Category Archives: 1960’s

Australian Wooden Boat Festival 2019 – Photo Parade – 200 Classic Wooden Boat Photos – Part 1

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AUSTRALIAN WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL 2019 – HOBART, TASMANIA – PHOTO PARADE 200 CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT PHOTOS

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Well woodys while I was gutted that I had to cancel my trip to the festival, I honestly believe that we have ended up with a better view of the festival. I have been inundated with photos from woodys from both sides of the Tasman. The coolest thing is that the show is so big and the exhibitions so broad, that there have hardly been any duplications – my new best Aussie woody friend – Andrew Christie has excelled with photos from the air (drone) and on the water (he borrowed a clinker dinghy from the ‘Living Boat Trust’ and rowed around the docks). My kiwi woody friends –  Colin and Sheryl Pawson + Fiona Driver and Rod Marler + James Mortimer  have supplemented Andrew’s photos with more stunning photos from their camera’s. As an aside Andrew won the AWBF 2019 short film festival, with his entry ‘Wooden Boat Lunacy’ featuring a Billy Holmes built motorboat – Folly III. This short film has been featured on WW – link here    https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/11/08/folly-iii/
Rather than mix them all up – I thought it would cool to group them by photographer. There will be more to share with you over the next few days, seems like everyone has maxed out the mobile data packages 🙂
Remember you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them – Enjoy
Andrew Christie

 

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James Mortimer
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Colin Pawson
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Aheahea

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AHEAHEA

Today’s woody is Aheahea – a 26’, c.1960 kauri carvel launch. She is powered by a BMC 1500cc marinised diesel that puts out 35hp.

Her current home is Motouapa marina, 10 minutes north of Turangi. (North Island). The trademe listing states that she has had some serious TLC in the last few years.

No details on designer / builder but I’m sure someone will be able to enlighten us on her past. Could be low cost floating man-bach for someone looking for a lakes bolthole 🙂

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RECORD VIEWING DAY FOR WAITEMATAWOODYS

Yesterday waitemata woodys was featured on the hugely popular USA based, international wooden boating website offcenterharbor.com , this resulted in the number of people viewing on a single day increasing x10. For the 1st time, NZ was in second place behind the USA, with Canada (and surprisingly) Finland 3rd and 4th. USA views were nearly 2>1 against NZ.
If you have not checked out the OCH website, I encourage you to have a peek. Now if you like it, you’ll have to subscribe – its only US$34 for a year & there are 100’s of videos featured – everything from boat reviews, ‘how to’ tutorials on repairs / maintenance / boat building / boat handling etc + thousands of photos of cool wooden boats worldwide.
There will be a lot of kiwi content appearing on OCH very soon, so sign up 😉
Click the link below to take you to a very cool OCH video of Steve Horsley’s classic woody Ngatira – filmed at the 2017 regatta +  10 video’s from OCH you can watch, its a chance to preview the site before you sign up 😉
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A Woody Picnic – 1963 & Today

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A Woody Picnic

A collection of photos today recording the Devonport Yacht Club annual picnics, some are dateD March 1963 but there appears to be a mix of two venues – probably Islington Bay and Motuihe Island.

The photos come to us from Mitchell Hutchings fb page.

The challenge today is to Chris Leech to ID some of the craft. Nathan Herbert has already commented that in the 2nd photo above, the launch on the left is Lady Mary, before the addition of her dodger/wheelhouse + flying bridge.

Input from Chris Leech – 1st photo shows Sundowner being bought to the DYC for launching. The 2nd is of her afloat

The 3rd & 4th are of Southern Belle post the fire and as restored
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WAITANGI DAY PICNIC REMINDER TODAY – CYA Picnic at Motuihe Island today,  happening around midday – weather will decide which side. Look out for the big CYA flag on the beach. 
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Arohanui

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AROHANUI 

A story from Stu Mannington on Arohanui – below in his words:
 
“I brought Arohanui in 2004 though Half Moon Bay marina brokerage salesman and family friend Wayne Kidd. I had her surveyed by Jack Taylor, he found some rot in her and a few other things but what do you expect at something of that age. I nearly did not buy her but I liked her looks just like a old hot rod car she was a bit run down so I decided I should remodel her a bit. I took a month off work and had her hauled out at Half Moon Bay marina, they had a round barn shed I hired. I lived at Waiheke Island, my brother lived in Howick so stayed at his place, started each day at 6.00am and worked until 9.00pm at night. 
I had help from an old school boat builder named Kevin Reynolds who used to to work for my father’s friend Roger Preist years ago. Kevin fixed a few things and put a teak cockpit in. My father fitted new power steering in the top and bottom as it would not steer in a straight line + new controls and gauges + dash steering wheels. We had all new stainless rails made + crane. I fitted a bimini on the fly bridge then decided to close in with new canvas covers. I repainted (myself) and sprayed the vanish.
When you went in a bay people would comment on her looks,
I sold her only one week after putting on the market, my wife and kids cried when it left our bay in front our house at Waiheke Island. I should have kept her.”
You can see / read more on Arohanui at this WW link   https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/01/08/arohanui/

Manapouri – The Early Days

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MANAPOURI – The Early Days

I have been contacted by Manapouri’s owner Mark Sorrenson who has uncovered wonderful documentation on the design & built of her, along with some great photos from this period. This essay on the 1960, 43’ classic launch has been brought together by Noel Fyfe (Parks) to whom we are indebted.
I’ll let Mark & Noel tell the story below 🙂
A QUICK HEADS UP – YESTERDAYS STORY ON THE MAHURANGI REGATTA, GENERATED A LOT OF INPUT / CONTENT FROM THE WOODYS – SO IF YOU ONLY VIEWED THE STORY OUT IN THE MORNING, SCROLL DOWN & CHECK OUT ALL THE NEW PHOTOS & VIDEOS
“Manapouri, is a 43ft Motor Launch built for Hector Alexander Parks.
She is a scaled down version of a 53ft “Thorneycroft Gentleman’s Cruiser.” A launch that featured in the Sea Spray magazine. The upper structure was changed by Frank Ewen to cover their backsides, and it did make a better-looking craft. 
Noel’s Uncle, Frank Ewen designed and built Manapouri, drew the plans and built a scale model before construction started in Hectors converted brooding shed on his Poultry farm at 66 Anzac Rd, Whangarei. (This now called Hilltop Road. The original house is still there, it has since been sheathed with narrow corrugated iron). Frank Ewen was one of the Ewen brothers. Frank, (he married Hazel who was Noel Fyfe’s mother’s sister) Ernie and John Ewen, also built the 24ft Gaff Cutter ‘Dolphin’, now owned by The Tino Rawa Trust and the 6 mtr C-class ‘Scout’whose story is recounted in the book by Sandra Gorters, “100 Years Astern”.
The Kauri for Manapouri was selected from two trees and milled by Lanes Saw Mills in Totara North. The Kauri was seasoned for twelve months before construction commenced. The Pohutakawa for the bow, stern and other smaller knees were sawn from over hanging trees at Manganese Point, Parua Bay in daring dawn raids. These raids were carried out in a dinghy built by Frank and powered by a 6hp Johnson, she never let a drop of water penetrate through her planks. A great stable dinghy. This dinghy slipped away from Manapouri in a storm and 3 weeks later Frank got a call from the Coromandel Police to say she had been found upside down. Her anchor had caught in the kelp, which had saved her from the rocks. All the boats Frank built had his name and address carved under a seat. The Pohutakawa and Puriri knees were stored for two years under sacks that were kept damp to stop them from splitting. Frank adzed and laid the keel, finishing it with a draw knife until it had the perfect finish. Hector’s stepson (Noel, who is now a sprightly 88, and without whom I could not have put together this early history), recalls that Frank was a perfectionist. All the planks were fitted with feeler gauges and no putty used other than to cover the silicon bronze nails used to fix the planks at the bow and stern or screws as were required. The planks were cut out of wider boards, with the curve required so that after steaming they were only bent on their flat edge.
Noel was at the time working as a builder during the week, building his first home at the weekend and helping Hector with the rooving of the planks in his spare time. Frank would mark out where he wanted the copper nails driven into the planks, in a fashion that did not split or damage any of the grain. This was a slow and tedious process that was left to Hector and Noel. Frank would later inspect this process to ensure the nails were rooved perfectly smooth inside the hull. The construction took approximately 3 years, with input from Alex Baxter.
Alex made the hatches and sliding doors and the skylights. These were fitted by John Roberts, who worked for Ken Lowe and Alen Orams. John Roberts worked for Ken Lowe for three years, then for Alen Orams for fifteen years, boat building. 
Hector deconstructed the chicken brooding shed and Manapouri was taken to Ken Lowes Boat Building shed in Ewings Rd. This slipway was originally Frank Ewen & Brothers Business in the earlier years. Here the motors, gearboxes and shafts were fitted. The original motors were Listers and were purchased from Schofields in Auckland. One of the Listers was reconditioned and gave some trouble over the years. The Engine Room was under The Wheelhouse floor. This floor was loose screwed so you could get to the motors. The Cabin top was made to a very high standard by John Roberts and was made so it could be removed with ease should the motors need to come out. Peter Macdonald replaced the motors and changed the cabin style to suit his needs.
The engineering work was undertaken by Ron Lowe who was a brother of Ken Lowe. Ron would have been one of the best engineers in the North. He was a hard man to peg down, he loved his beer and you could find him most days heading down to his main watering hole The Settlers Hotel. This old wooden pub was pulled down a few years ago and is now the site of the Whangarei Police Headquarters. It is thought that Donovans completed the Electrical works.
Once this work was finalized Manapouri was taken to Kioreroa Ramp by trailer. This was supplied by McBreen Jenkins and was a low loader used for D10 Bulldozers and was fitted out to suit Manapouri. With the help of Steve Bignall’s crane called Tiny, Manapouri was launched, and the man in charge of this operation was Peter Macdonald. (The same Peter Macdonald who later purchased Manapouri.) 
Hector worked for many years operating the dredging bucket crane in Whangarei
Harbour. The skipper was Peter Diamond, and the Dredge was the William Fraser, and working for the Whangarei Harbour Board gave Hector a leg up regarding securing a berth for Manapouri.  He also ran a Charter Business taking fishing parties out of the harbour on Manapouri. He was tied up to the main wharf and lived aboard her for many years until he had “words” with the new Board regarding his operating his fishing business without a licence.
Throughout these years, Hector who was a poor sailor, would get violently seasick in a long oily swell and was unable to swim, hence Manapouri was built with high continuous handrails to her decks.
Hec, on moving from Whangarei Town Basin purchased a Bach at One Tree Point,
Black Smiths Creek. (This is now the New Marina’s Main Channel, and Hecs old property has a very expensive home where his Bach once stood.) Manapouri was moored on the inside channel opposite the Bach. She broke her moorings twice over the years, and the last time Hector boged his tractor and struggled to refloat her it was the last straw. He sold her to Peter Macdonald a short time later. 
Hector and his wife (Noel Parks Mother) were moved to Rambourne House. There they lived until they died, Hector at 96 and his wife at 95.”
You can see & read more on her past at the WW link below

https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/01/28/mystery-launch-1-mahurangi-regatta-2014/

In the photo below with two adults and a backside in the clinker dinghy we have Hector on the oars and Frank Ewen with his back to the camera. Frank built the dinghy in 1946.
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MAHURANGI REGATTA – What you are missing

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MAHURANGI REGATTA – What you are missing

If you are reading WW today, chances are you are not at Mahurangi, so to make up for it today we have a totally stunning 16minute video filmed & edited by Roger Mills of the 2018 event. Roger filmed the footage using a drone.
It truly is breathtaking & what makes it even cooler is the coverage of the Classic Launch Parade. I recommend to watch the video in it entirety, but if you are time poor, skip to the 1:50 mark.
This footage could easily be re-branded as a tourism NZ movie.
Enjoy the film, link below – 2019 regatta photos will be on WW on Tuesday.

Cristina (Vanguard) A Peek Down Below

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CRISTINA (Vanguard) A Peak Down Below

Cristina has appeared on WW before (link below), now thanks to her trademe listing ex Ian McDonald, we get to have a peak down below.

Designed by Athol Burns she was built by Frank Dellabarca, Island Bay, in the 1960’s and named Vanguard, & measures 36’. She had a major rebuild in the 1990’s and was relaunched in 2000. During this period her hull was stripped to bare timber and all new equipment installed. Isuzu 6BD1 diesel, 142hp, then a new gearbox in 2015. Cristina will cruise happily at 7.5 knots with 5.5 litre per hour fuel burn approx. 
I understand she has done a few laps of NZ, so if anyones looking for a classic to ‘escape’ on – check Cristina out.
 
Previous WW story  https://waitematawoodys.com/?s=cristina&submit=Search

Tooroorong > St. Helena

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As purchased 4 years ago

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getting closer.

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Moreton Bay Video – Dec 2017

 

TOOROORONG > St. HELENA

Hello woodys – today’s WW story is a goody, it started off with an order from Australia for some WW t-shirts, several emails later I discover that the recipient of the t-shirts, Andrew Christie is a serious woody. I will let Andrew tell the story of his acquisition of the classic launch Tooroorong (later to be re-named St. Helena), read below. Enjoy – I did 🙂
ps check out the cockpit canopy ‘wings’, new to me but with the hours of sunshine they get in Australia, they are a great idea.
“St Helena is a 32 foot long timber cruiser.  Her hull is Queensland Beech glued with resorcinol and clenched with copper nails. Her decks are ply sheathed in dynel and her cabin top is made from Australian Red Cedar.  Her hull is also dynel sheathed below the waterline.  She is powered by a Yanmar 4JH3-HTE turbo diesel. When built she had a petrol Chrysler.  She has a two burner Force 10 stove in her galley, and two refrigerators, one forty and one eighty litres which run permanently from four solar panels on the roof.  Her electronics are built around a Raymarine 12 inch Axiom pro.  I have hunted the internet for classic fittings like the half mile ray on the roof a new old stock genuine morse controller.  Many of the brass fitting were cast on patterns I had made or from old ones I found in boat yards or boot trunk sales.
I believe she was designed by Clem Masters (RIP) a prolific designer and builder from Sandgate, but the builder is unknown.  Her registration papers say she was built in 1968.  Although I don’t know the builder, she is however built to a very high standard and was completely rot free and sound when I bought her.  It is better to be lucky than smart.  The long term owner before me, Mort Hudson, sadly had developed alzheimers which meant he had to sell her, but this also meant he could not recite her history.  Mort had named her Tooroorong after his wife’s peanut farm. It seemed to be a tactic that had worked for him and a theme which would follow.
Her original name might have been Venetra.  Mort’s wife Barbara mistakenly recalled her name was Helena during the restoration which resulted in the decision to change it back. My wife was keen to go back to the original name before we learned of the error but we decided on St Helena as many classic Moreton Bay boats bear the names of local places and by that time we thought of her as Helena.  It is important to keep your wife happy as we see below.  
I believe St Helena was a southern boat as before I spent two years restoring her she was enclosed and had a small trunk cabin aft which was pretty difficult to live with and not suitable for a sub tropical climate.  The restoration is a whole other story.  We had planned some quick work and a $15,000 ceiling.  I should run a government with my ability to blow out a budget. Two years later in an enclosed slipway on Breakfast Creek is proof enough of that …
As it turned out, brother in law loved wooden boats.  He is an intellectual but also an artisan.  He had a peculiar wooden shoal draft sailing boat to I think an Ian Gartside design which he kept in Cabbage Tree Creek.  He had also built a beautiful strip plank canoe of cedar which was bright finished.  And he collected Wooden Boat Magazine.
Anyway, my wife’s sister, who, what shall I say, might be viewed by some as a hard hard woman, took a dislike to his boat.  She was embarrassed because the purist in him would not use an engine and crunched into the jetty on docking and she found the sailing experience uncomfortable. This whole boating business was a folly and an annoyance. She started speaking at family gatherings about how it made good financial sense to be rid of the boat.  Whatever (said slowly and with bitterness) I thought. More noise.  
I did however become concerned when I heard Johnny start parroting her narrative.  While she wore the pants he told me that he was not worried it would sell because it was such a peculiar boat that it would appeal to very few people. Who knew that the only other person in Australia who would be interested was looking for such a boat to try an experimental junk rig on.  I said to him after the event, “why wouldn’t you just have made a typo with your phone number in the advertisement – your wife would never realise”.  We are all wise after the event.
Shortly after it was advertised my wife came to me, “Jimmy’s sold the boat”.  “That’s not good”, I said. “You watch, this will be the end of them”.  Well within months they had separated and the blood letting began.  As part of his punishment boxes of Wooden Boat Magazines were hidden under my house.  
And so I came to stand on the top of that very slippery slope.  I read those magazines.  One by one. Then religiously.  The 18 foot catamaran I had in my late teens whispered in my ear.  My favourite book as a boy was The Dove.  This was going to be bad.
I started looking at sailing yachts.  I wanted a Herreschoff. It had to have a bright mahogany house, teak decks and brass, brass, brass.  Anyway, as I stood on the most lovely one in Sydney Harbour about to make my dream a reality I remembered just in time the lesson above.  In my family a sailing boat is a divorce. I decided a cruiser would be more likely to keep me in the family business.  God bless my wife. She put up with the restoration while I told her outrageous lies about how much it was costing. But despite this now she suggests we use the boat more than I do. Provided we take the dogs.  Those damned dogs and their hair.  On my beautiful boat.  Never mind, happy wife.  Happy life.  I think I got the good sister.
She doesn’t know I am still looking for a yacht.  I saw a lovely Dark Harbour 20 in England the other day.  The quote to freight it out here wasn’t that unreasonable.  Surely the house renovations can wait a little longer.  What could possibly go wrong?”

Summer / New Year 2019 Raindance Cruise Photo Gallery – 70+ Classic Wooden Boats

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Best coffee & brownie on the Island = Rocky Bay Hall

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282′ – Available for rent NZD$970,000 week

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Very cool packaging design & yum

Summer / New Year Raindance Cruise Photo Gallery – 70+ Classic Wooden Boats

The above gallery is a selection of photos I mostly took at random over the 12 days we were floating around the bottom end of Waiheke Island. I apologise for the quality of some, but the light & direction I was heading were not always my friend in terms of image quality. I just wanted to record & showcase some of the craft out & about over the holiday period. Remember click photos to enlarge 😉
Like most people in the upper north island we were gifted with stunning weather – I rolled the cockpit canopy clears up on day one & rolled them down again when we returned to the marina 12 days later. I can honestly say that it was the best cruise we have had aboard RD, just perfect.
For those of you that were cruising in other parts, email in some photos so we can share.
Even last week the weather remained near perfect, & allowed me to get the sandpaper & Awlwood (Uroxsys) out & re-varnish RD’s trim – 9 coats, looks very smart.
As I write this I’m hoping for some rain, the garden is crying out for a downpour.
Mahurangi Regatta is fast approaching, I say it every year but in terms of vessel numbers & location, it has to be NZ’s premier classic wooden boating event. Put a circle around Saturday, Jan 26th in the diary & make the effort to be there. More details closer.
Check out WW tomorrow for some great photos from the Bay of Islands Tall Ships Regatta – there will even be a photos of Tony Stevenson on the helm of a classic, its been a while 😉

Rosa & Mayflea

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ROSA

Rosa is a wee bit of a mystery, her trade listing states she was built in 1965, from kauri, and is 28’ in length.

Her zoom zoom comes via a 48hp Perkins diesel, after that we are told very little else about her.
Any of the woodys able to tell us more about Rosa?
Not All Woodys Live In A Marina
A good mate, is living the dream in a rather nice, almost waterfront house in Kohimarama, Auckland. His current woody passion measures less than 10’, but watch this space I’m working on finding him a bigger brother for the clinker 😉
BUT – he still trollies – Mayflea down to the beach and occasionally casts the rod over the side  – the 35cm snapper was hooked last week in 5m of water off the beach – nice way to start the day 🙂
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