Category Archives: 32′>34′

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – ARAB

Posted on by
Reply

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – ARAB

The  32’ Collings & Bell built (1913) launch ARAB has appeared several times on WW, but today thanks to John Dawson recovering from a unplanned hospital visit and having to rest up, we get to share some perviously unseen on WW photos of ARAB.

Most of the photos are from the McLeod collection at the Auckland Libraries heritage section.

In the first two photos we see ARAB moored at unidentified road bridge c.1910/19.

In the third photo we have ARAB on the left and a launch identified by it’s commercial number – A.K.719 in the centre. The location is Te Kouma Harbour. 

The last photo is also from TE Korma and dated c.1910/19.

The b/w photo below is dated early 1900’s .

1908 CLASSIC WORKBOAT WOODYS PICNIC

Posted on by
2

1908 CLASSIC WORKBOAT WOODYS PICNIC

Todays woody photograph was taken by A. J. Watson and originally published in the Auckland Weekly News in February 1908.

The photo captures the Thames fishing fleet departing for a community picnic ‘up the river’, which usually refers to a trip toward Kopu or further up the Waihou River, a common tradition for the local heritage groups and fishing families to celebrate a successful season.

While the full names of every vessel in the 1908 fleet are not all documented in a single public list, we can identify several based on the registration numbers visible in the high-resolution original:

Identified Vessels

T 547 (Left): This is the DREADNOUGHT. It was a well-known launch in the Thames fleet during this era.

TS 35 (Right, background): This vessel is the VIKING The “TS” prefix was common for Thames-based sailing or auxiliary vessels.

T 514 (Right, foreground): This is the MIZPAH. 

 Historical Context- The fleet shown here represents the early motorisation of the Thames fishing industry. At this time, many of these launches were owned by local families (such as the Judd, Maxwell, or Mears families) or by the growing Dalmatian fishing community that revolutionised the Hauraki Gulf fishing trade.

(photo ex Toby Hyman)

FRIDAY FLASH BACK  – CLASSIC WOODY BOATING CLUB  

Posted on by
3

FRIDAY FLASH BACK  – CLASSIC WOODY BOATING CLUB LIFE 

Todays woody story comes to us from the Shelly Park Cruising Club (East Auckland) via woody owner James Dreyer (MV LAUGHING LADY) . James sent in the above video that was pulled together by one of the club members from the clubs archives and with the help of AI (image retouching and historical data input) we get to have a flash back to how the boating club scene snowballed in the 1970’s > early 1980’s.

After the first minute we get to see some amazing craft, a lot of which are still very active in the classic wooden boating movement today.

The film is less than 5 minutes so make yourself a cup of your poison and sit back and enjoy the film.

CLASSIC LAUNCH – KAREN ANN

Posted on by
1

CLASSIC LAUNCH – KAREN ANN

Todays launch is KAREN ANN, built c.1960 by Bishara Boats for T. M. Smith, probably to a Hartley (Harmony) design.

Her length is 31’8” and when launched she was powered by a  60hp Ford 4 cyl. diesel engine. 

The photo (excuse the poor quality) is from Sea Spray magazine and comes to WW via Ken Rickets.

Despite being a Hartley design*, she looks very smart under power. The bow rail wouldn’t win any design awards 🙂 but I’m sure is very practical.

Anyone know what became of the craft – is she still afloat.

  • I’m not anti all Hartley craft – the 33′ one below built in 1951, named LOVELY LADY > STAR DRIFT is a real looker.

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH AWARIKI GETS SOME TLC

Posted on by
Reply

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH AWARIKI GETS SOME TLC

Back in early 2025 the 1967 Owen Woolley built 32’ classic wooden launch AWARIKI underwent a re-fit at the Slipway Milford yard, the work included the removal of her small flybridge ✔️ – Links to the work below + a 2025 photo of her at The Slipway Milford, waiting on the tide.

Feb 2025 https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/02/19/classic-wooden-launch-awariki-gets-a-top-chop/ April 2025 https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/04/03/two-classic-wooden-launches-getting-some-tlc/

Alan Sexton was mooching around the Sandspit Yacht Club yard recently and spotted AWARIKI in the tent getting some TLC, including a bottom shave and new antifouling. During the work the team doing the work uncoveredsome soft wood issues around the shaft log which have been repaired, the boat builder commented to Alan that it was similar to the problems found on TAREE. Maybe a common Woolley issue.

Nice to see that the new owners of AWARIKI arecontinuingthe TLC thatprevious owner Kerry Lilley did during his tenure.

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – AWATERE – FLASHBACK FRIDAY

Posted on by
Reply
Awatere

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – AWATERE – FLASHBACK FRIDAY

I took the above photo of the classic launch AWATERE back in 2013 as she was mooching around Waiheke Island. Awatere was designed by Arcus / Greenwood and built in1980.

Sorry for a ‘lite’ story today but the wheels fell off my trolly yesterday and there just were not enough hours in the day to craft a longer post. Also today the owner hits a significant birth date and on Saturday I’ll be on Waiheke helping him celebrate – so another excuse for todays story. And yes he still owns AWATERE.

WOODEN LAUNCH

Posted on by
Reply

WOODEN LAUNCH

Todays woody first appeared on tme 2 years ago and I saved the photos, hoping that we would learn more about her but she didn’t sell and then was delisted and sold, I assume off-line.

At the time the listing headline just said ‘Wooden Launch’ and we didn’t learn much more than that she was 33’ in length, built c.1912 and was powered by a 60hp Fordson diesel engine. There is an impressive number of switches on the dash and the radar tower id OTT.                        Home back then was a mooring in Mana, Wellington and she being sold ‘as is- where is’.

Anyone know what happened to the launch and more details.

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH YASAWA NEEDS A NEW HOME

Posted on by
1

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH YASAWA NEEDS A NEW HOME

Last week WW was contacted by Julie Eccles advising that she was selling her late husband (Ken) classic wooden bridge-decker 33’ launch – YASAWA.  YASAWA has appeared on WW several times over the years, starting back in January 2014, link below. At the time we learnt from Harold Kidd that she was built by Charlie Filmer.  WW Jan 2014  https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/01/10/yasawa/

More recently John Burland photographed her moored at Motueke Marina – last photo above. In this photo she looks very smart. Below is an excerpt from the Nov 2025 edition of the Motueka Yacht and Cruising Club newsletter.

YASAWA – Yasawa was built in 1952 when bridge-deckers were a very popular style of launch.

The term ‘bridge-decker’ refers to boats with a higher level deck to the fore of the boat that sits over the engine bay. The first bridge-deckers were built in the1920s in the USA and reflect a transition from stern steered sailing vessels to motorised launches.

Yasawa is carvel kauri construction and is 32.8 feet (10 metres) long. Its first owner and builder was Charlie Filmer who lived in Penrose, Auckland. The boat’s history is well recorded in a popular classic wooden boat site called ‘Waitemata Woodys’. For many years it was well known for its varnished topsides, since painted over. Originally the boat was called ‘Doraleen’ and changed to its current name in 1957. The boat’s first engine was a petrol V8 marinised Ford Mercury. It is currently powered by a D-Series 6 cylinder Ford diesel, which was reconditioned with Phil Fry’s help about 5 years ago.

Interested parties to initially make contact with Julie Eccles via email julieeccleskina@gmail.com 

(photo ex Toby Hyman)

A ROAD TRIP TO WARKWORTH + CEMENT WORKS BOAT YARD

Posted on by
Reply

A ROAD TRIP TO WARKWORTH + CEMENT WORKS BOAT YARD

I had a good reason last week to head north and so took the chance to mooch around the woodys berthed or hauled out in the upper reaches of the Mahurangi / Warkworth River.

The excuse for the trip was to delivery a model of the coastal cruiser VANESSA to the vessel before she heads south to her new Wellinton owner. 

VANESSA was out for a serious service before the delivery crew headed away down south.

Sad to see such a salty looking woody leaving our area but we tend to win more than we lose eg more coming north ✔️

In varying stages of repair were  – NEPTUNE, LADY JANE AND WAIONE. The yard was very busy but I started to itch as I got close to most of the other craft hauled out.

I also popped down to the river and spotted – RIPPLE,JANE GIFFORD, ANAM CARA (L33), and NOW .

150 YEARS OF NZ SHIPBUILDING – Reference Guilde

Posted on by
1

150 YEARS OF NZ SHIPBUILDING – Reference Guide

Released in 2012 as a compact disc (CD), by Miles Hughes and covering the period 1795 > 1945, this booklet is of epic proportions – topping out at 837 pages.  For easy of reading in todays digital world the ‘book’ is below in PDF format.

The publication contains more than 1,200 NZ shipbuilders, shipwrights and boatbuilders and includes their biographies and the names, specs and first owners of over 5,600 craft.

150 Years of New Zealand Shipbuilding_260414_080355Download


HEADS UP: WW can not vouch for the accuracy of the content and when reviewing the list of contributors , several stood out as ‘being fond of interviewing their typewriter’ i.e. they make up what they either do not know or are unsure of. So woodys best treat it as a guide 😉

WW would be interested in feed back on this guide – maybe chose a designer/builder well known to you and review the content. 

As an example below is the listing on my boat RAINDANCE, some of the content is correct and some unknown or speculation that I have been told over the last 18 years of ownership, but it is very close her provenance.

So the question of the day – is this an amazing reference tool or to use that old school english saying ‘A Load Of Pants’ ?

UPDATE – Still available in print version at Boat Books in Westhaven, Auckland.