Category Archives: 1920’s

Pretty boats

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Pretty boats

Pretty Boats Luana

People often ask me why photos of the same boats keep appearing across all the media. The answer is simple, the more attractive to the eye a boat is, the more photos have been taken. This is particularly true in the days before digital cameras when developing & printing a photo was relatively expensive – so people only took photos of pretty boat or boats in trouble (on the rocks).

If your boat was drop dead gorgeous, people even painted it.
I was sent a photo of the painting above of Luana by Brian Worthington who in his words ‘was going thru a cupboard at the fishing club and found this broken glass print of Luana It used to be on the wall in the bar at Mayor island when the fishing club was based out there’.

Lady Margaret (Colin Wild). Chapter two

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Lady Margaret (Colin Wild) Story 

CHAPTER 2  (story & photos ex Ken Ricketts)
 
In chapter one, I referred to her as possibly a “Shakespearean tragedy on the water”.
 
Even Shakespeare had some happy parts to his great works, & as with Shakespeare, there I’m thrilled to say, is also a happy part to the Lady Margaret #1 Story.
 
Herewith a picture of Colin Wild’s classic 1927 master piece taken 2 weeks ago after having received a few months of hard work.
 
Besides what is visible in the pics., she has been rewired, & had various other internal work upgraded, & has had at the very least, a little refurbishing, I am told.
 
I hope to see her for myself, in the near future, & will report appropriately at that time. The most important thing at the moment however, is that she has certainly been saved, from the maritime graveyard. HALLELUIAH!!!
 
The above before & after pics tell the story to date
 
This most beautiful & classic part of our maritime history is going to live through another day. Long may she live.
Update on Chapter 2 – 14/05/13
I was aboard her last Tuesday, 6.5.13, at a little jetty in a creek at Kaingaroa Northland, & can report & update as follows.
She is looking “tidy” inside, but still needs fairly substantial galley maintenance & replacement of stove, carpets throughout, etc, likewise the shower room, & the full forward section of the boat. The hull has had all paint removed & she has had a reasonable paint job but is still showing seams on the topsides,
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As one can see in the pics, some of her beautiful teak has been painted, (at least at the moment), which someone will hopefully restore to original in the future, but at least she is “usable,” & one of the owners & crew are, as I write this, away on a “shakedown cruise,” to Whangaroa.
On a short 1 hour run down the tidal estuary, the 150 HP Lees converted Turbo Ford, started & ran particularly smoothly at idle, with zero vibration, on her hard mounted engine beds, however the engine peaked at 2400 RPM, with propeller vibration at the top end of the range, & a top speed of 11 .9 knots governed, in my opinion, to at least a reasonable degree, by the 3 metres of water below the boat, as she buried her bum at the higher end of the range, (she has no trimtabs), & only increased speed by 3/4 of a knot in the last 700 RPM.
In my view there is still much to be done to her.
However, whilst there is much “elbow grease,” & much money, still needed to bring her back to her most wonderful, original, self, nevertheless, most importantly of all, she has been “saved from a watery grave.”
WONDERFUL!!
 
                                

Shenandoah

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Built in 1929, by Chas. Bailey & Son for Mr H R Jenkins, who did well making rubber products for the milking industry. She has had a few additions since then 😦

She had  Cummins diesel when new.

The early pic is scanned from the book by Jenkins’s daughter. The other pic is a wartime Navy pic.

Brooke & Co

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Brooke & Co

 The name above should be hanging above a boat shed. The Brooke family are an amazing group of people with skills that make most of use feel a little lacking. The recover & rebuild on the 1927 Colin Wild designed & built launch Linda is proof of those skills. Above is collection of photos of Linda from her early days -pre fire, during her recover at Waiheke Island & today + ‘Grace’ one of Roberts exquisite clinker dinghies.
Every boat, big or small that Robert & Russell ‘touch’ is a very lucky boat.

Karamana (Waitangi)

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Karamana (Waitangi)

KARAMANA

She was built as KARAMANA for F.B. Cadman in 1923 by Bailey & Lowe to a design by Hacker. KARAMANA = CADMAN in pig maori.
She was later bought by Auckland Grammar School teacher P A S Stein and rebuilt as per the pic below. She was fitted with a war surplus 6 cyl Green sohc aero engine producing 120-140bhp, bore 5.5 ins, stroke 6 ins (you work out the capacity). She was pretty radical, a far cry from her current. configuration.

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Waitangi

Ruamano

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Ruamano

RUAMANO

Another of those very special parts of our history & heritage & part of the group that could perhaps include vessels such as LINDA, LADY GAY, WIRIHANA, RAIONA, etc., She was built for the Court family of John Courts Ltd major department store owners in Queen St Auck, in the late 1920 or early 1930s. was 46 ft long, & was sadly lost at sea, off the West Coast post 2000, by the owners of the day, who abandoned her at sea during a circumnavigation attempt around NZ, which she had previously completed once before, in her earlier days,. They left, in inappropriate conditions, struck high seas off the West Coast of the North Island, were taken off by a merchant vessel in the area, & they abandoned her with the engine running, & left her to founder ( she was seen a few days later by another merchant vessel still with the engine idling) — very sad ending for a very beautiful lady.

When built she had 2 Redwing Petrol engines which were replaced about 1947 with a single Graymarine 6-71 diesel, a 2 cycle diesel engine, — virtually a GM Detroit, marinised by Graymarine, which she had until her demise.

During the mid 40s she had her original dodger replaced with the beautiful stainless steel dodger which she has in the pic, which must have cost a fortune, but suited her very well. I only ever saw her once with her original dodger & have known her since 1946. I took the pic in Matiatia in 1949 She belonged to Jim Luke of the Claude Neon Lights Ltd family, of Glendowie whom I knew, in the later 40s & 50s.

Story & photo supplied by Ken Ricketts

NOTE: In a later posting of waitmatawoodys I will expand on the ill fated circumnavigation story. alan h

Lady Adelaide

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P1070615 Lady Adelaide

Lady Adelaide

1920’s Dick Lang designed & built. More info would be appreciated.

The original owner Charles Palmer was one of this country’s finest yachtsmen, founding the NZ Power Boat Association in 1905, the Motor Boat Patrol in 1914, the RNZNVR and being an able administrator with the APYMBA and the various yacht clubs until he died.

08-01-2016 photo at Kawau Island ex Tom Kane

Lady Adelaide Kawau2016

Waitangi

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Waitangi

c.1953, photos taken from Roger Guthrie’s family launch Caprice, whose forestay is showing in the top photo

Waitangi getting some love in Blanche & Ian Cook’s shed, Sept 2011, the last time I saw her. Alan H

Update 23-12-2019 – Photo below ex Peter Apperley of Waitangi at Westhaven Marina.

Waitangi Launch Dec2019

 

Luana

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LUANA

I will start by quoting an anonymous lover of classic wooden boats who said to me once when the subject of Luana came up –  “I think she is my favourite of all the Classics. Believe it or not she is prettier than Lady Margaret, Lady Gay, Wirihana etc. She really is the ultimate in ‘cool’. Its interesting how different boats do it for different people but Luana is one of the rare beauties that is perfect from all angles”. I have been aboard & have to agree.

 
She was built by MT Lane in 1920 in Mechanics Bay & her specs are LOA 47ft, Beam 11ft.6in, Draft 39ins. She has a provenance as long as your arm.
I’m sure her owner will chip in with some tales from her past. One that I do know is that she still holds the record for landing a marlin, shooting a deer & catching a trout – 3hrs 25 minutes
I think I’ll let the photos tell the story.

RAINDANCE > Nona C > Lady Gai

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Raindance 1980’s

RAINDANCE > Nona C > Lady Gai  

When I purchased the boat she was named ‘Nona C’, after the then owners (Craig Colven, Auckland Harbour Board pilot boat skipper) daughter. He told me the boat was previously named ‘Lady Gay’. I had no connection to the name Nona C & was in the process of reverting back to Lady Gay when I was advised of another launch called Lady Gay, not wanting to confuse things I decided to chose a new name & chose the name ‘RainDance’.

At the time I was unaware of the Celtic spelling of the word Gai & discovered it when given a copy of the Dunsford Marine pre-purchase survey commissioned in March 2003 by a Dr. Rex Ferris. Had I known about the Gai spelling I would have retained the Lady Gai name. I obtained Rex Ferris’s address (East Coast Rd, North Shore, Auckland) from the survey & did a google search which resulted in the Auckland District Health Board employment link & I contacted Rex & Sharon Ferris. Retired, living in Tauranga.

Like myself he knew little about her past, there are still huge gaps e.g. the 1930’s > late 1970’s but below is some history I have gained.

Peter Gill, the motoring journalist, bought the boat in 1987 & at the time had a waterfront property in the Upper Harbour (near Paremoremo wharf) with a mooring put down. He saw the boat advertised in ‘Trader Boat’, she was moored in the Tamaki Estuary & he purchased her for about $7,000. He cannot remember the name of the owner but was told the boat was built by the Lane Motor Boat Company in 1928, there is however some discussion that she may have been built by ‘Collings & Bell’. She had a single cylinder Bukh diesel that was later replaced with an 6 cylinder Ford (he thinks). The owner told Peter that she had been based at Great Barrier Island as a ‘long-liner’ fishing boat for many years prior to him buying her.

When she was moored off Peters house, she took in quite a bit of water, and it was necessary for him to go out as often as twice a week and operate the manual bilge pump. He hired a tradesman who specialized in old boats, and he decided that it was the stern gland that was the problem. He had her hauled out and they filled the stern gland with tallow. It was not a one hundred percent fix & she continued to take on water. Peter was never very comfortable with the boat & to use his words ‘we never went far in her’. She was not a pretty boat in those days with a cabin top that looked like it had been made from a plywood car case, see montage photo above, small because its not pretty 😦

I have spoken to Peter several times but have never unearthed when & to whom he sold her. At some stage, I think post Peter’s ownership, she sank on her mooring in the Upper Harbour & remain submerged for several weeks. Given the swallow tidal nature of the area this had no major negative effect on the boat & some say probably helped in preserving her.

The next chapter is amusing – the mast only of the boat was visible from the Salthouse Boat Builders yard at Greenhite & the tradesman there were running a sweepstake as to how long she would remain submerged before the owner rescued her. During this period two of the Salthouse young boat builders – Blair Cole & Kelly Archer (who both went on to become well respected boat builders in their own right) hatched a plan as to how they could buy the boat. They tracked down the owner & both approached him ‘independently’ with offers for the boat as-is-where-is, one offer being very very low & the other very low, the owner faced with the cost of salvaging the boat accepted the ‘low’ offer. The boys hauled the boat out at Salthouse’s & started a major restoration; Bob Salthouse once told me he remembered the boat & that had to give the young boys a guiding nudge occasionally (thank god!). Half way thru Blair bought Kelly’s share & moved the boat to his property to finish the restoration. Blair & his wife cruised the Gulf extensively in the boat in the 1990’s. I have spoken to Blair & he has no record of who bought (or when) the boat off him. I’m pretty sure it was Rex Ferris in 2003.

In 2005 the boat was for sale on the hard at Bayswater Marina, I looked at her at the time but she would have been too much of a time burden for me at the time. The boat was purchased by Craig Colven who undertook major hull work (replaced some planking, caulking, ribs, floors & keel bolts) & the installation of a new 45hp 4 cylinder motor & replacement of all other machinery, electrics and plumbing. Devonport craftsmen’s Robbie Robertson (deceased) & Charlie Webley undertook the work. Craig, over a 2 year period commissioned this work but never fully completed her as his wife did not share his passion for the sea. I purchased her in mid 2007 for what I considered a bargain given what Craig had spent on her.

I then undertook over the next few years what is called a rolling restoration i.e. I used the boat each summer but hauled her out in winter & continued the project. I retained the services of Milford based wooden boat builder / guru Geoff Bagnall for the big stuff, there were several areas of rot that needed to be removed plus we made her more ‘comfortable’ in terms of helm, hatch layout. I rolled my sleeves up on the rest.

I’m thankful for the care bestowed on the boat over the years – everyone that has rubbed up to her has helped get her thru the last 80+ years.

Like most owners I would love to fill in some of the gaps, so if anyone knows anything about her – please post here or email to

waitematawoodys@gmail.com