South Pacific II, the 75-foot timber motor yacht built by Norman R. Wright & Sons and launched in 1962 as “Beryl May”, returned to the boat builder’s Brisbane headquarters in early 2023 for 18 months of upgrades and refurbishments for its new owner.
South Pacific II Photo from Peter Jennings
South Pacific II is considered one of the standout vessels from Norman R. Wright & Sons over their 15-year history. In the 1950s, Ronald Wright, already an experienced boat builder, completed a university degree in Naval Architecture to become Queensland’s first Naval Architect. With a team of naval architects, boat builders and apprentices on their team, the family-owned business continues to operate as specialists in wooden boat building, while embracing the latest techniques, materials and technology in construction.
For most of her life, South Pacific II operated as a popular fishing charter boat in Moreton Bay and the Whitsundays. In 2017, when a new owner took over – only her second – South Pacific II underwent a refit at Norman R. Wright & Sons to replace the decks and install a new galley.
This latest project is much larger in scope and comes after the owner has spent a few years enjoying the boat and devising a wish list of features to make her the ideal cruising motor yacht, blending history and contemporary comfort.
The complex project involves repairing some structural damage, repowering the vessel and reconfiguring the engine room, deck remodelling to include extending the main deck, replacing the roof and adding a composite awning, replacing aluminium and installing through-hull bow stabilizers, new interiors with saloon and galley upgrades, rebuilding the accommodation below decks including a full-beam master stateroom, guest cabins and ensuites.
It’s a massive and complicated project, and Tony Riek, Managing Director at NRW&S says the shipyard was chosen for its specialist skills.
Lorraine Duckworth, ATL and David Fussell on-site Wright’s
“Because of the boat’s history and connection, they always come back to us – that’s part of the ongoing life and relationship with Norman R. Wrights.
“The owners are familiar with our high-quality work. This is a specialist job and no everyone can do it. Our experienced boat builders are working with our apprentices showing them the craftsmanship and combination of traditional methods and cutting-edge engineering that go into a major project like South Pacific II.”
For a wooden boat like South Pacific II, timber is part of its character and authentic appeal. But for longevity, durability, strength, UV resistance and light-weight characteristics, composites are ideal for certain sections of the vessel.
“We use composites for optimising the structure where it makes sense to keep the boat light and strong. We favour the long lifespan of composites for the above deck installations. Particularly for the pins where strength is required for the through-hull stabilizing fins, for the stress points where the davit is placed and to reduce the bulk on the awning.
“Retrofitting the latest Humphree fin stabilisation technology into a vessel that was designed and built over 60 years ago was certainly always going to offer some structural challenges.” noted Nicholas Cossich from ATL Composites.
“The only real path forward was a detailed ‘first principle’ engineering analysis to ensure effective fin load dissipation, which included consideration of the many failure modes seldom encountered in modern vessels – such as timber rolling shear.
Both internal and external orthotropic carbon fibre epoxy laminates were ultimately chosen to encapsulate a section of the hulls’ existing 40mm spotted gum planking, thereby offering the most structural effective solution for transfer of each 3 tonne fin load. The choice of KINETIX, WEST SYSTEM and G-FLEX epoxy systems ensured tenacious secondary adhesion to even these most difficult to bond timbers and the carbon fibre strain rates were perfectly matched to the planking, frames and stringers.
The design, timber choices and quality craftmanship of the Norman Wrights & Sons boatbuilders of the time undoubtedly made what was already a complicated engineering task that much easier. It is very apparent that this legacy of perfection continues to this day and is part of the current highly skilled team of boatbuilder’s DNA, resulting in the seamless integration of old and new vessel technology.”
Because of the size the restoration project, ATL also supplied from Techniglue epoxy adhesives and KINETIX laminating resins, through to a custom built DuFLEX/Foam cored 6m roof top extension and deckhead. High density inserts, CNC routed from DIAB’s DNV Approved PY250 foam core were incorporated into the panels to optimise stiffness, and to facilitate quick and easy installation of hardware fastenings.
In February 2025, Norman R. Wright & Sons will exhibit at The Australian Wooden Boat Festival, 7 to 10 February in Hobart, Tasmania, sharing a stand with ATL Composites. On display as testament to their proud tradition of precision craftsmanship will be the superlative dinghy, called “Zest”, which Director, David Fussell, restored to mint condition.
There will be several other wooden boats built by Norman R. Wright & Sons on show among the more than 450 vessels on display. The Festival also comprises 100+ exhibitors and 250+ performers, speakers, authors and chefs over the four-day event which attracts more than 60,000 visitors.
“It’s a show we look forward to every two years and one that is ideal for celebrating the enduring appeal of wooden boats, the craftspeople who build them and the owners and admirers who appreciate them,” said Tony Riek.
”We have been working with Norman R Wright and Sons, for close to 40 years,” notes Lorraine Duckworth, ATL Composites. ” Beginning with WEST SYSTEM epoxy and our TECHNIGLUE Structural Adhesives in the early days, through the introduction of lightweight cores and building techniques in the 90’s and 2000’s, to the current commercial vessels which are built with our high performance DuFLEX full-sized component packages. The team at Wrights are a very talented, and dedicated, group of boat builders, designers and engineers, who have always delivered the highest quality vessels– from tenders to superyachts – and it has been a privilege to be involved in their projects.”
