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NEW ZEALAND

MOTOR SIDE WHEELERS



MPV Waipa Delta

Built in 1985 and sailed on the Waikato River from Hamilton until 2009 but moved to Auckland 

The latest information (2026) is that the ship is out of service and laid up out of the water at Taupo

Photo courtesy of Hamilton City Council who have put this photo into the public domain via the Wikimedia project



MPV Otunui

Seen in 2008 near Paeroa Maritime Museum. Photo by kind courtesy of Phil Barnes

MPV Tamati 

The small privately-owned Tamati uses the 1902-built hull of a propellor boat of the same name and is 32 feet long. Rebuilt as a paddler and relaunched in 2001 by new owner Dave Hindman, she was put into service on Lake Ianthe. Shre is now owned by Colin and Gloria James and operates out of the Historical Maritime Park at Peoroa on the Waihou River, North Island.   

OLD ENGINES PUT TO NEW USE

In Queenstown, the engines of the former paddle steamer Antrim (built in 1868) continue to operate the Kinloch slipway which is still used by the screw steamship Earnslaw (coal fired, built in 1912) which appeared on Lake Wakitpu eight years after Antrim was laid up. Antrim was finally dismantled in 1920. 

A second historical paddle steamer on Lake Makitpu was Mountaineer (1879-1932, scrapped in 1941)

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