On a Sunday in June of 2006, as I set off kayaking with a mate on Sydney Harbour, I made a mental note of a semi submerged timber launch lying on a mooring some distance from us. Later that day, as we returned from our paddle, I made sure we took a diversion around said distraction. Littered with notices of intended removal and birds nests on top and a prize- winning crop of oysters underneath, we were looking at the sad, dying remains of what we made out to be a clinker fishing boat named "Toby II".
Apart from its absence of engine, the mooring line lying through the rotting foredeck and the long since expired registration led us to believe that Toby II had not seen a day out for many years and its final steps of its imminent removal would be its last.
"Sad... it looks like it was once a beautiful boat" were our closing comments as we paddled back to the shore. So, naturally, on the way home, I couldn't help but leave my phone number with the relevant authority and was surprised by a phone call from the owner in the following week.
Within hours of the making the transaction, the trailer was connected to the car ready for a rescue mission which would extend late into the night. At this time, Toby was literally hours away from sinking in the deep, dark waters of middle harbour. After this point, a salvage attempt would have been near impossible given the weak state of the wreck.
My first trip on Toby was, bucket in hand, standing knee deep in oily water and debris as the boat wallowed and lurched toward the boat ramp in the pitch black of a cold June night. On its final legs, we nursed the wreck up onto the trailer using a strap around the whole boat as the foredeck was too weak for winching.
As I drove north towing my newly purchased two-tonne oyster farm to Lake Macquarie I found myself glancing in the rear view mirror and muttering those all too familiar words: "What have I done this time!"
In the first few months back home, day after day was spent scraping, and sanding the boat removing oysters, mussels, flaking fibreglass and paint.
The restoration, was extensive. Some of the major hurdles included replacing the timber log through which the stern tube passes, rebuilding the keel section around the propellor and re designing the engine mounts and surrounding floor to support a new diesel engine. Toby's hull had been previously sheathed with fibreglass and needed redoing under the waterline to repair many punctures and splits where it must have bounced on the rocks in its past life. A new colour scheme, portholes and a mast were among the finishing touches to the makeover.
After two long, but rewarding years in between university study and a work stint interstate, we relaunched Toby II in March 2008 just in time to celebrate at the local "Heritage Afloat" festival. It lives with us on Lake Macquarie, near Newcastle on the NSW central coast.
Since launching, Toby has not sat still, venturing to the Bellinger River, Port Macquarie, Brisbane Water, Sydney Harbour and even a recent epic offshore adventure- a return trip from Lake Macquarie, up the coast to Newcastle for the Newcastle Maritime Festival. As for his biggest adventure yet, Toby is registered for the 2009 Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart.
Toby ll is a 1950s 20ft clinker- style timber launch, sheathed in epoxy and powered by a 20 hp Yanmar diesel. Little history is known, however we suspect, given her lines, a previous life as a navy work boat may be possible.
