Lady Allison (Lady Helen)

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Some before, work-in-progress & ready for relaunching photos

Lady Allison (Lady Helen)

On Thursday we had a ‘Mystery Boat’ on ww that had a few speculating on its origins. If there was a 1st Prize it would go to Nathan Herbert who was spot on with his call of both the designer & builder i.e the Salthouse yard & ID’ing the actual boat – Lady Allison.
I was sent Thursday photo by CYA member Richard Farrar who resides in Nelson. Richard until recently owned the wonderful Lidgard motorsailer – Neptune, now back in Auckland & owned by CYA member Paul Burton (we like that).
At some stage Lady Allison has undergone a re-birth with the additional of a ‘second level’, now I like Richard & I like how he looks after his boats so I’ll stop now on that subject. Richard has relied re Thursdays post & sent me photos of her as today. I have posted his reply below.

“Interesting to see what surfaces in the comments about this boat.
Shotguns!, chainsaws!, sledgehammers!, Shame on you.!!!
This boat was designed by Bob Salthouse and built by Salthouse boats and launched in1965.
She would be a sister ship to Seafever and Kailua, so well done to Nathan Herbert and Simon Smith.
Now I have always been a great fan of classic wooden boats and this boat is the fourth that I have had the privilege to own.
The first was a boat built by Mc Phearson in Dunedin,( Lion 1916) the second, a motorsailer built by Mc Gruers in Scotland,( Yvalda 1936 ) and the third built by Fred Lidgard,( Neptune 1956) They  all remained pretty much as when they were first launched plus a few upgrades here and there.
I understand,  that the boat shown as the mystery boat was launched as Lady Helen but I’m not sure about this and someone might be able to confirm this. Soon after the Mystery Boat photo was taken, the new  owner was asked by his grand daughter if the boat was named after Helen Clark. He promptly gave the boat a new  name.
Anyway, after selling Neptune I began to search for a replacement boat.   I looked at many and always had it  in the back of my mind that I did not want a boat with a fly bridge or apartment on top and that is how I felt when I first saw Lady Allison.
It was love at first sight however and I went away thinking about how I was going to remove the apartment. Yes, the chainsaw did come to mind.
As time passed though, I began to get used to seeing the apartment on top. It is well built and is a great place to drive the boat from. Great view and not much engine noise.
Lady Allison as she is named now,  of course had a recent massive facelift both inside and out and she is, in spite of the fly bridge, a really lovely boat.  I don’t think Bob Salthouse would be disappointed with her if he could see her today.”

Now woodys the question of the day is what was the original (as launched) name? Has Harold has advised that neither the name Lady Helen or Lady Allison appear on the list of Salthouse builds. John & Judy Salthouse are ww followers so maybe they can help out.

Photo of Lady Beryl ex Harold Kidd for comparision

 

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18 thoughts on “Lady Allison (Lady Helen)”

  1. Pingback: WOODEN LAUNCH – LADY ALLISON (Lady Helen) A Peek Down Below | waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news – updated daily

  3. Small anorak-type point about LION. She was built by James M’Pherson (sic) for Hugh McKenzie of Lake Wakatipu in 1912 not 1915. The first engine was a 21hp 3 cylinder Clifton. There was another LION, built by Percy Harvey in 1915 for passenger work on Pelorus Sound.

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  4. Bob didn’t join the firm for a while after John and Bob Salthouse bought Colin Wild’s property at Greenhithe in 1957. I’ve looked back on my notes of interviews with John Salthouse and BOB Wild (not RON Wild, sorry), Colin’s nephew. Colin was becoming very ill and died on 23rd December 1955. The first of these lovely little sedans, NATALIE was one of three boats built by John Salthouse and Bob Wild at Ngataringa Bay, two Colin Wild “Val” yachts and NATALIE which was to a preliminary design by Colin Wild but modified by BOB not John Salthouse (sorry again, my error). Bob was only 18 in 1954!

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  5. Did Bob not design? He designed Kotanui and I thought he may have been the designer generally? Lady Allyson has similar styling to Turongo window-wise

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  6. Probably the archetype of this design was NATALIE, built by John Salthouse and Ron Wild at Colin Wild’s old yard in Ngataringa Bay to a design by John inspired by a Colin Wild design. She was built for P.B. White of Victoria Ave, Remuera in 1957.

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  7. John Salthouse designed and built the 34 footer LADY BERYL for L M Lincoln of Glen Eden in 1961, but there were further clones because it was such a damn nice boat.

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  8. Hi Virginia, Laughing Lady is in our work shop on the beach here in the Whangateau harbour. She arrived pretty much a year ago to the day. This distinguished vessel has brought some very pleasant attention to our rather isolated traditional boat yard, we have many visitors through watching the progress.
    James the owner of LL has spoken of your son and his boat yard / business- Traditional Boat Works and we can see first hand the awesome work he does.
    What a wonderful boat she is bringing folk from around the world together like this. A tribute to Alan’s Classic Boat Blog also.
    Ok, leave it there for now, hope to hear from you again soon.

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  9. I got it wrong. In the listing I think it was 1968 but I cannot be sure that is correct.

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  13. PS her build date on TradeMe was given as 1969, so which is it, 1965 or 1969?

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  14. Hello Virgina
    Welcome to waitematawoodys. WW has featured on the WoodenBoat magazine forum numerous times. As for the UK……………… for some reason its one of the lowest viewing countries for ww.
    I hope you don’t mind but I have posted your comments above on the Laughing Lady post.
    Kind Regards
    Alan

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  15. She was on TradeMe in 2011 as LA VIDA.
    BTW my reference to “shotgun” had nothing to do with your fine boat, just to KR’s usual shotgun approach when providing suggestions as to provenance and history. Totally open choke.
    I should try to be less cryptic which, in itself, is a reaction to KR’s floridness.

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  16. I was sent, yesterday, a link to a post somewhere on LAUGHING LADY, a Luders launch which originally was used along the east coast of America, and then taken out to San Diego where my son Douglas Jones substantially rebuilt her — at least the bottom. At first he was working for Bill Clark of Clark Custom Boats and then, after BIll retired, Doug took over the business, and the boat. The owner ran out of money and out of energy and eventually Doug acquired the boat for the yard bill. He was delighted that she was purchased by folks from your side of the world, and shipped out there. He had hoped to find someone to finish off the rebuild in San Diego but that wasn’t happening and besides she’s not a boat for the California coast! I hope that perhaps you can send your blog to WOODENBOAT MAGAZINE (maybe you already do) and to CLASSIC BOAT MAGAZINE in England.

    Virginia Jones, Foxfire Marine Consulting, Box 400, West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, 02575, USA

    On 5/1/2015 2:36 PM, waitematawoodys.com – the classic wooden boat blog wrote: > WordPress.com > Alan Houghton – ww founder posted: ” Some before, work-in-progress & > ready for relaunching photos Lady Allison (Lady Helen) On Thursday we > had a ‘Mystery Boat’ on ww that had a few speculating on its origins. > If there was a 1st Prize it would go to Nathan Herbert who wa” >

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