Beaulieu River Wooden Boat Gathering Today we join the crew over at classic yachtTV when they attended the Beaulieu River Wooden Boat Association get-together at Buckler’s Hard, UK.
It is a great read with stunning photos and words from the very talented Emily Harris. Clicking on most photos will enlarge them. Enjoy 🙂 Hopefully a lot of you will be afloat today enjoying the public holiday.
Can We Name These Classic Wooden Boats I have been contacted by Evelyn Whitell regarding the above photos from the South Island, probably the Abel Tasman area. Evelyn’s father Sid Giberston is pictured in the first photo on the left of in the dark suit, the large (Evelyn’s words) lady on right is his mother and his father Alex (Alexander Gilbertson – also known as Deacon) is beside her. Alex was a boat builder among other things and was the youngest son of Captain David Gilbertson, a pioneer in Nelson. Capt. David was a shipwright and builder of several trading schooners and ketches, including one of the first steam boats in Nelson. They ran from Nelson down the West Coast, up North and around the South to Lyttelton. Sadly most were shipwrecked eventually.
Evelyn’s dad, Sid, used to take groups of people down the bay for picnics in the Abel Tasman area. Evelyn commented that the steamship mentioned above was discovered around 1997 under a ton of sand near Wanganui and was going to be taken to a museum somewhere. Any Southern woodys able to ID any of these boats ?
MYSTERY MOTOR-SAILER The photo above of the motorsailer is dated late 1960’s, early 1970’s. Location probably in/around Whangarei. Anyone able to ID the boat and tell us more about her past?
I know the answer, just hoping the arrival of this good quality photo will shift a few brain cells in some woodys.
Stuart Turner Engines One of the woodys was unable to attend Sundays boat boot sale – he has x5 Stuart Turner engines…1 P66 (10hp) and at least 4 P55 (8hp), for sale at a modest sum to a good home. One P55 and the P66 are intact, the rest in various stages of disassembly. Plus various manuals and technical articles. These wonderful little British 2 stroke engines run like a sewing machine….when handled by a knowledgeable operator!Once a very popular yacht auxillary but would be perfect for that restored classic clinker dinghy/open launch. If interested, I can supply contact details.
WOODYS CLASSICS RIVERHEAD TAVERN LUNCH CRUISE – RSVP TODAY Just need boat name and guesstimate of crew numbers – email to waitematawoodys@gmail.com
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
Classic Wooden Launch Project Last week I was contacted by Bruce Deeming about the above woody launch that had been brought to his attention. Bruce advised that he had been approached to take over the project due to changing circumstances of the present owner. Unfortunately its not on Bruce’s radar so the search is on for a passionate woody looking for a restoration project.
There is no name on her and the design / build is also a mystery, but Bruce suspects maybe a Cauldry, length is approx. 30>31’. Was sitting in Kaiaua mud berths opposite the Kaiaua fish & chip shop for a number of years. Bruce commented that it requires some plank work and the window surrounds in main cabin are not good, but it has good bones. It has been in the water up until 4 odd months ago. Decks & cabin appear to be very sound, with exception to those main cabin window areas.
Bruce has the original motor, an air cooled Lister or similar, not going. The owner is happy to look at any offer & discuss options.
Anyone able to ID the launch for us?
UPDATE – 03-03-2021 Bruce Ryrie has taken over this project and thus far has scraped and red leaded below the waterline and gutted the interior and set up a soaker system inside to stop her drying out. Some process photos below. Well done Bruce 🙂
Yesterday I meet briefly with David Campbell-Morrison to receive a collection of boating books and magazines that David saved for the rubbish bin. The original owner of the collection was a Mr Thompson and most date from the early 1930’s to the mid 1940’s. Some of the USA MotorBoating magazines are in very good condition and the covers are almost collectable art. Today cover is from the March 1935 issue.
Amongst the many items was a ‘photo’ (press clipping) album – the photo below is dated Dec 1931 and appeared in the NZ Herald. Can we ID the launch on the left of the photo?The caption reads “Stretching their sails in preparation for the official opening of the Yachting season today. Pleasure craft which made a pretty picture on the Auckland Harbour last week-end. The yachts are Matariki (N10) and Leveret (V5)
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
I was passing thru Milford last week, so took the opportunity to drop in on the team at The Slipway (Geoff Bagnall’s yard in a previous life).I can report that I was pleasantly pleased to see so many woodys hauled out and in various stages of repair – from the annual bum clean right thru to major refits.The one that caught my eye the most was the 35’ Leone Warne built launch – Marline, more on her on Monday, I now have so many cool photos from her past. The woodys below are at the yard, where possible I have included a WW link to see / read more on each one.
The Slipway yard is one of Auckland’s very few ‘railway’ hail out facilities and both deserves and needs the support of the wooden boating community. If we lose yards like this we will be forced to use yards that tend to have equipment designed for big while plastic boats and that are not wooden boat friendly in terms of planked boats. So woodys support the guys that support us. Contact Jason Prew for details on haul out rates and on-site services. jason@slipway.co.nz
WAIMEA The launch Waimea popped up recently on trademe (thanks Ian McDonald). Very light of details around her designer / build / past but hopefully we can update this.What we do know is – she is 29’ , built from kauri (twin skin planking) and powered by a 65hp Perkins diesel engine. Current home is Waiheke Island.So woodys – anyone able to expand on her details.
Harold Kidd Input – It’s an early hull with rather large raised foredeck added. If I said “preposterous”, there would be an outcry on WW, so I won’t say it. There are several WAIMEAs, but this one is likely the WAIMEA owned in Howick by Withers pre-1914 and later was on the Manukau for many years. But there are so many WAIMEAs and with the probability of random name changes it is impossible to be certain of her provenance.
YesterdaysWW T-Shirt Winner = Jason Davies (MV Lucinda) . The correct names were left > right on the wharf – Leilani / Mairie / St Clair.
RIVERHEAD TAVERN WOODYS LUNCH CRUISE – PUT A CIRCLE IN THE DIARY FOR NOVEMBER 8TH. NO NEED TO RSVP FOR NOW – I’LL SEND A FLYER OUT AFTER THE STILLWATER EVENT
GEORGIA On August 21 we had a brief (one photo) look at a launch named Georgia that Dean Wright had photographed in the B.O.I.’s 5 years ago, that WW cameo appearance, prompted the owner / builder of Georgia, David George to sent in the photos above.
Georgia is a modified and lengthened (31’) version of a Trawler 28. Her hull is strip planked Malaysian kauri (Agathis flavescens) with bi axial glass both sides. Power is via a Beta 43 (a Kubota in drag) diesel. Georgia was launched in 2014. She is a very salty looking launch, would be nice to see more like her being built. Dean’s photo below.
Update 01-09-2020 Photo below ex Dean Wright – on the way to Whangaroa, Stevensons Island in the background… Dec 2016.
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