Daly's Clearing Hiut is maintained by the Manukau Tramping Club on behalf of the Kaimai Ridgeway Trust  - they regularly visit for maintenance of the hut and the local tracks

There is an introduction to this hut on our Hut Guides page here

The hut was built by the Waitawheta Camp Society down near the Waitawheta River on a long weekend in 1975, much of the funding came from Jaycees; Due to light helicopter and funds it was of a very light construction, there was no lining and the floor was very springy.

In 1982, as the park was being developed, it was considered the hut was too close to the road and easily attracted the wrong sort of visitor.  DOC decided to shift it further away and did this by splitting it in three, removing the roofing iron and flying each section up to the present site then fitting it back together.  This was quite an undertaking at the time due to the hut size.  They improved the strength of the building in a few ways including with lining the interior.

The dip in the roof line is from that shift and rebuild and is not from deterioration of timber framing since.  DOC placed fibreglass insulation but whether this was done for the whole hut is not known.  They were short of of batts so Warren Geraghty carried a whole bale up tied to his pack (one of the most awkward loads he can remember due to the bale size!).  

At present (September 2018) the chipboard flooring is flaking underneath between the joists and thus is slowly thinning and springy.  It may just be a matter of placing a flooring grade plywood over the existing chipboard; something that will need to be looked at very soon.

It is likely the regular condensation is coming from a lot of wet people and clothes inside the hut and numerous gas cookers going.  Mould spores that are inside take hold and spread in these damp conditions and the paint used is probably an ideal host for it.  The hut is used so regularly right through winter by school groups and other visitors that it probably does not really dry out from this condensation source.  People shut the windows and doors when they leave, there is a small vent on each end, a little lower from the ceiling apex, but these are not big enough to change the air efficiently. 

When using the hut, please air it out by opening all the windows and doors. When leaving, please leave the sliding windows open by a small amount.