1957 Walshirt 53 Bridgedeck: One Man's Boat

Sir Theo Kelly worked for Woolworths for 51 years, rising from stock boy to managing director and acknowledged as one of the leading businessmen in the country. But while business consumed his weekdays, boating consumed his weekends -- and now his nautical mistress is seeking a new lover.

Kelly built one of Sydney's most famous houses, Tahiti, on the shores of Hermit Bay in Vaucluse -- and at his private mooring at the bottom of the garden floated his pride and joy, the 52ft (15.85m) Wallace Shirt-designed flybridge cruiser Kuleena, a classic timber gentleman's cruiser from the post-war period.

Kuleena was built by Wal Shirt at his Mortdale shipyard and launched in 1957 and originally named Slowcoach. At some later date she became Kuleena, although intensive searches by her current owner have failed to discover where the Aboriginal-sounding word came from.

Kelly, who retired in 1979, kept Kuleena for 30 years and lavished enormous attention on her. For many years, he had a retired Norwegian shipwright living in his boathouse whose job was to keep the timber vessel in perfect condition.

Retired Sydney businessman Richard Tooker purchased Kuleena 15 years ago and has rivalled Kelly in the attention he has lavished on the boat. But as Tooker is planning to sail around Australia, he has bought a new 53ft fibreglass power catamaran for the trip and Kuleena is on the market.

"She is a beautiful boat but at her age it wouldn’t be fair to subject her to the seas she would face around Australia," Tooker told BoatPoint, "I still take her from Broken Bay up to Port Stephens or down to Sydney Harbour regularly but in a big sea you can hear the timbers in the deckhouse creaking."

"I’ve basically lived aboard her for the past few years; I go down on Wednesday after golf and come home on Sunday. When I’m not aboard, I’m thinking about what I can do next."

Tooker has used Kuleena for family holidays and entertaining and the boat is in beautiful condition and is fully equipped -- down to details such as 18 lifejackets for visitors under the new Maritime regulations, and 11 solar panels to keep the banks of eight house batteries and eight starting batteries fully topped up when at anchor.

It is hard to think of what a new owner might have to take aboard. The boat has 27mhz and VHF radios, depth sounder, autopilot, an eight-man liferaft, a Markham Whaler dinghy with 3.3hp outboard, a 406 EPIRB, two automatic electric bilge pumps and a Mastervolt 8kva genset.

The hull is built of Oregon carvel planking nailed and roved to hardwood frames and her twin 135hp Perkins six-cylinder, fresh-water-cooled diesels give her a range of more than 500 nautical miles at seven knots. The engines use just 4.5 litres per hour each. The engines, which were last serviced in December, have 1621 hours on the clocks.

There is accommodation for up to eight people but more than four adults and four children would make things a bit tight. There is a large double master cabin in the stern, twin bunks in the middle cabin and four bunks in the forecastle.

The master suite is panelled in Queensland maple and the island bed is joined by a side table and a dressing table. There is ample storage and good views and ventilation from the large side windows.

Moving forward, there is the double bunk cabin to port and a full bathroom with shower, vanity and electric toilet to starboard. A short flight of stairs leads up to the large and open saloon. There is a comprehensive galley to port, a dining area and the interior steering station.

The galley has a domestic-sized steel sink, a four-burner stainless steel stove with oven and grill and a microwave. A new electric/gas fridge-freezer was recently fitted. There is also an electric deepfreeze in the rear cockpit and a smaller solar/battery fridge on the flying bridge.

It is worth taking a look at the steering wheel in the saloon to gauge the love that has been put into this boat. Tooker didn’t like the spokes on the original wheel so he set about designing and building a circular wooden rim for the circumference. There isn’t room here to describe what efforts he put in but he proudly says there is "not a screw or a steamed bend" in the finished product.

Forward of the saloon there is a four-bunk cabin and a second electric toilet.

The bridge is reached by a flight of stairs from the saloon and offers a huge entertaining area. There is also a dining table and lounge that can convert into a double bed for balmy summer nights.