LADY NOELENE
Lady Noelene has been a ‘rolling restoration’ for the last 4+ years & while still not complete her owner is on the down hill slopes. We do not know much about her past but she is powered by a 6 cyl Ford diesel. The photos are a mix of several people over the years, with the most recent ones, at Greg Less’s Sandspit boat yard, from Ken Ricketts.
Can any woodys expand on the little we know about Lady Noelene ?
OTOROA
Otoroa is a Miller & Tunnage double-ender built in 1967 as a MSA Pilot boat, later converted to pleasure use. She measures 55’9″ L, with a beam of 15’5″ & has a draft of 6’6″. Powered via a Cummins diesel. Detail via Ian McDonald via trademe.
Any of the work boat woodys able to enlighten us more about Otoroa?
Update & Photos ex Russell Ward – edited by AH
Otoroa’s wheelhouse enabled the skipper to look and see the sky or the ship towering above. They had to be real seaworthy ships in those days. You will notice that except for the Arahina and Tautane who was a recycled Miler and Tunnage fishing boat named Centaurus, all the NZ pilot boats of the day were double enders.
That says a lot for the hull form: The following sea tends to part round the boat rather than heaving t skyward and broaching it. You still can broach in a double ender, but they are good in a following sea.
Hopefully an potential buyer will retain her appearance. She has survived thus far though, so here’s hoping. I am refreshing your memory by also attaching a pic of Wairangi when she was in her prime and working and you can judge.
Also below is a photo looking down on the modest wharf that the Port’s workboats nestled each night to share stories. The RNZN shed was alongside and their HDML were kept there.
05-03-2018 Update ex Stuart Jameson – The Otoroa has been berthed at the Chaffers Marina for the past four years. The blue non-slip surface was applied last year. Current owner appears to be very attentive to its maintenance. Further detail on its current owner etc should be available from the Marina Manager.
Kailua Refit – The Final Chapter
Regular visitors to ww will have followed Kailua’s winter haul out at the Nautigue boat yard at West Harbour. Not long after new owners Jacquie & Stephen Langton purchased Kailua off Graham Guthrie, the decision was made to give her an extensive make-over. Stephen choose the Nautique yard to complete the work & reports that with the team of Ben & Neil the craft work and project management was great & he only has good things to say about them – he joked to me that in the past he has built a few houses, & it’s hard to rave about your builders at the end of the project, but with these guys its been the exception.
Kailua was designed & built in 1960 by Bob Salthouse, when launched she was named – Lady Beryl.
Kailua was relaunched in late November 2016 & her first public outing was the CYA Xmas BBQ weekend at Patio Bay.
Enjoy the photos – you can view more on the project at the link below.
Taihere
Not sure of the correct spelling, her name appears to be either Taihere or Tairere, but we do know that she is a 32’8″ kauri bridgedecker. Same owner for the past 13 years but in the last 3 years she has had little use & as you can see in the above trademe photos what was once a smart classic is now crying out for some TLC.
She is powered by a BMC 4 cyl diesel. Thanks to Ian McDonald for bringing her to our attention.
What do we know about her past?
How Much Is My Woody Worth?
That’s a question ww gets asked on a regular basis, the answer sadly in most cases is a lot less than the owner thinks. People get confused with ‘worth’ & what some one will pay i.e. the sale price, with classic wooden vessels – for worth think replacement cost, for sale price think less than 25% of that.
As I have pointed out before in NZ there is a growing demand for quality classic motor boats, a high % of this market do not have the skills, time or funds to restore one, so importing will become more appealing.
Today’s post features ‘Wando Lady’ a 1966, 65′ Stephens Bros motor yacht from California now calling the UK home. She sleeps 12 & is powered by twin Detroit V71 12 cylinder diesel engines rated at 495hp. Its on the market for approx NZD$400k (asking price) – I post for 2 reasons – its a great looking woody & I think most of you will be interested in viewing her. Secondly as an indication of whats available on the international market compared to NZ prices.
If you want to read more on her http://www.ybw.com/boats-for-sale/5091568?currency=GBP&utm_campaign=20161130_YBW-B_NWL_EO&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ET
LADY KARTIA
I very happy to be able to advise that the 1938,43′ Sam Ford designed bridge decker Lady Karita is now in the hands of a new woodys friendly owner, Murray Shaw. Murray also owns the Collings & Bell bridge decker Kawhiti so the man has been bitten by the bug 🙂 . Work is already underway to return her to her former glory, see photo above, ex Steve Thomas, of ‘work-in-progress’ restoring her brightwork. The immediate plans are for her to remain in the Nelson region, but hopefully one day we will see her back on the Waitemata.
Lady Karita was built in Kauri for a flag officer of the Ponsonby Cruisng Club, Mr Victor Salek. Powered by Ford 130hp diesel, shaft drive, sees her cruising economically at 8.5 Knots. For many years she has been based in the Pelorus Sounds.
Back in June, CYA member Mark McLaughlin (Mapuna) alerted me to the fact that LK was on the market, Marks father has been Lady Karita’s caretaker/skipper for the last 15 years in Havelock & supplied the 2 press clippings below.
04-04-2018 Photo below ex owner Murray Shaw of Lady Karita hauled out in Nelson. In the background is Lady Ellison – nice to see the two Sam Ford built launches together 🙂
Floating Apartment – Beaufort a Grand Banks 50
With the average house price in Auckland knocking around $1million, this 50′ wooden Grand Banks currently on the market for $429k sure beats a wee box apartment.
Launched in approx. 1972, she is built like a brick outhouse, constructed in mahogany and Burmese teak. She is hull number 37, of 65 produced & the current owner of 6 years, bought her in Virginia, cruised her down to Florida then shipped her to New Zealand.
This woody offers amazing cruising comfort and luxury with a large covered cockpit leading to a massive main saloon. To starboard in the saloon is an L shaped settee with dining table and chairs. Opposite is a settee and buffet and, forward to starboard is the bar and fully-equipped galley. To port is a walkway to the huge pilothouse with guest seating and access to the wide covered side decks through port and starboard doors. Before entering the pilothouse, there is a stairway down to the sleeping accommodation. The two forward staterooms each have 2 x single berths and share 2 x toilets and 1 x shower. The passage to the master aft provides access to the port and starboard engine rooms and the master features 1 x double and 1 x single bed with own ensuite with head, shower and, tub.
Powered by twin 210hp Caterpillar 3160’s & a fuel capacity of 3,800L she falls into the long range cruiser class if you were considering extended trips.
24-12-2016 photos below ex Ken Rickets
SEAWAY
This rather fine looking launch was listed on trade earlier this year, at the time the seller stated she was a 1930 Sam Ford. In discussions with Harold Kidd & Nathan Herbert, the collective thinking is that is not the case, Harold commented that a chap called Fred Brake called all his launches SEAWAY or a variant of SEAWAY & he suspect he owned this one once. She certainly wasn’t built by Sam Ford as SEAWAY in 1930 (if at all).
So woodys what do we know about this classic? I seem to recall she sold & is now moored off Herald Island, but I could be wrong 🙂
TAREE
Taree, the 1966 36’ Owen Woolley sedan launch has appeared before, briefly, on ww. Back in the late 1980’s I even looked at buying her. I think she held a few records:
(1) the longest trademe listing for a classic launch
(2) the number of failed surveys
So to see her in the hands of a new owner & one thats sympathetic to woodys is a very good thing. From the photos above, some ex her owner & some 2016 emailed to me by Ken Ricketts, she is getting the attention she deserves.The name Taree means “sticks” in Aborigine, I assume a link to the fact that she is built with kauri, carvel planked over jarrah ribs, the Australian hardwood. She has teak coamings.
Power these days is via a GM 165 hp V8 Diesel fuel pincher, installed by the previous owner in 2009. This sees her easily cruise at 8 knots.
She was bought by present owner Don Bruce in Dec 2015 & is now kept at Gulf Harbour. He bought her off a John Graham, who owned her for 23 years & kept her at Pine Harbour
Her current owner believes she was built for Emmitt Keenan and had a Perkins 46109 installed when launched.
Gray Mathias, possibly the 3rd or 4th owner, fitted a 2 stroke Detroit in 1985 and after one more owner Mike McDonald, John Cameron bought her in 1988. The Detroit lasted till 2005 and the 165hp V8 fuel pincher was fitted in 2009, at a cost of $17000.
Recently she has spent time in the Brin Wilson shed at Gulf Harbour (see photos above), receiving some serious TLC.
Always good to see a classic get lucky & find a good home – well done Don Bruce 🙂
Peter Peal Book Winner
The winner of yesterdays quiz for a copy of – Thoughts on Clinker Lapstrake Dinghy Construction.
Is Nathan Herbert with – Z Class. Lots of people sent in Silver Fern & Frostbite but surprisingly only one – Z Class entry.
Well done Nathan.
TUI
Sometimes you wonder how serious someone is about selling their boat, Tui is listed on trade me – as a 30′ inboard ‘beautiful girl’ & is a wonderful sea boat”.
When it comes to specs the seller says “I will need to put all the mechanical details on later all I know is she starts every time first time. Engine, shaft etc will be updated all I know is that I think Tui has a ford tractor engine”. And they want someone to pay $35k+ based on that ;-(
A few hours with a tungsten tipped chainsaw & you could end up with a nice wee sedan top launch, if the price was right. Thanks to Ian McDonald to the trademe tip.
Do any woodys know ore about Tui – builder, year etc?
An apology – if you were wondering what was happening around yesterdays story on Vacuna – I removed the ww story because the vendor was not being upfront with the vessels past & had been very creative with the story. There was over 10 comments that I chose to ‘moderate’ & did not appear on ww, mostly name calling & threats, I’m the only one that’s allowed to do that 🙂 so they got the delete button.
