WAY BACK PHOTOS
HAPPY DAYS – LAUNCHED
In early December 2018 Alan Craig, the Lake Rotoiti boat builder (Craig Marine) sent in a gallery of photos of Happy Days in the final stages of her restoration, I have been bugging Alan for some photos post launching and late last week he delivered.
First some background – Happy Days had been in a barn on a farm in for the last ten odd years. Her build started in 1930 and she was launched in 1933, 24′ in length, to a USA Hacker Craft design.
She has been owned by Peter Davies and was his Fathers boat from near new. Her history looks like this – built in Picton by Vic & Clarrie Olson? (Scandinavian or Swiss?). Built for a Mr Stocker then brought by Tom Davies in 1937, it was sold a while later and brought back again by Mr Davies once the wool price lifted and in 1950 an old, but still new, 1938 Osco marine flathead V8 went in it and is still there now – but wow wait till you hear that motor today – check out the video below.
The likes below share some of her recent history :
Life on the farm https://wordpress.com/post/waitematawoodys.com/28870
The restoration https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/12/10/happy-days/
Enjoy – turn up the volume when you play the video 🙂
Photo below – as ‘found’
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Clarrie Olson raced Pelorus Jack with my great uncle, Stuart Buckman.
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Clarrie Olson was an engineer, it was his brother Vic that was the builder, Clarrie had an engineering shop next door to Jack Morgan’s Boatyard and together they raced Pelorus Jack
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Clarrie Ollson was a prominent builder and driver of high-powered speedboats of the time. His most famous boat was PELORUS JACK (Senior) a 20ft single-step hydroplane with (eventually) a 320hp Hispano-Suiza 8 cyl aero engine which dominated the Masport Cup racing during the 1930s.
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New photos added and details corrected. Alan H
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