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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
32 osmosis issues, the Stewart Association eventually made it compulsory to employ an independent fibreglass consultant, Mike Menzies, to supervise the lay-up of Stewart’s hull and decks. Menzies expertise largely solved the osmosis issue, but added an additional $500 to the cost of each boat. At the time Stewarts were evolving from wood to glass, the New Zealand government, in its infinite wisdom, imposed a 20% sales tax on the yachting industry,elevating the price of a new boats to the point that they became unreachable to all but a few,and sendingthemarineindustryintothedoldrums. Despiteallthis,thefirstfourfibreglassStewarthullanddecks,producedbyRoger Land, sold very quickly. With no more firm orders, production was halted and the moulds went into storage at Alan Reid’s yard on Hillside Road. Don Brooke,an accomplished racer and well known yacht designer,spotted the Stewart 34 moulds in Reid’s yard in late 1979 and thought to himself that he would love to have a Stewart 34. He negotiated with Bill Miller to use the moulds so that his company, ExportYachts could build Promise. Some months later, Jim Lawry became owner of Export yachts, and Don Brooke remained as a director. Lawry negotiated an agreement with the Stewart Association to build fibreglass Stewart 34’s to the class specifications. Soon after, well-known Auckland yachtsman Richard Endean assumed the position of sales manager at Export Yachts Ltd. Endean was an excellent salesman,and aided by publicity for the boats created by the CitizenWatch Match Racing Series,sold 14 additional hull and decks over the next three and a half years. Endean felt that balsa-core boats were stiffer than those built of solid fibreglass, so he prepared detailed plans and specifications and submittedthemtotheStewartAssociationforapproval. Theywereapproved,andallsubsequentfibreglassStewartswerebalsacored. It was not all smooth sailing for the growing fleet of fibreglass Stewart 34’s. All of the first four Roger Land-built hull and decks weighed in slightly above the 3000 pound minimum specified in the Stewart Class Rules. On the other hand,all of those built by ExportYachts came in an average of 194 pounds too light despite having a firm contract stating that the hull and decks were to be built exactly to class specifications. It is not known if the yachts were built lighter than the specified weight in order to increase profits, to please owners who wished to have advantaged boats,or both. Regardless of ExportYacht’s reasons,the challenge of equalising these under-weight boats with their heavier predecessors is one that remains to present times. In retrospect, the Stewart Association say that they should have weighed these boats immediately upon completion and rejected any boat constructed by ExportYachts that was not exactly to specification. Instead,theAssociation under pressure from the new owners compromised by allowing owners of underweight boats to equalise with lead weights permanently fixed into the hull and decks. Obviously this has required a tremendous effort on the part of the Association and their measurers to police the problem. One owner actually borrowed the moulds to build his own Stewart 34. Passion,built by the reputableAuckland boatbuilder Mick Cookson weighed in very close to the class specifications,just 28 pounds over the minimum specified weight,demonstrating that it was certainly possible to build the hull and decks out of fibreglass to the Class Rule. KenAllen,the instigator of the idea to allow fibreglass boats into the class returned to Stewart racing in 1983,and decided to build a brand new Stewart 34. In an ironic reversal of course, he spurned fibreglass in favour of wood. His ultra-light flyer Pendragon would prove to be the lightest and fastest Stewart 34 ever built,but her significant departure from Class Rules would also make her arguably the most controversial. Eventually nineteen fibreglass Stewart 34’s were built, the last one being Pindaric which was launched in 1985. Unfortunately, Coastal Yachts wasn’t a profitable venture. Despite the continued success of the Citizen Watch Match Racing Series, the departure of Richard Endean from Export Yachts coincided with the lack of any further orders for Stewarts and the company was wound up. In 1986 Bill Miller gifted the moulds to the Stewart Association. No further boats have been built since, but on a few occasions, the moulds have been used to facilitate the repair of collision damage, and recently the wooden Stewart 34 Pukka Sahib was fitted with a fibreglass deck taken from the mould.