Yesterday afternoon, Auckland based woodys got to rub shoulders with an impressive collection of classic wooden boats at one of New Zealand’s leading wooden boat yards – the Peter Brookes ‘Brookes Boatbuilders’ complex in rural Waimauku, West Auckland. I have been privileged to visit numerous times but every visit is a treat, where else would you see over eight classic yachts and launches in varying stages of restorations.
I’ll let the photos tell the story, if I have a photo mixed up, let me know 🙂 – enjoy – remember as always if you click on the photos they will enlarge 😉
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
WANDERER II Wanderer II was built in 1965 by Owen Woolley and measures approx. 39’ with a 13’7” beam. Powered by a Ford Lees 100hp 6 cyl. diesel she gets along at a comfortable 8 knots. A recent addition to tme (thanks Ian McDonald).
Can we uncover where and what Wanderer II has been up to for the last 55 years?
Input From Nigel Drake – Below is another photo of Wanderer 11, I am a friend of the present owner. The previous owner showed me this photo of her when he sold her 5 years ago. She is in her original colours. Not sure of the date but interestingly the name on the side is Wanderer not Wanderer 11. The previous owner had her for about 17 years to my knowledge and kept her in Doves Harbour, Bay of Islands. The owner before him, who was the 2nd owner, also had her for about 17 years apparently.
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
The 1965 Salthouse built woody – Trinidad is currently tucked up in the Greg Lees Boatbuilder shed at Sandspit getting some botox i.e touch-up coats to the coamings and wheelhouse and a re-paint of the topsides.
Yesterday, the brains trust from the yard + Akzo Nobel (AWLWOOD MA & International Paints) + AWLWOOD MA Guru (Uroxsys founder) David Waddingham met to discuss the upcoming work on Trinidad, she is a bit like their in-house model. It was interesting to be a fly-on-the-wall and hear about the latest thinking on application / thinning / primer techniques and their newish line extensions eg the Multi-climate gloss finish. The product has come a very long way in the last few years. You can see from the last two photos that the GL’s boys only just manage to get the doors closed when Trinidad visits, very cozy.
While there, foreman Dale Collins, flipped the covers on his recently completed clinker dinghy (photos below) – stunning and woodys its 4sale 🙂
WOODYS LUNCH CRUISE TO RIVERHEAD TAVERN – TIME TO RSVP
If you are planning on joining the fleet for the cruise up the Riverhead river to join fellow woodys for launch on Sunday November 8th – drop me a quick email with boat name and approx crew numbers waitematawoodys@gmail.com
MYSTERY LAUNCH – 1968 Sam McGreedy The above 39’ carvel planked, 1968 launch popped up on trademe, light on photos, the tme ones are very average. The stated builder is Sam McGreedy, thats a new one to me.Power is from a 130hp Ford diesel. Appears to be well fitted out.
From the photos I suspect it a Panmure boat – can on of the river rats enlighten us more on the boat?
That was easy, thanks Ken R – its White Cloud see more here
HOST VENUE: NZ Traditional Boatbuilding School 17 Totara Rd, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland – Saturday 17 October 2020 – Sunday 18 October 2020
This is a two day course introducing you to the use of hand tools. Over the two days you will build a small tool box and a bench stop incorporating a number of woodworking joints and skills including cutting a simple scarf joint and then using copper nails and rivets to turn that piece into a handy Bench stop. Marking and cutting pieces for the tool box, preparing the timber with planes and a cabinet scraper, marking and cutting a dovetail joint, marking and drilling dowel joints, turning a square piece of wood into a round handle, final assembly and clean up.
This is a great course for someone wanting to learn how to cut accurately and use chisels and planes and other hand tools in a practical manner. Students will leave with a completed toolbox and bench stop and an introduction to many new skills. The tutors for this course are Olaf Wiig and Allan Hooper.
NOTE: Min of three students required, max of six students- COST $290 – includes materials for toolbox.
Firstly I need to thank Predictwind for Saturdays forecast, 100% on the button, as usual. One woody at the picnic didn’t come by boat based on the forecast published in Saturdays NZ Herald newspaper……………….. I suspect they also believe the horoscopes in the same paper are factual.
The morning started off a tad eerie with a sea mist blanketing a lot of the sea area off the east coast – but this burned off late morning and we then enjoyed perfect weather. The NZH and coastguard weather forecasts saw the numbers of launches attending drop to 12 but great to see so many turning up by car. Also very fine to have 3 past CYA chairman in attendance – Steve Cranch, Rod Marler and Peter Mence. The waterfront based Stillwater Motor Camp is an idyllic setting for a gathering of classic wooden boats – deep water wharf access to raft up to + a tree shaded lawn. After some interesting docking (too many dockside expects) we had the launches tied up and everyone then decamped to the lawn. Special thanks to Mark Edmonds (Monterey) for again coordinating the venue. A lot of the group had not caught up since the CV-19 lock-downs so it was good to swap stories and boating plans for the upcoming summer.
There has always been good camaraderie on the water between boaties and its something that we foster at Woody Classics Weekends – proof of it in practice is seen below in the photo of Rod and Fiona aboard Arohanui taking Murray Deeble’s Waikiore under tow. Towed him all the way back to the entrance to Milford Creek, where another woody – Jason Prew had ventured out in rather unpleasant conditions to get Waikiore back on her Milford berth. Well done to everyone.
Message for Murray – “should have bought a Yamaha” 🙂
Next Woodys on the water event – November 8th – Riverhead Tavern Lunch Cruise
WW readers will recall that in late 2019 Angus Rogers purchased the 1967 1968 Bailey & Sons built bridge-decker Centaurus. After an extended summer cruise she was hauled out at Okahu Bay for a serious overhaul of her systems and to bring her presentation up to the Rogers standard. Last Friday she was eased back into the water (got to love that tractor unit) looking very sharp. One of the additions was a bow and stern water jet thruster set-up, very impressive piece of kits and remarkably quiet. More photos of the project soon.
It will be a shoes off inspection for those woodys doing the Stillwater Woody picnic cruise next Saturday (26th) – I’d better ensure she gets a prime spot on the wharf 😉
During the recent sale process for Kailua we uncovered the above collection of photos when Lady Beryl, as she was named then, in the shed at Salthouse Boatbuilders.
The one thing that stood out was how original she is today under the name Kailua (photos below)Very happy that the new owner is Auckland based and a very good classic wooden boat family.
Bonny M was designed / built by Morgan’s in 1964. Her specs are 29’6” x 9’6” x 3’.
The forward motion comes via a 2008 190hp Lombardini diesel engine that sees her cruise at a comfortable 10 knots.
Being a Marlborough Sounds vessel she is very well spec’ed in terms of fit out – her owner is obviously not a fan of varnish, thank god for that fuse box 🙂
Deep down she is a woody e.g. 20mm carvel planked kauri but there is a layer of that ‘modern’ wood and ’thick’ varnish (f/glass) 😉
4sale on tme. Nice lines, somewhat hidden under all that white paint, some styling she would look even smarter.
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