Iris

Posted on by

IRIS
photos & details ex Chris Manning & Harold Kidd

Harold has advised that Iris was built by Ernie Lane for E.A. Johnson of Havelock in 1923 and was 40′ x 8’6″ x 3′ 5″ and originally had a 1918 H.C. Doman 2cylinder 15hp, later a Fairbanks Morse then a Kelvin.

Chris added that she was sold to the Orchard family for fishing duties mid 20th century (ish).  Later while at Picton in the 1960’s she suffered a major fire while apparently the gearbox was being cleaned out with petrol.  Some of the fuel spilt into the bilge and caught fire from some dodgy bilge pump wiring.  After the fire Bill Orchard hauled her out and stripped the hull/house so she looked like a big canoe.  She was rebuilt with a couple of extra planks all around, new deck and new house.  Hence the big change in her lines from the oldest images to the newest.

Chris thinks Iris was sold to Athol Sadd of Blenheim in the seventies and was used as a commuter between Picton (later Waikawa) and his property in Ruakaka Bay.  Apparently Athol had a bit of a scare with a rail ferry in in the fog one night/day and within a few days the ‘starship enterprise’ radar scanner arrived.

In 1986 she was re-powered from the 471 GM that Bill Orchard put in her to a 671 Detroit (she has a size able engine box in the aft cabin).  The engine is rated to 180hp at 1800RPM.  Peter Rothwell fabricated the running gear having a 2 inch 316 SS shaft with a 4 bladed 26/24 Nalder and Biddle propeller.  She goes really well such that the propeller holds the engine at a whisker over 1750 RPM (with prop speed). The prop has a bare 3/4 inch between the blade tips and the hull –  a bit of copper sheathing is required there..  Economy wise, she burns about a litre a mile at about 12 knots.  At 1800RPM with flat water, a clean bum and no passengers she can touch 16 knots.

Mark Rogers and Chris bought her in partnership in 2009 and have progressively refitted her.  Chris said she will never be ‘finished’ but she will steadily improve, his quote is ‘Boat Finished > Man Die’ 🙂

Iris also has a sister ship, the Mavis, which is alive and looking very nice in Havelock.

Photos of Mavis below ex Chris Manning

Mavis
Mavis

Discover more from waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news - updated daily - 14+ million views

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

10 thoughts on “Iris”

  1. im pretty sure it was in port Motueka around 70s to 90s ,Ben Fry spent a lot of time down the abei Tasman on it.

    Like

  2. Pingback: CLASSIC WOODEN CHARTER BOAT – IRIS | waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news – updated daily

  3. MAVIS was indeed built by Ernie Lane, but in 1919. Her first owner was M.T.H. Steele of Picton. Her engine was a 1918 12hp Sterling twin. Her dimensions were 39ft 10ins x7ft 8ins x 4ft and she was licensed to carry only 20 passengers. Fredric Wiese was her engineer.
    Lane had built an earlier MAVIS for Storey in 1907, in fact the first boat he built in Picton.

    Like

  5. Harold thankyou for your thoughts.
    So that’s what the forward facing windows are about.
    Ta for passing on Johnson’s Barge website to us, very impressive.
    Cottonera 1904- 05 I don’t think you had told me that before, just makes me worry about her more, Ta.
    Well if she’s a Logan then we need to look to restore her in keeping and not stray.
    Really neat to see Iris in good form today.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. A few more bits and pieces. In 1924 IRIS was licensed to carry 42 passengers. That forward “viewing compartment” was a great idea for Sounds and Lakes tourist launches. RIO RITA’s was completely open, of course.
    Eric Johnson used IRIS in his barge service. (see Johnson’s Barge Service Ltd’s website) too.
    The Kelvin was put in her in 1928.
    In the 1937 Boxing Day Havelock Sailing & Motor Boat Club’s regatta she won the race for licensed launches owned (or more likely skippered) by J. Wilson.
    Wally and Fred Orchard appear to have owned her between 1937 and 1970 when she was called “the workhorse of Pelorus Sound”.
    As for Ernie Lane design aspects, she’s of a pretty standard workboat configuration for her time. Perhaps if she’d come from an Auckland yard her stem would have been plumb, but there’s nothing particularly Ernie Lane about anything else to my mind.
    COTTONERA is a 1904/5 double-ender (possibly Logan Bros) with a much later built-up foredeck; totally different hull-form and period. BTW, as discussed with you, I reckon she was renamed COTTONERA by a returned soldier who had been on Gallipoli and recovered from his wounds at the Cottonera Hospital on Malta. It’s going to make it even harder to find her original provenance because she’s probably been COTTONERA since 1918 or so.

    Like

  8. I sooo much like the shaping of that low lying cabin structure / house, with the forward windows like that. The way the cabin line just peeks over the bow. Unfortunately the lovely shapeing peters out to work boat functionality aft.
    Harold did that particular look appear in other boats by Ernie Lanes. I would love to use the style in a restoration in the future. I have seen similar houses in nz but usually extremely high in profile. Am I allowed to use it on Cottonera? 🙂
    >

    Liked by 1 person

  9. I will defer to your memory – this happened before I was born. My mum remembers one of the other guys (not Bill) being quite badly burned. I don’t know his name but she will remember.

    Like

  10. My memory is that the fire was caused by Bill turning the engine over (while it had the petrol in it) to wash the gearbox innards clean, and that it was a spark from this that set off the explosion. Bill either jumped or was blown overboard, to the entertainment of nearby fishing and commercial skippers, who spread the story.

    Like

Leave a comment