Kotuku

LAUNCH YEAR: 1923
LENGTH: 28'
DESIGNER: Unknown
BUILDER: Robinson Bros
OWNER: Noel & Coleen Nicholson

 Kotuku is a 28 foot double skin kauri launch built by Robinson Brothers Boat Builders in Rotorua in 1923.  She has a beam of 8'6" and a draft of 2 ft.  Her early uses were varied and interesting, she operated as a tourist launch out of Okawa Bay and was used for lake weed spraying around Rotoiti. 

 Kotuku was purchased by Jack Bloomfield of Auckland sometime around the 1930's. She remained in the Bloomfield family of Gisborne Point for 3 generations.  

 Kotuku was originally powered by an Ailsa Craig Marine Engine that required cranking to start.  She was re-powered and had a major refit when the cabin was altered in the 1950s.

 A Grey Marine 6 cylinder engine was installed at that time and for a long period of time she was housed, maintained and serviced by a Mr Harris at Otaramarae.

  In the 1970s she was sunk in her boatshed when youths tampered with the water intake, but was refloated without permanent damage.

  During a refit in the 1980s she had a Volvo Penta 140HP motor installed and had a major upgrade of her propeller shaft and rudder. 

March 2005 she was taken to Tony Mitchell's boat building yard at Otaramarae, Lake Rotoiti where she was given a complete refit before her re-launching in October 2005.

Previous owners were Alec & Verene Buchanan