The wooden Motor Boat 172 was built by the Garden Island Dockyard in Sydney in 1937 as a District Officer's Boat. After serving in Papua New Guinea throughout the Second World War, the boat returned to Sydney where it was used as a Senior Officer's Boat, transporting senior Royal Australian Navy officers and VIPs from ship to shore and around the harbour. Decommissioned in the late 1980s, stripped of usable equipment, and placed in storage, MB 172 was later restored by apprentice shipwrights at Australian Defence Industries in Ryde and donated to the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Photos taken 27 October 2014
Displacement: 10 tons
Length: 11.88 metres (38.97 feet)
Beam: 3.48 metres (11.41 feet)
Draught: 1.22 metres (4.0 feet)
Propulsion: 6-cylinder Volvo Penta TAMD 41 diesel, 125 kW
Construction: Carvel, spotted gum planking and frames, teak cabin