’t risk damage to Te Ruru or injury to our volunteers resulting from Te Ruru not be ship-shape. Te Ruru and our volunteers are vital to our ability to run a challenging and enjoyable sailing programme.
We’ll keep you all updated on progress over the next few weeks.
