LADY MARGARET – WHANGAROA
photos ex Dean Wright
There have been numerous Lady Margarets featured on ww, it was a popular name & must have been a good luck charm, as most as still afloat.
The above LM is 42′ in length & was built in Tauranga by Oliver & Gilpin c.1958. Harold would say ‘she has the typical O&G flair for dramatic style’.
She spent a lot of her life chasing game fish. The photos above were taken by Dean Wright in the Whangaroa Harbour.
SILVER DOLLAR
In the last week my spies have sighted Silver Dollar at Great Barrier & Kawau so as my mother used to say “she gets around”. All I know is her stern says Scotts Landing, Mahurangi & was built in 1958. Keen to learn more about this launch with an unusual cabin.
Update from JohnWicks
he and her sister-ships were built by Bob Swanson at Blackwood Bay in Queen Charlotte Sound in the 50s. Bob later moved his boatbuilding operation to Picton, at what had previously been Ernie Lane’s yard. As a small boy I was at either her launching or that of “Maritza”, one of her sisters.- memory not wot it wuz 
She hasn’t been lengthened, though that dodger over the cockpit is a later modification.
Neat that she still has her original 2 cylinder “Jimmy” shoving her along. Those hulls are easily driven, and don’t need a lot of power.
I’ve always thought those boats were very handsome; my admiration is tempered by the difficulty of getting from the helm station at the forward end of the house to the foredeck. My father had the slightly smaller “Palomino” which had a more conventional sedan layout and was easier to work single-handed..
Updated Photos (20/03/2014) from Paul Stichbury (ex Ken Ricketts)
The b/w photo was taken c1958 at the launch at Blackwood Bay, Picton. According to John Wicks (who was there with his father, but not in photo) the gent centre stage with the braces & hands in pockets is Bob Swanson . The photos also show her original (& still there) engine at the time of being reconditioned in 2011, all that was required was new sleeves, pistons & bearings (there was no wear on the crankshaft).
AOTEA
photos & details from Paul Newell
Paul owned Aotea for approx. 5 years (2002-2007) & believes she was built in the South Island to an Alexander design. She was powered by a 300 Bedford Diesel.
The picture of her on the transporter was apparently her arriving in Auckland from Lake Taupo. Paul was told she was built for the N.Z. Government and taken to Taupo for the Queens Coronation NZ tour 1953-54 but he has never found anything to verify this. The other photos show her on Chris McMullen’s floating dock and on the marina at McMullen and Wings yard.
The last time Paul saw her she was on a mooring at Whitianga. Can anyone verify or add to her history?
MOANA
photos ex AH & trademe
I spotted Moana at anchor in Coromandel Harbour between Xmas & New Year. A little digging resulted in a trademe listing so if you believe that, she was built by Lanes in 1954 & is a kauri carvel planked, large volume displacement launch at 42.5′. Powered by a 6LX Gardiner. Appears to by well fitted out in terms of modern day comms & navigation toys etc.
Just a pity about the block of flats on top 😦 , but as they say – each to their own.
Now my bitch of the day – why do people selling classic boats (both the public & brokers) almost never include the boats name in a listing. Makes it bloody hard to find the listing & only drops the value, as the serious potential buyers are most likely to know the boat or know someone that knows her.
Harold Kidd Update
Ted Gilpin told me that she was built by Lane Motor Boat Co. for game fishing in at Mayor Island by Alan Hunter and that Peter Parsons had a hand in her design and construction.
Update 17-03-2019 Moana getting some TLC at Gulf Harbour (photo K Ricketts)
Update 12-09-2024 – Photo below of a painting of Moana by Debbie Park
ANTARES
photos & details from Ken Ricketts & Harold Kidd
Built by Supreme Craft, – (McGeady), – on the corner of Summer St & Ponsonby Rd., Ponsonby, in the 1950s, she is a great example of the McGeady craftsmanship. She originally had a 4 cyl Ford diesel, later replaced with a 100 HP 6 cyl Ford. Her engine installation was done by the late Tracey Nelson, an outstanding marine & automotive engineer of Bell Rd Remuera, as were almost all of the McGeady boats, certainly from the 1940s onwards.
She was originally owned by Cyril Parker a self employed motor engineer, who’s business premises were in Kohimaramara Rd., Kohimaramara.
Apologizes for the quality of the photos, if anyone has better please email the to waitematawoodys@ gmail.com
15-07-2015 Photo below c1986 ex Laurie Webb, when owned by Ron & Shirley Phillips, who owned > c2006
YASAWA
Currently for sale on trademe, this bridgedecker could be a good buy for someone wanting to get into classic boating.
She appears to be very well presented & excellent value for money.
The listing says she is a 1952 Collings & Bell but HDK advised this is incorrect & she was built by Charlie Filmer. She sleeps 6-8, 10m (32.8′) long, with a 2002 90hp motor. While Picton based, thats not a big issue, ‘Boat Haulage’ are not that expensive, if you are prepared to wait for a return trip.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/motorboats/auction-680775450.htm
Harold Kidd Update
Stuart Findlay of Paunui Road, St. Heliers owned her in 1957 and may well have been her first owner. He was followed by Solicitor Arthur Bourke of First Ave, Stanley Point in 1959. Her original engine was a 100hp Scripps-marinised Ford Mercury V8.
I can’t fathom why she is now claimed to be a Collings & Bell boat. The APYMBA records show her as built by Charlie Filmer. She doesn’t look Collings & Bell to me anyway.
Probably some oracular shellback advised an owner that she was C&B. That’s the process that has given us today more Logan, Sam Ford and Lane Motor Boat Co launches than they ever built.
Photo below hauled out at Motueka marina, Jan 2018, photo ex John Burland
Update 26-09-2021 Photos (ex Grant Stone) below when owned by a Tom Wilcox in the late 1950’s
AROHANUI
photo & details ex Ken Ricketts
In Kens eyes, she was one of the best sedan top examples that McGeady ever built, having the forward section & forward deck longer than usual & giving a further aft helm position, which means a smoother ride for the helmsman & crew in rough weather being further aft than usual & a sort of more sleek laid back concept to her & excellent balance of line.
She was built for Tucker Brothers food product manufacturers (Sunshine Jellies etc) in Khyber Pass Aucland., circa 1952, in McGeady’s Summer St Ponsonby premises & had the usual Ford 6 cyl Diesel fitted by Tracey Nelson. She was the second boat built by McGeady for Tuckers, the first being a bridgedecker built circa 1939 called Lady Sunshine, which was owned just after WWII by Com Hardley, M.D. of Hardleys Plumbing Merchants, of Morrow St Newmarket, who renamed her Varlene, the name as far as Ken knows she still has today.
Varlene was sold to H.T. Morton, a lawyer of Cliff Ave Belmont & Auck Hospital board Member in the later 1940’s. If anyone has a photo of Varlene, Ken can do a post on her, as he knows quite a bit about her early days.
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05/03/2105 – New photo ex Karen Moren – sent in by Ken Ricketts
Photo ex Ken Rickett’s – Tauranga Harbour
09/04/2015 more photos ex trademe
13-07-2015 Update sent in by Paul Newell ex Sea Spray ex NZ Classic Game Boat
WAIHAPE
colour photos ex Dean Wright – info ex Ken Ricketts
b/w photo ex Harold Kidd ex Keith Munro
Ken thinks Waihape was the last boat Johnny Wray built in the later 1940s > early 1950s. He lived on her for many years, based at Surfdale, Waiheke, although he did sail around NZ & the Pacific in her fairly extensively. She had a fairly distinctive aft wheelhouse/doghouse which instantly “clicked” when he saw Dean’s photo.
Ken is certain he recalls seeing her in the mud at Surfdale on the L.H.S side of the bay coming in from the sea. There is even a mention of her in a write up “fun map” of Waiheke on a website Ken discovered.
Can anyone confirm this was in fact Johnny Wray’s last boat?
Harold Kidd Update
She certainly looks like the 44 footer WAIHAPE which Johnny Wray launched in December 1948, the last big boat he built. He put some unusual features into her. From his RNZAF experience she was fitted out with an aircraft-type control panel and had twin engines, small Kelvins I think. She took him to Tonga and back a couple of times and had a fair spread of sail.
14-05-2016 – A message from Helen Lee
My name is Helen Lee and as a teenager I had several cruises on Waihape with Johnny Wray, my parents Cynthia and Jerry Wilcox, my brother Michael Wilcox and once with my cousin Mike Lambert.
I have wonderful memories of these trips [early1960’s] and a few treasured photos. I realized when i saw the ww photos of Waihape that mine are all taken on the boat, not ‘of ‘ the boat. However you may like to see them.
Johnny was a long time friend of my Dad’s as they were both living in Lucerne Road as young men and Dad had worked with Johnny when he was building his first boat, Ngataki.
The photo below taken at Mansion House, Kawau Island, is Johnny trying to look like the coconut he is holding.
A Brief history of the Kawau ferry transport 1946 -1990
photos & details ex Ken Ricketts
MAIRIE
Purpose built in the early 1950’s by Roy Lidgard, in his boatbuilding shed in Smelting House Bay Kawau Island, for Alan Horsfall owner of the Mansion House, in Mansion House Bay, Kawau, for the carriage of passengers & freight, to & from the Mansion House, to the Sandspit at Warkworth, which was the embarkation point, for the vast majority of the guests, & virtually all freight, food, & most importantly, for boaties, grog, during Mansion House’s time as a hotel /guest house, which was up until about September 1967, at which time it was bought by the Government of the day & turned in to a historic place, under the Historic Places Trust.
A few lucky commuters travelled in style, by amphibious aircraft from the 1950’s onwards, — a Grumman Widgeon, piloted by a the famous, Freddie Ladd, a delightful, colourful, extroverted, & very learned, & tremendously skilled, pilot, see pic on the beach of Mansion House Bay, c.1954, (this photo along with the one of Mairie was scanned by Ken from 8 mm movie footage shot from his families launch, Juliana, c.1953-55, thence the poor quality). Ladd usually had Christmas dinner on Juliana, & later Gay Dawn, an entertained the Ricketts family with his seemingly endless supply, of real life anecdotes.
Mairie was approx 42 feet long & powered by a 4 cyl Kelvin diesel & served the Island & Mansion House for many years. In her later years such was the demand for her services that Lidgards built (1952) another boat for Mr. Horsfall, called Kawau Isle, slightly bigger & powered by a 6LW Gardner diesel, which in later years, took over most of the passenger load & left Mairie to do the donkey work, with the freight side of the logistics. The 6LW I understand, has fairly recently been replaced by a newer 6LX Gardner in Kawau Isle.
KAWAU ISLE
Kawau Isle is a traditional kauri timber motor vessel built in 1952 by Roy Lidgard at Smelt House Bay, Bon Accord Harbour. She is 45 feet in length, powered with a 6LW Gardner diesel engine and cruises at 7.5 knots.
For around 30 years the Kawau Isle operated a ferry service between Sandspit and Kawau Island. More recently she worked from Half Moon Bay as a charter boat and then Whangarei as a school ferry. She currently plys her trade ferrying day trippers to & from the Riverhead Hotel, on the upper reaches of the Waitemata Harbour.
In the bow on photo with the ‘Riverhead Ferry’ logo, the men on the bow are all past and preasent skippers of Kawau Isle. This photo was taken at Kawau Island, Bon Accord Harbour November 2012 during a cruise to celebrate the 60th anniversary to the launching of the ferry.
Note : Mairie & Kawau Isle replaced the ‘Nancibel’ – (may have been Nancibelle), which was powered with a 4 cyl 4-53 GM Detroit & ‘Kororo’ which was powered with a P6 or 6-354 6 cyl Perkins. Both of these boats were painted bottle green & given there appearance probably built in the later part, of the early 1900s. You can see the Maritana stern on, behind Kawau Isle in the 1962 pic at Mansion House Bay wharf. The back end of Kororo can be seen in the photo of a young Ken Ricketts sculling the dinghy.
A question ex Don Macleod
Refer below article / photos that appeared in DIVE Magazine Vol 11 No3, of 1972.
Is this the same launch, Nancibel, that serviced Kawau Island. (click photo to enlarge)
Update from Don 02/12:
The divers got into real trouble that weekend at the 20 fathom reef, Mayor Island, 3 cases of the bends, one of which died (Henry Liason).
There was another boat that hit a Mayor Island rock that weekend. It was the Edward G which flooded its engine room at the time
that Henry Liason was surfacing from a very deep dive.
Tauranga divers went out and salvaged the Gardner engine from the Nancibel the week after she sank.
Mansion House Bay c.1950
photos from Helen & Richard Andrew’s family collection (grand daughter & her husband of Henry Allen -Tiromoana) ex Ken Rickitts.
The above postcard of Mansion House Bay Kawau Island, was written by Alma Allen (Tiromoana) in the early 1950’s & sent to Esme & Joe Coggan — their daughter & son in law &/or Helen their grand daughter as a little girl, now Helen Andrew.
Ken has attempted to ID some of the boats & can identify Mananui (P.R.Colebrook’s days), Valsan (Arnold Baldwin era) & very importantly to Ken the Lady Claire (in the Stan Headland era), Headland had her cabin sides beautifully varnished, which disappeared later. Ken believes the photo was taken circa 1953-55.
Note Valsan anchored off the end of the wharf & with the stern tied to wharf — A.D.B. used to take family away for about 10 days at Christmas, then swap crews, for a “men’s” crew, & cruise. He never tied to the wharf when the family were there & never left the wharf, when they weren’t there, so this is without doubt, taken in the second half of a Christmas period. — He, & Len Peckham, (Lady Sandra) took unplanned turns, at sharing the wharf in this manner in this era.
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