The Titiroa is launched on the Waiau River
million dollar catamaran in 15 months. She was launched and sea-trialed in Wanganui at the end of last year. Then came the major challenge of getting her down to Doubtful Sound. The Titiroa weighs around 55 tonnes, is almost 24m in length and 7.5m wide, so once she had travelled by sea to Bluff, via a refueling stop at Lyttelton, she was lifted out of the water and had her wheelhouse roof and propellers removed so she could be transported by road.
Significant planning and engineering was necessary for both the road trip and her launch at Lake Manapouri because there are no established launching facilities.
"It was something of a logistical nightmare, a bit like carting a whale out of water – the forces are against you," said Hawkey. "I think it's probably the largest thing to move on these roads since the power station was built.
"New support structures were designed and fabricated in close conjunction with Incat Crowther for the transportation loads exerted under the tunnel of the vessel, which was only designed to be supported by her twin hulls." The transport company, Scobies Transport, brought a self- levelling trailer for the project. Real Journeys' general manager of engineering, Brian Humphrey, said the trailer was invaluable. "It provided a level platform that smoothed out the bumps, minimising undue stress on a hull that was not designed to take it."
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12 Professional Skipper March/April 2012
As part of the minor design changes, the top section of the wheelhouse was built to be able to separate from the main section of the hull. This was a precaution for the road transportation. However, when the details of transportation were finalised, it became clear that even with her top removed, the Titiroa was going to push the boundaries of maximum allowable heights, so it was an over-height and over-width load from go to whoa. The vessel was transported from Bluff to the lower Waiau River (just above the Manapouri Power Station control gates) in just over 10 hours on the last possible day before the New Zealand Transport Agency prohibited large loads from being transported on roads during the Christmas break. "If we hadn't transported her on this day we would have had to wait until January 20," said Brian. Both Real Journeys' engineering teams from Bluff and Te Anau were involved in the launch, which took place south of Manapouri near the Mararoa Weir. Downer provided civil support to the launching by levelling roads and creating a smooth, flat and firm pad for the trailer and cranes. The Titiroa was launched using a combination of support on the trailer and two 100 tonne cranes supporting her stern until she became buoyant. To add to the challenge, Fiordland was experiencing one of its driest Decembers in recent history, while Meridian Power required greater power output from the station, and the lake and river was low and getting lower.
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VIP.S86 PHOTO BY LAWRENCE CHRISTIE
