"R. Tucker Thompson" was started by Robert Tucker Thompson and his son Tod. Tucker Thompson was born in California and always called Tucker. He and his family emigrated to New Zealand in January 1971. After a few years he moved to Whangarei Heads. In 1977, he started work on the ship with his son, Tod. Tucker became ill in 1978, and died later that year at the age of 49. By this point, the plating was almost complete, but the hull lay there for some years before Tod decided to work on it again. In a chance meeting, while working in Whangarei on the "Bounty" replica, Tod met Russell Harris and the pair went into partnership to complete the ship.