After a two-year long labour of love, Tom West has launched his replica model of the tug Warringa into the ocean near Eden's slipway.
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Tom Reckons he had a lot of fun building the replica tug.
"It was awesome," he said. "I really enjoyed it!"
Mr West - who worked as an engineer on the real-life Warringa from when it arrived at the Port of Eden in 1992 until his retirement in 2007 - cannot even guess how many hours he devoted to building the replica.
"It's not something I worked on every day or even every week," Mr West told the Magnet on Thursday.
"My wife Heather and I would go away caravanning and then we'd come home and I'd have to catch up on all the work around the front and back yards, and then I'd go out to my workshop and do a bit more on it.
"But they say it takes almost as long for one man to build an exact replica of a ship as it does for a team of men to build the real thing," he said.
The radio-controlled replica - a 1:24 scale plywood model measuring almost 1.3 metres, or 49 inches, in length - was painstakingly reproduced from plans borrowed from the original vessel.
"I've build models from kits in the past but this is the first one I've made from scratch," Mr West said.
Before the replica's ocean-going maiden voyage it was first tested in a specially-built tank and then in a friend's backyard swimming pool.
It now takes pride of place in the rumpus room of the West's Eden home.
FOOTNOTE:
The real-life Warringa is still on the market but her sister vessel, the 36-year old, 40-tonne tug, Bulimba, has been sold.
Svitzer Eden marine manager Steve Heffernan confirmed the sale to the Magnet on Thursday but declined to reveal any more, saying the final details were yet to be finalised.
The Warringa was built for Adelaide Steamships in Launceston in 1977, and operated out of various locations on the eastern seaboard including Sydney and Port Kembla, before arriving at the Port of Eden in early 1992.
Meanwhile, the 50-tonne tug Edwina is still undergoing preparations ahead of her maiden operation at the port in about a week's time.
Mr West says he cannot put a monetary value on what is most likely destined to become a family heirloom.
