MEDWAY Taupo woody Paul Drake came across the launch Medway the other day, on the hard at Mana Marina (Wellington).Paul recalls that she was at Taupo in the 1960’s and is clearly a sister ship to Lidgard’s Monterey.
Previously on WW there has been discussion relating to three launches built at the same time, they were Monterey, Almaray & possibly Tangaroa. Paul wondered which of the last two Medway is, as there almost differently has been a name change. WW link below to Monterey, where you can see the Lidgard factory / shed at the time of building. https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/14/monterey-2/ Paul commented that although in great need of a thorough paint, her good bones show through and one would think that she will tidy up very well.
Input from Harold Kidd – According to the APYMBA records, MEDWAY was built by “Woods” of Auckland in 1952. In 1962 she was owned by Larry Bruce Johnston and then had a 100hp Ford diesel.
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.
WAIONE RESTORATION UPDATE I was contacted recently by Daniel Taylor, the son of Steve Taylor who took over the restoration of Waione from Daniel’s late grandparents Jack and Missy McCabe . Daniel advised that his grandmother unfortunately passed away in September last year.
Daniel has decided to help his father who took over the project as of the start of this year. Waione is being finished by Daniel as he works in the marine electrical trade, also helping is the skilled team at Quayside Marine, Mahurangi . As we can see from the above photos, the interior fit out is well underway.She measures 32’ in length and could have been (thanks HDK) built by Joe Wheeler.
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 ?
Will You be Boating This Summer Later today, when we hear who the new government will be, I suspect some waitematawoodys readers will realise it’s time to take the plunge, and get yourself, your family, and your friends on the water this summer.
Without sounding too much like 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 I have listed below a selection of boats that are currently berthed at the virtual Wooden Boat Bureau Sales Marina. To read more about WBB – click below. Links (blue) to each boat also included below.
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 waitematawoodys@gmail.com
ARCTURUS – An Update Recently WW was contacted by Annie Bryce who along with her partner bought the 33’, 1952 McGeady launch – Arcturus a couple of months ago. Annie advised that they have put her on the hard and sanded her hull back which was in good condition, re-painted and anti-fouled Her topsides have been painted and they are addressing a few window issues. The engine has had a few minor repairs and the next stage is a full interior re-do. Annie commenced that Arcturus is a lovely launch and they are keeping her in the Sounds at Waikawa marina.
Annie would appreciate any information the WW readers may have on Arcturus, its a mystery how an Auckland boat ended up so far south.
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
Back in late 2019 Arethusa’s Bay of Islands owner Dean Wright, a professional photographer by trade, and well known to WW readers gave me the heads up that the 1917, 33’ Bob Brown built, ex gaff rigged cutter, was in for a treat – a new wheelhouse. Since then I have been pestering Dean on a regular basis for photos, even threatened to drive up and take them myself 🙂 Problem was, the mans a perfectionist and didn’t want to send anything in to WW until it was all shipshape. Well woodys as you can see from the above, its very shipshape, in fact in my eyes – perfect. Well done to the team. I asked Dean to tell use about the project, so I’ll hand over to him. Remember you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them – Enjoy 🙂
“Over the years we’ve got keen on changing Arethusa’s wheelhouse to be more in keeping with her age, so at 102 she’s undergone some cosmetic surgery 🙂
We lost 8″ inches of headroom in wheelhouse when we installed the Gardner, so we’ve gone up in height 6 inches and forward 8 inches and gone for more traditional upright windows fw’d.
Boat builder John Gander did the job in his Waipiro Bay workshop. He started by taking patterns off the existing wheelhouse and fw’d cabin top. He replicated the curve of the fw’d cabin top in ply and built the new wheelhouse around that in six sections. He also laminated the new wheelhouse roof, allowing for a good eyebrow fw’d and a smaller one aft.
John learned his trade at Roger Carey’s yard in Picton in the 60’s and 70’s, where beautiful work boats with great looking wheelhouses were the order of the day. John built one of my favorite Carey designs, Hinewai for his own boat and we’ve replicated her fw’d opening half window on Arethusa.
Once the wheelhouse was complete, we hauled Arethusa at Ashby’s in Opua and got to work with the skill-saw. In no time we’d reduced her to a convertible. We were lucky for Northland’s drought everything stayed reasonably dry and also that we got everything closed in and back in the water before Covid shut the yard down.
I’m in awe of how boat builders can build something like this away from the boat, then fit the pieces with a minimum of shaping. Fitting and gluing the six sections to the existing house went really smoothly.
The wheelhouse is built from 2″ Iroko. This is the first outside varnish we’ve had on Arethusa, we hand brushed 2 coats of Cetol as a base and six coats of Schooner Yacht Varnish.
Over lock-down, the apprentice made new interior joinery, gone are the Warehouse plastic drawers and chipboard frame 🙂 Moved the batteries under the new bench unit so we can now stand at the wheel. John laminated me up some lovely curved trim for the front of the oven unit. Our old manky plywood dash got an upgrade to kauri and the old wheel got a fright with a good scrub and a varnish.
Outside we made nav light boxes and dorade boxes. We had to move the aluminium framed front hatch fw’d, a more traditional looking one in Iroko is on the to-do list. The liferings also got a birthday.
Here’s some before and after pics and also some that I hope will give some idea of the process. Thanks John for all your incredibly skilled design and build work, we’re really stoked with it.
We’re always keen to learn more of Arethusa’s history, especially the 1955-2000 period in the South Island. If you have any stories we’d love to hear them.”
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.
Earlier in the week, we featured the ex work-boat Quest II, this prompted John Gander to send in the above photos of the 33’ Quest, built by Roger Carey in 1959, her beam is 9’9” and she draws 4’6”.
Roger built Quest to be his families boat, but later sold her to a Southland farmer who then in 1964 sold her into commercial fishing. John understands that Quest fished the waters about Stewart Island. In the 1970’s > 1980’s period she also fished the waters off Southland.
Sometime in early 2000 she returned to Picton, where John took the photo’s of her in the marina at Waikawa in 2008. John commented that she looked to be well kept and in a tidy condition, her engine a 5LW Gardner. She was then lifted from the water onto the hardstand and as the photo taken in 2013 shows she has deteriorated with her hardwood planking drying out with considerable shrinkage.
John remarked that doesn’t like to look at Quest now that she is in such a sad state, having been fitted with a tight fitting cover and John fears that with lack of ventilation her condition will deteriorate further.
(special thanks to Dean Wright for facilitating getting the story to WW)
