Kaiapoi Maritime Heritage Trust Blog

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This Blog will be a portal for all news about the Kaiapoi Maritime Heritage Trust and its activities

The M V Tuhoe Engines

December 2020

This year the Kaiapoi Maritime Heritage Trust agreed to loan the New Zealand Vintage Machinery Club the Wheelhouse and the engines from the MV Tuhoe five years after the ship ran aground at the Waimakariri River mouth in 2015.

These engines were built in the USA in the late 1930s by the Atlas Imperial Diesel Engine Co and designed to develop 120 HP at 650 RPM which made them ideal to power generating plants with hundreds being placed around the Pacific during WW2.

After the war many small ships ended up with them in and Tuhoe was no exemption having these two fitted in Townsville Australia on her way back to NZ after War service in the Pacific in 1945.

However now in storage with the New Zealand Vintage Machinery Club who intend to strip them down following them being in salt water and in time they intend to have at least one of them running in a proposed new engine shed soon to be constructed at their McLeans Island site.

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  • The Loss of the MV Tuhoe

    30 September 2015 The Waimakariri District Council Mayor, David Ayers, expressed sadness over the loss of the MV Tuhoe. He said the  MV Tuhoe is part of what made Kaiapoi unique and will be sadly missed following the irreparable damage to the vessel from her running aground on Sunday 27 September 2015. “It has been very upsetting to everyone, particularly the MV Tuhoe Kaiapoi Rivertown Trust, and those closely associated with the Tuhoe over many decades. There are few river towns in New Zealand that would have a vessel of this size docked near their town centre. No one on board wanted it to end this way. It is a sad and difficult time for everyone, and the Council extends its heartfelt and full support to the Trust and to all who have crewed her and maintained her over the years”, he said. The Trust had to face the difficult task of watching the vessel being deconstructed, and thoughts then turned to the possibilities of creating a feature on land to acknowledge the Tuhoe. Mayor Ayers says that the Council and Kaiapoi Community Board would actively consider ...

  • Visit to New Zealand Vintage Machinery Club

    Recently some members of the Trust visited the New Zealand Vintage Machinery Club in Christchurch. The trust members were genuinely impressed by what had been done with the MV Tuhoe relics and we are very appreciative of the time and effort that the machinery clubs' members have made. There is still a lot of work in progress which is ongoing and this involves a lot of time, effort and finance to achieve a desirable outcome.  

  • Isa Lei

    1 March 2017 The Isa Lei, the former pilot boat for the MV Tuhoe, has been hoisted into storage so that the body of  the boat can be worked on for repairs. Cradles are being built for the boat so that volunteers can prepare for undertaking the maintenance.
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