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.

Manowai

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MANOWAI
photos & details from Alan Craig ex Ken Ricketts, rewritten by Alan H

Well folks I now know the first boat I will be checking out at the 2016 Lake Rotoiti Classic Wooden Boat Parade 🙂

Manowai has spent the the last year tucked away in boat builder, Alan Craig’s boat shed, Alan has recently taken over the former shed of Tony Mitchell at Lake Rotoiti.

Ken has known the boat for over 70 years, first going aboard when he was around 8 years old.

Alan Craig advises that Manowai  is 32′ with an 8′ beam & now owned by Lake Rotoiti local Dennis Walsh, Dennis intends to keep the launch on the lake where she will be a stunning additional to the classic fleet.. Dennis bought her off a Mr Andy Culpin of Hampton Downs. It is understood he had kept her in a shed  for approx. 2 years & had started the restoration work & Alan has spent the last 12 months working on her. The target for relaunching is prior to Christmas 2015.
Alan commented that when purchased by Dennis Walsh she was powered by a BMC Commander, 4 cyl diesel, this is being replaced with a much lighter, brand new,  4 cyl. 40 hp Lombardini diesel, similar to what powers the launch Marjorie Rosa (ex Juliana) which also resides on Lake Rotoiti.

From the photos, the finish looks outstanding & given its been achieved just with elbow grease, lots of sandpaper & putty is a credit to Alan the boat builder.

Alan Craig has asked for help in sourcing  early photos of her & any info from previous owners.  The original builder & launch date are own known.

MANOWAI update ex Colin Brown via Ken Ricketts.edited by Alan H

Until today, I did not know that Colin B had significant roll in the refurbishment programme on MANOWAI.

He first became involved with her about 2003, when she was owned by Ralph Power & worked on her for an 8 year period in total, with around 3 years in his shed at Kumeu & also in the shed in McLeod Rd, Te Atatu South. During this period she changed hands from Ralph P., to Andy Culpin who sold her to Dennis Walsh.

The work included replacing the planking “hood ends” where the planking is fixed to the stem, with a new apron & new big pohutukawa stem knee. He also replaced most of the interior, except the middle section, where the engine was fitted over about a 3 year period

Colin told Ken he believes she was built by Bailey & Lowe in 1921

 

Mistletoe – Sailing Sunday

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Mistletoe – Sailing Sunday
photo ex Jason Prew

Jason snapped the photo above in August 2015 in Tauranga Harbour. Can not be a lot of ‘these’ down there so hopefully one of the woodys will be able to ID her.

Harold Kidd Update – 16/09/2015

Fred Mann built two 24 footers called MISTLETOE. The give away really is the narrow stern which betrays her early build. This is said to be MISTLETOE I which Fred built in late 1904, first race Auckland Anniversary Regatta January 1905. MISTLETOE II was built in 1914 and had very similar lines.
Frankly I am undecided which of the two this one is. Some authorities reckon she’s the 1904 boat, some the 1914. The APYMBA registration of MISTLETOE (sic) as I7 recorded her as being built in 1911, which merely shows how much confusion there has been since the second MISTLETOE was built.
Whichever one she is, she’s another survivor of Mann’s excellent design and craftsmanship.
I did most of my early keel yacht sailing on Lincoln Wood’s Harrison Butler-designed and Mann-built MEMORY and was regaled by Linc with Mann stories (as were most of Devonport’s young water rats he took as crew).

The  photo below was sent to me by Judith (Le Clerc) Wallath & is of a punt built in Whangarei for her brother Brian by their Dad, Godfrey Le Clerc.  The picture was taken at Onerahi with Limestone Island in the background. The punt was made out of a salvaged board that had borer and planks from a wooden case.  It was painted with tar from the gasworks but still leaked through the borer holes, and had a sail made from an ironing sheet, complete with iron-shaped scorch mark. Brian took it, against instructions, over to Limestone Island.  His Dad removed a plank from the bottom until there was a promise to behave.   Brian went on to become a champion P Class and Z Class sailor, and his sister (Judith) also sailed a P Class (on Hamilton Lake). Definitely a classic woody 🙂

Tiger

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TIGER
ex trademe

There have been some amazing classic launch buys on trademe recently, all with no reserve, today’s ww post is a 30′ kauri carvel planked launch named Tiger, currently located in Hamilton, The listing claims she is a 1937 Collings & Bell. Now Harold Kidd has no record of a C&B named Tiger but says there was a Waikato speedboat called Tiger in the 1930s, not this boat of course, but possibly the same owner. She is powered with a 90hp engine, the make or condition is not mentioned in the listing.
Harold would have put her date of build at c1925 and her builder not C&B which were usually square-bilge.

Anyone able to supply more info on her?

If your interested, bidding closes at 8.44pm 16-09-2015.

UPDATE : My ww spy in the Waikato (Bruce Pullan – MV Ann Michelle ) visited Tiger today, photos below. Bruce reports good headroom (<6′) in the cabin. So come on guys, someone has to buy her, the bits alone are worth 10x the bidding 😉

On the move

Tauraka

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TAURAKA

Now I’m not sure if Tauraka is her current name, but according to trademe she was built in 1912 by Fred Man for F.W. Chalmers.  She started life as a gaff rigged sailboat with a 10 hp Frisco engine. About 1925 she went to Tauranga where she had 4 owners before moving to Lake Rotoiti about 2005.  Currently powered by a Ford 4 cyl. 60hp diesel engine. The trademe listing says she sold for $4,020,  at 32′ that is a huge amount of boat for the price. Someone got a real bargain.

Harold Kidd (brilliant) Input

It’s actually a bit more complicated than that. Fred Mann of John St., Ponsonby built a 24ft launch for Frank W. Chalmers in 1910 called GWEN. Chalmers worked for J.J. Craig. In December 1912 Mann launched another launch for Chalmers, the 32 footer, GWEN C. She had a 10hp 2 cylinder ‘Frisco Standard. Chalmers kept GWEN C until September 1921 when he sold her to Percy Carter of Tauranga. Carter changed her name to HELEN C.
Now Carter was a leading light in the Tauranga Yacht & Motor Boat Club and a yachtsman through and through. Although the launch had used an auxiliary rig beforehand, Carter rigged her right up as a schooner and took part in yacht races in Tauranga with her. There had been a number of such launch/yacht hybrids before that in Auckland but they were neither fish nor fowl and generally defaulted to their launch role. HELEN C didn’t and carried her rig for many years. She was allocated the sail number E79 by the APYMBA and raced in the 1932 Auckland Anniversary Regatta on 20m handicap and came 6th on line.
Carter sold her when he bought the Woollacott ketch MAY in 1953 and renamed MAY RAUMATI after a small yacht he had owned and raced in Tauranga pre-WW1. HELEN C’s new owner renamed her TAURAKA.

Robyn Gae

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ROBYN GAE
video ex Martin Turnwald, details ex Martin T & Harold Kidd, photo ex PapersPast ex Nathan Herbert

The video clip above is a little scratchy but features some good footage of the classic woody, Robyn-Gae, owned by Martin’s father, John Turnwald. There is even a cameo apperance of the 1919 Joe Slattery launch Raiona (at 1:30).

Robyn Gae started life as Water Gipsy & was launched in October 1934 for C. Miller by Cox & Filmer (Speedcraft Boat Co) with dimensions 32ft x 8ft 6in. She was a slightly extended version of a 30 footer built by Cox & Filmer for a Mr. Martin. Miller used Water Gipsy for a while and then she “disappears for a while. Ted Valintine bought her in 1937, renamed her Connie V after Mrs. V, had her lengthened to her final dimension of 38ft, with the provision of a cockpit, coaming and dodger over. The work was undoubtedly done by Lanes who also fitted her with a 6 cyl Chrysler Crown petrol engine in September 1939. That was after the Kawau petrol fire in January 1939 when Valintine scuttled her by chopping a hole in her hull, saving the boat (photos below). Valentine sold her to E.M. Henry & the Lambourne family bought her from Henry in 1939. She remained in the Lambourne family until 1956 or so but Lambourne obligingly changed her name to Robyn Gae on 14/11/49 at the time Lanes launched the second Connie V for Valintine.
She is registered as a “Her Majesty’s Ship” in London.
The Chrysler Crown engine was replaced later by a Commer TS3 two-stroke diesel . The bridge roof was raised about 20 centimeters way back in about 1979 Martin thinks, because a stroll on the bridge always ended with  a ding in one’s head . The beams were just that little bit too low and the bridge deck floor had to be raised a bit to accommodate the new engine.
The Commer has since been replaced by a Perkins & with this engine Robyn Gae is able to achieve a true 9.6 knots running a 5 blade prop.

Robyn Gae is for sale – for details contact Martin Turnwald at  mturnwald@bluewin.ch

Stella

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STELLA
details & photos ex Judith Wallath

Stella was built by Lanes of Totara North in the mid 1950s.  Benjamin (Ben) Le Clerc, farmer of Otara, Helena Bay, bought her from Lanes.  Stella was 32 ft, built of kauri, with a petrol motor and set up as a game boat.  Later, while moored at Helena Bay, a petrol explosion occurred which blew out the forward hatch.  She sat on the beach for three months while having a 40 h,p, diesel motor installed.
Disaster struck again on the 21st April 1963 when Ben was returning from a fishing trip with eight men on board, and a catch of 13 hapuka.  The boat hit a rock off the Wide Berth (Limerick, Rimiriki) Islands.  A mayday signal was sent which was picked up at Russell and Port Charles.  In the meantime the boat broke up and the men clambered onto a rock.  The first to answer the mayday call were Jack Foote of Footes Bay and Mr J.D Prestney, manager of Mimiwhangata.  A runabout was sent out, which laboured to the mainland with 11 people on board.  Mr Prestney was off-loaded at Mimiwhangata.  He raced to his Landrover and flashed his headlights to attract the attention of the Kitty Vane which was approaching from Tutukaka.
Meanwhile the other ten proceeded towards Helena Bay where disaster struck again. The runabout struck a submerged reef and began to sink.  All had to abandon ship once again and cling to a small dinghy which was being towed.  It was 3 a.m. before they reached the mainland again.  21 year old Glenys Foote was the heroine of the event.  She rowed the dinghy that transferred the men from the rocks to the runabout, and then later rowed the 8 men to shore while Ben swam.

So woodys can anyone add to the history of Stella. Was she salvaged or slipped away to Davey Jones locker? There is some confusion as to her length some say 32′ others 38′, can anyone confirm?

Harold Kidd Input

STELLA apparently WAS a total loss when she went aground on the Limericks, Wide Berth Island, on 21/4/1963, that is according to Madge Malcolm’s book “Where it all began”, but the wreck doesn’t appear in “Shipwrecks of NZ”. She was then owned by B.C. Le Clerc of Helena Bay and was a 38ft bridgedecker. I think she was probably supplied by Lanes at Totara North but was undoubtedly built by Lanes at Auckland, despite the Sam Ford-type waist windows.

Time For Some Fresh Air

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A LETTER TO RICK McCAY

I was going to email the below to Rick in reply to his post yesterday in the comments section concerning ‘an increasing level of vitriol and the use of quite unpleasant language when dealing with vague or inaccurate information’ on ww. But I decided to post it for all to read.

Firstly –  Hi Rick, thanks for the praise re the site, I value it coming from you.

Thanks for raising your concerns – before I address those let me explain a few things. I try not to edit / influence what appears in the comments section of ww, someones first comment on ww is always moderated e.g. to ensure they are not a spammer & their comments are related to the ww site & its content,  but after that they can enter comments ‘live’. Its a bit ‘chat-room’ like. I can chose the number of comments that appear ‘live’ on the site at any given time, you may have noticed that comments drop off as new ones are added. As comments do not get captured in the ww search function its a good place for debate around a topic, if a comment is factual & interesting & will add value to the original post, I will transfer it over to the original post.

One of the big pluses of the blog format is that only the blogger (person that set it up) can post on the site, this keeps the site focused & not dragged off onto random unrelated topics, this is very important to retaining the readers & keeping them coming back each day/week. With ww this has worked well & I now have a very good feel for what content works & when best to post particular content.

Now onto the big pink elephant sitting in the room 🙂 no point beating around the bush, the issue is Ken Rickets & Harold Kidd. I have hundreds to people who send me information & photos but these two are very productive. In their own way, each have contributed to the growth of ww, in the early days Harold took me to task re the accuracy of the data & I spent weeks (nights) back tracking, correcting & cross referencing content – the kick in the bum from Harold resulted in the site becoming an amazing reference tools for classic wooden boats & most things associated with it. Harold is New Zealand’s foremost marine / nautical historian & most published author -the site needs a resource like Harold & I am very appreciative of his input in keeping the site & myself focused, we are lucky to have him on ww. I told him once that I was going print a business card for him & under his name it would say ‘Stubbornly Traditional’, that is how I view Harold & I think it perfectly suits one of his roles in the classic boating movement.
Now the other party – Ken Rickets, what Ken initially bought to ww was a collection of old b/w photos, dating back to his boating youth when he had what appears to be almost unlimited access to a camera & film (a luxury in those days), over the years Ken added to his collection. When Ken was emailing me these photos everything was fine but then Ken got addicted (as have a lot of people) to ww & he started writing supporting copy for the photos, this is where things started to go a little wobbly – Kens writing style & frequent repetition of certain matters was not well received by readers, without boring you with details I can see how each post performs in terms of how many people open it, how long they spend on each post etc. End result I had to step in & have for a long time been editing / re-writing all Kens copy.
Then Ken started writing (live & unedited) in the comments section which resulted in topics dying off as people were had low interest in a lot of what was written. I started editing these comments also. Now you might ask – why did I bother doing all this editing – 2 reasons. (1) To protect the credibility of the ww site (2) I believed that Ken had valuable content that deserved to be seen.
Now Ken is no angel – in the past he has been ‘suspended’ on the site for breaking agreements we had & is currently on total moderation i.e. he is unable to write ‘live’ in the comments section. His writings are all moderated & where necessary edited. I have also had a lot of negative feedback about his ‘dock-side’ manner when gathering information.

I’m a trusting person & I tend to believe what people tell me, so I used to assume that the copy that Ken supplied about boats & events to be correct but unfortunately with Ken a lot is based on memories from his youth, which was a long time ago, so things get a little (or a lot) muddled & on top of this Ken started practicing what journalists used to call ‘interviewing his own typewriter’. A combination of embellishing the story & not having access to people (most deceased) to validate the data has resulted in a high percentage of confusing & misleading data being published.
Numerous ww readers have been contacting me & challenging Kens writings, the most frequent being Harold Kidd, as you would expect as he is, as my son would say ‘The Man’ when it comes to detail. ww needs Harold & others to ensure the ww content is as accurate as possible. The fact Harold chooses to draw attention to any mistakes via the ww comments section is healthy, it encourages debate & that is a good thing.  Now Harold’s delivery can be cutting at times but its my belief this is driven out of frustration that one individual continues to offend & makes no attempt to change their ways.

What have I learnt along the way – ww is lucky to have Harold Kidd on-board. I have learnt that Ken Rickets is a passionate collector of material related to motor boats (launches) but his passion & strength is in the visual platform (photos) not in the written word (details). Now he will disagree but ww has shown this is the case.

Going forward I have put in place some steps that should reduce Harold’s need to correct comments, but I hope he continues to. This involves further moderation of Kens writing,  if he can not substantiate claims or is unprepared to admit he knows nothing e.g. “This a very cool photo I took in 1948, I know nothing about the vessel or the location, can anyone help” – then I will do that for him. If he gets frustrated with this – then he can do what anyone can & stop being a ww blog follower. I hope not.

Now lets finish this post on a upbeat – Rick has impeccable taste in wheels & keels – see below 🙂

Where is this woodys gathering?

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WHERE IS THIS WOODYS GATHERING?
photo ex Harold Kidd

Today’s photo was taken in the period 1895-1905 & is ‘around’ the Waitemata.
What say you woodys – whats the location?

Article ex Paperpast from the NZ Herald 3 Jan 1896 (ex Harold Kidd)

Also a wee bonus today – Martin Turnwald, son of CYA member John Turnwald (MV Robyn Gae), who now resides in Switzerland, has sent in a c.1993 video of the William C Daldy. We see the crew was firing up the boilers to turn the old girl around on the wharf and Martin and then girlfriend, (now wife) were on board to watch.

 

Thetis

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THETIS
photos & details from Luke Richardson

Thetis (Greek for Sea Nymph) was launched in Dunedin on the 31st August 1929.  She was built by Mr J McPherson boat builder of Dunedin for Mr Charles Sundstrum.
Thetis was designed by renown naval architect Mr William H Hand Jnr of New Bedford USA.  William ‘Bill’ Hand was the originator of the V-bottom hull type per Thetis.  In addition Hand was an early pioneer of the motor-sailor type. Thetis was designed as a fast day cruiser.
She is 35’1” in length with 8’1” beam, 2’9” draft and a total height of 6’9”. She is a British Registered ship dated 16th August 1929.  The official number is 127819. Her registered tonnage is 4.68 with a Gross Tonnage of 7.57.

Thetis was originally powered by a Chrysler Imperial 6 cylinder petrol engine producing 160hp at 2800rpm.  Later she was re-powered by a Chrysler Royal engine with 140hp.  With a Ford diesel in between she was subsequently re-powered in 2003 with a Mercedes Benz 5 cylinder diesel engine.  That motor is to be replaced now. Documents show Thetis was originally good for 18 knots.  A bigger engine was installed around the war years and its said she has seen 26+ knots.  In current configuration she’s more like 12-13 knots.

Construction is of kauri hull planking and Kowhai frames with teak decks. The cabin was subsequently modified and enclosed by Magnus Smith of Lyttelton, Luke believes the work was done  for Bruce Stewart of Pigeon Bay.

Known Owners
Charles W Sundstrum                         1929-37
Bruce F Stewart (later Sir Bruce)         1937-50
William Carey                                      1950-54
Clarey Beaumont                                1954-57
Des Sinclair                                         1957-67
Laurie Wales                                       1967-1997?
David Martin                                        1997-2006
Brendon Leech                                    2006-2014
Glenn Tod                                            2014-2015
Luke Richardson                                  2015-

Known History
Dunedin to late 1930’s
Pigeon Bay for some 20 years
War Service – she was commandeered by the NZ Navy Naval Auxilliary Patrol Service (NAPS) in WWII and used as a coastal patrol boat.  She commenced service 9th May 1942 and was relieved of duty 23rd February 1944 when the NAPS formally disbanded.  She was assigned the pennant number Z125 and served in the unit based in Lyttelton.  The owner at that time was B.F. Stewart.

Luke purchased her in July 2015 and she is now hauled out of the water for some long overdue TLC.  A period of neglect following the Christchurch earthquakes meant she was long overdue for some maintenance.  Luke would love to know more about any of the owners over the years and any of her history not covered above.

To view more photos & to follow the work, Thetis has a facebook page –  Friends of Thetis

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1608024876125109/

See below an article on Thetis’s launch from the Australasian Motorboat & Yachting Monthly from October 1929. Its a good read 😉

Harold Kidd Input

Charles William Sundstrum was a Dunedin dentist who was a key figure in Dunedin yachting circles for many years. His first launch was the 31ft clinker double-ender VALMAI of 1910 which had a Dunedin-built 5hp Viking engine. He raced her with the Otago Yacht Club including one of their Ocean races to Timaru.
He replaced VALMAI in 1913 with the 40 footer NORANA designed by Joseph Gillanders and built by Miller Bros at Port Chalmers. She had a 16-18hp Jersey Standard marine engine and was a handsome craft. He sold her to Arthur Brett of Auckland in 1927. During WW2 she was taken over by the RNZAF and sent to Fiji for towing work.
THETIS was NORANA’s replacement. Photo of Norana below.

13-05-2017 – Additional Photos ex trademe (Ian McDonald nudge)

 

How Waitematawoodys Works

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Might Be Time For An Explanation On The Process Behind Waitematawoodys And A Call For Content

Firstly ww is a blog and a blog is simply a way to share information and thoughts on a subject and create a community around that blog. Unlike social media platforms (facebook, forums etc) you can create a blog in any way you choose, its a personal space and more importantly you can control when & how a message (post) appears. Its a little like a magazine in that an editor controls the look and content and the magazine reader just reads what is published. How a blog can differ is that the reader (or follower as they are called) can have the ability to interact (comment) and even supply content for consideration. But unlike social media the follower can not publish content direct. One of the reasons for this is to keep the blog focussed on its reason for being and not get hijacked off on unrelated (boring) subjects.

Alan Houghton (photo below) is the founder of the ww blog, Alan decides the content that appears each day. This content is a combination of stuff he knows about or has access to and stuff sent to him by others and while Alan holds the tiller, waitematawoodys is all about you, not him. Your comments, photos and stories are what make it all happen. All ww is, is a window into the amazing world of classic wooden boats.

As the blog has grown in popularity, now over 1.2 million views, more and more people have started to submit content to ww, this is very cool and we encourage contributions. Its a great day when the blog & its followers are able to uncover for people details on a vessel from their past. So please keep sending in your photos, film, words and questions about the diverse vessels, people, history, events and activities that make up our unique community. The address to email them to is waitematawoodys@gmail.com

The only thing we ask is that you clearly state what you know to be fact and what is memory based. Material based on the memory is great but we are all getting on and things can get a little murky, but ww files away everything and at some stage someone else could send in something that backs up the murky bits.

Note: waitematawoodys does not have staff or ‘official’ writers, there are a few enthusiastic people out there that submit information regularly and others that help with authenticating facts but we would encourage you all to have a look in the bottom draw for that old photo album and send in anything you think might be suitable.
A tip – rather than telling it to someone that might give the impression that they are knowledge and have the ability to get the story posted on ww, just send it direct to ww.