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.

Anyone know where this mullet boat is?

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The Mullet boat Waitomo / Disgraceful

Hello – I wondered if anyone might be able to help, I’m trying to track details on a Mullet boat my brother Neil Thompson, who now lives in Australia, used to own.

The boat was named Waitomo – he tells me she was known as “dizzy” or disgraceful from early 70’s to late 80’s as she was a wreck, laid up on the mudflats of Birkenhead for many years and someone wrote on her side in mud – this boat is disgraceful and the name stuck like the mud!

He is wondering where the boat has got too – all he knows is that it was trucked to the Bay of Islands in 1999 and possibly purchased by a gentleman who belonged to the Opua yacht club.

Sorry it’s not much to go on but I wondered whether this might ring any bells.  My brother is coming across in January and is keen to see the boat again if we can locate it.

I tracked down these pics from the web and I’m not sure of the dates.

Many thanks for your help!  Lisa – contact email below

Lisa.Thompson@radionz.co.nz

Harold Kidd Input

Strictly speaking WAITOMO isn’t/wasn’t a “mullet boat”. She is/was a 16 footer S Class of roughly mullet boat configuration but in miniature.

Her registered number was S40 originally but changed to V244 (as shown in the images) as she was either over 16ft or was lengthened to 18ft.

I think her original name was BUNGAREE and she was built about 1929.

She was called DISGRACEFUL in 1953 when her owner was Charles Lindegreen and Eriksen, followed by Glen Thompson of Westmere.

Alan H Update – I think some wag has had a little ‘play’ with the photos in the past, the helmsman looks a bit too curvaceous & its not from the normal mullet boat diet of meat pies and Lion Reds 🙂

Robin Elliott Update 23/12/13

I’m not so sure that the is/was Bungaree, although one cannot rule anything out.
Bungaree appears as S-40 in 1929 and is around until around 1933 when she vanishes.

In 1938 S-40 was allocated to Leilani, a square bilge ‘sharpie type’ of English design built by Roy Brummell, and famously photographed in the NZ Herald, in serous cruising mode, decorated with RAF roundels and with crew wearing US Navy gob hats. (HDK – see the S-class file of photographs now in your possession).

To also confuse, a 16-foot mullet boat type, but ROUND bilge, named Leilani and carrying S-4 was wrecked in Okahu Bay in 1898 and her hull towed away to the tip.

Disgraceful appears as S-40, owned by Erikson & Lindgreen in 1951, then B.S.G. Keene of Whangarei in 1957. I also have an unsubstantiated note that she was built in Whangarei just prior to the War, and she is similar to a couple of unknown (to me anyway) mullet boat types in an old Whangarei photo album that I must get back from the WCC..

Around 1960 she re-appears as Waitomo registered as V-244 because the AYMBA had stopped registering boats for the S-class and all boats less than 18-feet were registered as V’s. Loads of confusion anyway because the V-200 numerical series was begun in 1955 to cater for the 18-foot Flying Squardon V’s (V-201 Envy, V-202 Quandary, V-203 Quiz). By the early 1960’s when Waitomo came along the AYMBA was only half-heartedly registering 18-footers and probably didn’t give a toss that Waitomo was nothing like a Flying 18.

During this period her owners were :L.K. Murray 1961?/63+?; D.O.(Stuart) Munro (Hamilton East) 1965?/77+? (still shows as owner in 1978 NZYF); and Shane Kelly (ex Sea Spray editor) some time in the early 1980’s.

I remember seeing her on the hard at Okahu Bay in the mid-late 1980’s. She was VERY deep chested and probably drew the best part of 18 inches, quite tubby like a little Loloma which for a 16-footer was really unusual.She was wrecked in Okahu Bay in 1989 & her hull towed away to the tip.

Photos below ex Pam at Whangateau Traditional Boat yard

The top photo is Fleetwing  S11 on the left and Des Demona on the right (18 ft mullety), they are laid up in the backyard of 96 Vermont Street Ponsonby in 1942 for war times.
Pam would like to know who built Fleetwing and what happened to her? The photo was given to Pam from Des Pittams a previous owner of Des Demona.

Anyone able to put a make to the van towing Des Demona.

Around the yards

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Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

Which one would I choose  – Trinnidad, Ngaio, Waimiga ?

Well unless, one the owners gets a bang on the head & Big Wednesday smiles on me this week, its a hypothetical question . The answer – any of them could slip into my berth at Bayswater.

Three of the CYA’s prettiest ladies are about to leave the shed after a winter of pampering, o-boy the launch fleet bar just got raised a few notches 🙂

My spies tell me that Lady Crossley is also due back in soon & is also looking very smart.

I’ll post more when they splash.

Maroro

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Maroro (leading)

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Maroro

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Susie

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Susie

MARORO

photos & details ex Harold Kidd & Alan H

This story starts in 1907 when an Auckland family (Matheson brothers) built in St Marys Bay on Aucklands waterfront a 32 ft launch MARORO (flying fish in Maori). Her plans came from the USA Rudder Magazine and she was therefore rather unusual in design in the local New Zealand context. Maroro has a great history but her claim to fame was she won the  Rudder Cup, a night race around Sail Rock & back, held on the 12th December 1908.

Fast forward 100+ years (August 2009) & Harold Kidd, Colin Pawson & myself flew to Great Barrier Island to check out Maroro where she was ‘resting’ at Okupa in Blind Bay, you can view photos from that trip on this link http://classicyacht.org.nz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=652&hilit=Maroro

Maroro was subsequently transported back to Auckland & is now resting again at Marco Scuderi’s yard in Helensville, while her fate is decided. You will see in the Great Barrier photos she was / is as they say in the real estate game – a little distressed. There are lots of posting on the Classic Yacht Association NZ forum on Maroro if you are interested http://classicyacht.org.nz/forum

The purpose of this waitematawoodys posting is to reveal that at long last the original plans for Maroro have been tracked down by super sleuth Harold Kidd, who obtained a copy of the August 1906 edition of the Rudder magazine off Ebay. Featured were the basic layout /plans of a motor launch named Susie. She was 3rd in the Knickerbocker YC long distance power boat ocean race in June 1906, the 2boats that finished ahead of her were much bigger & more powerful. When you compare the photos of Maroro & Susie , disregard the cabin top & focus on the bow & stern, they are almost identical. It would appear that the Matheson brothers were impressed with Susie’s performance in the Knickerbocker race & built a clone.

The above photos include a shot of Susie , the plans, a photo of Maroro winning a race on the Waitemata Harbour & a rather spectacular close up shot of Maroro. What do you think – peas in a pod? (you can freeze the slideshow by clicking on a photo)

Note: the discovery of these layout / plans could help decide the future of Maroro.

A Brief history of the Kawau ferry transport 1946 -1990

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KAWAU ISLE NORTH HARBOUR KAWAU ISLAND 1970s
MAIRIE 1954 MANSION HOUSE FERRY Builder Roy Lidgard
KAWAU ISLE MANSION HOUSE BAY WHARF 1962
KAWAU ISLE SANDSPIT 19.9.90
Ken Ricketts sculling towards Kororo
FRED LADD MANSION HOUSE BAY 1950’s
Kawau Isle berthed at Maritime Museum
Kawau Isle 60th Anniversary Skippers
Kawau Isle 60th Anniversary at Bon Accord
Kawau Isle
Kawau Isle at Riverhead Hotel

A Brief history of the Kawau ferry transport 1946 -1990

photos & details ex Ken Ricketts

MAIRIE

Purpose built in the early 1950’s by Roy Lidgard, in his boatbuilding shed in Smelting House Bay Kawau Island, for Alan Horsfall owner of the Mansion House, in Mansion House Bay, Kawau, for the carriage of passengers & freight, to & from the Mansion House, to the Sandspit at Warkworth, which was the embarkation point, for the vast majority of the guests, & virtually all freight, food, & most importantly, for boaties, grog, during Mansion House’s time as a hotel /guest house, which was up until about September 1967, at which time it was bought by the Government of the day & turned in to a historic place, under the Historic Places Trust.

A few lucky commuters travelled in style, by amphibious aircraft from the 1950’s onwards, — a Grumman Widgeon, piloted by a the famous, Freddie Ladd,  a delightful, colourful, extroverted, & very learned, & tremendously skilled, pilot,  see pic on the beach of Mansion House Bay, c.1954, (this photo along with the one of Mairie was scanned by Ken from 8 mm movie footage shot from his families launch, Juliana, c.1953-55, thence the poor quality). Ladd usually had Christmas dinner on Juliana, & later Gay Dawn, an entertained the Ricketts family with his seemingly endless supply, of real life anecdotes.

Mairie was approx 42 feet long & powered by a 4 cyl Kelvin diesel & served the Island & Mansion House for many years. In her later years such was the demand for her services that Lidgards built (1952) another boat for Mr. Horsfall, called Kawau Isle, slightly bigger & powered by a 6LW Gardner diesel, which in later years, took over most of the passenger load & left Mairie to do the donkey work, with the freight side of the logistics. The 6LW I understand, has fairly recently been replaced by a newer 6LX Gardner in Kawau Isle.

KAWAU ISLE

Kawau Isle is a traditional kauri timber motor vessel built in 1952 by Roy Lidgard at Smelt House Bay, Bon Accord Harbour. She is 45 feet in length, powered with a 6LW Gardner diesel engine and cruises at 7.5 knots.

For around 30 years the Kawau Isle operated a ferry service between Sandspit and Kawau Island. More recently she worked from Half Moon Bay as a charter boat and then Whangarei as a school ferry. She currently plys her trade ferrying day trippers to & from the Riverhead Hotel, on the upper reaches of the Waitemata Harbour.

In the bow on photo with the ‘Riverhead Ferry’ logo, the men on the bow are all past and preasent skippers of Kawau Isle. This photo was taken at Kawau Island, Bon Accord Harbour November 2012 during a cruise to celebrate the 60th anniversary to the launching of the ferry.

Note : Mairie & Kawau Isle replaced the ‘Nancibel’ – (may have been Nancibelle), which was powered with a 4 cyl 4-53 GM Detroit & ‘Kororo’ which was powered with a P6 or 6-354 6 cyl Perkins. Both of these boats were painted bottle green & given there appearance probably built in the later part, of the early 1900s. You can see the Maritana stern on, behind Kawau Isle in the 1962 pic at Mansion House Bay wharf. The back end of Kororo can be seen in the photo of a young Ken Ricketts sculling the dinghy.

A question ex Don Macleod

Refer below article / photos that appeared in DIVE Magazine Vol 11 No3, of 1972.

Is this the same launch, Nancibel, that serviced Kawau Island. (click photo to enlarge)

Nancibel _ DIVE Magazine

Update from Don 02/12:

The divers got into real trouble that weekend at the 20 fathom reef, Mayor Island, 3 cases of the bends, one of which died (Henry Liason).

There was another boat that hit a Mayor Island rock that weekend. It was the Edward G which flooded its engine room at the time

that Henry Liason was surfacing from a very deep dive.

Tauranga divers went out and salvaged the Gardner engine from the Nancibel the week after she sank.

 

Jeunesse

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JEUNESSE

b/w photos ex Keith Munro

Built & launched by Dick Lang in 1919, LOA 39′, Beam 11′, Draft 3′. Powered by a 180hp Hino, she is rather quick 🙂

Currently owned by John Wright

Colour photo was taken in November 2013 during the CYA Launch Cruise to the Riverhead Hotel.

Alice

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Alice

ALICE

photo ex classic launch nz

Seen here on her trials at Auckland : The new launch, Alice, which was built for the use of the Inspector of Fisheries in the Bay of Islands.

Interested in any more info – designer, builder, year etc + what happened to her.

Harold Kidd Update

Looking at her you can tell

1. she was built as a commercial vessel because of her dee front cabin; no fancy raised foredeck for workboats at this point

2. from the background buildings she was built in Auckland

3. she was built post 1920 because of the dodger

4. she looks like a Chas Bailey Jr workboat and the name ALICE was a favourite of his for yachts and launches he built.

In fact she WAS built by Chas Bailey Jr. and launched on 20th September 1921 for the Inspector of northern fisheries, Flynn. She was 36ft oa and had an Auckland-built 30hp 3 cylinder Twigg engine.

I don’t know what happened to her afterwards, but what a cracker!

Update #2

I had another look at my database. She was superseded in fisheries work by COLLEEN but continued to be used by the Government in the Bay of Islands for servicing Cape Brett lighthouse etc until August 1942 when she came ashore at Russell in an an extremely heavy easterly gale and may have been a total loss then. Not sure of that….wartime news censorship and all that.

A non woody but a goody

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CADEAU – Logan 33

Now its not often that you will see a fibre glass boat on WW (or a 4 sale listing) but this one is just such an outstanding example of the Logan 33 replicas & for sale at the best price I have seen in a long time, I had to post her. Plus there is enough kauri in her interior to almost appease a purest like myself 🙂

If you are looking for a low maintenance classic retro style boat, at $115,000, ono, this is a bargain.  

Details:

Construction: 2004,  Fibre glass, Kauri interior,. Length: 10.9 metres ( 35,7 feet) Year:build, 2004 Engine:, 40 HP Lomdardini.

Bait tank, depth sounder,fishfinder,GPS,  Satnav, Power steering,Radio,CD player, rod holders,VHF radio, extension rear cover.

Engine hours 630, recent service, full life service history, immaculate condition.

Beam: 2.50metres (8ft 2in) Draft: 0.5 metres(20in) Fuel capacity: 350 litres Water capacity: 350 litres.

This is a beautiful example in absolutely new condition throughout ready for the season, just been antifouled and prop speed, complete electrical and mechanical check throughout.

Features a crafted kauri trim interior with T&G deck heads, 4 berth, extended hull under platform ( water tight) and MK3 stabilizers, Ray marine electronics with A/pilot, fridge, 4b+oven, shower, holding tank, solar panel, inflatable, two new batteries, all windows resealed, new carpet, steadying sail, new mast spreader and rigging lines, 50metres of anchor chain,. In absolutely spotless condition.

Boat can be viewed at Half Moon bay marina on the hard stand, Phone   09-8366461 ( Home) 09-634 7697 ext 908 ( work )  mob 021 324 476

Severn

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SEVERN

SEVERN

photo from  Paul Drake, details ex Harold Kidd

Severn (actually in the Register of British Ships and RNZYS records as The Severn), shown in the above photo at Three Mile Bay, Taupo where she resides,  was built by Logan Bros for Colonel G. Arnold Ward of Tauranga and launched in March 1910 when she steamed down to Tauranga. The event was reported in the Bay of Plenty Times of 18/3/1910. She originally had an 8hp (rated) 2 cylinder Union engine, a make much favoured by the Logans because of its simplicity and reliability. Ward sold her to H J Day of Tauranga in 1922. Day sold her to B. Sladden of Tauranga in 1925; Sladden had her until 1947 when a half share was bought by P D Simmonds.

Harold has pics of her at Tauranga in the 30s when Charlie Millett worked on her.

In 1964 she was still in Tauranga owned by D W Reid and fitted with a 4 cylinder Graymarine.

Mike Leonard owned her at Whangamata in 1994 when I had extensive correspondence with him. I photographed her on Taupo in 2008.

This launch is super-easy to track as she was a British Registered Ship until relatively recently plus most of the owners were Squadron members and reported any changes of ownership and engine.

Seafarer

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SEAFARER

I last posted about Seafarer when she & her ‘owner’ Richard were my haul out neibours at the Devonport Yacht Club in 2013 winter.

Seafarer was built at Opua by Walter Deeming in 1963 to a John Brooke design.

This year Seafarer got an even bigger fright than 2013, mostly based around a new motor & all the bits that go with that – new fuel tanks, new exhaust system etc etc.

You can see from the exterior photos that the standard of workmanship is faultless. Below, it would pass the Colin Pawson test with flying colours 🙂

There is a little bit of me on her, I did the name boards (I’m not that talented, I pulled a favour with a mate) as a thank you for all the advice Richard gave me in 2013.

The new wooden mast replaced an ugly stainless steel ‘thing’ left over from the days when she was a motor-sailor.

Seafarer was relaunched on Sunday 24 November at the DYC . Photos show her, on the club mooring, post launch looking very smart. In my opinion she would be one of the prettiest & ‘biggest’ 28 footers on the harbour & with a 9’6″ beam there is no shortage of living space below.

05-11-2016 UPDATE

Owner Richard Darke has had Seafarer out again at DYC this winter & the biggest item on the to-do list was to strip the coamings & re-do the Uroxsys. A wee oops a few years ago when doing it resulted in a finish that did not meet Richards standards, so off it came & this time the result is stunning – see below.

seafarer-2016a

seafarer-2016b

Relaunching in spring 2017 after another winter of TCL ex Richard D

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