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Much of Laughing Lady’s structural rebuild has used sapele
mahogany, but James’ trawl through TradeMe also produced some
useful – if unorthodox – pickings for the brightwork.
“We found a large beam of mahogany which we used for the
cockpit. But I must sheepishly confess I also bought a few old
dining room suites. he sellers weren’t always impressed when
I mentioned I’d be cutting them up!”ENGINES
Laughing Lady was originally powered by a pair of 150hp, 356
cubic-inch, straight-eight Packard petrol engines. Gardiner
swapped these in the late 80s for a pair of 165hp, six-cylinder,
turbo-charged Volvo diesels – weighing half as much.
hey’d only clocked up 150 hours before the boat’s unfortunate
trip to San Diego. Still, James opted to have the Volvos completely
overhauled, and says the team of specialists who helped to get the
engines running were fantastic.
“Hadlee and Lachlan at Auckland’s Ovlov Marine wereabsolute legends. hey helped with sourcing hard-to-ind parts –
both secondhand and new – and ofered advice freely. Pakuranga
Radiators and Vermont Radiators both have huge experience
with Volvo cooling systems.
“Torbay’s Diesel Injector Services has got to be the friendliest
injector and fuel pump specialist in Auckland – and Steve Murch,
at Motorsport Engineering – is a turbo guru. When it came to
cranking the engines over for the irst time in years, a specialist
Volvo mechanic from Matakana Marine was hovering nearby for
my peace of mind should something go wrong. Incredibly, both
engines ired up after a short crank and ran beautifully. hey
power the boat to about 28 knots.”
Laughing Lady, says James, will be used as a family day boat,
and perhaps for some ishing. he original bronze games chairs
have survived and, after re-chroming and re-upholstering, are a
dominant cockpit feature.
She’s alluring, sleek, mysterious – and if you listen carefully, over
the purr of the Volvos you might just hear the lady laughing again. BNZ