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Dedicated to the study & appreciation of wooden boats. WaitemataWoodys® was founded upon a desire to tell the stories & a need to archive the history of our classic wooden boats, the craftsmen who built them & characters that owned & crewed on them. To share – email your photos, video's & stories to Flora McKenzie at waitematawoodys@gmail.com – Special thanks to marine author & historian Harold Kidd. Click the follow button at the bottom right of the page to get email alerts on new & updated stories. WW gets a LOT of emails every day – we like that, but sometimes we just can't answer them all, it's not that we're lazy or rude – just busy working on the next story :-) alan houghton – WW founder ©2026

CLASSIC LAUNCH WAIMEA – SOS

The 29’ classic wooden launch WAIMEA popped up on tme as a ‘free to a good, bad or any home’ offering.

Built from twin planked kauri and powered by a65hp Perkins diesel engine.

Unfortunately she was partially (tbc) submerged , hence the free boat offer.

She made an appearance on WW back in 2020, moored at Waiheke Island at the time – link below. https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/09/10/waimea/

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waihekerob on September 24, 2026 at 8:22 am said:

WOW my old launch Waimea, I purchased her from Mahurangi in a sad state, spent many months bringing her back to life. So sad to see her now, not sure of the circumstances of the current owner but to see her like this is depressing. Very good bones ex Kaipara Harbour, her 65hp Perkins was rock solid. Maybe a good project for someone who’s looking for a bit of hard work, she would be worth the effort.

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