Mike O’Byrne (left) and Kevin Purser have bought the beginnings of a luxury cruiser boat that a Whanganui man had been handbuilding for 10 years. Photo / Eva de Jong
Mike O’Byrne (left) and Kevin Purser have bought the beginnings of a luxury cruiser boat that a Whanganui man had been handbuilding for 10 years. Photo / Eva de Jong
A dream boat being built by hand by a Whanganui man, who died before finishing it,has been saved from the scrapheap by a pair of strangers.
Bulls-based Central House Movers owner Mike O’Byrne and workmate Kevin Purser were tasked to shift the massive vessel from its purpose-built shed at the Whanganui Port.
For O’Byrne, the fate of the boat immediately tugged at his heartstrings.
“I just looked at it and thought there’s no way a guy could spend 10 years of his life building it to that stage, and then see it cut up and turned to scrap – he’d turn in his grave,” O’Byrne said.
For years, former Whanganui Port manager John Blaikie had watched Castlecliff man Tony Irvine devote all his time to building his dream boat – a 22.5m pioneer luxury cruiser.
The boat has a twin-engine hull with about four cabins below deck. Photo / Eva de Jong
Blaikie used to visit him during the evenings at the shed, where Irvine was welding the steel cruiser by hand and obsessively making sure there was not a single ripple on the smooth hull.
“He was so meticulous that he wouldn’t employ anyone, they would never be good enough. So he built it on his own,” Blaikie said.
“He would have been there every day – except Sunday – for 10 years, from 8.30am until six at night, working away on his own. He rolled every bit of steel himself.”
Irvine died in 2017 before completing his vessel but the bottom of the ship had been crafted, with a twin-engine hull and about four cabins below deck.
Earlier this month, when shifting the vessel to make the shed available for Whanganui Port management, O’Byrne decided to make an offer on the boat.
“It was too good a deal to pass up,” he said.
The boat is being stored in the Central House Movers' yard awaiting further work. Photo / Eva de Jong
O’Byrne and Purser plan to finish building the steel-hulled boat and take it cruising around New Zealand, and possibly around the world.
From his previous job owning a charter boat and working in commercial fishing, Purser has extensive boating experience.
He said the craftsmanship of the vessel was flawless: “It’s unreal.”
Blaikie said Irvine had planned to build two boats and use the funds from the sale of one to then be able to live on his dream vessel.
“It’s luxurious. When it’s finished, it’ll be a top-quality gin palace,” Blaikie said.
“He was a perfectionist.”
It took five people with heavy machinery to shift the boat on the back of a large truck from the Whanganui Port to where it now rests in the Central House Movers’ yard.
