William Whithell
The photo of todays woody was sent in by Andrew Pollard and shows the launch William Whithell.
The photo was taken in Motueka, just after WW2, at the time she was owned by Kelvin Wilkinson.
AP commented that apparently she was a bit of a speed machine. She certainly looks it, even sitting on the transporter.
Can anyone tell us more about William Whithell?
Input from Brian Kidson
It was built in Motueka by a Sid Gilbertson as a fishing boat. Built of white pine and had a Redwing petrol engine at one stage. The boat was built out of Sids head, as in no plans. William Whithell bought the boat and changed the name and named it after himself. A Charlie Stade owned it in the 1950s. It did have a larger cockpit till the cabin was extended
On Thu, 9 May 2019, 10:21 pm waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden bo
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It was built in Motueka by a Sid Gilbertson as a fishing boat. Built of white pine and had a Redwing petrol engine at one stage. The boat was built out of Sids head, as in no plans. William Whithell bought the boat and changed the name and named it after himself. A Charlie Stade owned it in the 1950s. It did have a larger cockpit till the cabin was extended
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I met Bill Whithell in the 1980’s He definitely came from Motueka, he lied about his age to go to WW1 and was a cook in WW2 in Africa, he had a great tattoo of an almost naked lady on this leg. Great guy very funny, didn’t know about his connection to the launch.
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It looks a bit like my old boat kohima may be same design
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