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1937. First
owner: Elsie Isabel Smiley, Vancouver, BC. September 10, 1937
New vessel built by C. Cholberg, Cascade Harbour, BC
I am told it at one time was
responsible for delivery of mail and supplies to coastal British Columbia
communities. Originally equipped with a Gardner 3L2 diesel engine and
a Kitchen rudder,
she was christened kit-gard. Kitchen rudder did not stand test of time,
but original Gardner 3L2 still powers her today.
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1945 Edward Normal Liersch,
Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC. November 20, 1945
This is the original Form No.
9 Transcript of Register, Canadian Registry of Shipping.
It was updated
in 1945 to reflect the conversion to a yacht.
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1952 Hugh MacDonald Wilson,
Victoria, BC. September 29 1952
Converted from a working vessel
to a pleasure vessel, the vessel today looks almost identical. Rumoured
to have been used by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club to tow sailboats out
to the winds.
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1956. William H.
Power and Gwendolyn E. Power, Victoria, BC. October 9 1956 |
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1960. G. Cecil Walkey
and H. Margaret Walkey, Victoria, BC. August 1 1960 |
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1976. John Douglas
Clarkson (MD) and Mary Louise Clarkson, Victoria, BC. April 1 1976 |
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1980. Christopher Andrew James
Mills and Shari-Lynn Bondy, White Rock, BC. November 1980
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1986 Shari-Lynn
Bondy, Tofino, BC. January 30th 1986 |
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1991. Ben Ronnenbergh
and Nicholas Grant Kowall, Tofino, BC. October 22 1991 |
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1994. Kevin Douglas Pegg, Tofino,
BC. May 31 1994
Kitgard had spent many years
in the west coast of Vancouver Island, and was in major need of repair.
Between 1994-1996 extensive restoration was completed. When purchased,
the interior had been gutted and was awaiting possibilities.
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1996. Victoria,
BC. Relocated to Victoria. Restoration continued. |
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1998. Hull and cabins
repainted to the original white colour. Green looked good, but was very
hard on the wooden hull with the high temperatures from absorbed sunshine.
There's a good reason most wooden boats are white. |
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1999. Full rebuild
of 1936 Gardner 3L2 Diesel Engine. This was a complete rebuild! Crankcase
was machined true, new babbit bearings hand-formed and hand-scraped to fit.
Cylinders were very true so a quick buffing. New gaskets purchased or hand-made.
New parts included: timing chain, valves, valve springs, gaskets, piston
rings, bearings and head bolts. Extensive spares were purchased including
gaskets, valves, injectors sufficient to keep the engine running for many
more years. |
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2002.
Haulout. Since owning Kit-gard, there had always been a copper patch on
the forward starbord hull. In 1999, travelling to Seattle in the night,
I ran into a broken away log boom at full throttle 8 knots. It brought 16
tonnes of boat to a stop nearly instantly. I nervously watched bilge pump
lights and all was fine. But since then, there was some leakage and it was
time to fully investigate what was under the patch. Job started by chipping
away and removing 2,000 lbs of ballast by hand one bucket at a time so that
we could get to the frames. The planking was good, so we sistered some new
oak frames in there and gave the hull a full paint job. |
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2010.
Gardner 3L2 running video. |
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