Imperial ‘v’ Metric Measurement
One of the woody’s has asked the question below – maybe the waitematawoody boat builders or in fact any one, might be able to help.
“When did the marine industry in New Zealand change from imperial to metric measurement?. It might be an ‘old wives tale’ but I’m told some of the older boatbuilders felt they could get greater accuracy with imperial over metric, but I wonder when the practice finally died out”.
Hi waitematawoodys
As ww has been evolving its been pointed out to me that not everyone is au fait with the background to the many design / build gurus that we make reference to.
So we are going to start backgrounding a few of the masters from the past.
Kicking off tomorrow, Harold Kidd has penned a wonderful piece on Charles Collings’ approach to design in the immediate post-WW1 period. AH
JEUNESSE
‘Probably’ built in 1927 by Dick Lang, the owner is looking for anymore details on her past. Previous owners include a Dr. McFarlane?? & TG Shaw from the cartage contracting firm.
Photo taken by AlanH on July 7 2013 as she was heading up the upper harbour. She is rather quick, from memory having had the same zoom zoom transplant as Falcon i.e. a big Hino (turbo?)
Harold Kidd Update
The 37 footer JEUNESSE was built for W J Harper and launched in March 1919 as RAMBLER. Harper changed his mind and renamed her JEUNESSE by the start of the summer of 1919-20. None of the magazines or newspapers say who built her but Dick Lang seems a fair bet as she was built in St. Mary’s Bay. Reportage on such things was pretty scant at that time because of the Spanish ‘Flu outbreak. She was fitted with a 40hp Reutenberg 4 cylinder engine. Harper sold the launch KOTIRO when JEUNESSE was built. He kept her until 1923 when he sold her to H Hewson. N C McLean & R Kirkwood owned her in 1926. She spent a lot of time in Whangarei after that. In 1951 she was owned by S H R Smith of Onehunga, Richard Leary in 1990, John Wright in 2003; that’s all I have.
An impressive collection, can anyone ID the location & boats?
photo ex Roger Guthrie
Another old girl needing some ID.
(sorry for the poor image quality)
Most likely part of the spectator fleet at the 1929 NZPBA championship races held on the Whau River, upper Waitemata.
Help needed to ID the launches.
Harold Kidd Update:
The really beautiful launch in the foreground is very like ROMANCE II in style and layout so that I’m pretty sure she’s Bailey & Lowe. The “break” is further aft and the clerestory detail is slightly different from R2. I think she could be MANU. A higher res image might help in picking up the letter in the roundel under the sheer belting at the bow and to see whether or not she has any foliate carving at the bow.
25/06 – Not MANU. If not by Bailey & Lowe, she’s a direct copy of ROMANCE II except for the break in the sheer and the positioning of the ports. She is also very like the 32 footer ROTOMAHANA they built for A.B. Donald in 1923, but again the details of the break and the ports differ slightly and I think she’s at least a 36 footer.
I’m really scratching my head on this one.
Photo of a launch approaching a jetty. A man is kneeling on the jetty with his dog behind him. Photographed on the Mokau River between 1927 and 1932 by Robert E Wells.
Another one for the train spotters amongst us. Who can ID this launch? a cue it is a CYA boat.
Relax – I’m not turning into a royalist, its just that the recent postings have sparked a few memories about photos of classic’s & royal visits. HMRY Britannia escorted by MV Endeavour, skippered by Borrie Beachman, leaving the Waitemata for Mt. Maunganui 9 or 10 February 1963. The clinker dinghy being towed is still in the family & the owner needs to start on her restoration 🙂
A little bit of chop on the Waitemata that day, young Queenie would not have liked that.
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