Category Archives: 1960’s

THE RESTORATION OF 46’ WOODEN LAUNCH – LIBERTY

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THE RESTORATION OF 46’ WOODEN LAUNCH – LIBERTY

Back in 2014 WW ran a story on the classic wooden 46′ launch LIBERTY, at the time a recent import from the USA and for sale.

Unsure to whom and when she sold but she has popped up over the years in yards and bays.

Fast forward to mid 2026 and Trudy and Paul Thorowgood acquired LIBERY after several years of admiring her from afar.Trudy contacted WW advising they had just commenced an extensive restoration on LIBERTY – I’ll let Trudy tell the story (edited)WW will follow this project with regular updates.

“We love Waitemata Woodys and the wonderful collection of wooden boats and stories you’ve documented over the years, so we thought you might be interested in what we’ve just taken on – the restoration of a 1969 Stephens Bros boat named Liberty.

You’ve actually featured Liberty on Waitemata Woodys before, back in 2014, so you may remember her: https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/03/10/liberty/

We first fell in love with Liberty when we saw her down at the Viaduct back in 2018. There was just something about her – the lines, the character and that unmistakable Stephens look. So when the opportunity eventually came up to buy her, we knew we probably couldn’t let it pass.

The only problem was that, by the time we bought her in May this year, Liberty was in pretty poor shape. In fact, we were advised to walk away from the purchase unless we had very deep pockets. We definitely don’t have deep pockets, but we decided to take the risk anyway!

My husband is a carpenter and builder by trade and has built smaller boats from scratch before, so we knew we had some of the skills and experience needed to take on a project of this size. We’re also very fortunate to have some great local contacts through Milford Marina – people with years of experience working on and around wooden boats – who have been generous with their advice, knowledge and help along the way. It’s quickly becoming a bit of a team effort, which is exactly what we hoped for with a project like this.

More than anything, though, we couldn’t bear the thought of such a beautiful old Stephens being allowed to deteriorate beyond saving.

Our plan is to restore her properly and make Liberty our forever boat. We see ourselves less as her owners and more as custodians of this classic beauty – with the responsibility of bringing her back to life and preserving her for the next generation.

She is a 1969 Stephens Bros Sports Cruiser/Fisher, built in Stockton, California, and is hull number M-156. Stephens Bros were building some of America’s most beautiful wooden boats from the early 1900s through to the late 20th century, and Liberty is a wonderful example of that heritage.

We’ve also discovered that the original Stephens plans and correspondence relating to Liberty are now held by the Haggin Museum in Stockton, which makes the boat’s history even more special to us. We’re hoping to dig further into her story as the restoration progresses.

For now, however, we have a rather large job on our hands.

We had Liberty transported from Gulf Harbour to our property, where she is now sitting on the driveway under a purpose-built shrink-wrap shelter. We built a timber frame around her and have started stripping her back to see exactly what we have.

She is carvel-built, and we have now taken the hull back to the bare planks so that the timber can dry out properly. We’ve also removed several hundred kilos of old equipment from inside her – water tanks, fuel tanks, generator and other machinery – much of which was in very poor and corroded condition. The plan is to spline and glass the hull once the timber has dried sufficiently.

The existing Detroit diesels – the famous “Screaming Jimmys” – will also be coming out, and we’re planning to re-power her with a new pair of FPT 280hp engines (these motors also meet the new IMO Tier 2 Regs).

There will be plenty of other work along the way. We’re planning some changes to the interior layout while retaining as much of Liberty’s original character and heritage as possible. We’ll share more of that as we get further into the project.

For now, she is staying under wraps while she dries out, which we expect will take the next few months. Hopefully, in the new year, we’ll be able to start the major hull work.

It is definitely a labour of love – and probably a little bit crazy. But there is something pretty special about taking an old wooden boat that has reached this point and giving her another chance.“

MYSTERY WOODEN MOTOR SAILER #2 – WHANGAREI TOWN BASIN – WAIMARIE

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MYSTERY WOODEN MOTOR SAILER #2 – WHANGAREI TOWN BASIN – WAIMARIE

Today we have another pilothouse classic woody berthed in the Whangarei Town Basin.

Again as per yesterdays vessel she looks very salty and could be from foreign shores. 

Can any of the northern woodys help us out regarding the vessel.

INPUT ex PETER STRINGER– she is name WAIMARIE, and was launched in 1963 – 47′ in length- more details in the article

IMPORTANT EVENT DATE ADVICE – THE OVER NIGHT BBQ CRUISE TO THE CLEVEDON CRUISING CLUB IS NOW NOVEMBER 14

THE MIGHTY KAURI — A WOODEN BOATBUILDER’S BEST FRIEND

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THE MIGHTY KAURI — A WOODEN BOATBUILDER’S BEST FRIEND

Todays woody photos were sent in by Andrew Molloy and give us peek back in time when there was more of the magnificent kauri than the boatbuilders of the day needed. Hell we were exported it to Australia and I’m told 1/2 of San Franciso, USA, was rebuilt with NZ Kauri after the 1906 earthquakes there.

In the top photo, dated 1963, we see a halved Kauri log at the Helensville rail siding, it was used for building a fishing boat and a keeler and then some left over. Of note – we have 2nd from left Percy Vos and Sam Mason 3rd from left left. The log was 43 ‘and had a girth of 21’. From the log they milled 14,800 superficial feet of lumber.

Second photo is of the Goldie’s Timber Mill, St Mary’s Bay, Auckland. There is an impressive block – stack weathering there. Keen to learn the indignity of the launch seen in the bottom right hand corner – refer close up below.

In the 3rd photo we see a clinker dinghy taking shape at one of Auckland’s boat yards c.1910 . Has the look of the Percy Vos yard about it.

CLASSIC CHILDHOOD FLASHBACK 

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CLASSIC CHILDHOOD FLASHBACK 

Todays classic woody photo was sent in by John Dawson, and was a flash back for me. My father built me a P-Class but as was typical , built it x4 the weight (1”+ marine ply) of the plans and it took 3 of us to launch it. Sailed like a pig and it was painted yellow. It didn’t get a lot of use and sold as a duck shooter punt. I was told I was a ungrateful child (they were right, I was). Not sure of the date of the photo but the bike, attire, and car would suggest late 1950’s > early 1960’s.

How cool would have this young guy been, owned a bike and a yacht ✔️

I DISCOVERED WHERE AMERICA’s CUP BOATS GO TO DIE

On last weeks travels to Whangarei I called into Port Nikau and there looking very lonely were 3 of New Zealand’s Americas Cup yachts – NZL60, NZL84, NZL92 (lost the cup to Alinghi) – anywhere else in the world  NZL60 would be on permeant display somewhere a little more fitting. She successfully defended the Americas Cup back in 2000. The first boat to defend and retain the Cup outside of the USA.

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH VALMARIE – HOW DID IT COME TO THIS

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2013

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH VALMARIE – HOW DID IT COME TO THIS

I was mooching around the Whangarei waterfront during the week and spotted the launch VALMARIE hauled out at Dock5.                                                                 I did not recognise her until up close and spotted her name board. Even then I had to do a count / location of port holes and cabin widows to confirm she was the same vessel that last featured on WW back in April 2014  https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/04/10/valmarie/

Back in 2014 VALMARIE was for sale on tme and looking very smart. Another example of how quickly these woodys can go downhill if they do not get any TLC The last photo above was from 2013.

And on the subject of classics going down hill – I am very happy to report that the classic wooden launch – TRINIDAD has a new owner and been moved closer to Auckland. Her days of neglect in the far north are over. I hear her new owner is already planning to restore the bright work ✔️

WHERE ARE THEY NOW -THE FATE OF THESE CLASSIC CRAFT

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW -THE FATE OF THESE CLASSIC CRAFT

Todays classic wooden launch photos once more come to us from Robyn Kellian via Tobias Forsyth so we can safely assume the location is the Leigh region.  The question today is what’s the background to this series of photos – we have a work (fishing) boat donating her wheelhouse to another classic woody that appears to be a recent pleasure boat refit.

So can any of the Leigh based readers enlighten us on what became of both vessels and put an approx. date to the photos. 

INPUT ex GRAHAM ROWE – The first boat featured (fishing boat 3621) is La Vega. She was built by Millar and Tunnage using Totora planks on Pohutukawa ribs, launched 1965, and fished from Leigh until 25 November 2009 – the last entry in her Log. I know little about her ownership but on her last commercial fishing trip she was crewed by Nick and Jarrod, and hearsay suggests that her owners were two brothers nicknamed ‘Swampy’ and ‘The Animal’ Walker?

Sometime later she was bought to Helensville by Dave Cook and I purchased her from Dave after she had been sitting from 2016 with a non-functioning Mitsubishi 6D-14 engine in 2020. Since then, I have been restoring her. La Vega is 11m LOA, 3.9m beam and draws about 1.2m. She displaces about 11 Tonnes.

The doghouse being removed is possibly to enable an engine replacement. The doghouse shown is the one that was on her when I purchased her, but alas is no more, due to extensive rot. The sliding door however was salvageable and will go back on her in due course.

RESTORATION UPDATE – CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MANAPOURI 

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RESTORATION UPDATE – CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MANAPOURI 

Our last major update on the restoration of the 43’ 1960 built classic wooden bridge decker was in November 2022 – link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/11/28/manapouri-refit/

Then in December 2023 we had a note from Mark with some photos of a rather smart helm chat he was building and advice that the project was still underway but any boating in the summer of 2023/24 was not a happening thing.

Back in June 2025 after chatting with Mark he sent in todays photos with the promise of some ‘almost finished’ ones, so I held off. Sadly the promised photos never arrived so after a year I post the above and fingers crossed this bumps Mark into an update 🙂

HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT – WELLINGTON’S CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT

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HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT – WELLINGTON’S CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT

I’m guilty of a lapse that a lot of us northern woodys fall into – that being, we forget about NZ’s capital city Wellington as a home to some of our best classic wooden craft. 

Auckland, the Bay of Islands and the top of the South Island tend to dominate WW content. So it was so good to receive a trip report from Auckland based woody Geoff Fiebig (SV CAPLIN) from Chaffers marina in Wellington.

Extra special to see that the 49’ woody VANESSA was now in her new home and looking very salty. VANESSA was Geoff’s reason for the trip, hopefully we can get an insight into the project he has been commissioned to undertake. If you missed her story on WW when she was 4sale with the Wooden Boat Bureau, check out this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/10/23/ready-to-unwind-this-summer-classic-motorboat-vanessa-ticks-all-the-boxes/

The next woody is the 26’ 1925 Colin Wild built launch – LITTLE TASMAN, another woody that slipped thru our hands and headed south. Not before an amazing restoration at the hands of Colin Brown and Josh Hawkw at their Omaha yard. Check out this WW link and view the video of the project. https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/06/17/little-tasman-restoration/

Lastly we have the 1964 Ben Hipkins built  50’ bridge decker – RANGIORA looking the best she has in a long time – well done to her owners.

RANGIORA has had an interesting life , check out this 2022 WW story that backgrounds her partial sinking in1973 after hitting rocks off the northern coast of Waiheke Island, Auckland. https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/01/04/rangiora-sinks-off-waiheke-21-09-1973/

CLASSIC LAUNCHES AT GREAT BARRIER ISLAND

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CLASSIC LAUNCHES AT GREAT BARRIER ISLAND

Todays woody photo comes to us from Gt Barrier Island fb via Ian McDonald. Ian commented that the photo was captioned ‘ Nagle Cove, Great Barrier, 1960’s’.

Obviously the uber cool game boat LADY DOREEN is front and centre, can we ID the launch behind her, very distinctive windows / ports configuration.

The photo looks slightly familiar but I can not find it on WW, the presence of the ‘NZ Tourist Air Travel’ flying boat is probably playing games with my memory. 

WOODEN LAUNCH – KARA HAKA – A Peek Down Below

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WOODEN LAUNCH – KARA HAKA – A Peek Down Below

Todays launch is a recent arrival on tme (thanks Ian McDonald), before I comment I reproduce the sellers comments “Shes a bit rough around the edges but got solid bones. A lot of boat for the money.”

It states she is a Sam Ford design but I struggle with that and at some stage an owner must have had access to sheets of plywood at a good price and didn’t own a protractor i.e. not a lot of curves to be seen.

All that to one side asking price is only 12k, so a low cost entry level 36’ launch. What we know – 1964 build, triple skin kauri, powered by a 120hp Ford, home port Tauranga.

Do we know if the name KARA HAKA is original.