Tide Song

Posted on by

screen-shot-2016-10-19-at-9-26-47-pm

screen-shot-2016-10-19-at-9-27-55-pm

Tide Song

Built by Oliver & Gilpin c.1970, Tide Song is 48’ long & built with single plank kauri. Powered by the original 2 x 70hp Perkins marine diesels.

Over the last year she has under gone an extensive refurbishment that included – engines, hull, cabin, most of the mechanical bits & all the safety fruit.
Her owner says the refurbishment is 95% complete but due to poor health Tide Song is on the market.
A pretty boat, just a shame about the patio doors 😉  still a good wooden boat builder could correct that.
Thanks to Ian McDonald for the trademe tip off, Ian wondered if Tide Song is her original name & suggested she may possibly be a re-modeled Lady Tana.

So woodys – what do we know about her?

Update – Brian Worthington has advised that Tide Song was in fact Lady Lynn, photo below of Lady Lynn on launching day. He says she was built at the Oliver & Gilpin shed in the Wairoa River & there would have been input from Willy & John Oliver. Ted Gilpin owned her for a while & renamed her Tide Song from being Lady Sophia.

lady-lynn

Update 12-10-2020 The photo below of Tide Song (Lady Lyn) steaming in from Cape Brett was sent to me back in 2018 – opps that on slipped between the cracks 🙂

22 thoughts on “Tide Song”

  1. I remember travelling to White Island from Tauranga In the 1960’s. We left port late on the Friday night and arrived at White Island early Saturday. About midday there was a short-violent eruption spewing out smoke and ash, but thankfully it was not hot like this time!., Photographic coverage was in Australian PIX magazine but cannot remember the date. Does anyone who was there recall it?

    Like

  2. I understand that A Herb Brown once either owned her or skippered her. Herb was a resident Coastguard radio/ caretaker some years back.

    Like

  3. Pingback: Lady Lynn > Lady Sophia > Tide Song | waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news

  4. Well thank goodness Brian came in to sort this out! Straight from the horse’s mouth. So she’s an Oliver and Gilpin without the Gilpin, but Ted owned her later………..my head hurts…………..

    Like

  6. Its Lady Lynn, built at the Oliver and Gilpin shed Wairoa Road in Tauranga and launched in the Wairoa river. Would of been an imput of Willy and John Oliver. Ted Gilpin owned it for a while and renamed it Tide Song from being Lady Sophia.

    Like

  8. The ELDON Belonged to John Mayson an Auckland motor vehicle dealer for many years & he also was a dedicated game fisherman, & she did indeed have Perkins engines, but she had side exhausts, all of his era. ( I knew him well as a good friend, & also the boat, & I don’t think this or was the ELDON. — KEN R

    Like

  11. She “MIGHT” have been built by John Oliver and his son George from “O n G” molds. There are too many conflicting angles and lines in the cabin and windows to be an “O n G” build. Can someone in Tga. ask George himself?? they built wood before that other stuff. The glass house patio is not very appealing in my opinion.
    Ken R. I have driven any amount of boats with odd instalations, from a twin screw single rudder through triple screw K4 kelvins ,single center rudder to a barge with six screws and four rudders. It makes little difference if and when you know what you are doing.

    Like

  12. Just sent Alan a pic from the charter boat magazine of Willie-O also gamefishing out of the BOI during the 80’s A sweet looking boat and with that name an original O&G no doubt.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. This boat is remarkably like the Tauranga Boatbuilder’s ELDON which was discussed on the CYA website a few years ago.
    I pontificated then as follows
    ““Oliver & Gilpin” as such ceased trading in 1967 when Ted went to Oz for 5 years. Any launch built after that is either built by John Oliver or a knock-off. Tauranga Boatbuilders were a totally separate business. So it’s very likely that the only O&G content in Eldon is stylistic (but it didn’t come off).
    There are 4 “Oliver & Gilpin” yachts/launches on TradeMe currently of which only two are Oliver & Gilpin-built, the Matangi Manutere and the gorgeous 42 footer Nautilus. The others were probably built by John Oliver (or somebody else).
    It was Willie Oliver who had the “eye”. He did his apprenticeship at Bailey & Lowe under the careful tutelage of Walter Bailey who had the “eye”.”

    I reckon TIDESONG/ LADY LYNN is another O & G knock-off. She just doesn’t come off and, besides, she was built after O & G closed down.
    Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

    Like

  15. Really Good to see an Oliver & Gilpin boat appear , we see very few of them on the site, even though there are lots to choose from & almost always very distinctive with their styling . — This one is certainly a good example of their work. Just one thing, it would look to me a little, as if both propellers may be both be left hand, & not counter rotating, & therefore losing the manoeuvrability benefits of 2 engines — KEN R

    Like

  16. Other Tauranga boatbuilders aped O & G’s style. Visser? Tauranga Boatbuilders Ltd?
    To name-drop for the umpteenth time (sorry), Ted Gilpin was a cousin. He prepared and gave me a list of all the O & G boats and this boat isn’t on it nor are several other boats claimed to be O & G on TradeMe etc. Similar situation to Sam Ford boats.

    Like

  17. I know what you’re saying, that there are a number of boats claimed to be O&G that aren’t, but this one conforms to their design in so many ways: tumblehome, bow shape and sheer, unusually long saloon cabin etc.

    Like

  18. But is she Oliver & Gilpin? Ted Gilpin didn’t claim her, at least under any of those names.

    Like

  22. Oops ! Not Lady Tana remodelled. She is on Brian Worthington’s classic launces site as original. They are alike though.

    Like

Leave a comment