Mark Greene has towed many boats in distress to shore, but until Wednesday had never been on the receiving end.
Mr Greene's boat, St Brendan, was towed in to Waikawa Marina about 5pm by a water taxi after the dry exhaust under the deck caught fire, causing lots of smoke to billow out of the engine room.
The software support technician from Mana, near Wellington, had spent a few days in the Marlborough Sounds with his wife, son and his son's partner showing his son's partner the area.
The family were planing to stay at Ship Cove and wait for favourable weather and hoped to get across Cook Strait by late Wednesday night or yesterday morning.
Mr Greene had owned the launch, which is insured, since 1983. It was about 40 years old.
His wife and his son's partner opted to catch the ferry to Wellington, which meant a return trip to Picton.
On the way to Picton Mr Green noticed smoke coming from the engine room and stopped to let the engine cool down.
He checked and sealed the couplings underneath the deck twice and was confident the boat would make it back to Ship Cove.
Leaving Picton and crossing the entrance to Waikawa Bay Mr Greene noticed more smoke so he stopped again to check what the problem was, and found the smoke was dying down.
He started the motor again, but the smoke "got out of control".
Picton Water Taxi skipper Garry Spence said he had just finished another job, heard Mr Greene's call over the radio and towed the boat in close to the rowing club.
Mr Spence called the Picton volunteer fire brigade, which was waiting at the marina.
While being towed back, Mr Green noticed the paint on the deck was bubbling and threw buckets of water over it.
The fire broke out under the deck, close to the diesel fuel tank, but no flames were coming through the deck.
"When you can't see flames you feel all right about it, but if there were flames coming through the deck we would have been more revved up," he said.
If the situation was more serious, the pair could have easily jumped on to the water taxi, he said.
Mr Greene and his son, Steven, 25, caught the ferry back to Wellington yesterday afternoonSIMON WONG - The Marlborough Express
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