102 Boating New Zealand
TOP LEFT Susan and Stephen
Harland-Smith – it’s all about
preserving a family heirloom.
LEFT The forepeak – homely and
warm in varnished timber and
scarlet upholstery.
RIGHT New hatches aid ventilation.
FAR RIGHT Prominently positioned,
the chartplotter offers immediate
navigational updates.Jane onto the bricks some years ago.
Thanks to her solid construction there’d been no sign of
damage at the time. Robertson had built Plane Jane with triple
skin, glued kauri planking over laminated ribs at 150mm
centres, with three bilge stringers either side of the keelson and
transverse keel floors. While the use of numerous laminated
ribs rather than the more typical longitudinal stringers is very
time consuming, it does provide tremendous extra strength.
To repair the damage, Robertson’s rebuilt the entire keel and
mast step area with new deadwood, keelson, laminated yellow
cedar floors and a longer, stronger mast-step. The upper keelson- jarra – is also new and while most of the original monel
keelbolts were retained, some were replaced with 2205 stainless
bolts. They also reglassed the entire hull, a big job in itself as the
boat was sitting upright.