Barbary in Boating NZ July 2012 - Lake Taupo

Feature Jumbo Barbary White restoration
electri
Heading
20 Boating New Zealand July 2012

A silver screen connection takes Barbary into the future.
Barbary has already survived several
lifetimes, and now the 44-ft (13.4m) Colin
Archer ketch is embarking on another that
connects her to her most famous owner.
Jamie and Sarah Looner bought
Barbary in March 2011 and since then, in
one short year of frenetic work and planning, the vessel
has been revived, refurbished and repowered to meet
the clean, green future head-on.
Jamie and Sarah both came up through the
waterborne hospitality industry – he as a class IV Master
and she as nurse/stewardess – and their work brought
them together aboard a charter yacht. The couple
gave up the sailing lifestyle in the Mediterranean and
Caribbean to return to Jamie’s New Zealand homeland.
Their first project was the building and managing of
a budget accommodation business in Whitianga on the
Coromandel’s east coast, and the second was buying
and operating a café at Mount Maunganui. The next
plan was to do some overland travel and possibly get
back to sea in the future.
But sailing intervened more quickly than they
planned when they learned that Barbary was for sale at
Lake Taupo. The historic vessel was an icon of the Great
Lake, taking passengers on sightseeing cruises. It didn’t
take long for the Looners to make their decision: Sarah
loves boats and Jamie claims to have salt water in his
blood. When he was 12
his dad sold the family
home and bought a
yacht to go sailing
in the Pacific. Jamie
sailed with his dad
for three years and
became besotted
with the sea and all
things sailing.
Barbary was
built in California in
1926 and was raced
hard early in her
Errol Flynn
life. Legend has it that in 1938 the famous screen
star and romantic hero Errol Flynn won the yacht in a
card game. Barbary was later purchased in Fiji and then
sailed to New Zealand in 1947. She cruised the waters
of the Waitemata Harbour and coastal New Zealand for
many years, and in 1973 she made a name for herself
as part of the Greenpeace fleet that sailed to Mururoa
Atoll to protest against the French Government’s
nuclear testing programme.
In 1976 she was wrecked in a storm near Auckland,
and that’s where she languished until Bill Dawson
rescued her, restored her and put her on Lake Taupo.
“The old girl had worked hard as a charter boat on
c
dream boat
Words Dorothy Preece Photos Sarah and Jamie Looner
0712518
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Sarah and
Jamie Looner
with their son
Patrick
the lake for nearly 30 years,” Jamie Looner says. “She was
well-known and well-loved, but she needed a complete
overhaul and a lot of TLC.
“With so much in her past, as well as so much potential,
we knew if we took the job on we had to do it right.
“The ideas were flowing even as we looked at her. With
our combined backgrounds of sailing and hospitality,
Sarah and I were pretty sure we could fit the boat out to
do justice to her history. At the same time we planned to
make her unique.”
They decided to make Barbary the first electric yacht
to work commercially in New Zealand and, perhaps
influenced by her film star history, they fitted her out with
a big screen so she is now also New Zealand’s first and
only floating cinema.
When the couple started to list all the renovation
required, it was more a case of what didn’t need fixing
than what did. They found a home for Barbary at the local
dry dock and began systematically stripping her down to
the bare hull and deck.
Very early in they decided to replace the noisy old
diesel engine with an electric propulsion unit and
cleaned 30 years of grease from the hull in anticipation.
They resealed the teak decks and sent the brass
portholes away to be polished. Dale Boat Builders
checked the carvel-planked kauri hull for soft spots and
completely recaulked the planking. The whole boat was
then painted inside and out, including masts, before she
was refloated.
“Once back in the water it was time to tackle the
interior,” Jamie says. “The heads were a pressing issue.
The boat had a portaloo, which is fine when you’re back
on shore every night. The problem was it had to be tilted
to get it out of its restraints!”
The couple installed a new electric toilet which now
discharges to a large holding tank.
The Looners were determined to keep the classic
boat feel with as much polished timber as possible.
They installed rimu floorboards and made hardwood
galley bench tops, treating them with plenty of two-pot
varnish in anticipation of the catering they planned to
do. The chest freezer, capacious fridge and microwave
were all necessities.
Sarah and Jamie are in the business of sailing but their
passengers get to handle the boat whenever possible.
“No-one wants to turn on the engine in a sailing ship,”
Jamie says. “It disturbs the peace and offends the ear. But
every sailor knows it’s inevitable.
22 Boating New Zealand July 2012

0712212
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“There is a sacred atmosphere on Lake Taupo, with a
pristine mountain back-drop. We wanted to make sure that
our engine would not be intrusive or foul the air in any way.
“We decided to go for an all-electric system, starting with
the Elco ep4000 electric propulsion unit. The motor is built
with components widely used in fork-lifts, and the fact of
easily obtainable replacement parts was paramount for us.
“It involved a complete rewiring and recabling of the
boat’s systems, lighting, radios – everything. We have an
inverter running the 240-volt systems, including the big
screen for the movie cruises.”
Jamie says topping up the batteries is never a concern as
Barbary is tied up and connected to shore power every night.
However he has made the galley removable so that he can
access the bank of 60 two-volt cell batteries if necessary.
Barbary’s impressive battery bank is contained in an
airtight box. Air is forced through it to prevent the build-up
of fumes and then vents to the outside, and an automatic
float system supplies distilled water to the batteries
and can top them up in five minutes at the turn of a tap.
The battery charger is also automatic, and the charging
programme can be changed using a laptop computer.
“This engine is as eco-friendly as possible, with no
noise, no smells, no vibrations and definitely no regrets
on our part,” Jamie says. “Under power, Barbary has a
maximum cruise speed of 6.8 knots. She can travel at 5.0
knots for up to 12 hours on her battery bank.”
Sarah and Jamie admit they have taken a huge gamble
with Barbary.
“The refit wasn’t cheap, but the result is something
we can be really proud of,” says Jamie. “We’ve done our
homework and along the way we have discovered some
amazing, problem-solving, innovative suppliers in the New
Zealand marine industry.
“It’s early days yet, but we like to think that we
and a lot of our suppliers are leading the way to really
conscientious, clean, green business for New Zealand
and we’re enhancing the romance and the magic of our
pristine environment.”
Manufacturer of Southern Boats and Lazercraft Boats & also Specialising in Custom Builds over 8m
0712207
24 Boating New Zealand July 2012

“There is a sacred atmosphere on
Lake Taupo, with a pristine mountain
back-drop. We wanted to make sure
our engine would not be intrusive or
foul the air in any way.”
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subscribe online at www.mags4gifts.co.nz/boating-nz 25