Author Archives: Alan Houghton - waitematawoodys.com founder

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About Alan Houghton - waitematawoodys.com founder

What is Waitemata Woodys all about? We provide a meeting point for owners and devotees of classic wooden boat. We seek to capture the growing interest in old wooden boats and to encourage and bring together all those friendly people who are interested in the preservation of classic wooden vessels for whatever reason, be it their own lifestyle, passion for old boats or just their view of the world. We encourage the exchange of knowledge about the care and restoration of these old boats, and we facilitate gatherings of classic wooden boats via working together with traditionally-minded clubs and associations. Are you a Waitemata Woody? The Waitemata Woodies blog provides a virtual meeting point for lovers of classic and traditional wooden boats.
 If you are interested in our interests and activities become a follower to this blog. The Vessels Featured The boats on display here (yes there are some yachts included, some are just to drop dead stunning to over look) require patrons, people devoted to their care and up keep, financially and emotionally . The owners of these boats understand the importance of owning, restoring and keeping a part of the golden age of Kiwi boating alive. The boats are true Kiwi treasure to be preserved and appreciated.

Korowai – A Feel Good Story

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2021 November – Below

KOROWAI – A Feel Good Story

In the last few days I received several messages about the 34’ Woollacott yacht – Korowai, that had popped up on tme with an asking price of $1,000. One of the woodys that contacted me was Alistair Rowe, who commented that he remember Korowai being at Shelly Park Cruising Club in the mid 1970s owned by Eric Roberts. In those days she was powered by a Ford 10 petrol engine and had no reverse gear, so was a bit of a beast to maneuver in tight places. Quite a few years after Eric’s death, and her sale to new owners, Alistair saw her on the hard at Okahu Bay being given a major birthday.

In the tme listing it stated she had great bones for a restoration – well that she does.
She was being sold as-is-where-is as she had had a few problems eg a leak in the hull that a bilge pump with a float switch was keeping up with. But she had, had a bilge pump malfunction and there has been water inside. The water level went part way up the motor, touching the motor, however the dipstick hole on the motor remained well above water level. It was stated that the engine was in not running condition. But the sails were described as ‘good sails’. Korowai appears to be a really solid kiwi built yacht and a perfect opportunity for the keen handy person to restore her back to her prime at the right price. The seller was very clear about the sale process eg. 

(1) The yacht needs to be out of the marina berth ASAP

(2) The successful purchaser will not be the first person to offer the money but the best and quickest plan for the removal of the yacht from the marina berth

(3) All enquiries must explain how they will remove the yacht and when- if the answer is unsatisfactory then no further time will be spent on the enquire – no time wasters.

Well woodys – must have been a record listing time for a classic yacht – sold to a great new owner and removed from her West Harbour berth and relocated to her new home, last night. Tow boat was Jason Prew’s My Girl – but he assures me he is not the new owner – 2 classic launches and mullet boat yacht is more than enough 🙂

In my travels yesterday I acquired a very dinky 2-1/4″caulking iron – light clean up and it joins the WW global HQ, desktop paperweight collection.

Ozone

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OZONE

The above photo was sent in by Scott Taylor, son of the late Mac Taylor, a prominent marine broker based in Westhaven. The caption reads – H. Vipond, Silverdale, 32’ x 8’6”. Scott commented that it would most likely have been – Mr Vipond of Vipond Road, Stanmore Bay, Auckland.

In a WW story back in July 2016, Harold Kidd commented that Ozone was built by Percy McIntosh in Whangarei in 1914 for a Harold Vipond for the Auckland-Wade River trade. Then he took Ozone north to the Bay of Islands in 1925 or perhaps a tad earlier for game-fishing, which she was very successful at. Link below to the 2016 story

https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/07/29/ozone/

In the photo above we see her before her helmsman ’turret’ and mast were added. Any guesses on the photo location – I’m always wrong, but my guess would be Whangaroa Harbour. (to confuse maters HDK advised that there were two launches named Ozone around the same time – the other was built by Collings & Bell and wrecked at Takatu in Jan 1930) 

I’m helping Scott re-purpose some woody goods – check out the photo below of the pair of pohutukawa knees, quite large but maybe a little thin for a big sailing woody but a nice launch………… 

Lyngrae > Equinox

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Lyngrae > Equinox

Last month thanks to a tme listing we got to have a peek-down-below on the launch 32’ Equinox (previously named Lyngrae) link to that WW story below. She was based on a Shipbuilders / Roy Steadman design and built by H. Sapwell- launched in 1964.https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/10/11/equinox-lyngrae-a-peek-down-below/

As a result of the WW story we were contacted by Richard Cullen, whose father, David Cullen owned the launch from the early 1970’s to early 2000’s. During this period she sent most of her time moored in Coromandel. Richard commented that the family spent many memorable holidays cruising the gulf from Coromandel to Gt Barrier Island, Waiheke Island, Kawau Island and the occasional trip up to the Bay of Islands. 
Richard relayed an interesting tale of a trip his father did in the 1980’s bring the launch from Coromandel all the way up the Waihou River to Te Aroha. On route up the river, she hit a snag and started taking on water – luckily she made it to the old Dairy Factory site where she was quick-smart hauled out. The haul out for hull repairs grew into a substantial refit.Subsequent trips up the river extended no further than the Maritime Park at Paeroa, where over the years she hauled for winter maintenance and also had another major refit that included extending the hull by 3’ and the addition of the portholes. The more ‘modern’ looking photos are at the Maritime Park in Paeroa. 

Richard commented that Lyngrae would be one of the few boats to have been both over and under the old Kopu Bridge.
Fingers crossed that the launch finds a good new owner, nudge, nudge  😉  😉

(L) As launched – (R) Today

Two Ends Of The Ownership Cycle

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Two Ends Of The Ownership Cycle

Back in December 2020, B.O.I. woody Dean Wright, sent in a few photos taken when he was mooching around the Te Puna and Kerikeri Inlet area.The top photo is a very salty looking and well cared for yawl rigged yacht, no name. The black cat looks fake – seagull detergent?

The yacht in bottom photo – possibly named – Sinope and shows her home port as Mangonui, has her hand up for some serious TLC. Lets hope her owner used lock-down to bringer back.

Ngawini – R.I.P.

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NGAWINI – R.I.P.

The 1924 Lanes built launch Ngawini first popped up on WW back in March 2014 via tme listing, at the time I commented that she appeared to be aloof boat for the asking price ($20k).

Fast forward to January 2016 when Rod Marler spotted her anchored in Tryphena, Great Barrier Island. Link to those references https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/03/28/6596/

Fast forward again and I spotted Ngawini in May 2017 hauled onboard a salvage barge off Bayswater Marina. She appeared to have suffered significant damage to bow and underwater areas and had either sunk or partially sunk. The vessel was taken to the Waitakere Transfer Station (dump) and offered up as parts. Refer WW story below https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/05/30/ngawini/

Fast forward again and Jason Prew spotted Ngawini ‘repurposed’ as a land based hut at Te Arai, near Mangawhai. In the absence of a white knight stepping in to save her, this has to better than going into the land fill. She is in good company – scroll down to yesterdays story to see Ngawini’s flat mates.

2014


2016


2017

Woody Sleeping Place

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Woody Sleeping Place

Recently the boys at The Slipway Milford ‘moved-on’ one of their semi permanent woodys – Lonestar, a 28’ woody that had its hand up for saving for lengthy period. Sadly covered boat shed space comes at a premium and commercial reality set in – so Cam and Jason loaded Lonestar up and took her to an off the beaten track woody boat park. Lonestar will not be lonely, there is small flotilla of craft being worked on or repurposed.The selection of photos ex Jason Prew will either make you happy or sad – my view – they have been saved from the back-hoe > box of matches, so who knows there is always a chance someone will step up to the plate 🙂
Check out WW tomorrow for a hero > zero woody story.

2022 Lake Rotoiti (Nth. Island) Classic & Wooden Boat Parade – Buy This Boat & Be There ……. Maybe

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2022 Lake Rotoiti (Nth. Is.) Classic & Wooden Boat Parade – Buy This Boat & Be There (Maybe)

The above New Zealand built kauri 18’ ex race boat is a project at Murton Timbercraft in Nelson and Peter Murton is looking for someone to takeover funding > ownership of this woody. To quote Peter – ‘finished to any stage’. Originally powered by a 6 cyl. Ford flat-head engine. So woodys buy the boat & get Peter to go into overdrive and maybe…….. you will be winning Best Restoration at the 2022 Lake Rotoiti (North Island) Classic & Wooden Boat Parade. See below for details.

Come And Join One Of New Zealand’s Coolest Boating Events – 4 FEB – WAITANGI WEEKEND 2022

Next year, is the 25th annual boat parade and fun weekend and the Lake Rotoiti crew would love to see as many classic or wooden boats of any type join our parade, and make it the biggest ever. The parade starts in the Okere arm of the lake on Saturday morning. It’s expected that around 100 boats will be on the lake.

Following parading by the bigger boats around Okawa Bay, all boats park up for inspection along the beach at Wairau Bay, where everyone enjoys their picnic while on the beach side reserve the fun and games start. View last years parade at the link below -175+photos.

https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/02/09/2021-lake-rotoiti-classic-and-wooden-boat-parade-175-photos-videos/
So woodys circle Waitangi Weekend 2022 in the diary – it is one of the top 3 classic woody gigs on the boating calendar.

For more information contact secretary, Rachel Jamieson at info@woodenboatperade.co.nz  (or phone 0272812101)

Christchurch Model Yacht Club

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Christchurch Model Yacht Club

We tend to think that classic pond yacht racing was an Auckland gig, but the gallery of photos above, ex Helen Harris fb, gives us a flash back to in Hagley Park, Christchurch when Lake Victoria was formed in 1897. A swampy depression – the rim of which was used for penny-farthing cycle racing – was graded, lined with clay and pugged by draught horses, then filled with water from artesian bores. The club was then formed and opened the next year.Such was the enthusiasm of the gentlemen who formed the CMYC at their special meeting held in Warners Hotel, Christchurch, on 17 June 1898, that they went on to have fifteen more meetings in the remainder of that year. Not only did racing get started on Victoria Water but priority was given to building a Pavilion for club rooms and the storing of model yachts.

The top photo of the start line for the 1899 Opening Day race, has a very impressive fleet, and if you were wondering how they got them all lined up – there was a long rope stretched across the lake, restraining the fleet.
CYA COMMITTEE MEETING TONIGHT (zoom) – HOPEFULLY THE ELECTED COMMITTEE MEMBERS (listed below) WILL BE SEEKING CONFIRMATION OF THE INTENT OF THE NEW 40 BERTH HERITAGE BASIN SUB-COMMITTE (listed below) IN REGARD TO THE MIX OF CLASSIC VESSELS ON DISPLAY:
CYA 2021-22 (elected) committee – Rachel Orr, Jonathan Curtis, Richard Cave, Jason Prew, Jason Davies, Kathryn Hobcraft, Lisa Lewis, Peter Jones, Steve Pople
Heritage Basin (non elected) sub- committee – Chad Thompson, Andy Ball, Jason Davies

Stella

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Leaving ‘Freighter’s Bay’ (Opunga Cove) Dad with his Dad. Photo by Doug Gallagher from ‘Milady’
Stella at Anchor, Otehei Bay perhaps
Early days, platform added but still has mast
Stella – On the hard at BOIYC

STELLA 
Approx. 4 weeks ago on WW we ran a story on  Iorana > Stella, she is now sitting on a paddock in Northland – crying out for restoration. As tends to happen on WW that story and photos (link https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/10/06/iorana-stella-sos/ ) flushed out a previous owner / family connection. I was contacted by Dave and Pat Cochran who supplied the above photos and the story below – I’ll let Dave tell you about the family link to Stella.

“My father Max Cochran (John Maxwell Cochran,) bought her together with Eric Berry when I was about 15, so about 1961.   I believe she was sitting in the Tamaki River then, pretty scruffy but caught dad’s eye.    We lived in Northland, dad was Head Teacher of the Ohaeawai Maori School and Eric owned the Northern News in Kaikohe.  So the boat came up to Waitangi in the Bay of Islands and we set about cleaning her up.   River stones covered in diesel and oil as ballast under the floor, so she stank of that for a long time, even after the stones were all dumped into the Waitangi river !  She was moored above the bridge at Waitangi, initially on a mooring then onto the piles when they came.   She had a 4cyl Fordson in her, a mast and steadying headsail, and a long deep keelson running all the way to the bow.  Made her hard to turn in tight manoeuvres, but supposedly was to assist a previous life long-lining.     I was aware she had had a Maori name but could not have told you what it was.We took the mast away after a year or two of in and out under the Waitangi bridge and we cut away the deep forefoot to the keel line you now see.   Originally the belting along the side was lower, as you can see in the other photos, but the subsequent owner, Peter Sharp, modified it to give more width to that lower side-deck.   Unfortunately, to my eye at least, it really spoilt her lines.Dad and Mum retired to Paihia, and bought Eric out of the boat after a few years.    He subsequently owned her for I believe 26 years.   I did a hell of a lot of work on her from all the usual grinding off thick old paint and antifouling to quite a lot of wood work in later years.   Replaced/doubled up damaged ribs, quite a bit of planking, a new starboard belting, etc.She was a boat that became well known in the Bay, dad was a stalwart of the Bay of Islands Yacht Club from it’s beginnings, and she was hauled out every year at the club slipway.He sold her to Peter Sharp about 1986?  Peter was the Acting Harbour Master at Opua, and put her in the powder sheds there for about a year to give her another ‘birthday’.  She was in need of new garboard planks, they were tired and couldn’t be properly caulked, plus things like moving the beltings, as I mentioned.I noticed in the recent WW photo’s of her in the paddock, the port side-deck hatch-way has been taken out of the aft dodger, I’m not sure if Peter did that when he added the beltings to the lower side-decks or whether it was later. It was quite a neat, and relatively unique feature.”

Below I have included a reproduction of the original ‘For Sale’ listing that Dave’s father wrote for Stella when he was selling her. Dave commented that at that time Peter had left Paihia and moved to Whangarei and the maintenance was looming a bit large for his father. She really needed some refastening in the bottom by then, and Dave thinks Peter Sharp had that done when he put her into the shed when he first bought her, about 1986. 

WE HAVE ANOTHER CYA COMMITTEE ZOOM MEETING TOMORROW NIGHT

I wonder if anyone in the last 4 weeks has grown some gonads and will front the elephant in the room e.g. clarification of the 40 berth Heritage Basin sub-committees intent i.e. will the classic vessels berthed there be a true representation of the CYA’s Classic Yacht Policy, as per the constitution – “New Zealand or foreign designed yachts, launches, dinghies, boats, vessels of all sizes, description, ages, whether powered by wind, steam, combustion or otherwise’. OR woodys – a parking lot for what I understand the sub-committee openly refers to as ’The Heritage Sailing Fleet’. Read more by clicking the Tui banner above.

The original conceptual sketch*, below, of the CYA’s current marina (Heritage Landing) certainty portrayed a fair mix of craft 🙂 *david barker