Dream boat debuts on river | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

After seven months of hard yakka, Baldwin Adventure Tours owner Robert Baldwin's dream boat, the Adventurer 2, has taken its maiden voyage.

The $400,000 boat, co-owned by Jos Ebben and Bob Harris, was lowered into the Wanganui River yesterday morning in front of a crowd of about 400 onlookers.

Mr Baldwin, the boat's skipper, said the 19.5m, 13.6 tonne boat was built from the ground up based on 20th century river tour guide Alexander Hatrick's best upriver boat the Wai-Iti 2.

Although the boat is based on the Wai-Iti 2, Mr Baldwin said he had made a few changes to the original design, including widening the hull by a metre.

The tunnel-hulled boat was powered by a 127hp modern version of the original Gardiner engine, he said.

"The first run was good. There've been a few small teething problems, but nothing major. You can't build a big boat like this without something going wrong."

The boat is capable of holding 49 people, who will be able to travel to Taumaranui on the Whanganui River in future, he said.

To start, Mr Baldwin said they would be taking day and overnight trips up the river to Ranana Marae and The Flying Fox, beginning in a few weeks after he had finished testing the boat.

"For now, we're just trying it out, making sure everything is going properly. I think I'm going to have to change one of the pulleys."

Adventurer 2 co-owner Jos Ebben said the craft was a dream came true for Mr Baldwin.

"It's been his dream since I've known him. We started off egging each other on [to build the boat], and neither of us backed out ,and it kept going."

• For more information about tours on the Adventurer 2, contact Baldwin Adventure Tours (06) 342 4874.