M
CN Shipwrights, small though it is, is as international a
company as one can imagine, both in terms of its
personnel and its current projects. Proprietor Marco
Scuderi was born in Sicily in 1974 and joined the Italian
navy at the age of 15. In 2002 he married a Kiwi and, after completing
a PhD in Maryland he stayed in the USA to enrol at Alexandria
Seaport Foundation to start a boatbuilding apprenticeship which he
subsequently fi nished at Salthouse Boatbuilders in New Zealand. It
was in 2008 that he started his own company in Helensville just north
of Auckland: “exactly the opposite corner of the world” to his
birthplace. He works mostly alone but he does have one part-time
employee. Originally from Japan, Jiro Tabaru spent time working in
Paraguay before he, too, married a Kiwi and moved to New Zealand.
At the time of my visit in January, Marco had three projects at
various stages of completion and another about to start. Barbarella- a 1969 Riva Superaquarama – seems to be as well travelled as Marco
and Jiro. Built in Sarnico, she spent time in Monaco, Lake Tahoe,
Norway and Hong Kong before fi nding her way to New Zealand. Over
a period of fi ve years – “it took two years to fi nd the right timber
which is Cedrello” – Marco has extensively rebuilt her and has
installed two rebuilt Crusader 454 engines. Marco was in the process
of lavishing her with multiple coats of varnish when I was there.
The 26ft motor boat Eileen Patricia was designed and built by Kiwi
Arnold Couldrey in 1933. At some point in her life she had been used
as a ferry and her coachroof had been considerably extended. When
she arrived at MCN, the sheer strake and much of the deck and
superstructure was rotten, and so Marco has renewed almost all of it
to the original design using New Zealand native kauri for the
coamings. Below the sheer strake the hull was mostly in good
condition apart from the stem which had to be replaced, and for
An NZ yard with one Italian and
one Japanese boatbuilder
CROSSING
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MCN SHIPWRIGHTSWORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS NIGEL SHARP