BACKCOUNTRY TRUST - Supporting Aotearoa's Backcountry Heritage
  • Home
  • Grants
    • Apply
    • Guidelines
    • Claims, Payments and Reporting
    • Resources
  • Projects
    • Latest News
    • Volunteer Projects
    • Kaimahi for Nature Projects
    • Photo Gallery
  • About
    • Booklet
    • History
    • Trustees
    • National Operations Manager
    • North Island Project Manager
    • South Island Project Coordinator
    • DOC
    • Sponsors
    • Donations
    • Performance Report
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Subscribe to Newsletter
  • BCT Owned Huts
    • Mataketake Hut
    • Winchcombe Biv
  • Home
  • Grants
    • Apply
    • Guidelines
    • Claims, Payments and Reporting
    • Resources
  • Projects
    • Latest News
    • Volunteer Projects
    • Kaimahi for Nature Projects
    • Photo Gallery
  • About
    • Booklet
    • History
    • Trustees
    • National Operations Manager
    • North Island Project Manager
    • South Island Project Coordinator
    • DOC
    • Sponsors
    • Donations
    • Performance Report
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Subscribe to Newsletter
  • BCT Owned Huts
    • Mataketake Hut
    • Winchcombe Biv

SAYER HUT

3/2/2023

 
Tararua Forest Park, Wairarapa – 6-10 September 2022
Picture
sayer hut team September 2022
Some guess Field, others think Cone, but no, the oldest hut in Tararua Forest Park is actually Sayer Hut.

​Built in 1907 by the Sayer family, who used to run cattle on Tōtara Flats, this rustic hut has stood in place for more than century, albeit with many modifications over the decades. It was there when the Tararua Tramping Club formed; it was there when members of a missing tramping party wandered past, oblivious to the hut, in the infamous Sutch Search of 1933.
 
In a nice turn of history, members of the Sayer family recently did a marvellous job of re-cladding the hut, helped by a grant from the Backcountry Trust.
Picture
sayer hut interior
​Richard (‘Dicky’) Nicholas Sayer built the hut during 1907 at a location west of its present site, on the banks of the Waiohine River. In about 1945-47, the hut was dismantled and rebuilt on the present site by Leo Sayer, who feared a change of the river’s course was going to threaten the site (which didn’t eventuate).
 
The hut is maintained by members of the Wairarapa Branch of the New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association, which includes several Sayer descendants. In the BCT restoration team was Dickie’s grandson Paul Sayer (aged 75), great-grandson Barry Sayer (63), great-great grandson Kane Sayer (49), and great-great-great grandson Rex Pender (32). Quite the family affair.
Picture
arriving at tōtara flats
They reported: ‘While the hut got a new chimney and new roof in recent times, the external cladding was long overdue for renewal, so Dicky Sayer’s descendants set about organising the materials and logistics.’
 
‘Early spring in the Tararua Ranges is always a risky choice, but the availability of Kane (a builder) and Rex (a roofing contractor) drove the decision to choose this season. Jason Diedrichs and his team at Amalgamated Helicopters provided transport, working around unsettled weather that had left snow on the ridges. Fortunately, most days worked out fine enough to allow a full 10 hours of work.’

Picture
east face before re-cladding
Picture
east face after new cladding installed
​‘The first job was the laborious task of stripping the old iron sheet cladding, which soon revealed the historic hand-split tōtara cladding beneath. We took care to ensure that only a certain amount of the working face was exposed to the elements, as a lot of fiddly building and steel work was required. Nothing on the original structure was square or plumb!’
Picture
the exposed old tōtara cladding
‘We strengthened the tōtara slabs by fixing them to the frame with heavy-duty purlin screws. Afterwards, we fixed treated structural ply over the slabs, which in turn was covered with building paper. The final cladding was corrugated Colorsteel, with numerous bespoke flashings also required.’
Picture
​‘We also made such running repairs as fixing a leak behind the walls in the sink water supply, reconstructing a collapsed waste pipe, and re-shaping and re-cutting the drainage channels around the perimeter. The eastern window needed to be removed and re-installed to accommodate the new cladding, and a rotting sill replaced. We also replaced the Clearlite on the eastern face.’
Picture
new ply
​‘We found some interesting relics and signs amongst the old cladding, but left these hidden for future generations to rediscover.’
Picture
Picture
​‘The entrance porch also received some attention. We replaced an old plywood shelf with a with a tōtara ledge and a hand-hewn tōtara packer inserted behind the flashing to give the entrance some symmetry.’
Picture
the team at the hut entrance
​‘Kane also made a substantial macrocarpa table top, inlaid with a piece of tōtara routed with ‘Sayer Hut 1907’. This was fitted adjacent to Les (Hoppy) Hooper’s memorial plaque, an ideal place for that last beer as the sun goes down behind Cone Ridge.’
Picture
new tabletop
​‘A few weeks later, over Labour Weekend October 2022, Paul and other Wairarapa deerstalkers constructed a new woodshed, water-tank stand, bench seat and tōtara step (in the porch), and also replaced the Clearlite above the entrance.’
Picture
before and after north face
​Grateful thanks from the BCT to Paul, Barry, Kane and Rex for such a fabulous job.
>Go Back to Project List

Comments are closed.

    Projects

    March 2023
    February 2023
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    June 2018
    March 2018

Quick Links

SUPPORTED BY

Apply for a Grant
Donate to the BCT
View Volunteer Projects
Latest News
Remote Huts Forum and Blog

Picture
Picture
Picture
© BACKCOUNTRY TRUST 2019
Subscribe