[1] During this time he received a commission from his older brother James who had emigrated to New Zealand in 1864 and was now based in Auckland.
He was to build a small steamer, named the Eclipse, for the service from Auckland to Riverhead at the head of the Waitematā Harbour and have it shipped there from Glasgow.
Subsequently, Robert Logan decided to join his brother and together with his family emigrated to New Zealand, arriving in Auckland on the Zealandia on 15 October 1874.
The family settled in Devonport, where he obtained a position at the Niccol boat building firm.
Later that year Buchanan also ordered a second yacht called Lala II for himself, with which he hoped to win the Second Class race in the Auckland Anniversary Regatta.
In 1895 Logan Senior transferred his boat-building business to the south side of Waitematā Harbour.
Based on his experiences in building lifeboats on the Clyde, he pioneered the use of frameless diagonally planked two and three-skinned boats in New Zealand.
When combined with the use of the locally grown kauri Agathis australis the resulting hulls were extraordinarily long-lived, being highly resistant to rot and damage.
They had eight children, among them Archibald (known as Arch), Robert, John, Jim (who became a carpenter), Jack (who died young) and Jessie.
centreboarder of two skins of kauri, laminated in diagonal fashion and built without frames in a form of construction that became standard for New Zealand yacht builders for two generations after Jessie Logan.
Launched in 1888, Akarana was a keel cutter with a LOA of 39 ft (11.88 m) was designed and built by Logan as a spec project with the hope of successfully completing in the Australian Centennial Regatta.
In 1893 she was renamed Mohican II by her new owner James Slator but later reverted to her original name.
Rona (1892) was designed by George Lennox Watson for Wellington merchant and benefactor Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull.
Ordered by a Wellington syndicate consisting of Sydney Winstanley, J David M Georgeson, James (Jas) Jamieson, William Waters and Thomas Kirker with the object of winning the New Zealand First class Championship.