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.

Clinker Day Boat Project

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CLINKER DAY BOAT PROJECT

We do not know the original design & build date for the above 4.2m clinker day-boat style launch but it has had nearly all her timbers replaced during rebuild which included new deck, coaming, transom, keel, oak ribs, stringers, bulkhead, topsides of planking, and beltings. So woodys almost a new boat. There are some interesting woodwork skills on show 🙂
In the interests of reduced maintenance she has been fiberglassed, hopefully to eliminate shrinking and leaking of seams. The trailer looks all good but just needs WOF / Rego.

There is a 10hp Bukh diesel in place that needs the installation finished off and some seating fitted. With trademe bidding starting at its $5k its got lake boat project written all over it.

 

 

Wee Darling

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WEE DARLING
Wee Darling is a 26′ kauri planked 1961 classic launch. Powered by a 35hp diesel ehgine. She underwent a ‘total’ refurbishment 2 yeras ago. Home port is Motueka, Nelson. That woodys is all we know about her other than the normal trademe info. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the trademe heads up.

Anyone able to supply more info on her & her past?

Natasha

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NATASHA

Nathan Herbert sent in the above photos of the launch Natasha, moored in Whakatakataka Bay. Nathan passes Natasha every time he heads out in Lucinda & in his eye, the waterline just doesn’t look right. Hopefully the ‘low-rider’ look is due to a giant of an engine + the weight of all the added extra’s & not due to her being thirsty i.e. water ingress.

Other than the fact that she is un-loved & not used, what do we know about her?

UPDATE 04-03-2022 Will based on the above photos, it looked like it was always going to be a sad ending – and it was. She sunk on her mooring and was offered for sale by the insurance assessors.

08-03-2022 More photos ex Angus Rogers

Moerangi

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MOERANGI

As mentioned I spent the long weekend at Whitianga & on Sunday afternoon went for a mooch around the marina. Only saw two woodys that interested me enough to get the camera out of the case – one being Moerangi. It’s always a challenge taking photos from the marina, but hopefully the above show enough of her to be able to identify her & uncover some of her history.

The photo below is solely for Baden Pascoes benefit – a wee bit of publicity for his extended families business 🙂

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WOODY SOS – LOST BOAT – Found :-(

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WOODY SOS – LOST BOAT

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HELP URGENTLY NEEDED TO HELP LOCATE THE KAYLA ROSE
I was contacted last night by John Sankey who owns the beautiful 16′ classic 1962 Seacraft kauri clinker run-about – Kayla Rose (photo above). If you have been to the Mahurangi  Regatta or a CYA Riverhead Pub cruise you will recognize her. John & his partner Tracey have had a wee incident & urgently need help from the waitematawoody network. I’ll let John tell the story. You can see more photos of KR here https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/05/19/kayla-rose/

“We were towing Kayla Rose (from the mother ship – Calypso- photo below) from Awahoa Bay (south of Ngunguru) on our way to Tutukaka on Friday 2nd June and were caught in very very rough seas. Kayla Rose broke loose at approx 9.30am a mile off Taiharuru Point. We were unable to safely try to retrieve her. She still had 15ft of rope plus 15ft of chain hanging off the front of her when she broke away. We are asking for sightings of debris or any information that may help us work out what happened to her. There was also possible  sighting of a “cute yellow fishing runabout” on a trailer going from Parua Bay towards Whangarei on Saturday 3rd June at around 3pm….. which is obviously concerning for us.
Thanks fellow Woodies. Tracey and John from Calypso. Bon Voyage.

I’m not sure of John’s mobile coverage so post any replies / feedback via the ww comments section.
Given her very distinctive yellow colour, I would like to think we can help find her or uncover where she went ashore.

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07-07-2017 – A Sad Conclusion To Kayla Rose

It saddens me to report that Kayla Rose has been sighted / found by some fishermen this morning (07-07-2017) broken up on the rocks north of Taiharuru Headland. A sad day for John, a few tears I’m sure.
John asked me to thank all the Woodies for reading the post on WW. She was a great little piece of NZ boating history. John certainly had a lot of fun aboard you. She was a head turner & always looked 110%. I understand that John has a grand daughter named Kayla Rose, so the memory will live on.
I asked John whether anything had been salvaged but it was too rough to get in against rocks for the fishermen. They did take the photos below. Maybe one day soon someone will be fishing in the area & be able to retrieve a memento for John.

RIP Kayla Rose.

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12-06-2017 Update

I have been contacted by Jean-Louis Ecochard in regard to the wreck – see below

“We saw the wreck and went on shore yesterday (10-06-2017) and took these sad photos of the Kayla Rose. 

It’s only today using Google that we came upon the blog story.

If you could kindly send to John Sankey as a memory – though I feel like this is like showing him the body parts of his daughter 😦

The wreck site is not accessible by land and rather difficult by sea. If John wanted, could take the kayak there and try to recover the transom signage in the photo.

I saw the captain wheel under a rock and the instrument panel but they are attached with cables so would need tools to recover.

Hope the images help. So sorry for his loss”

 

Speaking with John (owner) he told me that the insurance company are sending a helicopter to uplift all the remains as part of the Resource Management Act and we will get name board hopefully then.

Yes, please post Jean-Louis’ kind words and pics on WW. I am glad for her history and sad demise to be on your fine site as a memory of her. Jean-Louis

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The Building & Launching of White Cloud + A Peep Inside 1A Summer Street

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WHITE CLOUD AT PENROSE - EX PAM MARE - 1

The Building & Launching of White Cloud + A Peep Inside 1A Summer Street

1A Summer St, Ponsonby was an unlikely location for boatbuilding, particularly for large launches. The building was built on to the rear of a retail shop, on the corner of Ponsonby Rd & Summer St., Auckland. Summer St was & still is an incredibly narrow side street, dating back to the late 1800’s.
To date on ww we have never seen good photos of the interior of the yard/shed, now thanks to the generosity of Pam Mare, we have access to the above photos. Pam is  part of the Buckby family, that had White Cloud built at the yard by Ben Hipkins, to a McGeady design. Ben bought the Supreme Craft, off Mac Mcgeady. Other craftsman at the yard were boat builder Garry Wheeler & Tracey Nelson, a marine & refrigeration engineer, who did the vast majority of the engine & machinery installations, in the Supreme Craft vessels, — along with looking after all the Ponui Island mechanical work, from  all the farm tractors, power generators, to George Chamberlain’s Lane built, tram topper, Falcon.

Such was the shortage of space at the building, that every boat that emerged, meant ,the picket fence of the house opposite in Summer St, to have to be removed & later replaced, to facilitate the exit from the building on to the transporter.

White Cloud left the shed in June 1965, to go to Fodenway Motors, Penrose, for engine installation & finishing. The photos below show her leaving the shed & later, on route to launching. Sorry for the poor photo quality, stills photos taken from old ‘home’ movie footage,  recorded by Len Buckby or his wife & made available to us by his daughter Pam Mare.
Special thanks to Ken Ricketts for pulling the individual pieces together.

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Tamara – Sailing Sunday

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TAMARA – Sailing Sunday

I popped down to the marina to check on the boat last week & discovered I have a new neighbour – the yacht Tamara. I know almost nothing about her other than her owner has just finished an 18mth restoration, the standard of which made me think she was a new build, quite stunning & a wonderful mix of painted surfaces & varnished trim. Looks seriously set up for some offshore cruising.
Any woodys able to tell us more about Tamara?

Input from Neil Chalmers

A Dennis Brown design . A talented yachtsman/ boat builder/ designer . He lived in the BOI and designed wholesome wooden cruising yachts – Chantal, Freya , Harmonie , Solita

I’m not out boating this long weekend but I’m very close to the water, in fact there boats are tied up at the edge of the lawn. If you ever wondered what happens when Waikato dairy farmers get too old to tend their farms, the answer is they lease the farm > sharemilker & buy a waterfront pad + marina + big plastic boat. Must be nice to have your boat at the bottom of the garden, but it would limit the ability to sneak away for a wee snooze on the boat 🙂

Avanti – 23′ Woody Run-about

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AVANTI
Avanti is an early 1960’s wooden hull boat, built in the Marlborough Sounds at Curious Cove by the Manning family. It was modeled on a Chris Craft boat the builder had seen in a book.
In the 1970’s the top was added by boat builder Bill Orchard in Picton,

She is fitted with an Iveco (fiat) 8014m marine engine 72hp @ 2900rpm or 86hp @ 3200rpm. The boat does about 11 knots with the current prop.

Given its location, a lot of people will have rubbed up against her, so can we find out some more about her?

RAIRA – A Peek Down Below

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RAIRA – A Peek Down Below

Raira was launched in Devonport in February 1915. Built by the McLeod Brothers to a Collings and Bell design.  She has appeared on ww before but now thanks to her trademe listing we get to have a look inside 🙂
The great looking interior is the result of a full restoration completed in 2011. This included: new steamed ribs with copper fastenings, new bulkheads, new keel fastenings, all paint removed back to timber and her hull re-caulked + just about everything else on board was replaced or upgraded.

In late 2016 Raira was repowered with a 120hp Ford on an zero hour rebuild, that pushes her along at between 7.5>9 knots. At  the same time she was treated to exterior paint job.

Woody Ian McDonald commented that when he used to slip his boats at Omokoroa in the early 1980’s, Raira was on a swing mooring there & unless mistaken, the game poles are just as they were back then.

She is a pretty boat, but I’m not sure about the ‘poop’ deck 🙂

ps sorry about yesterdays story & the link not working, technology let me down 😦

Mt. Pleasant

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Mt PLEASANT
The below video is of the 1916, 40’ newly –restored Sydney, Australia ferry – Mt Pleasant. Batemans Bay is home for Mt Pleasant.
The video was done to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney Harbour on May 31 1942 by Japanese mini-subs. Mt Pleasant was tied up alongside Kuttabul at the time.
Thanks to WoodenBoat & the Bay Post / Moruya Examiner for the heads up re the video.

Stunning restoration 🙂

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