Category Archives: 35′

Awana – A peak down below

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AWANA – A Peak Down Below
Awana has made a brief appearance on WW back in 2014, but now thanks to her trademe listing we get to have a better look at her.
Built by Brin Wilson in 1967, carvel planked kauri, she measures 35.5’ in length with a  11.8’ beam and draws 4’. There is an impressive 6’4” of headroom and she sleeps 5.
Power is via a 120hp Ford diesel. If you are a regular follower of this site you will know that Brin Wilson was a very good craftsman and a quick glance at the photos above tells you that Awana is one of his best builds.
During the current owners 5 years of ownership they have commissioned a lot of work and an impressive list of maintenance. They have been very upfront stating that in the near future she will need a hull repaint and some TLC to the cabin top hatches + a re-varnish inside – but woodys if the hull is sound and the motor good – that work is nothing,
Her owners are selling due to relocation and woodys on face value I think this is the buy of the year – I do not normally include prices but in this case I have. – the asking price is $26,500. I predict it will be sold by the end of the week.
Previous WW story – read the comments section – lots of chat.

Nana

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NANA

Nana was designed by C. Bailey Jun. &  built by C. Bailey & Sons for Mr F Alison of Matiatia, Waiheke Island in1934 & launched in late November / December.
She is 35′ with a 8′ beam and a 3’ draft and built in kauri > carvel. When launched she had a 100hp Redwing engine and she was good for 17 knots. Currently fitted with a 135hp Otosan Ford, 6 cylinder diesel, she cruises at 12 knots with 15 knots max.
Back in 2014 Nana came very close to a one way trip to the land fill after being hit on her mooring, but she was saved & re-built / restored by ship wright John Wright. You can view her post the collision at the WW link below
    
 
I am an admirer of Nana, having spotted her out and about over the last few years. She is a great looking woody.
 
Nana recently popped up on trademe and the listing states that her owner has moved onto other things and is selling Nana as is.  She is still a work in progress but to finish her properly you would only need to throw $10>20,000 at a boat builder like Geoff Bagnall and you would have a very cool woody. 
Photo below as launched.

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Input from Murray Willis – Nana spent many years on a mooring in front of the Great Barrier Lodge here in Whangaparapara .She belonged to Bert Jordan a Whangaparapara local. There is a famous local story about her when she was used to tow a brand new donated tractor around to Mungiti Bay for John Da Silva for the bad boys camp there…..The tractor was loaded onto a floating pontoon constructed by Tony Litherland from the old Whaling station, constructed from four WW2 submarine net Buoys..
Against everybody’s warnings but with much verbal encouragement from George Mason they set off with the bright red tractor perched on this floating whalf.it lasted about 100 metres untill the whole jing bang lot capsized with a roar from the locals.
Not to be put off ,Nana and Bert just cruised on around to Mungit and beached the whole lot by the camp where the tractor remains to this day.

Mahurangi Regatta 2019 – Classic Wooden Boat Movie

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Mahurangi Regatta 2019 – Classic Wooden Boat Movie

The weather forecast is for a very average day today so I decided to share some serious eye candy with you. The video above comes to us from the very talented Roger Mills via his drone camera.
Once again Roger was out and about over the regatta weekend and captured some amazing classic woody footage.
I have to comment that it was very pleasing to see the classic woody launches featured, thank you Roger. All to often people forget there are more wooden motorboats afloat on the day than the stick and rag boys 🙂
Enjoy the video – its a goodie.
To view a high res / quality version of the movie – us the link below.

The Marine Photographer’s Eye, Benjamin Mendlowitz – OCH Video Featuring Kiwi Classic Wooden Boats

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The Marine Photographer’s Eye, Benjamin Mendlowitz – OCH Video Featuring Kiwi Classic Wooden Boats – The best photos of our fleet you will have ever seen!

Today’s story is rather special as the team at offcenterharbor.com have given waitematawoody readers access to their latest video that features woodys from this years Mahurangi Regatta. The OCH site contains over 500 videos (& 500 articles) that range from boatbuilding, to trimming sails, to a complete course on understanding every aspect of your marine diesel engine. There’s even a 42-part series on how to build a Caledonia Yawl camp cruiser. The collection of videos features mariners and craftspeople at the very top of the boating field, showing exactly how they do things, and which products they use in their work.

One of the OCH founders is Benjamin Mendlowitz who, in my eyes, is the worlds finest photographer of classic wooden boats, this January, Ben and his co-founders escaped the US winter and headed down under. Whilst in NZ their #1 mission was to attended the Mahurangi Regatta and to this end on the Saturday Jason Prew with My Girl & myself with Raindance hosted – Maynard Bray, Benjamin Mendlowitz & Steve Stone for a Regatta photo shoot.

In the 11 minute video, Ben talks us through his day on the water filming woodys. In the opening section when Ben is commenting on our classic fleet he says “I was newly inspired in my photography”. When a photographer with as much experience as Benjamin Mendlowitz says that – that is saying something about our woody fleet. Plus the video is a master class for anyone interested in marine photography.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW AND SIT BACK AND ENJOY + CHECK OUT THE COOL OCH OFFER BELOW

https://www.offcenterharbor.com/videos/marine-photographers-eye-benjamin-mendlowitz-in-new-zealand/ww190523

SPECIAL 50% OFF – LIMITED TIME OFFER

The OCH site is 100 percent membership driven, and they do not accept advertising. Not lining their pockets with advertising enables them to provide OCH members with the unvarnished truth, straight from legendary masters of their craft – without worrying whether they piss off an advertiser 🙂

In addition to allowing WW woodys to view the video at no-charge, they have also put together a one-off subscription offer for WW readers.

They are offering 50% off the annual rate – thats an amazing US$24.50 – BUT woodys be quick it will not last for long + there is a Risk Free Guarantee – try it for a few days, if your not happy they will provide you with a 100% refund. I’m a subscriber – I love the site, I have watched one story probably 10 times.

JUST CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE  

https://www.offcenterharbor.com/join-now-2450-ww/

WHAT YOU GET:

  • FULL ACCESS to everything on the site for 1 full year (including our growing library of over 1,000 videos and articles)
  • Your membership includes three full “how-to-build” video series (80+ videos worth over $500 that you get free)
  • You can get your questions answered in the “comments” section under each video and article
  • Join our community of “off-center” boating enthusiasts around the world

 

 

Woody Mooching Around Mana Marina

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WOODY MOOCHING AROUND MANA MARINA

Dean Wright was recently reviewing his extensive photo library (he is a professional photographer) and found a file labelled ‘Mana Marina’ and sent it off to me asking if he had already sent it to me 🙂 my answer was no, so today we get to enjoy Deanand his camera mooching around Mana marina, Porirua, Wellington.

The photos we taken last year, no doubt at the start / end of one of his southern cruises.
The windy city woodys are not afraid to splash a bit of colour around when painting their boats 🙂
Enjoy
ps each to their own opinion – but I do like the lines of Ajax.

Ranoni Revisited

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Ranoni Revisited

The 1911 35’ classic launch Ranoni (Z38) has just popped up on trademe (thanks Ian McDonald) – you have to wonder about how serious some people are in selling their classic woody – other than telling us she is powered by a Ford Sabre 82hp engine you won’t learn anymore about the craft.

Ranoni has appeared on WW in the past and the story covered a lot more on her history, including photos. You can read it here.   https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/05/12/ranoni/
But in a nut shell she was built in 1911 by Charlie Gouk at Beaumont Street, and measured 35’
x 8’6” x 2’6”.
In 2014 she underwent repairs in Opua by local boatbuilder Graham Ridge, who had bought her after a mooring mishap with a another vessel.
As presented she looks a very smart woody. I’m keen to learn what the two additions as to her hull under the belting strip – that’s a newbie to me ?

CYA Double Banger – Riverhead Launch Cruise + Vintage & Veterans Yacht Race

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Achilles

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My Girl

Little JimA16 + Raindance
Oke Bay
Summer Wine
Monterey
Manapouri + Altair
Manapouri
Achilles
(F) Volantis (R) Altair + Tasman Star + Nana

 

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My Girl + Raindance

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Monterey, Te Arahi, Altair, Manapouri

CYA Double Banger – Riverhead Launch Cruise + Vintage & Veterans Yacht Race

While mooching around under the Harbour Bridge waiting for the launch stragglers , I snapped a few photos of the yacht fleet tuning up for the start of the annual Vintage & Veterans yacht race – Photos below
The weather for the launch cruise was almost ideal, after we had arrived at the Riverhead Tavern and had planted ourselves in the bar, the rain started, so while we by dinning and chatting – the old girls got a fresh water wash down – perfect.
A good turn out for late in the season – 16 woodys – made up of 12 CYA members and 4 woodys that joined us for the day. I convinced one to join, but Jason Prew tells me I need to improve on my 25% conversion rate 🙂
Nice to catch up with those that made the trip by motorcar.
As always the food was excellent, just a wee hick-up with a power oops slowed the service down a tad but all good.
Sorry if I missed your woody with my camera – the fleet were very spaced out, so arrive times didn’t suit the need to sustenance 😉
As always, click photos to enlarge.
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Rawhiti A2 + Rainbow A7 + Waitangi A6

Arcturus K8638
Rainbow A7 + Rawhiti A2 + Ariki A3 + Little Jim A16
Rainbow A7 + Waitangi A6
Spray II. 725
Katrina II. K100
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Arcturus K8638

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Little Jim A16

Photos below of Thelma sent in by Simon Smith

Woody Waiheke BBQ

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Not sure what these two were up too but the t-shirt gets the WW of approval

Woody Waiheke BBQ

Saturday (30/03/2019) saw a group of hardy, the barometer was not saying summer, CYA members gather in Putiki Bay, Waiheke Island for a post CYA yacht race BBQ. The photos have been enhanced, it wasn’t quite that sunny 🙂

The bay filled up with a good collection of woody yachts and launches. The CYA committee even put on a band – well done guys.
Special thanks to Chris Sadler for the use of his launch – Moeraki as the start boat for the yacht race. Moeraki is a very smart looking woody, I have always admired her – great to see her out on the Waitemata. You can read / see more on her here (lots in the comments section).  https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/03/26/mystery-launch-26032014/
Woody launches in the bay included – My Girl, Lucille, Waimea, Puawai, Lucinda, Matuku, Summer Wine, Wirihana and Mahanui – some I suspect were moored there.
Special thanks to Jason Prew and Mark Edmonds for the (phone) photos.
As a special treat for the skipper of Lucille – I have include the youtube video below 😉

John Salthouse Crosses The Bar

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John Salthouse

John Salthouse Crosses The Bar
Sad to hear that John Salthouse, the founder of Salthouse Boatbuilders passed away on Sunday night. If you have any doubts as to the extent of the mans input to our classic woody fleet just type SALTHOUSE in the WW search box & you’ll be amazed by the craft that John either built or enhanced in his lifetime. Below is a gallery of just some of the craft that Salthouse Boatbuilders have built.
Our thoughts go out to the extended Salthouse family. While he has left us, his legacy will grace our waters for many many years to come.
TRINIDAD

A Woody Tour Of Helensville / Upper Kaipara

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Florance M

La Vega
La Vega
La Vega
Morning Star
Unknown 1
Unknown 2
Nevada (4th out)
Nevada (center)
Nevada
Nevada
Nevada
Nevada
Unknown 3
Unknown 4
Unknown 5
Waimiko
Witch Way (3rd out)
Witch Way / Unknown 6/Scud
Witch Way
Wooden Mullet Boat ?

A Woody Tour Of Helensville / Upper Kaipara  

Following on from last Mondays stunning story on the boats resting in the Tamaki River (link below if you missed it), woody John Bullivant has been out & about again – this time his focus has been the Helensville & Kaipara Cruising Club. I have ID / tagged the photos where known, just scroll over to view the name). Again I’ll let John tell the story 🙂

“I did another boat hunting tour to Helensville on 6 Feb and found a few more wooden working boats and others parked on the mud at the fishing wharf and Kaipara Cruising Club . They are a friendly bunch at the club and allowed me to go onto the private jetties to take some photos, even unlocking a gate for me which was much appreciated. The couple I spoke to have a converted ex fishing boat (Waimiko I think ) with a 185HP Nissan and all the gear, which they say makes a perfect solid pleasure boat. 

The big Miller & Tunnage canoe stern La Vega ? also is Nissan powered but U/S at the moment and may be for sale ( hull looks in good nick and built like the proverbial BSH) and would make a great pleasure convert and sea boat. There are a number of interesting boats there including the nice looking bridge decker further up. Couldn’t get a good pic but looks like she’s having some work done? Also found Florence M (now with M painted over) on the hard there, back to the side she started on ? 

One thing that was of particular nostalgic interest (sort of ) was the little plastic ‘Scuppers tug’ (think that’s what the called them) tucked in the corner. If I’m not mistaken, this little boat resided at Half Moon Bay Marina way back in the early 80s when new, and I have an idea it was their little marina work boat, (I’m pretty sure it’s not from the other Half Moon Bay but would be a weird coincidence if it was). I even contemplated buying one when they came out (under $12,000 from memory) Stange place to find it.

The interesting little boat on the drums and the old planked Mullet boat? are on the Northern end of Helensville over the rail lines. All in all a great day out and finished of with great local fish and chips (found out the shop owner lived not far from me at Whangaparaoa before moving to Helensville,)  NZ is small,- once stayed overnight in the Hunterville motel, and the people who had recently bought it had lived not far from me in Bucklands beach, we Kiwis certainly move around along with our boats.”