Monthly Archives: May 2021

MYSTERY LAUNCH QUIZ – Win A WW Long Sleeve T-Shirt

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MYSTERY LAUNCH QUIZ – Win A WW Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Todays story / quiz is a doozy – maybe a woody will go – thats easy I know that boat, but it had myself and one of the WW guru’s stumped.All I can tell you is the photo was taken in Nelson, a couple of years ago. I have a b/w launching photo, so even if you do not know the boat – check back later to see the b/w photo – you will be very surprized 😉 Email entries to waitematawoodys@gmail.com (photo ex Nathan Herbert)


The prize to the first correct answer, emailed in after 9am 21-05-2021 (sorry KR – not everyone keeps vampire hours) gets a long sleeve WW organic cotton t-shirt. Normally reserved for F&F – (family and friends) – they are great to wear.If you are one of the many female woodys – you can swap it for the ‘Brooklyn t’ another F&F shirt (thats George Cloonys Lake Como house in the background 🙂

We Have a Winner

Mark McLaughin ID’ed the launch correctly as Hinemoana, built by Sam Ford, Also known as Princess for a short period. B/W photo below also ex Nathan Herbert

Mystery Launch On The Tamaki River

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Mystery Launch On The Tamaki River
I spotted the above launch a couple of weeks ago while mooching up the Tamaki River onboard Angus Roger’s launch – Centaurus . She looks very well cared for and well rugged up for winter. Can one of the river rats tell us the name and any known background on the launch?

Input from Mark McLaughlin = The mystery boat is ORA-KIA, designed and built by Snow Waters in 1963.


Also Up The River

Unless you were traveling by boat, you wouldn’t normally see the dry stack (I think its called something like – Tamaki Boat Park) on the banks of the upper Tamaki River. Appears to be well populated and anything that gets people towing boat trailers off the road during weekends gets my tick 🙂 And if you are wondering what happens to all the trailers – some boats are ordered new without one, but for those with trailers, there is a smaller staking system on-site for empty trailers

Disturber

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DISTURBER
Thanks to Ian McDonald for giving WW the heads up on the tme listing for the Warmington Bros built 25’ launch – Disturber. Disturber made a brief appearance on WW back in 2013, with a photo (refer below) of her racing on the Kaipara Harbour, most probably participating in the annual Pah Regatta.

Back then Disturber was a pure racer, powered by a 150hp aircraft engine. These days she has a Ford 72 hp D Series pushing her along, but a glance at her hull below the water-line will tell you that she can still deliver a good turn of speed – 13+knots.

Recently she has undergone a lot of mechanical and structural enhancements. With a sub $8k price tag, Disturber could be a great entry point into the classic wooden boating movement.


Falcon Comes Home

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FALCON COMES HOME
The 1930 Lane Motor Boat Co. designed and built launch Falcon has always been one of the smartest woodys in the classic fleet.I do not have a lot of photos  mainly because she was just so dam quick, always passed me like I was standing still 🙂 Previous owner – James Mobberley (Moon Engines) had shoehorned a beast of an engine (Hino turbo) into Falcon. He did the same transplant on Harold Kidd’s — Romance II and Graham Guthrie’s  – Kailua. Both of these woodys are serious zoom zooms.

Back in 2013, she was sold to a Whangarei owner and later re-sold to another Whangarei owner – the photo below shows Falcon looking a little sad, moored in the Whangarei Town Basin.
In the last few months there has been chat about her returning home to Auckland – well woodys, I can confirm that she has a new owner and is back home on the WaitemataWe look forward to seeing her get the TCL she deserves.We will follow her process closely.


LAST CALL FOR THIS WEEKENDS WOODY WORKSHOP AT MOON ENGINES – WE WILL BE CLOSING THE DOORS TO RSVP’s LATER TODAY – RSVP NOW OR MISS OUT – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

606 Rosebank Road, Avondale

Korora Saved

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KORORA SAVED

Two WW followers – Ian McDonald and Philip Goddard drew my attention to the the fate of the 28′ launch – Korora that was recently on tme. She has appeared on WW before and there was good chat around who built her and when – link here  https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/10/21/korora-2/

Back in 2015 she popped up on tme, not sure if she sold then but in 2017 she sank on her Auckland mooring during a storm, happened like this – awning blew off > bilge pump not working > boat fills with water > sinks. Korora was hauled out and taken to her owners farm. Time went by and farming tasks took precedence and in early 2021 she made another guest appearance on tme.I’m very pleased to advise that Tony Howse bought her and she now resides at his farm, where she will be restored. We like that, was a pretty boat in her day, see b/w photo below.


PLEASE RSVP FOR THE ABOVE WOODY EVENT – NEXT SUNDAY (23/05) – LOCATION IS 606 ROSEBANK ROAD, AVONDALE – RSVP TO waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Dunkirk Little Ship – Lady Gay – Destroyed By Fire

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Dunkirk Little Ship – Lady Gay – Destroyed By Fire

Flicking thru my digital subscription to the UK Classic Boat magazine, I was saddened to read that the Dunkirk Little Ship  – Lady Gay has been destroyed in a fire at the old Thornycroft sheds on Platts Eyot, Hampton, on the River Thames.

Lady Gay was 34ft motor yacht built in 1934 for Lord Alfred Dunhill.

One of the builders was interviewed once – this is his tale – “We didn’t have a shed big enough to take her, so we set up a canvas shelter outside, which also saved us extra rates. We only had one 100-watt electric light bulb and no machinery. Every part of her was made by hand. I remember going to Maldon in Essex with templates of the woodwork to get the timber cut to size. Then we shaped it by hand. Three of us worked on her for nearly five months and my pay was under £3 a week. Every Saturday Lord Dunhill came to the yard in his chauffeur-driven car and handed out cigarettes and, on one occasion, pipes. When she was finished, she had cost His Lordship £1,500. Having no slipway, George and Eric, with some helpers, dragged her down the hill, through the local car park and manhandled her over the sea wall next to one of the Bastions and into the water. They went on board with the fuel, the twin Morris Commodores started first time and Lord Dunhill’s boat was on its way.”

You can view the launching on this link – can you just imagine the health & safety / police / city council nazi’s if you tried to do this today 🙂

WOODYS LOVE A RAILWAY HAUL OUT

A nice line up of woodys out at The Slipway, Milford. L>R – Maroro, Raindance, Te Hauraki

PLEASE RSVP FOR THE ABOVE WOODY EVENT – NEXT SUNDAY (23/05) – LOCATION IS 606 ROSEBANK ROAD, AVONDALE – RSVP TO waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Mystery Tutakaka Launch (Merlin) + Nereides

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TUTUKAKA LAUNCH = Merlin
Dean Wright sent in the above photo of this launch berthed at Tutukaka. No visible name so would be nice if we could ID her.

17-05-2021 Update ex Keeny West – the mystery game boat above is Merlin owned by Brett Bracey.


NEREIDES COULD BE YOURS WITHOUT ANY UPKEEP COSTS


One of the growth boating areas is time share – where you get access to a boat for a set period of time for a set cost.Normally the only boats available in these ‘partnerships’ are pieces of white plastic and a 3rd party is clipping the ticket, with a rather large pair of clippers. For several years Mark Lever the owner of the 1926 classic launch – Nereides, has been making her available to suitable parties via similar agreement to the above. Nereides is one of our best maintained and presented woodys, in fact just drop dead gorgeous, see more photos below. Mark contacted me during the week for a chat and he drop in that a, what he calls – ‘Crew Spot’ was coming available , so I asked for details – I’ll let Mark explain how it works below, but if you are interested give him a call or drop an email for more details    021 747 102 or email mark@workshop73.co.nz


“Nereides is berthed at Sandspit Marina one hour north of Auckland. She is a  glamorous Wellington boat from 1926, gaff rigged main sail, mizzen and headsail perfect for coastal cruising. The skipper looks after maintenance. Looking for someone, or a couple who would like to share the use of this classic launch.The cost is $6k per year with a weekend a month and a week over the summer period.” 

Tainui

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TAINUI

 I received an email yesterday from woody – Mark McLaughlin, regarding the launch Tainui, that he and his wife previously owned – I’ll let Mark tell te story – 

 “My wife was in Thames recently for work and managed to get a few photos of our old launch Tainui (also previously owned by Sue & Mark Edmonds before me), having recently emerged from the shed at Kopu Marine. After 10 years of sitting idle in a mud berth at Thames she now has a new owner, Peter Elliot. Peter works at Kopu Marine and has bought Tainui back to life again. Amongst other items, I understand she has had new fuel tanks installed, new windows fitted (with the original claytonrite window rubber mouldings now replaced with battens), new stainless steel bow rail, some interior upgrades, and she has been stripped back to bare wood and repainted. When the photos above were taken last month she was just awaiting antifouling and will then be relaunched.  Tainui was very well built in Nelson in 1958 by boat builder Alan Westrupp for Ron Montgomery at “Montgomery’s Garage”, which is the site where the Montgomery Carpark is now. Ron Montgomery did the finishing work and engineering on the boat himself. The original engine was a 6 cylinder Chrysler Crown, replaced in 1988 by a 4 cylinder Toyota 1W diesel. The design is derived from a Nova Scotian lobster boat hull form by US Naval Architects Eldredge-McInnis Inc. She is very sea kindly and capable of a good turn of speed.  Also above is a photo from 1958 when new and another one from the “Nelson Photo News” in 1960. The last photos show her on the pole mooring during our ownership. It’s great to see Tainui looking refreshed now and hopefully we see her out and about again on the water soon.”
Look below to previous WW story https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/23/tainui/

RSVP waitematawoodys@gnail,com

Fleetwing

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FLEETWING
The launch above is Fleetwing and the photos were sent in by South Island woody – Pete Beach. Pete mentioned in a June 2020 WW story (link below – great read), that he once owned Fleetwing. The photos above are from when she was owned by Seymor Scott of Wharehunga Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound back in the 1940’s.

I’m a little confused – do we have two Fleetwings? In a November 2016 WW story we talked about Fleetwing being purchased by the Pollard Brothers and returned to Auckland and given a make-over. The hulls look similar but the boat must have had several ‘make-overs’. Check out the links below and let me know if we have the same boat. I’m sure Cameron Pollard will clear it up 🙂
2016 Story

https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/11/09/fleetwing/

2020 Story

https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/06/22/an-epic-tale-of-whalers-fishermen-farmers-commercial-launch-masters/
Sorry if I got my wires crossed – been a busy boy today. 

Happy Days (Te Toa)

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HAPPY DAYS (Te Toa)
The photo above ex Baden Pascoe shows the launch Happy Days, moored on the Manukau Harbour. At the time she was owned by Ward House, who bought her off Merv Young. Before that she was used as a log tug pulling a barge from Matakana Island to the Tauranga Town Wharf.

Ward these days owns – La Rosa, the 1923 Ernie Harvey built launch. Photo below taken last week moored in the Brian (‘cockney’ slang for the Tamaki River) You can see and read more on La Rosa at this WW link  https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/01/04/la-rosa-flashback/


At some stage Happy Days was renamed Te Toa, keen to uncover more about her and what became of her.

13-05-2021 Update date ex Ray Morey – I drove “Happy Days” when she was owned by “Leonard & Seon of Mt Maunganui , when they were logging on Matakana Island and supplying Tuck & Watkins mill on Sulphur Point. Previous to this she had been a net fisher up towards Kati Kati and owned by a maori family. The “D” front of the cabin is original but Eddie Fitzgerald at the old Alf Walling slipway, built the more modern cabin over the large open cockpit, and closed the after deck in. My F.i.L. Alan Harris and Gary Leonard installed a 130 hp. A.E.C. tank engine with a gearbox from one of Charlie Faulkner’s spare “Hercules” engines (ex Aotearoa spares) I seldom towed barges, the logs were rafted from up Tuckers Creek on Matakana on one tide, anchored off Otemoetai then picked up on the next tide and taken around to Sulphur Point Mill. She was a good little tug for the job and was sold off when the logging cut out. I did see her in later years moored up the Tamaki river. I have often wondered about her fate. I believe she was one of five 26 ft motor mullet boats built in Auckland and they mostly had names with “light” in them. (moonlight-starlight etc.) H.D.K. where are you please??

606 Rosebank Road, Avondale