John Eichelsheim for Boating New Zealand Magazine. Today we're aboard 'Waka Tere.'
A 12.5 metre custom Rayglass, that divides it's time between the
dry stack at Orahms in Auckland and Waiheke Island.
So no shortage of power on this vessel. A couple of 5.3 letre
Yamaha V8 outboards. It's good for about 43-44 knots.
She really gets along. The special thing about these is they have
the new Optimist Steering System. Which allows the motors to move independently.
So I'd like to introduce Matt Jackson from Ovlov Marine. Matt's been
very involved in this project right from the offset. I'd really like to ask
you Matt about this Optimist System. Thanks John.
The beauty about the system is the
mamovability of the boat. Being a dry stack boat and been at this length, it was
quite technical to move it in and out of the stack.
Not only is it fully electric power steering.
Also eliminates the need for hydraulic hoses running up to the helm.
Installation is fairly quick. What we originally got it for was the joystick steering.
Joystick allows full movement of the boat, just at your fingertips.
So you can crab sideways, then in circles. It also has the advantage of the
Sea Station virtual anchoring system. So we can hold position,
and also can hold heading, at the same time.
So the helm console..It's relatively compact. Everything is within easy
reach, and more importantly it's easy to see. We've got a 12 inch the latest
Raymarine 12 inch Axiom Multi function display. We've got a Raymarine auto pilot.
Data display here. Also the latest Yamaha instrument cluster there as well.
That's all digital. The whole system is digital so there's nothing
nothing analog here at all. We've also got a helms control here,
so that you can swap them between various ways of steering this boat.
The cockpit island here is a custom-built piece of kit
It's a one off. Made especially to the owners
specifications. It's a multi- purpose piece of gear it's got a
sink in here, there's a place to prepare food etc. If you're staying in the boat
overnight, it's also somewhere to house the gas bottle for the gas cooker.
He also keeps the little outboard motor for the dinghy that
normally sits on the bow, that's kept in here as well.
So a great piece of kit. Purpose built just for this boat.
So this vessel has multiple purposes, the owner uses it for several things.
One of its functions is to take people to and from his home on Waiheke Island.
So it's used as a taxi. When it's used in that capacity the dinghy that normally
sits on the bow here, he'll use that to take him to shore from the boat.
Then he has another boat, a little sea legs which is called: 'Waka Tere Ete.'
That's used to transport any gear that he might have, and people from this boat to shore.
With that in mind he has a mooring at the island so he's got a
permanent mooring line up here on the bow. A really heavy duty... all of the
stainless work is custom for this particular boat. One of the problems
they had with this boat was in order to fit it into the dry stack, they needed to
make sure that it wasn't too tall. So they really had to work very very hard
on how they positioned everything. Particularly the the radar dome, and the
fleur on the hardtop roof. There was very little clearance and this is actually
the largest boat in Orhams dry stack at the moment, at twelve point five meters.
Now most Rayglass's even the smaller models, would have a bow thruster in this
position here in the bow. But because this has the optimist steering system it
doesn't require a bow thruster. As a result they've got this huge locker
space up forward which is a very useful place to store all kinds of gear.
So the owners will overnight on this boat sometimes.
There's plenty of room in here to sleep 2 or even 4 people.
We've got a couple of ordinary bunks at this level.
Then we've got two Pipe Berths above. There's a head behind me.
No shower in there, but there is a shower in the cockpit.
So we've got a pretty decent little galley here.
A little four burner hob here.
Plus an oven underneath, and a grill.
This is all gas of course.
We've got an electric 12-volt Isotherm electric fridge.
The owner also has a gas BBQ that he likes to put on the transom. On a nice day.
So there you are, that's the largest of the 'Waka Teres.' As you can see
it's a pretty special vessel. It's something I'm sure the owner will enjoy
immensely and it's a vessel that I think people in
Auckland are going to get quite used to seeing.
John Eichelsheim from Boating New Zealand.
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