Tauhara was named after Mount Tauhara, close to Taupo.It means "The one that stands alone"

  
           
 

Tauhara is designed by Van der Stadt and built by Max Carter in Auckland. She was originally built as a yawl with a keel hung rudder. She was built in three layers of kauri over stringers and temporary frames

 

The deck and the interior were built by Frank Mills

  
   
           
   
  To create more headroom in the main cabin, the original sheer line was raised about 200mm at mid ships point reducing to nil at the bow, thus creating a step in the deck.    
  In 1983 the underwater configuration was changed to a skeg hung rudder, to improve the steering. Also the helm was replaced by a wheel.  
           
  This is how we found Tauhara. She was for sale in an Auckland marina. Even though it was not the sort of boat we were looking for, there was something with the lines that made us look further. Also the construction of the hull was very impressive.

 Obviously some changes would have to be made

  
   
           
  We bought Tauhara with the idea to just go sailing with her and time would tell what changes we would make. We sailed her for about a year and were very impressed with the seakindness of the hull, a Van der Stadt trademark.

She was fast enough in higher wind speeds, but did not move in light airs. This meant we have to put more sail on her. It resulted in the new mast being 3 meters taller than the old one.

We could not see any way in improving the layout other than doing a total rebuild. That was what was decided and what we did. Check the rebuild page!