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.

Luana Keeps Good Company

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Luana Keeps Good Company

The beautiful 1920 MT Lane classic Luana has just been out at the Salthouse yard (classic’s love railway slips) getting some TLC. Of course a vessel of her caliber needs a service vehicle of a certain standard, meet ‘Cloudy’ a new addition to owner Rick’s fleet of classic cars. This one has a provenance to match Luana – NZ new, her first owner was Sir Robert Kerridge (hence the BK plates) the cinema man. Bob Kerridge had great nautical links having owned Pakatoa Island & the legendary hydrofoil Manuwai.

Menai & Valsan & her Owners.

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Menai 1947/8
Menai 1947/8
Valsan 1948
Menai 2008

Menai & Valsan & her Owners.

details & b/w photos from Ken Ricketts. edited by Alan H 

In the late 1930s, earlier 1940s, Arnold D. Baldwin, a successful business man involved in the paper & printing industries purchased the 1936 (’37?) Sam Ford launch MENAI & used her regularly until 1948, when he bought VALSAN, off Peter Annan, who had renamed her LADY EDITH, which ADB changed back to VALSAN.

ADB sold MENAI to his factory manager, Horry Whimp who loved her, at least as much as ADB & continued to pour money into MENAI, as ADB had before him. HW owned MENAI well in to the 1950s. During this stage of her life MENAI had a flat head Ford V8.

Ken Ricketts met HW’s son, Barry Whimp, as a 3rd former at Auckland Grammar in 1950, they were in the same year & became good friends, & had many happy moments together whilst away on their parents boats, especially at Kawau, at Christmas.

(b/w photos taken by Ken Ricketts show Menai over Christmas 1948 /1949  just after the Whimps had bought her, & taken at Issy Bay & Kawau. The photo of Valsan in Schoolhouse Bay was taken during Christmas 1948 just after ADB had purchased her)

Menai Specs ex Alan H

Sam Ford, Ellerslie, designed and built Menai for Mr W T Reynolds of Whangarei and she was launched at Panmure Basin on 24th of December 1937.She immediately left Auckland on launching and arrived at Whangareri 25.12.1937.

She has a most interesting history, during WWII as a Navy patrol vessel she towed lifeboats from SS Niagara to safety.  She spent many years big game fishing both off Tutukaha and Tauranga and she is fine sea boat. In 1985 new owners did major renovations including the superb varnished interior. In 2007 she was purchased by the late Peter Smith who spent 3 years bringing her back to the wonderful condition she is today.

She is characteristic of the Ford design, a bridgedeck displacement launch, 10.97m (38 ft) length, beam 3.05m and draft 0.97m. Although there have been some substantial upgrades both the exterior lines and interior layout are original.

Construction: Single kauri skin (full length planking) over bolted and riveted frames and floors. The original upper works were built of kauri. In a 1985 major upgrade they were overlaid with 5/8 in teak and varnished.

Power: Lees-Marine 60hp Fordson diesel with 2:1 Lees-Marine hydraulic gearbox.

Harold Kidd Update

A few minor things about the above. MENAI was originally fitted with an 8 cylinder Lycoming engine which was changed to an Osco Ford V8 marine conversion, possibly during her NAPS service. Arnold Baldwin bought MENAI in 1942 when he was skippering her with NAPS and registered her as a British Registered Ship in 1948. According to those records and to the contemporary APYMBA records, Whimp did not own her at all, but that may well have been because he didn’t want to carry on the BR. Certainly, however, the BR records and the RNZYS records show that MENAI was 100% owned by C.B. Menzies from 1950 onwards. How Whimp and Menzies fit together, I have no idea.

Naomi III

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Naomi III

NAOMI III

According to the caption, this her being launched on 2 Sept, 1907 at the yard of Mr. C Bailey Jnr.

photo ex classicgameboatnz

Harold Kidd Update

NAOMI III was the third NAOMI owned by M.A. Jenny of Nelson, Auckland and Wanganui. She was 39’x10’x2’6″ and had a 20hp Gardner 2 cylinder petrol engine. Jenny was a most controversial figure during the years leading up to WW1. Nominally he was Swiss but there were suspicions he was an Austrian and a spy! He was quite a dashing wealthy figure and briefly was Commodore of the North Shore Yacht Club until he resigned in February 1903. He took this launch to Nelson but sold her in 1911 to Downes brothers of Wellington. From there she did the rounds, spending a lot of time in Tauranga game-fishing in the 1930s. I last heard of her she was in Lyttelton owned by John Sole in 2007. Chas. Bailey Jr also built NAOMI I (March 1902) and NAOMI II (November 1902) for Jenny. The latter was until recently to be seen on the hard at Panmure Yacht Club. 

PS Interesting cabin top. Bailey retained the dee-front separate cabin top but put his toe in the water with a raised foredeck as well. Truly a “transitional” style.

Sterling Girl

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Sterling Girl

STERLING GIRL
Built by Bailey & Lowe in 1913. Being a B&L Harold K will know doubt be able to shed some more light on her.

photo ex classicgameboatnz

Harold Kidd Update

Bailey & Lowe were agents for the very fine US-built Sterling marine engine and so were keen to promote the brand by incorporating the name in names of boats they built for themselves and even others eg the launches STERLING (2 of them), STERLING GIRL and the motorsailer LADY STERLING. STERLING GIRL was built for K.R. Taylor of Birkenhead and launched in November 1913. She had a 20-35hp Sterling engine and was built on their 35ftx 8ft 6in launch moulds that had produced a long line of fine boats including STERLING, PRINCESS, COUNTESS etc and which in modified form, produced the later MANU and ROMANCE II. Taylor sold her to Capt. G. H. White during the winter of 1920 when he had commissioned the 48ft schooner-rigged motorsailer LADY STERLING from Bailey & Lowe. Roy Henderson owned her in 1925 and then she was sold to the South Island. I saw her in Nelson in 1999 when she was owned by Ross Power of Christchurch and I think she’s still there.

10-12-2015 Update from John Burland

Photos below in Nelson Marina & she is still owned by Ross Power. Love the Ford Model T wheel.

Sterling Girl

Sterling Girl - wheelhouse

 

 

Same bay, same view

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Same bay, same view

Same bay, same view, same cold beer – only difference a few $000’s

Took this ‘selfie’ of Raindance off the northern end of Pakatoa in early 2012, was standing on the beach & thought other than maybe a few more feet on RD, I was pretty happy.

Valsan – an ageless classic

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Valsan - an ageless classic

Valsan – an ageless classic

details & photo ex Ken Ricketts, edited by Alan H

One of our really magnificent ageless classics of all time & so wonderfully original & unspoiled. Ken commented that if you look at her you can see Couldrey, Ford & Lidgard all in her, the bridgedeck is classic later Ford, refer Lady Karita, the flair is very Couldrey — refer Tiromoana, the sheer line in the sweep in the deck could be all 3 & there are also resemblances in the shear & flair to Awarua, which of course was part Lidgard along with Ted Cooper.

Ken took the above photo of her Christmas 1948 in Schoolhouse Bay. She was launched as VALSAN, after the original owners two children – Valerie & Sandy. She was later sold to a publican, those surname was Annan & he renamed her Lady Edith, after his wife. When Arnold Baldwin bought her he returned her to her original name.

Her original engines were either Graymarine or Kermath, but Ken’s memory is leaning towards 6 cyl flathead 90 hp Graymarine’s. He remembers the instrument clusters & they had a polished metal backplate with the name in the middle at the top. These were replaced by 2 x Falcon 4.1L marinised petrol car engines in the 1970s.
Her present engines are 4 cyl. (100hp?) Mitsubishi diesels. In Ken’s opinion not becoming to a vessel of her stature. She has deep under hull exhausts now, amidships & bubbles away at the sides, used to be out the tuck just above the waterline, about 10 inches in from each side, when the petrol engines were fitted.

Harold Kidd Update

Ken is right with the engine brand this time (after having a bob each way). (Alan H called James Mobberley at Moon Engines & asked what the motors were) VALSAN was built by Lidgards for Alex Harvey Jr as a 38 footer with twin 90hp Grays. She was lengthened (as were so many of these big bridgedeckers) to 45ft by the time she went into NAPS as Z10 in 1942-3, possibly during the time she was being repaired after going up on the Castor Bay reef in February 1940. Peter Annan bought her when she was demobbed in 1944 and renamed her LADY EDITH. Annan had been the long-term owner of the big Logan cutter THELMA. In 1948 Annan sold her to Arnold Baldwin who changed her name back to VALSAN.

BTW Bill COULDREY’s surname is spelt COULDREY. (fixed. thx)

I think it’s just empty blather to “see  Couldrey, Ford and Lidgard” in her. The greatest influences of all were the styling themes seen in the US yachting magazines of the time, like RUDDER and MOTOR BOAT & YACHTING which influenced all local designers and owners a thousand times more than the Auckland designers and constructors influenced one another.

PS Peter Annan died in 1951 aged 82. He was a Master Mariner but had retired to the hotel trade when he bought VALSAN.

Otehei

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OTEHEI

Named after Zane Grey’s game fishing base which he set up at Otehei Bay, Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands.

boat photo ex classicgameboatnz

Harold Kidd Update

OTEHEI was a sister-ship to the Collings & Bell-built hard chine launches built for various operators in the Bay of Islands in 1926-7 to service the game-fishing sport which had grown rapidly after an exploratory trip north by Colonel W.H. Hazard in his VIRGINIA in 1918. The other 3 launches to the same pattern were LORNA DOONE, ZANE GREY (later ALMA G II) and MANAAKI (photo below). These launches were all equipped with Redwing engines and were capable of 16 knots. OTEHEI was built for Frank Elliott who painted her red. Like the others, and the later AVALON, she was based at Zane Grey’s camp at Otehei on Urupukapuka Island.

She spent some time on Lake Taupo as GRACE DARLING but is now in Russell/Opua restored for the last 20 years or so as OTEHEI.

Manaaki- Xmas / NY – 201- 4

Manaaki Xmas/NY 2103-4

Manaaki Xmas/NY 2103-4

Ozone & Rosemary

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Continuing the game fishing link today – this time Ozone & Rosemary – more details below

photo ex classicgameboatnz

Harold Kidd Update

There were two OZONEs which makes matters confusing. The first was built by Collings & Bell in 1912. The second was built by Percy McIntosh in Whangarei in 1914 for Harold Vipond for the Auckland-Wade River trade but which Vipond took north to the Bay of Islands in 1925 or perhaps a tad earlier for game-fishing. 

ROSEMARY was built in St.Mary’s Bay by Leon Warne in December 1920 for himself and his brother George and was taken north for game-fishing out of Russell at about the same time as OZONE. The Warne brothers then set up boatbuilding, repairs as well as gameboat chartering at Russell. ROSEMARY originally had a Scripps 4 cylinder but was later fitted with a Redwing. There wasn’t much love lost between Chas. Collings and Leon Warne after Warne served his time with Collings and set up alongside him in 1916. Warne shared that opinion with Alf Bell who probably worked for Leon when he left the Walsh Brothers at Kohimarama; but Alf Bell didn’t build ROSEMARY. Perhaps there’s confusion because Warne’s foreman was Alf RAGG.

Both launches were very successful in promoting the deep sea angling sport in the Bay of Islands, both from Russell and Whangaroa. The boom in the sport was accelerated by Zane Grey’s involvement in the later 1920s but ground almost to a standstill in the Depression, picking up gain by 1937.

ROSEMARY was originally launched a a dashing flushdecker. See “N Z Vintage Launches” p92 for a pic of her at speed on the Waitemata in the 1925 Anniversary Regatta.

Cutting From Northern Advocate – 30 Dec 1920 ex Harold Kidd ex Papers Past

 

Avalon

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Avalon

AVALON
I do not know anything about the above launch other than she was actively engaged in the game fishing sport.
Any help re more info much appreciated.

photo ex classicgameboatnz

Harold Kidd Update

AVALON was built by Collings & Bell in December 1927 for Peter Williams of Russell for use as a game fishing boat in the Bay of Islands. She was one of Collings’ typical concave-convex square bilge designs, 36′ x 8’6″ x 3’6′. She had a 85-100hp Redwing engine and was designed for 16 knots. She was often chartered by Zane Grey who took her to Queensland in 1936 for game fishing there. Some few years ago she was exported to the US to the Zane Grey Museum, somehow avoiding the then Antiquities Act.

And more

OOPS Zane Grey chartered AVALON to chase sharks at Bermagui, NSW, not Queensland. She came back to NZ after the expedition of course. And I may have made a glib assumption that she was square bilge to his “concave-convex” design like the other Bay of Islands game launches he built like ALMA G and ZANE GREY (later ALMA G II) for the Arlidge brothers etc. I am doubting that somewhat and wonder if anyone can post a hull shot of her?

And more

All’s well. I’ve turned up a pic of AVALON clearly showing that she’s square bilge, like ALMA G, MANAAKI, LORNA DOONE and ZANE GREY also built for the Zane Grey game fishing circus.