Category Archives: 1910’s

Knoxie

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KNOXIE
The above photo of Knoxie shows her when Fullers in the Bay of Islands owned her. Ray Morey who commented that she got her name from her engine at the time, a 4 cylinder ‘Knox’, sent the photo to me. I understand they also made trucks in the 1920’s.
Harold Kidd has given Ray her history but along the way he has lost it, so hopefully Harold will repeat it for us 🙂

Input from Harold Kidd

KNOXIE was built by Brown & Dalton in Mt Eden in late 1911 and sold to R.J. Acheson, Stipendiary Magistrate at Russell, in June 1912. She was shipped north on a scow. Fullers bought her from Acheson and converted her to a workboat. That work was probably done by Leon Warne who is sometimes credited as her builder, Her engine was a Knox twin cylinder two stroke of nominal 15hp., hence her name. Fullers had installed an Ailsa Craig by 1933.
Knox built cars and trucks at Springfield Massachusetts until about 1924.

Ngaroma

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Ngaroma

NGAROMA

The above photo of Ngaroma, with the #85 on her, was sent in by Lew Redwood & is ex the NZ Herald heritage image collection.

She was built in 1910 by Collings & Bell & when launched, called Hazel. You can view photos of her on this link, when she was rigged for big game fishing     https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/05/07/12500/

Anyone able to ID the other two woodys? & as a wild shot – what they were up to i.e. an event?

Photos below of Hazel ex Jason Prew – Okahu Bay 2003 – before her one way trip to NZTBS 😦

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RAIRA – A Peek Down Below

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RAIRA – A Peek Down Below

Raira was launched in Devonport in February 1915. Built by the McLeod Brothers to a Collings and Bell design.  She has appeared on ww before but now thanks to her trademe listing we get to have a look inside 🙂
The great looking interior is the result of a full restoration completed in 2011. This included: new steamed ribs with copper fastenings, new bulkheads, new keel fastenings, all paint removed back to timber and her hull re-caulked + just about everything else on board was replaced or upgraded.

In late 2016 Raira was repowered with a 120hp Ford on an zero hour rebuild, that pushes her along at between 7.5>9 knots. At  the same time she was treated to exterior paint job.

Woody Ian McDonald commented that when he used to slip his boats at Omokoroa in the early 1980’s, Raira was on a swing mooring there & unless mistaken, the game poles are just as they were back then.

She is a pretty boat, but I’m not sure about the ‘poop’ deck 🙂

ps sorry about yesterdays story & the link not working, technology let me down 😦

Mt. Pleasant

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Mt PLEASANT
The below video is of the 1916, 40’ newly –restored Sydney, Australia ferry – Mt Pleasant. Batemans Bay is home for Mt Pleasant.
The video was done to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney Harbour on May 31 1942 by Japanese mini-subs. Mt Pleasant was tied up alongside Kuttabul at the time.
Thanks to WoodenBoat & the Bay Post / Moruya Examiner for the heads up re the video.

Stunning restoration 🙂

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A Woody 100th Birthday

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A Woody 100th Birthday

I mentioned last Friday that on Sunday, Sierra the 1917 Joseph Fell designed & built motorboat would be celebrating her 100th birthday at the Panmure Motor Boat & Yacht Club.
Sierra’s owner Dennis Christopher (photo above) must have bribed the weather gods because the weekend was probably the best this year for classic motor boats. We made the decision to head to the Waiheke Island area on Saturday & then head over to Panmure on Sunday afternoon for the birthday party. Never made the party – see below.
Thanks to Baden Pascoe for the above photos & after speaking with Baden I can report that nearly 100 people turned up to celebrate the occasion, including members of the Fell family & the Andrews family (previous owners).
Its great to see these old work boats still being actively used & presented so well – I love the ‘beard’ on Sierra in the photo above.

Now the reason I didn’t make the party was Raindance had a mechanical oops, the 1st in 10 years that I have not been able to fix & we had to call Coast Guard for a tow. Hats off to the CC crew from Matiatia, Waiheke Island – they were on the scene pronto & had us back at Bayswater faster than I could have under her on steam 🙂 In fact the bottom probably got a good clean 😉
I spent Sunday morning cleaning 10+L of oil from the bilge – not my idea of a fun day.
A call to James Mobberley at Moon Engines will be top of the to-do list today.

(too many other classics out on the harbour to keep this below the radar – thanks guys for the txt’s 🙂  )

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There is always a silver lining – after we got home, decided to have a bbq & put a match to the lounge fire, first of the year.

Lane ‘Bridge-decker’

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LANES BRIDGEDECK LAUNCH

Given the recent debate on ww as to what constitutes a bridge-decker, today’s boat has the potential to have a major identity crisis 🙂 But if we park the owners trademe description & just take the boat on face value, she a pretty looking classic wooden launch.

Built by Lanes Boatbuilders in 1915, she is 30′ in length & built with carvel kauri planks & her decks are plyed / glassed.
Her owner has had her for 20 years & uses her regularly. Back in 2000>2003 she had a total refit (refer above photos).
Zoom zoom is via a Standard 23C engine, which is an early (1958) 35hp Massey Fergusson 4 cylinder, 2200cc. This easily sees her cruising at her hull speed & 7 knots is a comfortable speed without pushing anything too hard.
I like this classic & at $26k she would make a very affordable entry into classic wooden boating. Spend a few dollars & she could be made very special.

Sorry no name – so the question, as always 😉 woodys is, who is she & what do we know about her?

Lady Eva

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LADY EVA
or the continuing saga of ODIN / OVODIN

In yesterdays post there was considerable debate around the name of the stranded motor boat. Woody, Baden Pascoe strongly debated the case that the vessel was Odin. He commented
“It is easy to see many features of Odin that mirror those of Lady Eva (both built at Whangarei) e.g. side deck rails, shear chocks, towing hook mast mounted, wheel house. Why would you not copy the greatest towing launch of her time? I would. When Lady Eva was launched in 1913, she was the talk of New Zealand, she had a modern 120 English diesel of 120 h.p and many good features of towing launches of the time. The towing hook mounted on the missen mast was what they did in those days, but having a towing point so high is a lethal thing – great way to “gurt” a tug (tow comes along side, pulls and over goes the tug).”

In the above photo we see a scale model of the Lady Eva, built by the hands of master craftsman Bruce Tantrum (love the calendar in the background Bruce 😉 )- to view more of Bruce’s work here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/03/27/bruce-tantrum-artisan-model-boatbuilder/  and here  http://www.btmodelboats.com/
For comparison I have included below (again) a Odin/Ovodin photo. What do we think woodys? , scroll down to yesterdays posts, read the comments & tell us your thoughts.

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Alwyn – A peek down below

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ALWYN – A Peek Down Below
I’m told Alwyn was built by Arch Logan in c.1911/12. These days she is moored in Picton & owned by Derek Stocks, who bought her about 6 months ago at Taupo, & took her to Wellington by road, & sailed her to Picton. She may have spent less than 2 years on the lake. (photos were sourced by ken ricketts)

You can see more of her exterior / read more about her provenance at the link below  – unlike a lot of classics that claim Logan DNA , this one is the real deal 🙂   https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/11/23/severn/

MV Mavis

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M.V. MAVIS

Mavis started life back 1918 as a Lanes 40′ trawler. Fast forward to 2004 when she had a  major refit that included –  hull refastened and splined, new decks and cabin, new  John Deere 150HP engine and re-wired. Given that she was recently in MNZ survey, she is very highly spec’ed and looks like she could handle just about anything that mother nature could throw at her. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the heads up re the trademe listing.

Do we know anything more about her past?

09-04-2023 Update ex Alistair Rowe – I spotted Mavis on a mooring in Whatamango Bay – roughly 8km East from Waikawa.- looks to have found a good home.

Yesterdays story on the Classic Launch Parade just got better – more photos ex Jason Prew added, scroll down to view.

Aussie 18′ Racing Woodys – Sailing Sunday

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Aussie 18′ Racing Woodys – Sailing Sunday

Robin Elliott sent me the above link to a very cool video that Australian Ian Smith has just put up on-line of how he built a replica of the 1919 traditional seam-batten Sydney 18 footer – Britannia in 2001-2002. Its approx 15min long & covers from lofting to launch > sailing. Great footage & a good commentary.

Robin also shared the link below to the ‘The Open Boat’ website which is a treasure trove of videos on the Australian small wooden sailing world. Do not blame me if your still watching it hours later 🙂

http://www.openboat.com.au/videos.html

CYA 2017 Classic Regatta
I snapped a few quick photos, below, yesterday while I was heading over to Westhaven to fuel up & then decided to pop in at Regatta HQ for a cleansing ale. More photos tomorrow from the Regatta’s classic woody launch parade &  lunch cruise to Riverhead Hotel. If you are out & about this morning & want to see the fine collection of classic woody launches, we will be passing in front of the RNZYS at approx. 10.30am.

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