Tahiti Ketch

I am happy to have discovered a forum that is shared by people who are interested in the preservation and enjoyment of wooden boats. I live in Australia and am in the process of buying a 42' L.O.A, Marconi Rigged Tahiti ketch named "Serenity" which is lying at a Marina in Fiji. She is a pretty rundown state and I intend sailing her to Australia and restoring her to something like her "former self" I believe she was built in 1960 at a yard in Boston MASS. Is Mahogany planked with a coachouse and interior also of Mahogany, Teak decks etc.....I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this old beauty? There may be previous owners I could contact out there etc etc. If anyone is interested I will get some pictures organised and post them along the way. I am going to be looking for some good advice as it starts to get under way so hopefully this might be a good resource for Serenity and me!

 

Welcome aboard Terry

from another Aussie.

I'm a sandgroper in Sth West WA.
I'm also a timber miller & cabinet maker / joiner, so happy to provide any advice thats relevant when the need arises.

As it happens - I mill & kiln dry Swan River Mahogany (Jarrah) (used in a lot of West Aussie carvel style hulls), however my log contract with the Govt expires in Nov this year - not likely to be renewed, so if you anticipate needing anything MAJOR like one piece keel in mahogany etc then for goodness sakes let me know early and I'll put something aside for you.

I also mill and kiln dry a lot of West Aussie sheoke, for the commercial boat building trade - tuna longliners, cray boats and liveabard charter boats in the Kimberley etc. Mainly used as fancy trim for cabins, berths, bunks etc etc. Again - same thing - if you anticipate needing anything let me know well before Nov and I'll put some aside for you.

Sent some sheoke to a fella restoring a yacht in Sth Oz earlier this year, not that hard to find backload space cheap on a truck across the nullabor from here usually.

Sounds like you have yourself a project and a half there in front of you.

There is a crowd here in WA (Fremantle) called the wooden boatworks - located in the "E shed" at the Fremantle wharves, who ALL build / restore wooden vessels - conduct classes etc etc...might be a handy contact for you, maybe do a web search and see of you can get in touch.

Best of luck with it - be nice to see a photo or two of her.

Cheers!

 

Nice to hear from you mate, sounds as though you are just the type of person I might need. I shall certainly make use of your "Swan River" Mahogany if and when the need arises. I spent the first year of my Naval "career" at HMAS Leeuwin, in 1970 and went for my first sail in a whaler on the Swan. I also had the pleasure of cruising over to Garden Island fairly regularly, when the only Naval buildings were old huts that we would camp in for the weekend and the only company was a mob of "Kwokkas" (If spelt incorrectly please forgive me, it was a long time ago)
I shall get some pictures and post them on this site soon, thanks for the tips re the E shed.
TerryOz

 

I don't have any great advice to give you at the moment, but I always love to see an interesting project unfold. So as your project progresses, please do post some photos here in the forums and/or in the gallery - that would be great!

Welcome to the forums

 

Welcome Terry, I look forward to seeing the project develop

 

serenity

we only saw your message today ... but we probably know about "Serenity", at a time we were looking for a "Carol ketch" ; we were in contact with Larry Sipe. Too far for us any way ... but we found one in France and we were surprised that you called her "Tahiti ketch" !
If you are still interested, we'll be very happy to talk about John Hanna's marvellous boats. But hurry up !!! ... because we'll live on board in three months without computer facilities.
Living in France for the moment before sailing around the world, we hope that our english is not too bad ...
looking forward to hear from you
Mireille and Michel Pellerin

 

A necessitated change of "plan"

Michel and Mireille
Nice to hear from you, as you can see by my header, there was a change of plan....Serenity was returned to the water after a fairly long period on a slip, when released from the travel lift she was left unattended overnight and she sank to her caprails, there is an ongoing argument between Vuda Point Marina
and Larry about compensation and repairs. This effectively put me off and I didn't go ahead with the purchase. However a month ago I found a similar vessel in Sydney and recently sailed her to Pt Adelaide in South Australia, where she was originally built in 1949. Named "Setanta" she is a 44'LOA double ended Ketch, described as a "Bailey" design. She is planked (1 1/2") in an extremely rugged Australian hardwood called Jarrah, on six inch Jarrah centres, an extemely strong old girl! Bermudan rigged, with varnished Oregon masts and spars. We had a good introduction to her whilst sailing her home, in that we struck some pretty heavy weather in some treacherous seaways (particularly Bass Strait), but she proved to be eminently seaworthy and felt very safe. She is in much better condition, new Hood sails with a furler mounted Genoa, a recently installed 38hp Yanmar Diesel, a complete new Mahogany and Beech interior, all new rigging etc etc. Of course she was a lot more expensive than "Serenity", but I do prefer the Jarrah (very highly rated boatbuilding material) to the Mahogany hull and of course I would have had to spend a lot of money to bring Serenity her up to par. I would have liked the challenge, but am enjoying the sailing, as Setanta is in a maintenance cycle as opposed to needing a big restoration!
If you like I can get a picture to you, but I am sure you know what she looks like. I hope you take the time to answer this and let me know about your boat and your trip!
Thanks
Terry

 

Tahiti Ketch caught my attention. My father, naval architect Weston Farmer,
was instrumental in the original publication of the plans for Tahiti by John Hanna when Dad was editor for Fawcett's "MODERN MECHANICS" magazine.
Over the past couple of years I've been disposing of his nautical library that was left to me on his passing. In his files I find photo copies of the original
article that appeared somewhere around the year 1930. If these would be of interest to you, I'd be pleased to send them to you for the reimbusement of the postage. In any event, happy sailing.

John (Mike) Farmer

 

Much Appreciated

John
What a great thread to receive, I would be honoured to have a look at these photocopies and anything that you may have of interest. My Email address is martor@picknowl.com.au perhaps you can contact me there
Thanks again
Terry O'Riley

 

Official boat noodler

Terry - - tried the e-mail address you sent me (MARTOR@PICKNOWL.CO.AU)
And since no return mail to date, presume I didn't get through. Need your postal address for mailing.

John Farmer
remraf65@intergate.com
56241 Highway 41
Calumet, Michigan, U.S.A.
Zip: 49913

 

I own also a beautiful Tahiti ketch in a very good shape built in France in 1974 .My co-owner and I intend to maintain her in as well as possible,We are looking for archives ,we agree to exchange informations with you.
Bernard Vignon and Jean Pierre Boissel LYON France

 

I've been trying to help my friend Gregory sell his beloved Sequestor which led me to the study of other wooden boats on the Sausalito waterfront which led to the publication of a book called the Sausalito Wooden Boat Tour. Now Sequestor is becoming quite famous, but she is still dancing around her mooring trying to attract a new fella. At $19,500 she is a steal as it would cost someone a great deal more to restore or build this boat, besides Sequestor has the most romantic lines of any boat in Sausalito. I don't understand why she hasn't sold, but when she does there will be a big part of me that will miss her very much.

She needs a set of sails and engine hook up, but otherwise aching for a trip - She's never been outside the Golden Gate!

Take a look at photos and survey at www.butterflute.com/tahiti_ketch.html

 

Nov04- I've just discovered a "Tahiti Ketch" (TK) laying in Florida. She is fiberglass with alu. masts and a 20hp yanmar diesel, don't know the year yet. I call her a TK because I am one of those those kids that saw them all over the Pacific when I did my time as crew and skipper for private yachts in my 20's.
So does anybody know much about the FG boats, who may have build them and does anyone have fairly detailed photos I could look at and come up with a concept as to how to redo her interior?
The present owner has spent a good amount of time in cleaning her up so re-assemble is more the mode I'll need to take to bring her back up to sailing condition.

 

Got any measurments of this boat?

Bill H.

 

Hi Terry This is Karl Shearer I built a tahti ketch 30 ft I have some pictures I can send you if you would like to see them My E Mail is tahitiralik@msn.com