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.

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – KATOA – Flash Back

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Photo ex WW files – 1950’s

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – KATOA – Flash Back

Recently WW was sent the above photos by John Bottomley, who commented that his grandparents and recently passed father once owned the 1911 built KATOA in the Taupo area. 

The family spent many holidays on her trout fishing and enjoying exploring bays and beaches of the lake.

John enquired about learning more about her, from construction type , designer, previous owners and where she is now and who is looking after her. Well some days the WW back library just rocks. I was able to suggest that John do a search in the WW search box and view the numerous past stories on KATOA that have appeared over the years. Do the same if you want to read about her past life.

Numerous woodys had sent in photos of KATOA docked at Nelson marina looking very unloved (top photo below), then in Nov 2022 we received the photos below of her post a serious dose of TLC.

26-03-25 INPUT EX OWNER – ANNIE BRYCE – Photos below from Havelock marina of KATOA and her ongoing makeover. She was built in Auckland by Collings & Bell, worked on the harbour. We have a copy of an article from the local Picton newspaper of her adventures in the Sounds. Plus a fifty year old log book some one dropped off for us at the Nelson marina before we moved her to Havelock marina. 

Annie has promised to send in more intel on KOTOA, so updates soon.

27-03-2025 UPDATE below ex owner – Annie. Photo of KATOA on the move Nelson marina 2023 and video of her arriving at Havelock marina August 2023. + copy of newspaper article circa 1960-1970s.Annie also commented – ” we are still doing work on her after buying her in 2021 but she is not far away from being fit for purpose just a bit more paint inside some wood repairs and a new fish finder then it’s up the Sounds. She is a sound old boat we where lucky we found her timing wise any longer with no love she would of been in trouble, we have a lovely vintage skylight to be put in mid saloon. Will send more pictures when that is done, I am rather pleased with her new color scheme of the cream and duck egg. Blue I wanted something softer than the colours we threw on in Nelson when we first bought her to get her watertight,

YESTERDAYS MYSTERY LAUNCH QUIZ – NO WINNER –  Lots of attempts to ID her with RAIONA and JOAN being the most popular but the vessel is the Bailey & Lowe 1919 launch -ATATU – link below her to her July 2013 WW story.  https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/07/12/atatu/  And another in May 2013 https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/05/15/atatv-anyone-know-more-about-this-lovely-canoe-stern-launch/

MYSTERY WOODEN LAUNCH 25-03-25

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MYSTERY WOODEN LAUNCH 25-03-25

Long overdue  a mystery launch competition – the above photo comes to us from the Auckland Libraries heritage collection via Nathan Herbert.

Can we ID the vessel – first correct answer, received via email after 8am today, WINS a WW Burgee. 

Answer to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

LANAI – A Peek Down Below

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OPUA July 2025

LANAI – A Peek Down Below

Todays woody – LANAI was built in 1949 by Lanes. Carvel kauri construction. 

She has made several appearances on WW, links below. Its nice to see that her current owner has given her a hair cut and the fly bridge has gone.

There is lots of chat and intel in the past posts but a quick overview below.

32’ x 10’6” x 2’9”,  powered by twin Thornycroft 54hp engines, that sees her cruise at a comfortable 7.5 knots, max 10 knots. WW July 2014  https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/07/04/lanai/

WW Jan 2022  https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/01/05/lanai-2/

2016 Photo below

(thanks to Ian McDonald for the heads up)

BAILEY & LOWE SCHOONER – ENDEAVOUR

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BAILEY & LOWE SCHOONER – ENDEAVOUR

During the week Owen Aspden sent in the above phot of the 1904 schooner – ENDEAVOUR.

Owen commented that she was once a familiar sight around the New Zealand coast. Bought by the Aspden Shipping Co. in the 1930s then sold to the NZ Navy for service on the NZ coast in 1943 and bought back again by the Aspden Shipping Co. after the end of the war.

In April 1940 enroute from Auckland to Portland at night she encountered a small yacht upside down 3 miles off Tiritiri Island. The yacht was hoisted onboard and later by phone from Portland to Auckland it was established that three young Naval Reservists had been on the yacht and had drowned. 

Again in June 1940 at the time of the Niagara sinking she was leaving Portland for Auckland with a load of cement when the call came through that the Niagara had sunk off Whangarei Heads. She proceeded to the site but there was only oil to be seen on the surface.  

In in her later life it was used on Stewart Island to service salmon farms and from there sailed across the Pacific as a floating circus, unconfirmed. Do we know what became of ENDEAVOUR.

When your morning dog walk looks like this

You do this 🙂 

We are enjoying a stunning late summer in Auckland, made even better by the arrival of hot cross buns from Beabaes Bakery in Westmere, voted best in Auckland. But you better get there early Dave Giddens (ALLERGY) lives down the road and is a ‘seasoned’ regular 🙂

INPUT ex DENIS O’CALLAHAN – The round bottom coastal trading vessels, like the ones built by Meikeljon at Omaha, were always called schooners, irrespective of the rig.

PIT-a-PAT – 1928 WOODEN RACE BOAT

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PIT-a-PAT – 1928 WOODEN RACE BOAT

Todays woody would normally struggle to make the cut for a WW story – but there is one huge item that gets her over the line  – her helm wheel – OMG – I want it……

Now putting aside my Model T Ford wheel fixation – what we know about PIT-a-PAT is she was built in 1928 by J.N. Robinson and is described as a ’single step vintage racing hull’.
Built from spruce with kaikawaka gunnels. She won numerous races in the 1929 > 1934 period including  the Teichelmann Cup in 1932, 33, and 34. The cup remains with the boat today and will be passed onto her next owner. (thanks Ian McDonald for the tme heads up)

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MANDALAY

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MANDALAY

Todays woody the 23’ MANDALAY just ticks so many boxes – Its built of full length kauri carvel planks in 1932 – Kauri backbone – copper fastened on steam bent ribs – it has a modern engine >Yammer 3GMD 23 hp – 4 berths – standing headroom in the wheelhouse – easily driven by an auxiliary outboard.
AND – the real bonus – it comes with a purpose built legal road trailer that allows her to be easily taken ashore for routine upkeep and changing cruising location.

With todays spiralling marina costs these smaller, transportable woodys will be the future, or at least what keeps a lot of people in the classic wooden boating game.

Thanks to Ian McDonald for the tme heads up. She has appeared on WW before where we learnt from Harold Kidd that she was built by Ralph Shepherd in Auckland. – link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/11/13/mandalay-2/

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – SILVERY MAIN + A Peek Down Below

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – SILVERY MAIN + A Peek Down Below

Todays woody recently popped up on social media, it looks familiar but I can’t put a name to her.

All we learnt was that she is approx. 34’5” in length and powered by a 150hp Ford D-series engine, that gets her along at 8 knots.

A lot of creative license with the wide-angle lens interior photos, makes her look huge 😉

Keen to learn more about the vessel.

21-03-2025 Update – the boats named SILVERY MAIN – details in the link below to Oct 2015 WW story https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/10/28/silvery-main/

MARANUI – CLASSIC 100 YEAR OLD POND YACHT

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MARANUI – CLASSIC 100 YEAR OLD POND YACHT

Its no secret that I have a soft spot for classic pond yachts (a couple below) so when Chris Brummel contacted me regarding the pond yacht – MARANUI he had a captive audience.

MARANUI was built by Chris’s late father, Roy  when he was a boy, In the late 1920’s early 1930’s.Roy lived on Shelley Beach Rd, Herne Bay, Auckland and would walk down to Shelly beach  to sail MARANUI. This was in the days before Westhaven Marina was built.
MARANUI is made from horizontal layers of kauri, carved out, rib and then riveted. She is gaff rigged with a topsail, Chris still have the original linen sails, that his grandmother mother made for the boat.

She was open decked and still has the carry handle inside screwed to the lead keel.
The last two photos are of the inside looking forward and aft. Chris commented that he started restoring her when he started his boatbuilding apprenticeship in the 1970,s, but only built in her current configuration is Chris’s interpretation back then of what she might look like. Now semi retired, Chris would like to put her back to what she should look like.

So woodys the question of the day is  – would anyone be able to help Chris discover the origins of MARANUI. 

The obvious questions are • was she built from an existing design of the time or not •  does anyone have any info that might help in restoring her correctly.

From my experience the more original , unrestored a model is the greater the monitory value – but with MARANUI its all about the family connection. 

CLASSIC WOODEN EX WORKBOAT – FLORENCE

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CLASSIC WOODEN EX WORKBOAT – FLORENCE

Todays woody – FLORENCE, was built in 1895 by Miller & Tunnage and started life as a workboat in Port Chalmers.

A double ender measuring 28’ x 7’8” x 3’ and constructed from heart kauri , carvel planked. Forward motion is via a Yammer 45hp 3JH engine.

FLORENCE last appeared on WW back in May 2016  https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/05/28/florence-5/

Not a lot of details of photos on her tme listing (thanks Ian McDonald) – seller might be best to link to the WW story 😉

Photos below of her in previous configurations 

LITTLE HONEY – 1955 CLASSIC WOODEN RUNABOUT.

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LITTLE HONEY – 1955 CLASSIC WOODEN RUNABOUT.

Back inlet Dec 2024 James McConnell won one of the WW quiz’s and in correspondence commented that he owned a 1955 17’ Mason Marlin, named LITTLE HONEY (not her original name). 

He also mentioned that he was restoring her for the 2nd time in 12mths, now that pricked my ears up, there had to be a good (or sad) story there – so woodys it goes like this, told by James –

“I’ll send a link to some pics of ‘Little Honey’.  No indication of her original name. I believe. I bought the runabout in secret as a surprise for my wife and family in Feb 2024 and had put hundreds of hours into a functional referb to make her a family run about for delivery at Christmas.

It’s not a boat builder quality job but a labour of love with a hard timeline and a fantastic learning curve assisted by the professional English and American wooden boat builders on youtube. It’s all International Yacht Paint products, 5 coats of colour on the hull and roof + 1 coat of varnish and every other varnished surface has 8 coats of Gold Spar original. At some stage in her past life she was converted to outboard power.

All was going well until on her 2nd voyage on the Rangataiki River I hit a submerged log and dislodged the transom.  Good news is I get to tinker for longer and can now engage my 3 boys in the task.

We’ll refresh the engine (Johnson 90 V4 2 stroke), glass the hull and repaint now that I can flip it over and work in daylight and change the prop to suit her better.”

We look forward to seeing photos of the repaired woody.