What Price Provenance – 100 Year Old Game Fishing Wooden Launch
The legendary sport game fishing launch Alma G has just popped up on tme (thanks Ian McDonald) , without doubt one of the world’s best known and successful game boats. Presented in better than new condition, with a 270hp Hyundai engine that sees the 36’ hull topping out at 20 knots.
Built in 1922 by Collings and Bell, there is a big birthday coming up and she has already had the face lift in anticipation.
So woodys, I guess at a reserve of $275k your not just buying a classic woody boat but a 100 year old business / brand (she is still in survey). Photo below c.1950’s, shows Alma G on the left in the photo + link below to previous WW story / details https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/11/05/alma-g-alma-g-ii/
Harold Kidd Input – ALMA G was launched in October/November 1922 and took part in the Russell Regatta in December 1922 (see Auckland Star 28/12/1922)
Miller & Tunnage – Double Ender – Fisher Lassie If you spend as much time as I do stalking wooden boats on-line you will have noticed the growing trend for work boat conversions, you either love them or not – me I’m in the love them camp. We do not know a lot about todays woody, thanks Ian McDonald, other than she was built by Miller and Tunnage in 1922, out of kauri, is 40’ in length, has a 9’ 10” beam and draws 3’7”. A Gardner 3LW 150hp diesel pushes her along at a comfortable cruising speed of 7 knots. Appears to be very well fitted out.
Can anyone put a name to this woody ?
18-11-2020 Input from Mark Erskine – I was interested to read about the above Miller & Tunnage Double Ender. I agree it’s a real nice boat and was interested to read about her Gardner 3LW engine.
Depending on the fuel and governor / rpm settings, the 3LW engines produce between 36 to 53.5HP from their 4.184 litre capacity.
The “Gardner 150” badge on the Miller & Tunnage control panel is for a 6-cylinder 6LXB Gardner (127 to 150HP) or possibly the 8-cylinder 8LXB (150 to 200)
Gardners are great engines and although the whole range are all low on HP for their considerable size, capacity and weight, they all produce a lot of torque at low rpm and are very reliable.
Although 36 to 54 HP seems a bit low for the size of the boat, I’m guessing the 3LW is a good match for a double ender hull because torque turns the prop rather than HP and the 3LW should also be very economical to operate at 7 knots.
24-11-2022 UPDATE ex Steve’s Coffee Cart – Steve sent in the photos below of Fisher Lassie below, hauled out at the Waikawa hard stand. Check out the new look, it is not often we see people ’taking away’ as compared to adding on. Well done to the owner.
RAWENE When I was catching up with lan Craig re yesterdays story I gave him a wind up re how hopeless he was at keep us updated on the work in his Lake Rotoiti boat yard. Seems the dig in the ribs worked as a few hours later I received the photos above of Rawene, taken from Waikeremoana when Alan went down in February 2020 for some repairs on Rawene. The boat was hit on her mooring and broke a few ribs.The old photos below are on the wall in the store there.
PALOMA The above photo of the launch Paloma comes to us via Lew Redwoods’s fb. The corresponding story supporting the old press clipping from the March 26, 1929 edition of the New Zealand Herald newspaper, states that Paloma was owned by a Mr W. Sinclair and was destroyed by fire, followed by an explosion, during the previous weekend. The incident occurred off Kauri Point and the cause was unknown. Do we know the name of the designer / builder and year launched ?
Harold Kidd Input – Built by Colin Wild to a design by W.H. Hand in August 1926. Power by a 4cyl Daimler truck engine. Lots of torque but low revs!
WW SITE USAGE
If any of the readers are wondering why we post stories like the above, I’ll explain – when I started the waitematawoodys site its primary purpose was a channel to chat to like minded true-blue wooden boat admirers, on a regular basis about wooden boating stuff. But over time as the site became more popular, the daily visitation numbers and the focus of the visits / readership changed. Now on an average day, 62% of people are reading the story of the day and 38% are using the search box (or google) to find / research intel on a particular vessel or designer or a combination eg Colin Wild launches from the 1930’s, some obviously do both – we like that 🙂 .
So woodys, stories like today’s are all about building the back library up, and then at some stage in the future, someone will search using maybe W. Sinclair’s name and up will pop Paloma and if we are lucky that person might be related to Sinclair and have some old photos, and those photos might prompt someone else to comment – its called user-generated content (UGC) and it really turbo’s the google search ratings. And a funny – ex UK cartoonist Mike Mockford
Woody Classics Weekend – Riverhead Tavern Lunch Cruise Saturday night in Auckland was evil, rain, thunder and lightening – up and down several times during the night, each time thinking – Sundays woody cruise will be cancelled. But once again the weather gods smiled on us and half way up the river the sun came out and stayed out all day. Saturday nights weather scared a few boats off making the trip but most decided to join in via car.
A very pleasant afternoon was had in the Tavern’s Boathouse, which we had reserved for the group. Wonderful to catch up with everyone and to welcome several newbies to the group.Hats off the Jim and Karin Lott who made the trip up the river in their 38’ Stewart yacht – Mokoia. Make a note yachties – sub 2m draft and you are all good 😉
You will notice from the upper river photos that after all the rain, the water was very muddy – worst I have seen it – makes you wonder about all the farm land ‘converted’ to high density housing in the area. When we first started woody trips to the Tavern, most of the surrounding land was either forestry or pasture.
Took a detour on the way back into the viaduct, almost feel embarrassed asking the bridge control to raise the bridge for Raindance 🙂 , to check on the John Spencer / Classic Yacht & Launch gig at Kairanga Plaza, Wynyard Quarter – scored a VIP berth, thank you Tony Stevenson.Not as many photos as normal , for once I spent most of the afternoon chatting, special thanks to Chris Miller who grabbed my camera a few times and snapped some goodies.
WIN A COPY OF ‘THE JOHN SPENCER STORY’ 64 PAGE BOOKLET
All woodys that answer the following question correctly, go into the draw for a copy of the above – As always, entry ONLY VIA EMAIL to waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Q – “What was the longest yacht John Spencer designed and built”?
BONITTO Today’s woody would have started out in life back in the mid 1920’s a work boat. Her tme listing (thanks Ian McDonald) tells us that her present owners family have had the 36’ Bonitto for over 40 years.
In the late 1970’s > early 1980’s she was refastened and completely re-built. During this period she received a new Ford engine and Borg-Warner transmission, this set up gets her along at a cruising speed of 8.5 knots. Current home is Pelorus Sound, Marlborough region, upper northern section of the South Island.
Bonitto is presented in very good condition and could easily see another 50 years of service, in my eyes she is the perfect platform for a work boat restoration, along the lines of Dean Wrights – Arethusa, WW link below
The Best of Colin Wild + Herreshoff Steam Launch The top two photos of the Brooke families 1927 Colin Wild launch – Linda comes to us via Mitchell Hutchings fb ex the Williamson Family Collection. Linda at the time was moored at Herald Island.
The bottom photo I took today of Wirihana tucked up in Chris McMullen’s shed for her winter TLC. Wirihana is another of Wild’s big motorboats, built in 1933.
It was great to see that CMcM’s Herreshoff steam launch (below) is coming along – engine installed 🙂
Labour Weekend Woody Cruise The last 3 days would have to be one of the best boating long weekends in a very long time, well thats if you own a motor-boat. The classic woody stick and rag boys racing in the Coastal Classic race to Russell in the Bay of Islands made very hard work of it – did any finish?, those I talked to pulled out on Saturday morning. A quick glance at the results show about 75% of the total fleet did not finish.
The biggest decision of the weekend was whether to turn left or right at North Head, I went left and made the right call, as the reports from the bottom end of Waiheke and Coromandel was it was a zoo 🙂 On the other hand Rakino was perfect – great weather and not too crowded. Only saw 3 other woodys – Gay Dawn and Juanita in Woody Bay and Mahanui just out from West Bay (very early Monday morning) and passed Felicitare
Highlight was a seriously up close encounter with some Orca while anchored in West Bay – they were rounding up a feed of stingray for lunch. I see Trinidad is making a star appearance in the AWLWOOD (Uroxsys) advertisements 😉
Update – Arohanui mooching around the bottom end of Waiheke and Coromandel
MYSTERY MOTOR-SAILER The photo above of the motorsailer is dated late 1960’s, early 1970’s. Location probably in/around Whangarei. Anyone able to ID the boat and tell us more about her past?
I know the answer, just hoping the arrival of this good quality photo will shift a few brain cells in some woodys.
Stuart Turner Engines One of the woodys was unable to attend Sundays boat boot sale – he has x5 Stuart Turner engines…1 P66 (10hp) and at least 4 P55 (8hp), for sale at a modest sum to a good home. One P55 and the P66 are intact, the rest in various stages of disassembly. Plus various manuals and technical articles. These wonderful little British 2 stroke engines run like a sewing machine….when handled by a knowledgeable operator!Once a very popular yacht auxillary but would be perfect for that restored classic clinker dinghy/open launch. If interested, I can supply contact details.
WOODYS CLASSICS RIVERHEAD TAVERN LUNCH CRUISE – RSVP TODAY Just need boat name and guesstimate of crew numbers – email to waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Buying or Selling a Classic Boat Without sounding too much like the late Jacinda Ardern (“be kind”) – when people ask me about classic wooden boat ownership, I normally say that owning a woody has a positive effect on your life i.e. you end up forging a life you don’t need to escape from.
So woodys in the interest of your mental well being listed below a sample of some of the boats that are currently berthed at the virtual Wooden Boat Bureau Sales Marina. There are others for sale, some owners request privacy. To read more about the Wooden Boat Bureau – click https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/12/01/wooden-boat-bureau-advice-for-buyers-and-sellers/ The Wooden Boat Bureau is uniquely placed to offer impartial, up-to-date market information and objective advice to both sellers and buyers. So if you are looking for a wooden boat or considering selling – email us at waitematawoodys@gmail.com
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