Boating New Zealand — December 2017

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fastened to the planking and the vessel was literally pulled from of its

glass cocoon.

Maid of Honour reached the Bosphorus on a container ship in early 2015,

to be re-built and eventually displayed among the other objects. Heading the

restoration team was shipwright Mike Summers, helped by four locals.

Trained in England by the late Peter Freebody (probably the UK’s best

restorer of runabouts), Summers had worked for Koç for years and had

recently restored a 1962 Riva Florida (hull number 508). But unlike the

Italian runabouts, Maid of Honour’s restoration was very complicated because

very few parts could be salvaged. The boat’s original plans had disappeared –

despite Summers trolling through the archives of the Royal Navy and HMS

Hood Association – and the shipyard that built her no longer exists.

So Summers ordered a laser-scan of the vessel and her lines were re-faired

with the help of a naval architect. From these, new moulds were created.

After countless measurements and photos, she was dismantled down to the

bare keel.

A new, two-layer mahogany hull was painstakingly fitted over the new

moulds, and a new oak fore-foot and apron were laminated and fitted

into place. Oak timbers were steamed and riveted in place, with two larch

stringers added each side. Laminated oak floors added much-needed

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