ELECTRIC CONVERSION FOR CLASSIC KETCH
BY JAMIE LOONER O
ne of the best ways to take in the panoramic beauty of Lake Taupo and the renowned Maori rock carvings is on the water. The 13m Barbary, a classic wooden ketch built in 1926 and once owned by the Hollywood actor Errol Flynn, has taken visitors out onto the lake for over 28 years.
Her extensive history dates back to 1905, when her hull was first designed in Scandinavia by Colin Archer. She was launched and raced in California and Flynn is said to have won her in a card game in 1938. She cruised the world until 1945 and arrived in New Zealand from Fiji in October 1947 under the command of a Captain DK Matheson after an 11-day passage. In 1951 she was purchased by H Davies and in 1973, after a refit, she joined the Greenpeace anti-nuclear protest to Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. In 1976 the Barbary broke her moorings in Auckland and was wrecked. Between 1981 and 1983 Taupo identity Bill Dawson salvaged and restored her and gave her a new life cruising Lake Taupo for over 28 years.
Jamie and Sarah Looner purchased her in 2011 and gave her a full refit, including installing an electric motor. She is now New Zealand's only commercially operated electric yacht. Jamie says the idea to convert the Barbary from diesel to electric was an easy one to make. "If you know the lake, you will know the wind conditions are not always favourable, and therefore the need to motor on our scheduled cruises would often see the old 55hp Perkins doing her share of the pushing," he says.
MY Barbary
"We did not enjoy running a smoky, noisy old engine while we were trying to show off some of New Zealand's most beautiful natural landscapes. When the opportunity came to shut down the diesel engine you could see the customers physically relax." Trying to find an electric equivalent that was built to last was a tricky task, says Jamie. "The internet is full of backyard alternatives but for a commercial situation we needed a proven and reliable alternative." They finally settled on a EP-4000
20kW electric unit produced by Elco in New York. "Elco say this engine is equivalent to a 40hp diesel, but my own tests show this unit is more powerful than the Perkins by a long way." Downwind on a good day the old diesel could just manage seven knots. "The same conditions with the EP-4000 and we see a solid 7.4 knots."
48 Professional Skipper March/April 2012
VIP.S68
