Onkel Fidi

(Etak / TeVega's original tender / launch)

Since April 1993, there is once again an ONKEL FIDI, probably the smallest compared with its predecessors. We are talking about a motor boat built by us under the yard no. 12140 and delivered on March 15, 1930. She is 7.3 meters (24’) long and has a beam of 2.03 meters (6 8”). ONKEL FIDI was ordered by the KRUPP-GERMANIA shipyard in Kiel as an owner's tender for the 40 meter (132’) schooner ETAK, onboard which she was carried on deck in davits. The contract for the boat was awarded on October 31, 1929. As could be found in archived documentation for similar vessels, only four drawings were drafted: general arrangement, lines plan, construction drawing and midship section. Unfortunately, we were only able to find again the offer's general arrangement. At that time, propulsion was provided by an American 50HP KERMATH petrol engine.

The boat must have had a stirring past until she was rediscovered as a LÜRSSEN boat by our representative in the USA on the basis of the yard number plate. She had been used for passenger excursions under the name of HARBOR PRINCESS and had the necessary license of the State of California (see photo).

This was very astonishing, because the 62 year old boat after her purchase and delivery to Vegesack, Germany (near Bremen) showed such large hull weakness, that recommendations for her further utilization could not be made without an extensive overhaul.

After a painstaking inspection of hull, deck and propulsion machinery Friedrich and Peter Lürβen decided to make her seaworthy and to restore her such that the yard could display her as a nostalgic object.

The wooden hull is carvel-built and consists of two layers, the inner layer is 6 mm (2.4”) cedar and the outer 10 mm (3.9”) teak riveted to oak frames. Almost all frames were broken and in the stern, together with the floors, were rotten so that only the leaky plan- king formed connection to the keel. Since the wood of the hull was sound, with the exception of longitudinal splits in the inner skin, it was decided not to renew it and only the frame timbers and floors were newly made and glued in the hull with epoxy- resin. Epoxy has the advantage, when compared with CIBA- glue that also larger seams can be strongly connected and was ideal for our case. It allowed splits in the hull to be filled and, with a thinner consistency, seeped between the outer and inner skins supporting the old rivet connections by adhesion. With this treatment, and above all through the gluing of the frame timbers and floors, the previously unsound hull was restored to its original strength.

The hull was additionally treated with a layer (two layers under- water) of fiberglass roving.

After renewing the decks, repair of the deckhouse, painting and mounting of the chrome plated fittings, the boat radiates her old LÜRSSEN quality. With a newly installed 60 HP VOLVO diesel motor we achieved a respectable 14 knots and proved the designers could draw very good lines in their time.

It must still be mentioned that our apprentices, above all those from the boat building branch have helped to bring this interesting work to a successful conclusion and thereby keeping a piece of yard history alive.

Heinz Waltemath

Source: Die Bugwelle 22/93 - the company magazine of LÜRSSEN FR. LÜRSSEN WERFT 28759 Bremen, Germany

TeVega / Etak was built in a yard that is now part of the HDW ship builders group.