Category Archives: A Peek Down Below

Rumbotl

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RUMBOTL – Spirit of Tradition – Motor-sailer

Rumbotl is a 42′ motor-sailer, launched in 2002 (hence the SoT tag) but with a very long gestation period (15+ years). She was built/finished off at Warkworth, by & for John Middleton. Her present owner Don Bruce bought her in 2007 off John M. Photos & details ex owner, emailed to me by Ken Ricketts.

She is built of 1″ strip planked kauri, fibreglassed over, the kauri was retrieved from the BNZ building in Queen St Auckland, during its transformation many years ago.
She is powered by a 1980’s 100 hp, 6 cyl., Ford diesel. She has a lead fin keel.
She is fine example of old/new coming together – certainly deserving of a better name than rum bottle, if she was mine I’d be renaming her 😉

10-06-2018 Hauled out at Gulf Harbour (photo ex Ken Ricketts)

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Classic Pilothouse Ketch

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Pilothouse Ketch

Today’s post is about an overseas visitor, designed by Alan Buchanan & built with teak carvel plank construction by David Cheng in Hong Kong. A true world cruiser and at 17m she would make an ideal live aboard. The boat underwent a major refit and upgrade 2014/2015. Home is Nelson but if your looking for a cheap waterfront home in Auckland she would be a good buy 😉

 

Kingfisher

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KINGFISHER

I uncovered in my ww files the above photos of the 26′ Kingfisher, I checked using the ww search box & found no reference so maybe she slipped between the cracks 😦
The photos were from a trademe listing that Dean Wright tipped me off about back in early 2016. She was built in 1936 in England from NZ kauri and is double layer, one diagonal & one straight. She started life as a lifeboat with an open hull, later working out of Mokau to transport wool bales to waiting vessels. The photos show her in varying degrees to presentation – in the trademe listing it started she was without a motor & needed some work work to the hull & decks, lets hope she sold & the buyer is classic friendly – anyone able to update us?

Dick Hartley – New Escort Run-About

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Dick Hartley – New Escort Run-About

Post my trip to the Lake Rotiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade early this year I was sent the above photos from her new (it) owner. He purchased her last year & is completing a full refit on her. She was built in 1971 & won the best boat at the 1971 Epiglass Boat Show.

The work included wiring & electronics upgrade & full repaint. Hopefully Sam reads ww &  he can tell as what powers her.

Harold Kidd Input – She was the subject of a full boat test in Sea Spray of August 1971. She was a Dick Hartley “New Escort” design built by Ray Fink at Tamahere. Her original power was a Chrysler V8 with a Penta outdrive.

Updated photo 02-05-2018

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Arima

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ARIMA

The above photos of Arima were emailed to me by Ken Ricketts & according to info attributed to her owner, she measures 36′ & was built in 1955 of planked kauri by Salthouse to a Colin Wild design.
Arima has a 110 hp. 6 cyl., Ford diesel that sees her cruising at 8.5 knots. with a top speed of 10 knots. Home port is Whangarei.

What else do we know about her & is this provenance correct?

Mystery Launch 05-07-2017

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MYSTERY LAUNCH 05-07-2017

The above launch has just appeared on trademe & according to the listing the owner due to health reasons is unable to continue with the project. The owner states that he believes she may be called ‘Leigh on Sea’, can anyone ID / confirm a name / more details.
She is 39’4″ in length & powered by a 120hp diesel, it states the engine year is 1920 but I suspect that wrong, more likely the build year?

That is one impressive cradle, built for the Queen Mary 🙂 Thanks to Ian McDonald for the heads up on the listing.

Sirius – A Peek Down Below

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SIRIUS – A Peek Down Below

The 1956, 32′, Owen Woolley built launch, Sirius, has appeared before on ww, you can read all about her at this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/03/23/sirius/
Now thanks to a trademe listing we get a peek below. Quite a smart classic, just not too sure about the mast > main > jib set up (there is a photo of her motor sailing in the link above). Not what you would expect, but I’m sure they do the trick, because its been like that for a long time. Again thanks to Ian McDonald for the heads up.

Michelangleo

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MICHELANGLEO

Michelangleo is a 15’, twin cockpit classic lake boat, built in 1950 & fully restored approx. 10 years ago. Current home is the South Island, Nelson Lakes area.

Powered by a fully rebuilt 272 wide block Ford V8. She is direct drive (so no gearbox or reverse). Sitting top of the V8 is a 350 2 barrel Holley carb + electronic ignition, heat exchanger and a stainless fuel tank.

I love the stern photo, a pretty backside & the noise from those exhausts would be music to my eyes – ok I’m a petrol head 😉

She is for sale on trademe if anyone is looking for a zoom zoomer 🙂

 

Nereides Centenary Book

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NEREIDES CENTENARY BOOK

Nereides is a very lucky boat – primarily because in Mark Lever she has a wonderful owner who treats her well, in fact better than well – she would have to one of the best presented classics in the CYA fleet. She is also lucky because she has survived a few oops, but we won’t dwell on those.

Mark sent in the above photos of Nereides showing her new cockpit covers & new Pohutakawa jaws he fashioned out of some knees George Emitage gave him. The photos give you a peek at the rest of the boat. I’m told Marks workshop is rather impressive 😉 The first 2 photos I took at Patio Bay several years ago & I included them to show off her lines.

Mark has reached out to WW for some help, you see Nereides will be 100 in 9 years & Mark has started gathering resources for a book he plans to write.

Fate can be a wonderful thing & recently there have been some very strange coincidences – I’ll let Mark tell the story.

“My daughter Lucy just happened to have the Great granddaughter of J Jukes (builder of Nereides) move in with her. Have contacted the family and waiting for their return from overseas.  Also a friend I made a few years ago went past with her father in another boat and said his parents were friends of the owners back in the 1960s and his brother Peter used to go out in her a lot. Well after a bit of digging soon realised it was my friends Grandmother and her Uncle Peter who were on the boat during the Wahine rescue…how about that!

I rang Peter and had a good long chat and was fascinating to hear the story again from the very person who was there. He’s going to send me the contact details of the Mr. Pain’s (owner during the 60s) and see if there are any old photos kicking about.

Had a look on the Royal Port Nickolson Yacht club and found just a couple of photos (below)

Basically would love to find any other Nereides related leads, maybe Harold Kidd might know where to look?

Also when she was being repaired at Half Moon Bay an elderly gentleman said his father bought Nereides in the 1940s and she still had a machine gun mounted on her bow. Now that would be great to reinstate! Apparently I heard she used to patrol the airfield and look for mines during the war. I tried to find out more info a few years back but had no luck. Wonder if there is some enthusiast who knows about wartime service for these old girls? Anyway enough for now”

So woodys can we help Mark with the publication of the Nereides Centenary book?

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30-11-2025 UPDATE – NERIDIES is turning 100 in 2026 and their owner has been giving the old lady a tickle up. Looking very smart in the photos below. 

Also, does anyone have a lamp matching the one in the photo, owner would like to pair his one up. And a rare request, owner also keen for a ‘pre-loved’ ensign, the new flashy ones look out of place on this period correct classic.

My Girl Restoration

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MY GIRL RESTORATION UPDATE – June 2017

If you are not following Jason Prew’s restoration of his 1925 Dick Lang, classic motor launch, ‘My Girl’ on his weblog (link below) you are missing a great woody project. The man is a very talented craftsman & has a cunning knack of being able to press-gang some of the wooden boating movements best minds & hands into helping at the right time 🙂
The project has really come along over the winter months – the photos above are just a taste of whats on show. Jason posts regularly so you can experience the work vicariously 🙂
http://www.my-girl.co.nz/mygirl/Restoration/Restoration.html
A Handy Hint: if you type My Girl in the ww Search Box you will get an overview of all the ww stories on My Girl.

It’s almost 2 years since we ran the story below on the missing My Girl Motor Boat Trophy. In the last 2 years the readership of waitematawoodys has increased by x14, so we have run the story again in the hope that one of the new readers might be able to shed some light on the missing trophy – read below.

LOST – The MY GIRL Motor Boat Trophy (August 2015)

This ones going to test the collective memory base of the all the woodys out there. We are looking for a trophy that was linked 80+years ago to the NZ Power Boat Association, I’m talking here about the old NZPBA, with races that involved real wooden boats – not the lumps of fiberglass with oversized outboards on the back they race today.

The trophy was the ‘My Girl’ trophy & was donated by a Mr. C. (Tui) Waldron to replace the ‘Burt Cup’. There are numerous press clipping that mention events where the cup was contested, won or presented. I have attached copies below for your reference / interest.
Despite all the searching no photo can be found of the cup.

The present-day owner of the launch ‘My Girl’, who the cup was named after, Jason Prew would like to track down the whereabouts of the cup &/or any information on what became of it. While the cup itself may not have survived, someone out there must know something about its past. Launches that have won the trophy include – Taura, Tasman & Crusader. Crusader was owned by the Rev Jasper Calder & was steered to victory by Miss Edna Herick. It appears that in several of the events that the trophy was offered up, one of the conditions of racing was the vessel had to be steered by a woman.
Launches that have raced for the trophy include – Taura, Aumoe, Edwina, Tasman, Nautilus, Ramona, Crusader, Wailani, Lady Margaret & Wanderloo.

So folks anyone able to help out in the hunt??

16-03-2018 Update – the other day Jason sent me the video clip below of the 130hp Volvo that will be sliding into My Girl. Shows the green lump running on a pallet – he would have happy that 1. it started 2. no knocks 🙂 With Mr Volvo at full chat, he will be buying a  set of water skis 🙂

Update 11-08-2020 Two and a bit years later there is a transplant underway – as they say in Thailand ‘same-same’. Just new and better 😉

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