Category Archives: 44′>50′

MARION / MARIAN – EX WOODEN WORKBOAT CONVERSION

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2020
2025

MARION / MARIAN – EX WOODEN WORKBOAT CONVERSION

Back in December 2020 we ran a story on the ex workboat – MARIAN, at the time it was for sale and sadly all we learnt was that MARIAN was built by Alf Saunders, is 50’ in length and powered by a 6LX 110hp Gardner. We had no interior photos but were told that the conversion from workboat to pleasure craft had begun.Link to that story here Dec 2020 https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/10/16/marian-ex-work-boat-conversion-project/

Now fast forward to last night and when I was searching the WW files I opened one and found another file included. It was labelled MARIAN. How this does happen occansionly , something gets saved to the wrong place – Ill blame a lack of sleep 🙂

So woodys I’m very embarrassed to admit that back in January (2025) IWW was contacted by Charmaine and Dallas Hands, who advised they had recently purchased MARIAN and were looking for more information on her.
They commented that she has had a partial conversion to pleasure boat but is in need of extensive work after being abandoned. They also mentioned they had information that her correct name is MARION not MARIAN, since finding an old photo onboard, see below.

So woodys can we help with more intel on the vessel.

2025 KAWAU ISLAND SPRING SPLASH REGATTA – A WOODY WEEKEND TO REMEMBER – 50+ PHOTOS

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THERE IS A WOODY HIDING IN THERE – SEE BELOW ⬇️
RAINDANCE
KAIKOURA
CENTAURUS
CALLISTO
HGARUNUI
MARIHI
ST CLAIR
TAREE
MEOLA
RONAKI
VOLANTO
KIWARUA
MOANALUA
TUNA

2025 KAWAU ISLAND SPRING SPLASH REGATTA – A WOODY WEEKEND TO REMEMBER – 50+ PHOTOS

Pleased to report that the long weekend’s woody action at Kawau Island was an absolute triumph. Now in its second year, the Spring Splash Regatta — a joint venture between the Kawau Boating Club, Ponsonby Cruising Club, and Waitematawoodys — continues to grow in both size and spirit.

It’s still early days for what’s shaping up to be a great annual tradition, but this year’s event had an unmistakably upbeat, jaunty vibe. Everywhere you looked, people were smiling, swapping yarns, and clearly having a great time afloat and ashore.

I’ll apologise up front for being light on the yacht racing and prize-giving coverage — for reasons I won’t bore you with — but rest assured, the competition and camaraderie were both in full swing.

Sunday’s Woodys Classic Parade was the visual highlight of the weekend, showcasing a handsome flotilla of 17 classic launches for all those anchored in Bon Accord Harbour and watching from waterfront properties. Aside from a brief 10-minute burst of H₂O at the start, the weather came right and the parade looked spectacular.

A big thank you to the classic skippers and crews who took part — your efforts made for a great show.

Helming a boat among moored craft while trying to take photos is a fine line between “challenging” and “slightly reckless,” so I’m especially grateful to Dean Watchlin, Murray Deeble and Richard Bicknell for sharing their superb photos from the weekend.

Enjoy today’s gallery — loosely divided into two parts: the weekend’s happenings and the Sunday Parade. Sorry if the cameras missed your boat – some joined the parade midway and some departed midway. The crew of KAIKOURA below, correctly attired for the occasion 🙂

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CLASSIC LAUNCH – GUNNER – A Peek Down Below

Back in Dec 2023 we ran a story on the  1940 Erine Lane built 43’ launch GUNNER, where we saw her dockside. Link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/12/28/mv-gunner-update/

Today we get a peek down below. She is a solid old girl, 1-1/4” kauri carvel planked and powered by a 6 cyl. 100hp Ford Lees D series that give her a cruise speed of 7 knots. As Ian McDonald commented “crying out for a Gardner” 🙂

GUNNER was originally intended for work and fishing in the Marlborough Sounds. However, she was requisitioned by the Crown during wartime and transported to the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland for final fitting out. After the war, Gunner was sold and began commercial fishing out of Leigh Harbour. During this time, she also operated a mail run to Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf. Around 1957, Gunner changed hands again and continued her commercial fishing career from Port Ohope. In 1973, she underwent a 3-year conversion from a working vessel into a pleasure craft. This transformation included extending the wheelhouse and adding an aft cabin.

Each to their own but she appeals to me, a very comfortable boat that could easily do laps on NZ.

WOODEN CLASSICS TAKE CENTRE STAGE AT THE 2025 WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL – 60+ photos & videos

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WOODEN CLASSICS TAKE CENTRE STAGE AT THE 2025 WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL

Early Saturday morning I pointed the car north and arrived in Whangārei just in time to catch the soft early light — perfect for photography and well before the dockside crowds arrived.

Whangārei’s Town Basin really is the ideal setting for a maritime festival — easy dock access, great viewing angles, and plenty of nearby cafés and attractions. Add in the buzz of the Saturday markets and you’ve got all the ingredients for a standout event.

Wooden boat numbers were a little down on last year, but a few visiting commercial vessels — including Customs, Pilot boats, fishing craft and a pair of Waka — helped round out the fleet. From a public point of view, it was still an impressive line-up. Given the number of classic boats that have migrated north in recent years, it would be great to see more of the region’s wooden heritage on display next time around.

It was great to catch up with so many familiar faces — clearly the new highway was busy with Aucklanders heading north for the weekend.

All up, a thoroughly enjoyable day. Hopefully today’s photo gallery will inspire a few more of you to make the trip in 2026.

And there is always a few foody pix – hands down the best two seafood fritters ever – one mussel and the star – one whitebait. And a free KOWHAI coffee because she liked my WW t-shirt.

FYI – when I’m at an event I point the camera at what catches my eye , sometimes I miss a few boats but I like to think the photos are more like someone strolling the docks rather than someone trying to capture the whole caboodle 🙂

REFLECTIONS ON THE 2025 PORT TOWNSEND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – 80+ Photos / Videos

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REFLECTIONS ON THE 2025 PORT TOWNSEND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – 80+ Photos / Videos

One of the bucket list classic wooden boating events is the annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. From all reports the 2025 event was outstanding. While its easy to go on-line and find a link to a professional overview, in my eye there is something special about viewing a festival attendees collection of boats – sure the light or camera angle isn’t alway perfect but you get a raw edge, which appeals.

Today thanks to kiwi John Oates we get to share what appealed to John’s eye.

One of the festival features that sets it apart from a lot of events is the ability to go aboard the boats and talk to the owners. There is something for everyone – food & drink, live music, kids activities, movie screening and lots of opportunities to get on the water.

One of this years ket themes was tagged –  ‘A Gathering of Maritime Legends: Celebrating Shipwrights’. The festival brought together shipwrights from some of the world’s most iconic maritime institutions—craftspeople who keep the art of wooden boatbuilding alive with skill, heart, and tradition.Via  a mix of talks, presentations and hands on gatherings where the public were able to rub up against the legends.

Enjoy the gallery – I did. As always click on photos to enlarge ;-

Ps John has promised another photo report featuring more classic sail boats ✔️

Pps where did that Morris Minor Ute come from ?

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – LADY TANA > KHUTZE CRUISER  >  FURIOSA – ORIGINAL OUTSHINES REFIT

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – LADY TANA > KHUTZE CRUISER  >  FURIOSA – ORIGINAL OUTSHINES REFIT

Back in Jan 2020 WW ran a story on the 1971 wooden launch – LADY TANA, built by Oliver & Gilpin. At the time we learnt a lot about her via the WW comments section. We have repeated them below.

Now thanks to an email from woody John Dawson, we get to see LADY TANA as launched. A pity about the ‘additions’ …… refer below photos.

Jan 2020 ex Matthew Keys – Lady Tana was built for my grandfather Harry Keys by Oliver and Gilpin in 1971. He cruised extensively in Northland in the early 70s with Whangaroa being a favourite.  Tana rock in the Kerikeri inlet is named after the boat after it struck the rock. Kelly Tarlton made the rescue temporarily patching the hole.  The boat was sold to Warwick Ross in Tauranga where it stayed for many years.  In the 1980s it was renamed the Khutze Cruiser and ran booze cruises out of Paihia for a while.

May 2023 ex Donna Cowslip – My name is Donna Cowsill my grandfather Syd Deadman bought the Lady Tana that was in the 80s. Was the 2nd biggest pleasure boat in Whitianga. Did a lot of game fishing with my dear grandad, can’t remember the year he sold her but he regretted it big time. He down sized to the Waimaro nice boat but nothing could beat the Lady Tana. Queen of the sea

Oct 2024 – ex Tara Busby – She is renamed FURIOSA (Mad Max) and based around Northland/Hauraki Gulf as a liveaboard fishing and diving platform. We dropped the Lady name because she’s more of a bitch than a lady. She’s not elegant and pretty but big, strong and solid! As new owners we intend to modify her appearance to reflect her new name.

TRADITIONAL CLASSIC BOATS MOORED ON THE WAIROA RIVER 

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TRADITIONAL CLASSIC BOATS MOORED ON THE WAIROA RIVER 

Following on from yesterday’s story on the annual Classic Wooden Boat Cruise to the Clevedon Cruising Club, as promised today we share the wooden craft passed moored on the Wairoa River.

Many are semi permanent residents and its interesting to see what (if any) work has been undertaken in the previous 12 months.  All too often these back waters can become parking lots for owners that object to lining the back pockets of the Auckland marina owner fat cats.  So it was nice to see most skippers are keeping up the maintenance on their craft, and pleasing to see a lot of ’new’ arrivals. 

Enjoy the gallery – photo quality varies as the first click was at 6.30am and the light improved as the journey progressed up river. As always click on photos to enlarge.

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT CLEVEDON SPRING CRUISE HIGHLIGHTS

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Very Early Start Up The River
Follow The Leader
Raffle Prizes

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT CLEVEDON SPRING CRUISE HIGHLIGHTS

A tad weary writing this story so it will be short and I’ll let the photos tell the story.The weekend just gone saw a fleet of classic wooden craft making the pilgrimage to the CLEVEDON CRUISING CLUB for the annual woodys overnight BBQ.

As always the tide wags the dogs tail so we were looking at a very early trip up the Wairoa River, by early try 6.15am. The smart woody skippers travelled down Friday afternoon and anchored overnight at the river mouth. A great sunset delivered some nice photos.

I took photos of the classic woodys moored on route, it is always interesting to view the deterioration of some craft and the new arrivals. Will do a story on the river trip tomorrow.

Most of Saturday was spent boat hoping and catching up on dockside gossip. Rest assured if you weren’t there you were talked about.Captain Giddens hosted late afternoon drinks on ALLERGY and then we moved onto the clubrooms for the evening.

If you haven’t been to a Woody gig at the CCC its an all-embracing old school night shindig – bbq’s, outdoor fires, karaoke with a professional singer that could make even the worst shower singer sound ok. There are raffles, which I have to report the woodys skippers did very well at – Captain Giddens collecting 4 prizes.
Everything is BYO but the club very generously provide additional food and an impressive dessert table.

Departure home on Sunday was almost as early as Saturday and the forecast wasn’t flash eh N>30 knots. I can’t speak for the others but it wasn’t the very pleasant and if it wasn’t bolted down it ended up on the cabin floor 😦

A big shout out to the classic yachts that joined the flotilla this year, with access to the local knowledge of Barry Abel, the deeper draft yachts had an uneventful  passage on the river . Special thanks to all the woodys that attended by car, your company added to the evening.

Enjoy the photos and start thinking about the Spring Splash At Kawau Island on Labour Weekend.

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MARNINE – A PEEK DOWN BELOW

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c.1963
2013
2023
2025
2016

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MARNINE – A PEEK DOWN BELOW

Todays woody is the 50’ classic launch – MARNINE, built in 1961 by the Lane Motor Boat Co. She is probably one of the most admired classic craft in Auckland, aside from her stunning looks and presentation, the location of her berth at the OBC Marina in Auckland ensures that anyone driving along Tamaki Drive, and there are a lot (32,000 + cars a day) can’t help but notice MARNINE.

But woodys until today thats where it ends, a glance from 50m away, today thanks to the generosity of her owner and Angus Rogers camera we get a peek below. Now this was no poised photo shoot, best described as an ‘unfiltered’ look 🙂

With a 15’ beam and weighing approx. 25 tonnes she very much is one of the Waitemata’s majestic classic wooden craft. 

MARNINE has made several appearance on WW, the June 2013 story has a lot of chat about her – link > https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/06/08/marnine/ . A quick search in the WW Search Box will bring up most of her history 🙂

Photo below just prior to launch day.

c.1961

CAN ANYONE TELL US ABOUT THE WOODEN BOAT – LADY JOYCE

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CAN ANYONE TELL US ABOUT THE WOODEN BOAT – LADY JOYCE

Somedays life just gets in the way of writing a WW story, so today’s story is a lazy one eg I was sent the photos above by Dion Lane. Dion had recently purchased the 44’ LADY JOYCE and was seeking more intel on her, makes for an quick story.

Dion commented that he believes LADY JOYCE was built from kauri c.1970 by the ’Carey family’. Home currently is Wellington but she may have spent time in Waikawa, Marlborough, South Island.

The addition of the block of flats doesn’t please my classic eye but as one of my favourite boatbuilders is fond of saying “its only wood and I do own a tungsten tipped chainsaw” 🙂

DAVEY JONES BOOK QUIZ – CLOSES TONIGHT AT 6 pm

Scroll down to yesterdays story for details on the prize and how to enter – FYI – So far the most entries ever to a WW competition and they all have the correct answer ✓ So it seems Davey and vessel are well known around NZ’s coastal ports.