Todays woody gets to be on WW because its just so cute – as Harold told me once re classic wooden boats “dear boy do not be under any illusion, it is a beauty contest” .
What we learn from her recent tme appearance is – designed by John Spencer, launched in 1960, 16’ 5” in length powered by a40hp Mercury outboard. I wonder who built her, most likely a home / DIY project.
Home is Kaitaia, Northland so hopefully someone in the BOI buys her.
BUDGET BOAT BLING
There is a secret to buying well on trade me , I have bought ace clinker dinghies for $200 and an embarrassing amount of bronze hardware for next to nothing.
The waitematawoodys Slipway Milford car boot sales are also legendary.
Aside from the clinkers I think this weeks buy is the best to date. A pair of bronze/chrome 1/2 vents for $25. A quick clean up with a scotch pad and WD40 and almost like new. Have I a need for them ? – of course not, but better in my glory box than sold for scrap.
The reason for the bottle of wine in the photo below (size comparison) is when I told Jason Prew what I’d bought and the price, his reply was “I bet they are 1” high and from a model boat kit” if I’m honest I was concerned when the seller wouldn’t answer my question re what size they were (post buying) 🙂
During the second half of 2025 Sven Wiig was undertaking in Wellington a major refit on the ex work boat ARIANA , previously named GLENROWAN and TE KAWAU. WW covered the project in three parts – links below. Last week Sven updated WW on the final push to getting her back in the water.. As we learnt previously Sven has reverted back to the original name – TE KAWAU, we like that 🙂
As previously I will hand over to Sven to tell the story. Enjoy – its a great read.
“Time for an update on the Te Kawau project. Winter had me up in Auckland with work. Returning to Wellington in the early spring I got back into the project with fresh energy. First up was the wheelhouse sole. I built a new structure and cut out hardwood ply to line it. Pretty basic but a vast improvement on what had been there. The small cabin I had created out of the old fish hold got the same treatment.
Time to move outside. First up I fitted a hardwood seat to the stern. This was a request from Jessica. She has visions of lunches out on the rear deck.
With these projects out of the way and summer rapidly approaching it was time to get started on the hull.
I started scraping the old antifoul off. Two or three days passed and I had less than a third of the starboard side stripped. Was definitely going to need to find a more efficient process. I experimented with a heat gun and various sanders no luck the old paint was rock solid. Eventually I settled on burning the paint off with a LPG torch. Much more efficient but slightly terrifying. In the space of a couple of weeks I had the whole hull back to bare timber. I raked all the seams out discovering that the whole garboard had previously been filled with mortar. Apparently, this was quite common on old work boats. It had however really damaged the edges of the seam. I decided that it needed some repair and most of it was tidied up and I glued Kauri splines onto the plank edge. There were several other areas that needed a similar treatment. I also removed all the old skin fittings and through-hulls. All seams were given a coat of red lead paint.
I then got a lesson in caulking from one of the old boat builders who is often around the yard. With this new knowledge I set about re-caulking the boat. This is a task that I had been dreading as it had seemed like a dark art, with people warning me it was hard. As it turns out I quickly got a feel for it and fortunately my brother arrived for his summer visit just in time to finish the caulking and get the seams puttied. The putty proved to be much harder work than the caulking. As my boat builder friend advised me “If your hands aren’t aching at the end of the day you are doing it wrong.” A couple of weeks later I had the first coats of primer on and Te Kawau was looking better than she had in a long time.
The race was now on to get her in the water before my next work project started. The systems all needed sorting out. I spent a couple of weeks plumbing the new tanks sorting out wiring, installing a new hydraulic steering system, etc, etc. Antifouling and propspeed were applied and finally she was ready for launch. Couldn’t quite believe that I had got to this point. There were plenty of times along the journey that I thought she was never going back it the water. One fine Sunday in early February with little drama she was put back in the water. I was expecting that she would have water gushing in but as it turns out the water ingress was not too dramatic and slowly she is taking up.
There is still plenty to do. The interior has to go back in and both sleeping cabins will need fitting out but in the mean time we can get out and enjoy her.
PAIHIA – BAY of ISLAND – PLEASANTLY SURPRISED I haven’t been to Paihia in a very long time, like 35+ years, tend to dodge it when driving north + I do not have good memories having nearly bleed out in an encounter between a plate glass door and an artery. We traveled north to perform babysitting duties while daughter was doing bridesmaid duties at a wedding. While still a tab OTT touristy / Rotovegas, I was impressed. Won’t bore you with too much but Sunday breakfast at Zane Grey’s, over the water was very good on all fronts – location, setting, service, food and price. Only spotted one woody at anchor.
Todays woody story is proof that there is a buyer for everything, all that matters is the price.
The boat SOUTH WIND appeared recently on tme and was sold for +/- $1,400, it had a $1 reserve and all we learnt from the listing was she is is 39’ long, steering is tight and the diesel engine runs well + needs some TLC ( thats an understatement). Looking at the anchor winch, it was a good buy.
Personally with that ‘cabin’ I wouldn’t like to be out is anything more than 10 knots………. I think the Haines Hunter runabout is looking for its missing bow rail.
At the recent 2026 Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat weekend one of the stand out craft was LADY BETH, a 23’ picnic / day boat, builder unknown. I was surprised with her build date as she had a ‘new build’ level of presentation.
Today thanks to the LRC&WB team we get to learn more about LADY BETH’s past and how she ended up my pick of the 2026 parade.
LADY BETH, formerly named HIDDEN AGENDA, was first used in Whakatane as a picnic and tour boat. She then moved to Napier and was used in the same way until she was to be found on Lake Taupo, moving to Lake Rotoiti about 40 years ago. Purchased by the current owners in April 2018, she underwent a major 20 month refit at Alan Craig’s boatyard where she was transformed into the very beautiful classic wooden boat she is today. She is named after Lady Beth Moore, (mother of her co owner), who was born the same year the launch was and loved the lake since coming on her honeymoon in 1942.
Her inboard has been replaced by a 9.9hp outboard in a concealed well. The glass house is made of teak and a teak bowspit and duckboard were fitted with stainless anchor and remote windlass. During restoration it was noted she originally had 2 portholes each side, not just the 1. So stainless ones were imported from Italy.
WHAT DO ALL THESE CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT HAVE IN COMMON
As I have noted recently on WW the classic wooden boating scene in the Bay of Islands is experiencing a re-birth. Seems one in three woodys the Wooden Boat Bureau has sold in the last 2 years has headed north. And recently the woody skippers have been organising events to show case the woody movement in the B.O.I. – we like that.
At the recent Russell Tall Ships Regatta on the Friday prior to the sailing regatta there was a Classic Launch Parade that had 13 woodys participating. Post the parade one of the skippers pointed out the % of woody craft that owed their good looks to time spent at the CMC Design – Boatbuilders Opua yard. So I did a count and in recent times and in no particular order the following woodys have been under the care of the talented crew at CMC Design – LADY CROSSLEY, KORAWAI, OTEHEI, MARLINE and ALMA G II.
Now they aren’t the only boatbuilders up north but they seem to get the cream of the work. When you factor in haul-out yard costs in the greater Auckland area, a wee road trip on one of the specialist boat haulage trucks isn’t the budget stumbling block it once was.
If todays WW story reads like an ad, I suppose it is, I’m passionate about seeing our classic fleet get the TLC they deserve. Check out the CMC website – some great work-in-process photos on their work + its not all boats, some stunning architectural and commercial wood work. https://www.cmcdesign.co.nz/marine
28-02-2026 UPDATE – video below of the LADY CROSSLEY project
This 23′ woody recently popped up on tme and immediately caught my eye — helped in no small part by the great photography and those postcard-perfect backdrops.
Built in 1966, RAROA presents as a very well-sorted example of the Mason Sports Clipper style. She’s beautifully finished and comes with one very practical bonus – she’s trailerable. That means no marina fees and the freedom to tow her to wherever the water (and weather) looks best.
At 23’ she strikes that sweet spot between classic elegance and modern usability.
Power comes from a Chevrolet blueprint 383 V8, pushing out a serious 405hp. Top speed would have to be well and truly off the dial. The engine alone reportedly cost around $50k, which tells you straight away this is not an entry-level woody.
This is a complete packagethat has the woody wow-factor.
INSIDE THE CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH WIRIHANA – What Powers Her
In the New Zealand classic wooden boating world there is one designer / builder whose name that no matter who you speak to, is in their top three craftsmen – and that gent is Colin Wild. A quick search of his name in the WW Search Panel will result in a visual show case of NZ’s most striking classic craft.
One of Wild’s finest builds is the 1933 launch – WIRIHANA, a woody that has featured numerous times on WW in the last 10 years. Where ever she goes, I get sent photos from people seduced by her looks.
Aside from her wow factor, WIRIHANA is rather unique in that she is still owned by the third generation of the original owners – the Gould family. The family have had the wisdom to engage retired master boatbuilding icon Chris McMullen to maintain, skipper and use WIRIHANA for 18+ years. Today thanks to Natasha Gould, Chris McMullen and Ken Ricketts we get to uncover a side of WIRIHANA’s past not covered on WW previously – the engine room.
Her original engine was a slow running 4 cyl Kelvin with no reduction gear and a petrol start. This engine also had a ‘day diesel tank’ fitted to the engine room wall with a gravity feed to the engine with the main diesel tanks aft, from which diesel had to be pumped daily, into the day tank, manually.
Chris McMullen has commented that all the original associated equipment and day tank, associated with the Kelvin, is still in her today, although not in use, and has the Kelvin name on it.
As covered on WW previously WIRIHANA was commandeered by the NZ Navy during WWII and when returned to Jack Gould (Natasha Gould’s grandfather) at the end of the war, Jack insisted that the NZ Navy replace the engine, because of the rigours of naval service. Another reason for the replacement shared by Chris McMullen is probably the fact that reverse gear on the Kelvin had to be inconveniently operated by crew in the engine room.
End result was the NZ Navy fitted a 6/71 165HP GM Detroit 2 stroke diesel, that had a hydraulic gear box that could be operated by cable. WIRIHANA retained this engine for a great many years and was eventually replaced in the early 2000’s by Rusty Gould (Jack Gould’s son), with a 180hp artificially aspirated 6 cyl. Scania diesel, which she still has today.
One unusual feature of WIRIHANA’s engine room is the absence of an engine box / sound installation – Chris McMullen told me once , you get used to the noise and its a perfect place for drying towels 🙂
(photo credit – Natasha Gould, Dean Wright, Alan H)
The 44’ launch TOKATEA started life back in 1959 as a Government fishing patrol and lighthouse tender, built by WG Lowe. TOKATEA was ‘retired’ in 1987 and converted to pleasure use.
While still retaining her workboat roots the interior fit out is rather smart, certainly providing a home away from home afloat.
Forward motion is from a 100hp Gardner 6LW engine.
Back in mid 2024 the owners of the 32’ Chas Bailey Jnr, 1926 built bridge-decker launch – HOPAI were looking for someone to step up and take over the rebuild of the vessel.
The rebuild had been an ongoing project for an extended period and her owner was unable to complete the project. I believe her hull has been f/glassed…..
Does anyone know what happened to HOPAI, hopefully now in the care of someone finishing the work, or is she still in a shed in Kaukapakapa.
REMEMBER SAT 7TH FEB – LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE
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