CLASSIC SOUTHERN WOODEN WORKBOATS
Earlier in the month Glenn Martin was mooching around the South Island on a bike (I assume motorbike) and sent in todays gallery of woody workboat photos from Bluff.
Not all capable of heading out to sea but wonderful to see them still intact, if that was Auckland they would have made a oneway trip to the landfill years ago.
CLASSIC 1950’S WOODEN LAUNCH – TAMAROA
We last saw TAMAROA on WW back in 2022 , link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/04/12/tamaroa-in-the-bay-of-islands/
Early in the year she made an appearance on tme (thanks Ian McDonald) and this enabled us to get afresh look at some of the enhancements.
Briefly overview of what we know – 46’, Collings & Bell launched in 1954, powered by twin 120hp Nissan diesel engines. She had a new kauri hull fitted about 15 years ago up to the water line.
Interested to learn if she sold and if so where she resides now.
SUMMER WAS A TAD AVERAGE BUT AUTUMN GETS A BIG ✔️
Had a lazy weekend at Rakino Island, condition perfect – as expect Woody Bay was packed and zero woodys, but West Bay was the better anchorage.
If you like gin – try PAPA SALT – Coastal Gin, seriously good and the sea glass bottle ilooks the part on a classic wooden boat 😉
Yesterday’s WW post focused on the undercover displays and the surrounding shore-side activity (scroll down if you missed it). Today’s instalment is a gallery from two days spent wandering the floating docks. Why two days?
The simple answer — there were just too many woody folk to catch up with for a quick chat. Every few metres another familiar face appeared, and before you knew it ten minutes had disappeared talking boats, projects and plans.
On the weather front the forecasters got it spot-on. Sunday turned out to be the pick of the two-and-a-half day festival, with warm sunshine and a welcome cooling breeze.
Between dockside wanderings I managed to sneak into a couple of the speaking seminars. One featured designer supremo John Welsford, the other Paul Stephanus, director of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart. Both presentations were knowledgeable, insightful and — most importantly — highly entertaining.
Because Auckland’s greater boating community is spread across a wide geography — marinas, rivers and estuaries scattered from the inner harbour to the outer reaches — the public rarely gets to see our classic wooden boat fleet gathered together in one place. That’s what makes an event like this so special. Seeing so many woodys together is a reminder of just how strong and diverse the fleet really is.
Of course none of it happens without the owners. They put an enormous amount of time — and more than a few dollars — into getting their boats “show ready”. Beyond the camaraderie shared with fellow woody owners, the real reward comes from the reactions of the public. Owners might shrug off the compliments, but the praise, smiles and pats on the back certainly help offset the many hours spent sanding, polishing and crawling around the bilge.
Now, I know it’s not a beauty contest… but if I had to pick a few personal favourites from the docks they would be:
SAIL — RANUI
The 1936 ex-workboat designed by Korinius Larsen. Looking at her today, the standard of presentation is closer to a superyacht than a working boat.
MOTOR — REHIA
The 1938 Colin Wild designed and built motor launch. Over the last five years she’s been undergoing a rolling restoration, and every time I see her she looks better than the last.
TRAILER BOAT — LADY MAREE
A circa-1950 Cresta Craft classic runabout — pure period charm on a trailer.
TRAILER YACHT – I missed the detailers, has the look of a John Welsford design – can someone supply details ✔️ thanks. ‘Mystery’ solved – its a Welsford Navigator ✔️
As mentioned yesterday, events of this size don’t just happen. They require the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, organisers, exhibitors and supporters.
So a big salute to everyone involved in bringing the 2026 Auckland Wooden Boat Festival together. It was an impressive celebration of our classic wooden boating movement.
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MATIRA – A Peek Down Below
The 45’ 1956 Collings & Bell built launch MATIRA has made several appearances on WW but we have never had a good gander down below.
Some info: Designed by Alex J Collings, she has a 11’ beam and draws 3’6”. Built from kauri, single skin, carvel planked. In recent years MATIRA was re-powered with twin Yanmar 110hp engines.
MATIRA is one of those classic woodys that looks perfect from all angles and looks fast even when at anchor.
WOODEN LAUNCH AT GULF HARBOUR – ECHO
One of my Gulf Harbour spies sent in todays photo of the launch – ECHO, he spotted her late last year hauled out at the Gulf Harbour Marina in Auckland.
Now hopefully I’m right in saying its a woody, could be ply/f-glass or even worse pure white plastic…….
Her size lets her get away with the flying bridge and sun shade. Smart looking craft.
Can we learn more about ECHO.
INPUT ex ANGUS ROGERS – photos below taken during her pervious owners period.
28-02-2026 INPUT ex ALAN SEXTON – ARTICLE BELOW EX SEA SPRAY MAGAZINE MAY 19991
UPCOMING AUCKLAND ON-THE-WATER BOAT SHOW – 5>8 MARCH
If your looking for classic wooden boats you will looking for a long time but if you need a new – tender, outboard, safety gear, bbq, electronics, VHF etc – this is the boat show for you. Personally I always seem to find something I didn’t know I needed for the boat 🙂 Its a very professional run show and a great opportunity to see the latest and greatest marine related goods – just do not buy a white plastic boat 🙂
LOCATION IS DOCKSIDE AT THE VIADUCT EVENTS CENTRE – DETAILS HERE https://www.auckland-boatshow.com
CLASSIC WOODY CRUISING AT WHANGAROA
Recently Bay of Islands woody Dean Wright had headed up the coast to Whangaroa Harbour and being a professional photographer by trade his camera was never far from hand. So today we get to enjoy more of the B.O.I.’s woody fleet at play.
The ex workboat looking craft has done a few laps, anyone know her name / history.
And of course the magnificent 1920 built LUANA………the best looking boat to come out of the MT Lane shed 🙂
WHAT DO ALL THESE CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT HAVE IN COMMON
As I have noted recently on WW the classic wooden boating scene in the Bay of Islands is experiencing a re-birth. Seems one in three woodys the Wooden Boat Bureau has sold in the last 2 years has headed north. And recently the woody skippers have been organising events to show case the woody movement in the B.O.I. – we like that.
At the recent Russell Tall Ships Regatta on the Friday prior to the sailing regatta there was a Classic Launch Parade that had 13 woodys participating. Post the parade one of the skippers pointed out the % of woody craft that owed their good looks to time spent at the CMC Design – Boatbuilders Opua yard. So I did a count and in recent times and in no particular order the following woodys have been under the care of the talented crew at CMC Design – LADY CROSSLEY, KORAWAI, OTEHEI, MARLINE and ALMA G II.
Now they aren’t the only boatbuilders up north but they seem to get the cream of the work. When you factor in haul-out yard costs in the greater Auckland area, a wee road trip on one of the specialist boat haulage trucks isn’t the budget stumbling block it once was.
If todays WW story reads like an ad, I suppose it is, I’m passionate about seeing our classic fleet get the TLC they deserve.
Check out the CMC website – some great work-in-process photos on their work + its not all boats, some stunning architectural and commercial wood work. https://www.cmcdesign.co.nz/marine
28-02-2026 UPDATE – video below of the LADY CROSSLEY project
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DBPqwBVVR
INSIDE THE CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH WIRIHANA – What Powers Her
In the New Zealand classic wooden boating world there is one designer / builder whose name that no matter who you speak to, is in their top three craftsmen – and that gent is Colin Wild. A quick search of his name in the WW Search Panel will result in a visual show case of NZ’s most striking classic craft.
One of Wild’s finest builds is the 1933 launch – WIRIHANA, a woody that has featured numerous times on WW in the last 10 years. Where ever she goes, I get sent photos from people seduced by her looks.
Aside from her wow factor, WIRIHANA is rather unique in that she is still owned by the third generation of the original owners – the Gould family. The family have had the wisdom to engage retired master boatbuilding icon Chris McMullen to maintain, skipper and use WIRIHANA for 18+ years. Today thanks to Natasha Gould, Chris McMullen and Ken Ricketts we get to uncover a side of WIRIHANA’s past not covered on WW previously – the engine room.
Her original engine was a slow running 4 cyl Kelvin with no reduction gear and a petrol start. This engine also had a ‘day diesel tank’ fitted to the engine room wall with a gravity feed to the engine with the main diesel tanks aft, from which diesel had to be pumped daily, into the day tank, manually.
Chris McMullen has commented that all the original associated equipment and day tank, associated with the Kelvin, is still in her today, although not in use, and has the Kelvin name on it.
As covered on WW previously WIRIHANA was commandeered by the NZ Navy during WWII and when returned to Jack Gould (Natasha Gould’s grandfather) at the end of the war, Jack insisted that the NZ Navy replace the engine, because of the rigours of naval service. Another reason for the replacement shared by Chris McMullen is probably the fact that reverse gear on the Kelvin had to be inconveniently operated by crew in the engine room.
End result was the NZ Navy fitted a 6/71 165HP GM Detroit 2 stroke diesel, that had a hydraulic gear box that could be operated by cable. WIRIHANA retained this engine for a great many years and was eventually replaced in the early 2000’s by Rusty Gould (Jack Gould’s son), with a 180hp artificially aspirated 6 cyl. Scania diesel, which she still has today.
One unusual feature of WIRIHANA’s engine room is the absence of an engine box / sound installation – Chris McMullen told me once , you get used to the noise and its a perfect place for drying towels 🙂
(photo credit – Natasha Gould, Dean Wright, Alan H)
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – KOTANUI
While the launch 44′ KOTANUI has made numerous appearances on WW and her history is well documented, these days she rarely leaves her berth at the Milford marina.
Thanks to Angus Rogers on board CENTAURUS over the weekend we get to see KOTANUI at anchor in Bon Accord, Kawau Island.
Great to see that she is being well cared for by her long-term owner.
KOTUNUI was built at the Salthouse yard c.1964 and while Nathan Herbert will furrow his brows, in my ears she is a mini-me of TRINIDAD (52′)
LINKS BELOW TO SOME PAST WW STORIES – lots of intel and photo from her past. Sept 2021https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/09/01/kotanui-launch-day-fathers-day-sorted/
July 2013https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/07/29/kotanui-2/
Oct 2013 https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/10/16/kotanui-3/
Photo below of TRINIDAD for comparison 😉
INPUT ex ALAN SEXTON – Kotanui pre-dated Trinidad, being built 1962-63, Trinidad was launched ~1965. Of course there is the Col Wild element in her design. I believe she was John Salthouse’s first new build after he commenced his own yard after the fire at Col Wild’s shed – altho I have an idea John built the replacement for the boat that was under construction in Wild’s shed at the time of the fire.
There must be a story behind her original Lister Petters during those import licensing days, maybe Jack said they were to power the separators in the cow shed 🙂
My father was the Hobb’s family lawyer and he sold Kotanui as part of winding up Jack’s estate, he said she was not an easy boat to sell in that time (late 80’s/early 90’s), not much demand for classic boats.
PARADE 🔻
PICNIC 🔻
2026 LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE + PICNIC – Report. 140 photos
As the photos will quickly confirm, Saturday 7 February delivered near-perfect conditions for the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Association’s annual gathering. While the event unfolds over four days, it’s the Saturday on-the-water get-together that remains the undisputed highlight.
From a photographer’s point of view, wall-to-wall sunshine and tricky angles don’t always play nicely with timber and varnish. So, if I’ve missed your boat or the images aren’t quite showroom-perfect, my apologies — I was doing my best to keep up with a lot of very good-looking boats.
The day naturally divides into two acts: the Parade, followed by the Picnic. A few familiar regulars were absent this year, but they were more than ably replaced by some truly stunning “new” additions to the fleet, making for an impressive and varied lineup on the water.
Sit back, enjoy the gallery, and soak up a little Lake Rotoiti magic. As always click photos to enlarge.
Special thanks to David & Glenys Wilson for the generous loan of a boat for the day 🙂
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