Category Archives: 1930’s

(The) Colleen

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(The) COLLEEN
photo & details from Janine Leighton

The above photos were sent to me by Janine Leighton, the granddaughter of Charles Aspden who built (or co-built) the launch (The) Colleen in the 1930’s. Charles was living at Northcote Point then. Notes on the back of the photos record that the vessel was apparently sold in c.1939 to Charles Shelley (sp?), an Auckland furrier.

Janine & ww would like to know what happened to her post this & does she still exist?

06-03-2021 Harold Kidd Input – Designed and built by Arnold (Bill) Couldrey for Charles Aspden.

Leisure Hour – Sailing Sunday

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Leisure Hour – Sailing Sunday
photos ex John Wicks

Today’s boat is the 1937 Jimmy Reid built Leisure Hour, currently owned by John Wright & has just undergone one of John’s legendary make-overs. But to quote John Wicks, John W has discovered that sailing isn’t his thing & will remain faithful to his classic launch Jeunesse, so Leisure Hour is for sale. A great opportunity for someone wanting a rather nice little historic keeler.
I’m ‘borrowing’ below some info from an article Harold Kidd & Robin Elliott published on the Reid family & their boats, it appeared way back in 2001 in Boat NZ.

Jimmy Reid started building the 32′ Leisure Hour, his first keel boat, in 1936 & launched her in 1937. Its assumed his father (James Sr.) helped with the design. She was a beamy (9′) ketch & was registered as C41, that later changed to D14. Jimmy did some occasional cruising/racing with Akarana & rarely missed an Anniversary Regatta. He sold her in 1945 & back in 2001 she was moored in the Milford Creek.

So folks – can we fill in some of the holes in her past?

A Question – Neil Chalmers wondered if the building of ‘Leisure Hour’ was inspired by the famous ‘Idle Hour’ sailed by the American Dwight Long . ‘ Idle Hour’ visited Auckland in 1935 during a circumnavigation. The ‘Leisure Hour’ appears to be a similar type to ‘Idle Hour’. Neil dug out his copy of Dwight Long’s ‘Sailing all the seas in Idle Hour’ . His first stop in NZ was at Shakespeare Bay , Whangaparoa , he mentions seeing Mr Shakespeare’s yacht – could it be the CYA ‘Frances’.
Photo below of Idle Hour at Moturekereka.

03-08-2015 Input from Shamus Fairhall

I know Leisure Hour was owned by the Les and Jan Parkinson at some stage in the 1980s. Les brought her in a poor state and put considerable time in to making her sparkle again. Les and Jan were also the owners of our 1936 launch Sequoia in the late 1960s. Sadly Les is now deceased but he was always famous for his restoration skills with old Jags and military jeeps etc through his business Parky Jags. Photo below of Leisure Hour during his ownership and i will pass a link on to Jan as she may well have some detail to add.

 

Waitematawoodys Trip Report From Overseas

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SOUTHERN BAY 1994 Replica of a 1904 Truscott Mfg. Co Steam Launch. Compromise hull and 33 sq ft. Propane fired vertical tube boiler.

WAITEMATAWOODYS TRIP REPORT FROM OVERSEAS

Today’s photos & story came in from James Dreyer, who along with the extended family currently have Laughing Lady at the Whangateau Traditional Boat Yard. Jame’s work / travel take him off-shore a lot & in late May he was in the USA & put together a little story on the Southern California wooden boating scene. I’ll let James tell it. Enjoy 🙂

Remember if you click on a photo it will enlarge & you can read the captions. Scrolling over also reveals the captions.

“Back in late May, my father Barry & I headed to San Diego to spend a few weeks working on my Rhodes 33 “Therapy” and to visit the some of the 160 odd small breweries in the County, just to ensure their IPA’s were up to scratch.  San Diego is known as the home of craft brewing, with each brewery having a tasting room and kitchen, or if not, bringing in a different gourmet food truck each night.  Needless to say the hard work sanding and laying Uroxsys/Awlwood in the Southern Californian heat was well balanced with hydrating activities.  And yes, the beer is so good, it was mind bottling (to coin a phrase).

While we were there I got in touch with Ralph Rodheim, the owner of another Rhodes 33 “Madness”.  

I was hoping to head north to his place on Balboa Island / Newport Beach, to take some measurements and hopefully go for a sail.  As luck would have it, the Balboa Yacht Club’s second inaugural Wooden Boat Festival was on during the final weekend of our visit, and Ralph was both an organising Chairman, entrant, and judge.  This was a perfect opportunity to give the worn down finger tips, and high calorie intake a rest, while seeing how economical our rental Prius Hybrid could be heading North on the Pacific Highway to Newport.  We left early, and stopped at a diner on the way for some bad coffee and an overcooked bacon muffin.  This was California after all.

The show was just brilliant. A very Interesting variety of boats, interesting characters and live music.

I bumped into a number of “Rhodes people” and we swapped stories and info about the history of the class and how our restorations were coming along.

Above are some photos of the various boats, some I am lacking much info on, so my apologies in advance.  If anyone wants more info on a certain boat, I am more than happy to respond with what I have, or get some more info from friends.  

I thoroughly recommend viewing the following collection of photos from the event:  http://bycwoodenboatfestival.com/schedule-of-events/  They are beautifully shot and feature a whole lot of boats I didnt photograph, and many of their interiors.”

REVELRY 1951 Stephens Bros. Cruiser 42’
REVELRY
HUMBLE 1902 Thames River Launch 52′
HUMBLE 1902 Thames River Launch 52′
GRACIE 1950 Ed Monk Bridge Deck Cruiser 36’ Monk was a master of streamlining and this little cruiser was just gorgeous, especially with its two wooden kayaks and dinghy. Built for exploring the Pacific Northwest.
GRACIE
MADNESS 1948 Rhodes 33 One Design Philip Rhodes / South Coast Boat Building Co.
MADNESS 1948 Rhodes 33 One Design Philip Rhodes / South Coast Boat Building Co.
LAST CALL 1948 Chris Craft Holiday 24′
CHIEF 1947 Chris Craft “Red & White” Express Cruiser 25′
CHIEF 1947 Chris Craft “Red & White” Express Cruiser 25′
FIRECRACKER 38’ Grand Craft 2003 Replica of a 1928 Chris Craft
SPARKLE A super cute Philip Rhodes designed 17’ Electric Skiff Originally tender to the 77’ Rhodes Motor Sailer SEA DIAMOND Built at Abeking & Rasmussen in 1956.
SPARKLE
HUNGRY BLONDE 1949 20’ Chris Craft Owned by the owner of Hungry Blonde winery. This was my pick of the show.
HUNGRY BLONDE
S WONDERFUL 1939 Chris Craft 19’
FOUR BELLS 1955 36’ Rybovich Sportfish #16 Rybovich boats are the Rolls royce of sport fishers. The first being built for Earnest Hemingway and featuring the first fly bridge and outriggers.
Four Bells
FOUR BELLS aft cockpit steering station. Whoar…
BLAIR BARRY 1926 Fay & Bowen Saint Lawrence River Launch 26′
BLAIR BARRY
JOYFUL Bill Dunlaps beautifully home build, yet to see the water. 16ft Whitehall
A lovely clinker / lapstrake dinghy
AWESOME. Oldsmobile V8, turning an original, custom built 1 into 2 Vee drive gearbox and twin screws.
Awesome
Barry Dreyer posing on the aft deck of the Schooner America Replica.
SOUTHERN BAY 1994 Replica of a 1904 Truscott Mfg. Co Steam Launch.
ONO Dawn Boat Co. 1929 New York Commuter Yacht & Florida Sport fisher Twin Detroit 6/71s
ROSE WILDER 1968 Sparman & Stephens / Canteri Sangermani Sloop Carvel construction, fin keel, skeg hung rudder
A little taste of Southern California: Big trucks offset by Hybrids and Solar panels.
A sweet old So Cal Kustom:

Lady Ava

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LADY AVA
photo ex Jason Prew

Another photo from Jason Prew’s camera during his trip up the Tamaki River with Otira to the recent Chris McMullen workshop CYA visit. On route Jason photographed some of the many moored wooden boats.

Lady Ava, originally named Miss Ava, she was built by Ernie Lane at Picton in 1931. She has appeared on ww before (link below). I wonder if her grey colour is a ‘between coats’ finish, she certainly looked smart when white 😉

Where Is She Now? – Lady Ava

A Visit to Chris McMullen’s Boat Shed

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Chris McMullen & his 1898 reproduction Herrreshoff steam boat

One of Chris’s experiments

Otira- 1902 Logan Bros
Otira- 1902 Logan Bros

And of a few photos of one of the prettiest boats on the Waitemata – Wirihana, the 1933 Colin Wild launch.

A Visit to Chris McMullen’s Boat Shed

Yesterday was a biggie on the wooden boating front – Barbara Cooke & myself organized for the Classic Yacht Association a visit to Chris McMullen’s workshop & boat shed. I have posted photos of the shed & its contents on ww before & ww has published several of Chris’s posts on the topic of electrochemical damage to wooden boats – but it was special for the members to meet the man himself & hear him speak on his past, his current passions / projects & future plans. The reproduction 1898 Herreshoff steam launch project just has to be one of the best kiwi ‘can-do’ tales around. The day she hits the water will be a very special occasion, I just hope I’m around to see it 😉

Today two things stood out for me:
1. The turn-out of two wooden boating icons – John Salthouse & Max Carter
2. The healthy number of sub 35 year old guys with a new found passion for classic wooden boats in attendance

If your a CYA member & you didn’t make the effort to come to the event – more fool you – as one of your most respected members said to me “today was a privilege, Chris is a one of a kind, his practical knowledge on boat building and engineering is unique”.

In my time as CYA launch captain one of my personal goals was to help deliver up events & access to people & ‘cool stuff’ that people would not normally have access to without being CYA members – from the comments & the smiles as people where departing today, Barb & I got it right today 🙂

To read / view more on Chris, his boats & the topic of electrochemical damage to wooden boats just enter – Chis McMullen – in the ww search box 😉

Lady Claire

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A LADY CLAIRE QUESTION
photo & details ex John Wicks

Now Lady Claire has appeared in detail on ww before but I have had a request via John Wicks from her owner, Bruce Carter to see if any woodys can ID the people in the above photo. The photo was supplied by Rebecca Hayter (Boating NZ) . No one knows anything about the photo but John feels it could be pre WWII.
She was a magnificent looking launch & must have been one of THE boats in her day.
To read / view more on her click this link   https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/07/02/lady-claire/

Remember you can click on the image to enlarge, then click on ‘View full size’, then move the magnifying glass icon over the image & then click on the area you want to enlarge further.

Photo of Lady Claire & Lady Eileen hauled out together – may 2014 ex Ken R

LADIES EILEEN & CLAIRE Late May 2014

25-09-2023 Update ex John Dawson – photo below of Lady Claire berth near the old Wilson cement works in Auckland, now the site is known as Silo Park

Venture – Sailing Sunday

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Venture slipping

Wreck of Rewa, Moturekareka Is.
On beach at Okahu Bay
Off Tiri

Don Ross (L) Graham Gordon (R) at Okahu Bay

Diving for bottles off Kohimarama

Bucklands Beach – c.1968

Bucklands Beach c.1968

Bucklands Beach c.1968

VENTURE – Sailing Sunday photos & detail ex Don Ross ex Merv Stockley. With lots of input from Harold Kidd The history of Venture (E38) goes something like this – she started life as a carvel lifeboat built on the Northern Wairoa by Barbour then was converted to a keel yacht by Bob Shakespear. Alan Coates (later a Magistrate) owned her about 1931 and sold her to Dick Bakewell in 1936. Harold imagines Dick sold her on when he bought JEANETTE from Ted Le Huquet in 1948. Don Ross purchased her from Dick Bakewell about 1939-40 (dates a bit out, but you get that), Don thinks she was built of island kauri and thought she had been built in the islands and sailed to NZ, this contradicts Harold’s records but Don’s version is only ‘dock chat’. She was only 18ft and a carvel double-ender. Don later swapped Venture’ for the launch Ngaroma from Snow Harris who Don believes was a well known yachtie in Mullety circles from Auckland. At the time Snow lived at Hansen’s Island (after Charlie Hansen had passed on) and wanted a yacht instead of a launch. Don lived for most of his younger years in Auckland and sailed all round the Gulf. One of his favourite trips was to sail up to Hansen’s Island for the weekend. He has a number of letters from Charlie Hansen. In 1949 Don,his wife and daughter Lyn headed off to Whitianga in Ngaroma where he used her for game fishing until 1962. Merv Stockley believes they saw Venture up on Bucklands Beach in Auckland around 1968 and took the above photos. Some of her original keel had been removed then. Merv has commented that of all Don’s boats Venture was closest to his heart as he & his late wife, Joan,  did a lot of sailing in Venture & he would love to know if she is still around. Harold Kidd Input Merv is undoubtedly right that Don bought her from Dick Bakewell c1939. My date of 1948 was the most recent limit date, logically. The first mention of her I can find (amongst a scrum of other VENTUREs) is in 1933 when she took part in an Otahuhu Sailing Club race to Bucklands Beach, so she was obviously up the Tamaki at that time. Dick Bakewell told me she was built by Barbour as a lifeboat for ARATAPU which he built in 1878, a sister-ship to HUIA. ARATAPU was sold overseas in 1932, so that kind of works. Did I say Alan Coates owned her in 1931? All I know about his ownership is that he sold her to Dick Bakewell in 1936. Alan was a keen yachtsman in his earlier days and was associated with the Richmond, Otahuhu and Manukau clubs.Lovely bloke. It’s possible that he bought her when ARATAPU was sold, and had Bob Shakespear convert her to a deadwood keeler, but that’s conjecture. She was registered as E38 when it became necessary to wear sail numbers during WW2. Update from Russell Ward – 12-05-2015 1987 photo below of Venture moored at Okahu Bay, off the slipway over towards Pooh Pt. Russell had just launched SL Gypsy and admired Venture’s style. In typical Mr Ward style he warns us to not get sidetracked by the elegant steamer centre frame 🙂

Koputai – Sailing Sunday

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KOPUTAI  Sailing Sunday

Todays post is one of the ones I love, lots of details & lots of both old & current photos.

Koputai is a heavily built pilot stye hull weighing almost 40ton. She was built by Miller and Tunnage of Port Chalmers and launched in 1939. She served as a pilot vessel until the early 1990s when she returned to Miller and Tunnage to be converted to a pleasure boat.  Since she has circumnavigated NZ twice including  Chatham Islands, Great Barrier Island, Stuart Island and the Three Kings.

In 2013 her owner, Louey Sandlant, circumnavigated the South Island after fitting rigging and sails to the boat. They spent April-June in Fiordland with friends coming and going. The boat was perfectly suited to this life with spacious living quarters, a warm wheel house, plenty of food storage and fridge freezer space that easily accommodated 7-9 people long term.
On this trip she averaged 1L/NM at 6-7kts and didn’t get to make much use of the full set of sails. On passages Koputai will motor at 6.5-7kts with some sail for steadying. If there is a good blow she will sail 6-9kts with the engine backed off to idle or just over, this brings the fuel consumption right down & can halve the fuel consumption, making long passages very affordable cruising.

Despite the GM Detroits reputation for noise and thirst, Louey reports they have found it to be a very pleasant piece of machinery to live with. It has been very well set up with a 4.5:1 Allison box turning the large propeller and a sound insulated dry muffler set up with a wet exit making it quiet and smooth. Like most Detroits she runs like a clock.

In the sailing department Koputai has a traditional Bermudan style cutter ketch rig. Louey generally always has the mizzen hoisted for stability and with the stay-sail forward this configuration is balanced and happy up to around 35+kts., in lighter airs the full main and code zero style jenoa as well goes nicely up to around 24kts, she will get along at 8 kts off the wind with engine just ticking over. She feels solid pushing into heavy weather and will safely hold her own against most NZ coastal conditions and her owner wouldn’t hesitate to take her offshore. Koputai has been in survey.

Koputai has had a lot of time & money sent on her – in 2012 and 2013 she under went extensive restoration work, including:

-Complete deck re-corking and refinishing
-Complete new Kauri covering board
-Cabins stripped and refinished and windows refitted
-New stainless steel staunch-ens
-All repairs have been done with top quality treated kauri
-In 2013 she has also had a new sailing rig fitted with Canadian Oregon masts, standing rigging and all new sails made by classics sail maker Bud Nalder.

Everything that has been done to her by the current owners has been done with the highest quality products available for traditional boat building and completed by an experience boat builder to a high standard of durability. A useable finish is achieved while maintaining her traditional style.
The rig was designed to suit the era and fit with the original lines to make a well rounded, practical motor sailor for extensive cruising and expedition.

Recent work June 2014 includes; Full repaint above and below the water, new shaft bearing, new zincs, exhaust through hull fitting removed and inspected and refitted, prop removed checked and cleaned, shaft bearing replaced, shaft inspected and cleaned

Now the sad / good news – Loueys sad news is that Koputai is now for sale – the good news is the some lucky boaty is going to get to own one of the best restored, set up motor-saliers around. I don’t normally put prices on ww but I believe this to be such great value – this time I have – NZD$195,000.

If you wanted to a have a South Island experience for a while, there is a mooring in Nelson that is available to rent or purchase by negotiation and she will be delivered anywhere in New Zealand. I have to say that she would also make a great live aboard.

Her owners are currently cruising north over the next month via Great Barrier so if any ww followers are interested – contact Louey on 0274948028

Some Specs:

Leingth 17.1m  –  Draft 1.95m  –  Beam 4.7m

-Engine;  GM Detroit 671 New 2008 4090hrs  – Dry muffler wet exit. 180-200hp

-Running gear; Allison gearbox, 3 1/2″ bronze shaft, 53″ bronze propeller, solid bronze rudder and shaft with hydrolic steering (new main shaft bearing 2014)

-Genset; Newly reconditioned 2.5kva Mase (single cylinder yanmar)
-Fuel;     1700L  –  Water;   2000L

-Power; New batteries all round feb 2013  –  2x290ah AGM deep cycles. 2xNS220 start batteries

-Anchoring;  Nilson maxwell 3500 winch (new 1000w motor 2012.),  13mm galv short link chain (New chain 2012.), 80lb  manson plow

-Refrigeration; Large 200l freezer/chiller with engine driven compressor(new compressor and switches 2013) Dometic 3way automatic fridge freezer (new 2011)

-Sails; Main, Mizzen, Staysail and Genoa (new 2013)

-3m inflatable dingy with yamaha 8hp  –  Or a 4.1m inflatable thundercat with a 50hp yamaha with cradle

-lifting gear with elect capstain for loading tenders up 450kg also very handy for lifting anchors and gear on board.

 

Update 27-08-2020 Photo below supplied by David Balderston, as per his 2015 comments

The Wreck of Teddy – Sailing Sunday

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Is This The Wreck Of Teddy?

photos & info ex Chris McMullen

Recently Chris McMullen was sorting through a box of old photos from the Wilson, Gould family & came across the two above showing wreckage of some vessel. Pretty hard to tell where or what vessel but Chris feels that the presence of an horizon makes one think it is not in the harbour. Also yacht B16 seems to feature in some other photos.
Chris commented that the gentleman in the image looks rather like the helmsman in Paul Gilberts (Weekly News) photo of the early Wirihana.

Chris wonders, could it be the yacht Teddy wrecked on south east end of Kawau?. He can’t recognize any of the structure to determine whether its a yacht or launch but notes the quite heavy planking. He did a wee bit of on-line searching & found these press clippings on the wreck of Teddy from the Sydney Morning Herald, March 10 1932 (refer below)

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Could the Wilson’s have taken some photos, while away on Wirihana (1) for their NZ Herald and The Weekly News? That may explain why the photos are in box.

Chris felt he had seen one of the wreck photos some where else & looked in his copy of “Little Ships” by Ronald Carter.  There are two photos of the Teddy, she was a Norwegian Pilot cutter. The big heavy sawn frames clear in the wreck photo are not typical of a New Zealand built vessel.  She had a big heavy mast and that ties in with that in the other wreck photo.

So the question of the day is – has Chris answered his own question?

As an aside Teddy was featured in Johnny Wray’s book South Seas Vagabond.

Update – Photo below from Chris Leech – he read with interest the article on the Teddy. And located a photo taken at the DYC (age unknown) showing her on the slip. Noting the article extract above it may have been about the same time – 1931?

Lady Cynthia

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Lady Cynthia – a bit of a mystery
photo & details ex Harold Kidd

Harold thinks the photo above of Lady Cynthia rafted up alongside the wreck of Rewa is c.1937. He also suspects that she only had the name Lady Cynthia for a brief period around this time, so the big question is what was she named before & after?. There is speculation that she  could have been a big flushdecker pre-1914.