Category Archives: 40′>42′

SOS – SOUTHERN MAID – CLASSIC 1929 MOTOR LAUNCH NEEDS SAVING

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SOS – SOUTHERN MAID – CLASSIC 1929 MOTOR LAUNCH NEEDS SAVING

The 42’ 1929 wooden motor launch – SOUTHERN MAID, built by E.R. Lane in Picton has just popped up on tme with a call out for someone to help save this significant southern woody. Current owner is unable to continue the upkeep of the vessel and the call has gone out for a new owner to step up.

As we can see from the photos below, she hasn’t always been in the ‘as presented for sale’ condition.

There must be a woody follower in the South Island that can bring the SOUTHERN MAID back to the condition she deserves. ( thanks Ian McDonald for the heads up)

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – RONGO

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – RONGO

WW was recently contacted by Joan McCracken regarding a classic wooden launch – Joan is helping prepare a 2027 calendar for the Alex Turnbull Library.

During her search for photographs matching the calendar theme ‘Picnics’ she came across the photo above that is dated March 1952 and tagged ‘RONGO in Queen Charlotte Sound’.

The photo was taken by K. V. Bigwood. Joan is hoping WW readers can help with any information on the vessel, the photo, and specifically  who owned the RONGO at this time – and is the owner / captain the person in the cap serving tea in the photo.

Back in May 2013 we a RONGO story that featured RONGO, at the time Harold Kidd provided extensive details on vessels named –  RONGO / RONGO I, RONGO !! – Link below to the 2013 WW story –  https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/05/29/who-can-id-this-launch/


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.

CLASSIC LAUNCH – MARISTELLA OUT FOR SOME TLC AND A SHAVE

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CLASSIC LAUNCH – MARISTELLA OUT FOR SOME TLC AND A SHAVE

The 1936, 40’ , Sam Ford built classic wooden launch MARISTELLA hauled out at Milford this week for some TLC and shave. Some great historical photos and a peak down below in the WW links below –
https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/07/30/a-snapshot-of-the-classic-wooden-launch-maristella/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/09/03/classic-wooden-launch-maristella-a-peek-down-below/

Westhaven was once one of the better marinas in terms of growth but looking at MARISTELLA seems Westhaven is as bad as all the others these days.

In addition there will be some differed maintenance to her rubber stock area, but thats par for the course on these old woodys.

Have to love a railway haul out and the gentle ‘roller’ method of position a vessel in the yard.

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – RIO RITA

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – RIO RITA

Back in December 2014 WW was helping find a new home for the 1929 Collings & Bell built classic wooden launch RIO RITA, At the time she was named RESOLUTION (a 1971 name change) – this link gives us a gander down below https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/12/01/resolution/

If you use the WW search box there is a lot of intel on the vessels provenance.

Last week she popped up on the social media scene and its pleasing to note that she has reverted to her original name and as we can see from the photos above – owner Peter Meister is looking after this almost 100 year old classic wooden launch.

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MAKURA – A Peek Down Below

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MAKURA – A Peek Down Below

The classic wooden bridge-decker MAKURA was designed and built in 1949 by Collings & Bell, and is approx. 40’ in length.

Forwar motion is from a 115hp 6 cyl. Ford diesel engine.

Back in January 2025 we shared some photos of MAKURA from her past – lots of intel in that story on her ownership and re-powers over the years. 

Link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/01/18/classic-wooden-launch-makura/

The b/w photo above is from Sea Spray magazine July 1951 edition and shows her as built. 

CLASSIC GAME LAUNCH ALMA G AT URUPUKAPUKA ISLAND

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CLASSIC GAME LAUNCH ALMA G AT URUPUKAPUKA ISLAND

The 1922 Collings & Bell built classic wooden game boat – ALAM G has made numerous appearances on WW , today thanks to a Ross Griffin post on the B.O.I. Historic Photos fb we get to share some stunning camera work from the photographer Tudor Collins. The images are ’stored’ at the Kawakawa Museum.

Most of the photos are in and around Urupukapuka Island and the islands game fishing lodge.

Can anyone ID the people in the close up photos.

A ROAD TRIP TO WARKWORTH + CEMENT WORKS BOAT YARD

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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

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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