Reborn jet boat's a show stealer

Photo / Supplied

One of the world's earliest jet boats, now magnificently restored, will be a star attraction at the coming Auckland boat show.

Jet boats are not a huge part of the boating culture in Auckland. However, in many other parts of the country they have played a huge part in the development of the pleasure boating lifestyle.

The jet boat, as we know it today, was developed by Bill (later Sir William) Hamilton at Irishman Creek Station in Canterbury in 1953 and 1954. HamiltonJet units, now refined beyond belief from those early experiments, can now be found on waterways throughout the world, often powering gigantic ferries, naval ships and commercial workboats in an astonishing variety of environments. (On a recent visit to the HamiltonJet factory in Christchurch, I was literally dwarfed by a pair of gigantic jet units, about to be shipped to Korea).

Aucklanders, and those who make their annual pilgrimage to the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show from further afield, will get a rare chance to appreciate the uniquely Kiwi story of the development of the jet boat when the boat show opens in Greenlane on May 12.

One of the major attractions of this year's event will be the Hamilton Jet Experience. Featuring a unique collection of the boats, jet units and images that have helped create of the great New Zealand marine success stories, it will be real "don't miss" viewing.

There will be several very special boats on display. These will include the original Jet 50 (built in 1958 and one of the first to conquer the famous Colorado River); the Jet 33 (the sea-going version of New Zealand's most popular jet boat during the 1970s) and the Jet 73 Mexico (a very popular racing boat during the 1970s and a favourite of the Sultan of Brunei. A mysterious old Hamilton Jet boat recently discovered in Auckland may also make an appearance.

However, the undoubted star of the display will be the historic 1950s jet cruiser, Aurora.

Aurora dates from the very dawn of the birth of jet boating. Not only was she built using one of the very first commercially produced jet units, the Quinnat, she was also the first jet boat ever to grace a North Island waterway.

Aurora was built by Gisborne mechanic Bert Grundy. He took the sixth Quinnat jet unit ever built (only seven were made) and installed it in a home-built 20ft (6.1m) glass-over-ply hull.

Aurora thus has another claim to fame: she is the first fully fibreglass jet boat anywhere in the world.

As a mechanic, Grundy had access to the latest engines and technology. He chose to power Aurora with a MkII Ford Zephyr block, using triple carburettors, a home-marinised exhaust and a cunningly crafted heat exchanger system using copper tube inside a large hosepipe. It might sound horribly old-fashioned now, in these days of EFIs and ECMs, but in 1955, Aurora would have been one of the flashest boats in the country.

Based at Lake Rotoma, Aurora was used primarily for recreation and waterskiing on the lakes around Rotorua. In the late 1950s she also competed against outboard and inboard powered boats.

In October 1956 Grundy demonstrated Aurora on Gisborne's Turanganui River and he made such an impression that she appeared in a major spread in the Gisborne Photo News.

Grundy tinkered with the boat over the years, adding first a curved splash rail, then a wraparound windscreen and, soon after, a removable cabin roof and a new single-piece sliding engine bay cover.

Then in the early 1960s, Grundy seemed to lose interest in his creation. He moved on to new adventures and Aurora was put in a shed. There she stayed, unused and untended, for about 43 years ...

It is a fate far too commonly suffered by our history making craft - found only when they are beyond repair or sadly, not even then.

Aurora, however, was one of the lucky ones. In 2008, a friend of Grundy's sister, Doreen, contacted HamiltonJet's publicity officer, Tony Kean. Bert Grundy had passed away. Doreen didn't know what to do with Aurora or with No Miss, another classic jet boat owned by her other brother, Arnold. Her friend suggested that HamiltonJet might be interested.

Kean travelled to Lake Rotoma and to Tauranga (where No Miss was stored) to see the old jet cruisers and confirm their authenticity. He also had the chance to look at photographs and a film of the boats in action during the 1950s.

Inspired by the originality and character of both boats he convinced HamiltonJet management that they were of historical significance and worth preserving.

Aurora and No Miss were transported to the HamiltonJet Marine Division workshop in Christchurch, where No Miss was put into storage. This left the restoration team free to concentrate on getting Aurora back to her original glory.

Like most of these projects it proved far more difficult than it had appeared at the outset.

Not only was the team one of volunteers who had to work around their jobs, they also had to decide how much to keep "as original" and how much to "tidy her up".

In the end, the project took the best part of two years and Aurora had her first public outing at the 2100 Jet Expo on the banks of the Waimakariri River in February, 2010. The following week she was put in the HamiltonJet test pool so the engine and jet could be run up and tuned.

Then, on February 25, Aurora was launched into Christchurch's Lake Roto Kohatu. It was the first time she had been afloat in 46 years!

A month later, she was "officially" relaunched at the New Zealand Antique & Classic Boat Show at Lake Rotoiti near Nelson. To no one's surprise, she was awarded "Best Jet Boat in Show".

In just over a week, on May 9, Aurora will enjoy another milestone. Tony Kean will break his journey to the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show and take Aurora back to Lake Rotoma. There he will reintroduce the historic jet cruiser to Doreen Grundy and, weather permitting, take her for a spin on the lake where she, her brothers and Aurora once spent so much of their leisure time.

Aurora

LOA: 6.1m

Beam: 2.1m

Displacement: 1000kg

Construction: fibreglass over ply

Engine: Ford Zephyr MkII (triple carbs)

Waterjet: Hamilton Quinnat (serial No6)

Pump speed: 5000 litres/min

Speed: about 19 knots (35km/h)

On display: Hamilton Jet Experience, Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show, ASB Showgrounds, May 12-15