Category Archives: 1960’s

San- Al- Pa 45′ Gladden Displacement Sedan Launch

Posted on by
23

Screen Shot 2017-07-09 at 9.00.52 PM

Screen Shot 2017-07-09 at 9.05.38 PM

Screen Shot 2017-07-09 at 9.05.06 PM

45′ Gladden Displacement Sedan Launch

I have had several woodys alert me to the trademe listing for the above vessel – to date we know that she was designed and built in 1968 to survey by John Gladden. 45′ in length, with a beam of 13’1″ & draft of 5’6″, she is kauri strip plank construction and powered with a 110 h.p. Gardner 6LXA diesel.

Looking at the photos she would a great launch for long distance all weather, economical cruising.
Anyone know more about her ? a name would be good, but we know how insecure the brokers are 🙂
And Something For The Woody Petrol Heads
The Red Wing engine below is on trademe – Built by the Thorobred Motor Company, USA. Thanks Peter Thorpy for the listing heads-up.
Screen Shot 2017-08-14 at 7.36.55 am
And Speaking Of Motors – Gardner Wanted
Woody Russell Ward, has asked if I could spread the word around that he needs a Gardner 5LW that is in reasonable running order.
Russel has a new project & it does not involve steam or sails, more on this later.
The engine  that came with the boat is beyond saving so he is looking for a replacement.
I suggested that a sensible person would treat the boat to a six cylinder Ford but Russell likes old engines especially the way they sound 😉

A Big Parris

Posted on by
1

Screen Shot 2017-07-14 at 3.29.57 PM

Screen Shot 2017-07-14 at 3.35.13 PM

A BIG PARRIS

To the best of my knowledge there were not a lot of big Roy Parris launches built, was there a reason ? shed size?. This one was built in 1960 & is 36′ & made of kauri. Zoom zoom is via a 120hp Ford diesel that comfortably pushes her along at 8 knots @ 1750 rpm.

She has been a very lucky classic woody in that as well as having the same owner for the last 20+ years, she has also been moored in a boat shed during this period.
Do we know anymore about her past?

She is 4sale on trademe, I can’t make out her name, but one of the woodys will recognize her 😉 Appears to be a lot of boat for the money.
As always – thanks to Ian McDonald for the heads up on the listing.

Airini

Posted on by
9

AIRINI 22.1.15 -1

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

AIRINI

The above photos of Airini have been sitting in the ww files for over 2 years, I think its obvious way ……… but at least its only a temporary addition & folds down so wouldn’t need Jason’s tungsten tipped skill-saw 😉

I understand from Ken Ricketts she has belonged to Don Mac Donald of Auckland for 9 + years, & he bought her off a Selwyn Toogood, he thinks the name was, (not ‘the money or the bag’ one) Toogood may have had her for 5 or 6 years, & lived in the Paeroa – Te Aroha – Ngatea area, & kept her at Coromandel, where she was moored when Don took delivery of her.

One of the photos shows her on the hard stand at Mahurangi Marina, she has been moored by Don At Gulf Harbour originally, then up to Totara North, & presently at Mahurangi.

She is 37 ft overall, with a 34ft waterline. Powered by a 6 cyl Ford diesel. Her builder is unknown but Don believes she was built in 1965 in Whangamata.

Anyone out there know more about Airini’s past?

Old Timer

Posted on by
3

OLD TIMER 1

OLD TIMER 2

OLD TIMER

The above before & after photos of the Kinloch, Lake Taupo, launch Old Timer were sent to me by Larry Grigg. I’m not sure if its Larry’s boat, maybe if he reads this story he can let us know & a few more details on the restoration.
I understand was built at Taupo by local boat builder and charter boat skipper Jack Taylor.
I’m sure the Drake brothers will be able to help us out 🙂

03-07-2017 Input from Paul Drake

OLD TIMER is one of four sisters built at Taupo by Godfrey Taylor, son of Jack Taylor, in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s. They measure 18 feet, are round bilged and built of totara. OLD TIMER (not her name in those days) was bought by the boatyard when Don Norton owned it, and re configured as the yard work boat. They re-named her DULCIE TAYLOR. Her engine at that time was a Universal Utility Four (now in our SIR FRANCIS, where it has been for many years). One of the sisters, TAURUS, lives in Wellington (photos below). Another was named LADY GRACE (photo below). One was twin screw and quite fast. As kids, we knew these four sisters as “The Godfrey Taylor Boats”.

Lady Grace

 

AOMA – 30′ Halvorsen ‘Special’

Posted on by
5

IMG_1029

IMG_1028

IMG_1033

AOMA – 30′ Halvorsen ‘Special’

Aoma was launched in May 1963 & was build # 1185 for the Halvorsen company, in fact the last special built.
Aoma is in fact unlike most of these Australian woodys in that her hull was splined & the helm was on the starboard side rather than port.

The photos above of Aoma are ex Peter Arnold & show case the classic Halvorsen design, you either love or dislike these Australian classics, me ? I love them. They have a very strong class association & most are presented in a similar standard to Aoma. Most do not see much blue water, to be found cruising the inner & protected upper harbours. I believe the A-Cup man Iain Murray owns the largest Halvorsen built.

They represent good value for money on the market – but I’m not sure on the Aussie laws re exporting them ?

UPDATE: The photo below is of Iain Murray’s 60′ Halvorsen – Tooronga. Her designer Carl Halvorsen spec exported Tooronga to the States in 1949. The story goes that Carl was lunching in the Newport Yacht Club & a fellow diner saw Tooronga tied up outside – he immediately called a club steward & sent a blank cheque across the room to Carl on a silver tray. Carl returned the keys on the same tray – sale made 🙂
Ian Murray bought Tooronga in 1992 & returned her to Australian waters & commissioned a magnificent restoration.
You can read, see more on the boats here http://www.halvorsenclub.com.au/

Screen Shot 2017-06-20 at 11.06.19 AM

 

Cleona Mae

Posted on by
4

CLEONA MAE - 1

CLEONA MAE -6

CLEONA MAE -5

CLEONA MAE -2

CLEONA MAE

Cleona Mae as built by Brin Wilson in 1962 & is powered by a 6 cyl Ford diesel. In the above (hauled out) photos we see her in Feb/March 2017 at the Sandspit hard stand, where she was getting some TLC. Home of Cleona Mae these days is Scott’s Landing, Mahurangi. Below, her previous owner, Nigel Drake of Tauranga has documented some of her past. Thanks to Ken Ricketts for sending this to me. Special thanks to Nigel for sharing the story. (photos ex Nigel Drake, Ken Ricketts & Brian Worthington). On her launch day she had a wee opps, refer photos below.

“Cleona Mae, was built by Brin Wilson in 1962. Launching looks as though it was in November, as that is the date which is on the original photos of her, having fallen off the trailer on that day.

She was built for Bert Follas, a well known builder in Takapuna. She is named after his daughters, Cleo and Shona, and his first wife Mae. The story as told to me by one of his grandsons, was that Bert knew Brin Wilson quite well, and when talking with Brin one day, during a bit of a slow period for Brin, they agreed that Brin would build Bert a 34 footer. Bert apparently told his wife of the agreement that night!

Previous to Cleona Mae, Bert owned the smaller Cleona, which I understand, is still in Milford marina.

Cleona Mae lived on a mooring in Westhaven, and Bert used to row out from the dinghy storage area, though he did have some trouble climbing over the transom, as he was on crutches from age of about 50. He used to take business associates from Takapuna out to the Barrier. Large bronze bollards are on each side of the transom as he was involved with the Coastguard and used to tow boats home when required.

In 1983 Bert sold the boat to his solicitor, Ian Armstrong. Ian appears to have owned her for only 1 year, as she was purchased by Bill McNutt of Tauranga in 1984. I have a feeling the flying bridge was added in 1983.

I purchased Cleona Mae in 1999. I added the mast in 2003. It had been a flag pole, one of many, on top of the Wellington Harbour Board building. They were removing them and selling them off at the time. I did many trips up the coast from Tauranga to the Mercury Islands, Great barrier and into Auckland.

She is a great little boat.

I sold her to Aubrey Montague, her current owner, in Nov 2012 having purchased the 40 foot Woolley “Freelance” in 2011.

I did the delivery trip to Gulf Harbour with Aubrey.”

Hirere & Poaka

Posted on by
6

20150119_131954

Hirere

HIRERE & POAKA

I have had the above photos that are both taggged ‘Hirere’ in my ‘upcoming ww stories’ file for a long time, hoping that at some stage I would uncover more (some) details on the name & determine if they are the same launch & if not which one is Hirere. To date nothing – so I put her out there today to she if we can answer my mystery.

Input from John Blundell

“The photos today came to you from a group I sent to Harold Kidd a couple of years back. The top photo is Poaka which was built about 1959 for my father Stan Blundell by Snow Waters. She was featured by Sea Spray magazine not long after as a”quart in a pint pot”.He sold her to Athol Mellars a couple of years later and his son John later took her to Gt Barrier where he lives.
The other photo is the 29foot Vindex built also for my father about 1963 by Jim Young in his shed at Birkenhead wharf.Dad wanted to keep the engine out of the main cabin so it was installed further aft and fitted with a vee drive.
Re the dinghy it was one of Phil Bartons 8footers and was the best of the bunch that were around at that time. The wooden one in the photo was used as a mould to produce fibreglass versions not long after.That is another story.”

White Cloud Movie – Leaving The Shed + Launch Day

Posted on by
4

White Cloud Movie – Leaving The Shed + Launch Day

Today’s post is based around a movie of the launch White Cloud, being shoe-horned out of the Supreme Craft shed at 1a Summer St., Ponsonby & making its way to Fodenway Motors, Penrose for engine fit out. And then the final leg to launching at Panmure in June 1965. The movie was filmed by her original owner, Len Buckby & shared with ww by his daughter Pam Mare via Ken Ricketts.

You can see & read more about White Cloud here

The Building & Launching of White Cloud + A Peep Inside 1A Summer Street

Wee Darling

Posted on by
2

WEE DARLING
Wee Darling is a 26′ kauri planked 1961 classic launch. Powered by a 35hp diesel ehgine. She underwent a ‘total’ refurbishment 2 yeras ago. Home port is Motueka, Nelson. That woodys is all we know about her other than the normal trademe info. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the trademe heads up.

Anyone able to supply more info on her & her past?

WOODY SOS – LOST BOAT – Found :-(

Posted on by
3

WOODY SOS – LOST BOAT

IMG_1006
HELP URGENTLY NEEDED TO HELP LOCATE THE KAYLA ROSE
I was contacted last night by John Sankey who owns the beautiful 16′ classic 1962 Seacraft kauri clinker run-about – Kayla Rose (photo above). If you have been to the Mahurangi  Regatta or a CYA Riverhead Pub cruise you will recognize her. John & his partner Tracey have had a wee incident & urgently need help from the waitematawoody network. I’ll let John tell the story. You can see more photos of KR here https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/05/19/kayla-rose/

“We were towing Kayla Rose (from the mother ship – Calypso- photo below) from Awahoa Bay (south of Ngunguru) on our way to Tutukaka on Friday 2nd June and were caught in very very rough seas. Kayla Rose broke loose at approx 9.30am a mile off Taiharuru Point. We were unable to safely try to retrieve her. She still had 15ft of rope plus 15ft of chain hanging off the front of her when she broke away. We are asking for sightings of debris or any information that may help us work out what happened to her. There was also possible  sighting of a “cute yellow fishing runabout” on a trailer going from Parua Bay towards Whangarei on Saturday 3rd June at around 3pm….. which is obviously concerning for us.
Thanks fellow Woodies. Tracey and John from Calypso. Bon Voyage.

I’m not sure of John’s mobile coverage so post any replies / feedback via the ww comments section.
Given her very distinctive yellow colour, I would like to think we can help find her or uncover where she went ashore.

IMG_1005

07-07-2017 – A Sad Conclusion To Kayla Rose

It saddens me to report that Kayla Rose has been sighted / found by some fishermen this morning (07-07-2017) broken up on the rocks north of Taiharuru Headland. A sad day for John, a few tears I’m sure.
John asked me to thank all the Woodies for reading the post on WW. She was a great little piece of NZ boating history. John certainly had a lot of fun aboard you. She was a head turner & always looked 110%. I understand that John has a grand daughter named Kayla Rose, so the memory will live on.
I asked John whether anything had been salvaged but it was too rough to get in against rocks for the fishermen. They did take the photos below. Maybe one day soon someone will be fishing in the area & be able to retrieve a memento for John.

RIP Kayla Rose.

IMG_1017

12-06-2017 Update

I have been contacted by Jean-Louis Ecochard in regard to the wreck – see below

“We saw the wreck and went on shore yesterday (10-06-2017) and took these sad photos of the Kayla Rose. 

It’s only today using Google that we came upon the blog story.

If you could kindly send to John Sankey as a memory – though I feel like this is like showing him the body parts of his daughter 😦

The wreck site is not accessible by land and rather difficult by sea. If John wanted, could take the kayak there and try to recover the transom signage in the photo.

I saw the captain wheel under a rock and the instrument panel but they are attached with cables so would need tools to recover.

Hope the images help. So sorry for his loss”

 

Speaking with John (owner) he told me that the insurance company are sending a helicopter to uplift all the remains as part of the Resource Management Act and we will get name board hopefully then.

Yes, please post Jean-Louis’ kind words and pics on WW. I am glad for her history and sad demise to be on your fine site as a memory of her. Jean-Louis

Unknown-2

Unknown-1

Unknown