Category Archives: 35′

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – ASEREHT -A PeekDown Below

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – ASEREHT -A PeekDown Below

The classic wooden launch – ASEREHT has only made one brief appearance WW, back in 2020 when I spotted her mooching around Rakino Island.

Back in January of this year she was for sale and thanks to her listing we get to see and learn more about her.

Built in 1989 by Geoff Bagnall she is 34’ and powered by 135hp D Series Ford that gives ASEREHT a comfortable cruising speed of 9.5knots.

As with anything that came out of Geoff Bagnall’s Milford shed she very well built and appointed with all the systems needed for safe , comfortable cruising.

(photo ex Toby Hyman)

1908 CLASSIC WORKBOAT WOODYS PICNIC

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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  

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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.

THE WOODY WEEKEND THAT GOT AWAY

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THE WOODY WEEKEND THAT GOT AWAY (sorry this is Mondays story, bloody set the wrong date 🙃

Ever have one of those weekends when you thought long and hard about slipping the lines and decided against it and then missed one of the best boating weekends of the season. And it was a long holiday weekend……….. Well that was me.

First up Angus Rogers sent in two great photos of MAITA I –  the 30’, 1928 Collings & Bell built launch anchored in Sandy Bay, Waiheke.

Then a Waiheke resident sent in the three photos of Oneroa, the most crowed I have seen it in a long time.

Then Rob Griffin was mooching around the Waiheke Marina and spotted a new arrival – KERERU  – the 35’, 1911 Chas Bailey Jnr built double ender launch.             We learnt last Wednesday that she had recently relocated to Auckland from Picton. Looks like Waiheke Island will be her new home. Link below to Wednesday story  https://waitematawoodys.com/2026/04/22/classic-wooden-launch-kereru-arrives-in-auckland/

(photo ex Toby Hyman)

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH KERERU ARRIVES IN AUCKLAND

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April 2026 @ HMB Marina

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH KERERU ARRIVES IN AUCKLAND

Back in October 2025, Ian McDonald tipped us off that KERERU — a 35’ woody built in 1911 by Chas Bailey Jnr. — was on the market down in Picton.

At the time, we uncovered a rich slice of her history (link below), but by December there was still no sign of a sale. She was then powered by a Ford 80hp diesel and, by all accounts, was a tidy example of a Bailey built launch. https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/10/20/1911-classic-wooden-launch-kereru-a-peek-down-below/

Fast forward to this week, and Ian — never far from the action — spotted KERERU hauled out at Half Moon Bay Marina. A bit of quiet dockside sleuthing revealed she had made the journey north by road from Wellington.

A close look at the latest photo suggests she’s in need of a little TLC — nothing unusual for a 115 year old classic wooden launch.

The big question now is: what’s brought KERERU to the Waitemata. That’s a long trip for a simple spruce-up, so with a bit of luck we may be seeing another salty looking canoe-stern woody joining the local fleet. Can we learn more.

CLASSIC YACHT – MAWHITI

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CLASSIC YACHT – MAWHITI

Today’s woody is the yacht MAWHITI, she was designed by E. Mantell Silk and built by William Moore, M. Beck and Arthur Penty in a shed across the road from the Clyde Quay Marina, Wellington. The photo and details comes to us via the Wellington classic yacht trust fb. 

Launched November 1898 she was built as a 2.5 rater and LOA = 35’ and a 8’6” beam.             She wouldn’t fit through the door of the hired shed in which she was built. The landlord refused to remove the doors, so an overnight raid with saws and plenty of tackle saw the wall cut away, the vessel put on the street, and the wall put back before anyone was the wiser. In the photo you can see the vertical cut adjacent to the window in the building behind.

MAWHITI was beautifully finished down to an interior of “red pine” (rimu?) panelling, with areas painted pale green and white with gold trim. Her cabin roof was lined in lincrusta and the skylight was glazed with muranese (also known as Florentine) glass.

She was described by an Evening Post columnist as “the finest specimen of amateur boatbuilding that has come under our notice”

She was sold in 1906 and taken to Sydney, Australia by her new owner – Berkeley Clark. Last heard of in the 1970’s.

150 YEARS OF NZ SHIPBUILDING – Reference Guilde

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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.

EASTER ON THE WATER – Classic Wooden Boat Cruising

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EASTER ON THE WATER – Classic Wooden Boat Cruising

Just back from three days on RD , Friday was one out of the box, simply stunning. Saturday was another goody and Sunday a tad overcast but still warm. Very happy with the number of classic woodys at Rakino Island over the weekend. I managed to catch up with a lot of the skippers, general consensus was ‘grabbing a few days afloat before winter kicks in’. 

The white bridge-decker above was a mystery to me, short 4 letter name – Nathan what say you?

On Saturday I caught up with Bill Brown whose family (Corrine & James Brown) owned my launch in the late 1960’s. Back then she was named LADY GAY. Bill works off shore but keeps a very smart woody yacht (SusanJane) at Westhaven for when back in NZ. 

We meet a few years ago via a mutual friend and the WW site, the penny  dropped re the boat link and Bill sent me a great album of b/w photos from back in the late 1960’s.

 I spend a lot of time matching other people and boats from the past so it was extra special to have an ‘own goal’. 

One of Bill’s photos below of LADY GAY (RAINDANCE). For those interested more on RD’s past here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/04/23/lady-gay/

Late 1960’s
2026

CAN WE DATE & ID THESE CLASSIC BAY OF ISLANDS GAME BOATS

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CAN WE DATE & ID THESE CLASSIC BAY OF ISLANDS GAME BOATS

Today’s very cool photo has been rattling around in the “too good not to share” tray for a few months now… and frustratingly, I can’t recall where it came from — so apologies upfront for not crediting the source.

The photo is tagged – ‘Bay of Islands Game Fleet’ and first two boats are the legendary Collings & Bell built launches – Alma G II, followed by Alma G.These launches were part of the original wave of purpose-built game boats that helped put the Bay of Islands on the world big game fishing map.

Can any BOI game fishing launchmen ID the other boats for us, would be great to bring the fleet to life again. 

INPUT ex GREG PHILPOTT

Was working recently on IDing these launches in a similar photo and with the help of Hylton Edmonds and Brett & Shelley Arlidge the occasion was identified as the “funeral” procession for the scattering of the ashes of veteran gamefishing boatman HW (universally known as Peter) Williams who died on 9th August, 1949.

The launches in that procession were Alma G II” (Mervyn) , “Alma G” (Francis), “Idolon” (Fred Baker), “Marline” – Leon Warne ??, “Reliance” (Les Blomfield)??,  “Pirate” (Jimmy Whitelaw / Otto Summers) and possibly given he was of that era – George Warne and the “Rosemary”?.

The general consensus is that the photo was likely taken from the stern of William’s boat “Avalon”.

CLASSIC SOUTHERN WOODEN WORKBOATS 

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CLASSIC SOUTHERN WOODEN WORKBOATS 

Earlier in the month Glenn Martin was mooching around the South Island on a bike  (I assume motorbike) and sent in todays gallery of woody workboat photos from Bluff. 

Not all capable of heading out to sea but wonderful to see them still intact, if that was Auckland they would have made a oneway trip to the landfill years ago.