A KIWI KNAVE IN CANADA
BY KEITH INGRAM
O
nce it might have been said that to export boats to North America was a bit like taking coals to Newcastle. Not any more, its not. New Zealand's Stabicraft Marine recently delivered nine custom 659 Wheel House
vessels to Alaska where they will be used as observation boats to monitor the gill net fishery and the fishery's interaction with sea mammals and sea birds. To now be followed by Bladerunner Boat's latest research vessel Knave.
Built by Bladerunner Boats in Kumeu, the 9m hydrofoil supported catamaran is one grunty little vessel that can be transported on its own fifth wheel, purpose built to Canadian specs, aluminium trailer.
And to ensure that the export tax requirements were not breeched the trailer was loaded onto one of Boat Haulages' transporters before the boat was lifted on and secured to its new host trailer. The load was then shrink-wrapped before transport to Tauranga where it was duly loaded with no fuss, destination Halifax, Canada. We caught up with Knave while she was doing her owner acceptance sea trials out of Auckland's West Park marina where it was a pleasure to meet the owner Kenneth Keeping, the director of Maritime Survey Services based in St Johns, Newfoundland. I say it was a pleasure, because clearly here was a young fella with a science education having a go and in doing so had committed both he and his wife along with their young daughter to a venture into the unknown against what many would regard was the preserve of traditional science big boys. So how did it all start, we asked. "I guess for starters my girlfriend at the time and I moved to Australia in 2007. We lived
12 Professional Skipper May/June 2012
The main control and helmstation
