Back in June 2022 WW was contacted by the owner of the 1949 36’ yacht – Gale C4
Her story goes something like this – Gale was designed by Charles Bailey Jnr., but not built till 40>50 years later, possibly in Titirangi West Auckland, builder unknown. Construction is two skin kauri on Oregon stringer.
At the time WW was contacted her owner was going thru the ‘do I – dont I’ stage in regard to either a restoration or selling Gale as-is-where-is.
Do we know what happened – hopefully it was a ‘I Do’ decision and Gale is tucked away in a shed somewhere.
A couple of weeks ago (Sept 1st) we ran a story on the launch – Jo Marli, link below, at the time we uncovered some intel on her, short story – built in 1959 by Jack Taylor.
Today thanks to a tme listing from May 2023 we get to have a gander below decks. Photos sent in by K Ricketts. The listing must have resulted in the relocation from a swing mooring in Mahurangi to Auckland. Always nice to see the classics going onto a marina berth – they get better looked after and more people see them, and we like that 🙂
FANTASY SOS – Sailing Sunday On Friday I received a heads up about the 30’ yacht – Fantasy, lofted by a Bill Spence, a Sheltans Islander and built in the Pattersons yard, St Aspeh Street, Christchurch c.1948. Her planked hull is Oregon and post launching her keel was moulded in the sand at Brighton Beach, try and get away with that today 🙂 Fantasy’s owners have had her for 40 years and sadly have made the decision to pass the yacht onto a new owner who will undertake the work required.Fantasy was accidentally sunk in Port of Terakoe and an exhausting legal battle followed, her owners do not have what it takes to begin the refit.
Her solid rimu interior is still in excellent condition and beautiful. As shown in the above photos, Fantasy is now in a cradle at the owners property in Golden Bay, Nelson and they would like her to go to someone who is able to restore her.
Fantasy has a great back story, having sailed in the Centennial race which resulted in New Zealand’s greatest yachting disaster, the owners have a lot of information and records relating to this, including Fantsy’s log of that race. The asking price on tme is $1 so there must be a woody out there looking for a project.
VICTORIA CLASSIC BOAT FESTIVAL – Vancouver – Dockside Tour
Last week we had a story about Peter Knowles and his travel to the Victoria Wooden Boat Festival vis his v-blog ‘Boat Life – Travels With Geordie’. Peter very briefly showed us some of the craft arriving – today we get a dock-side wander, complete with captions for the classic woodys.
I hope the people at Auckland’s maritime museum see this video – re their upcoming Auckland wooden boat festival next year. The stand out observation is the mix of yachts + launches + work boats + small craft – it is all mixed in together and thats what works all around the world – not rocket science……………..
INPUT ex Neil Chalmers – Great video , at 2 56 there is the NZ yacht ‘Two Sisters’ (was sail no. F3) . Has a Woollacott look about her. I often wondered where she got to .
A picture of her at Bon Accord Kawau appears in the ‘Cruising in NZ Waters’ by GR Paul (below). This was the go to book in the 1960’s before to the RAYC Cruising Guide was published.
REMEMBER BOAT BOAT SALE 11am SATURDAY @ MILFORD SLIPWAY – 5 OMANA ROAD, MILFORD $BRING CASH$WW MERCHANDISE FOR SALE
21-09-2023 UPDATE – Can now show what the day was all about. A fashion shoot for the new WORKING STYLE summer range – click this link to view video from the day https://www.workingstyle.co.nz/
Also below more images from the day (click to enlarge)
It’s A Tough Job But Someone Has To Do It
All week we were scanning all the weather apps looking for that ‘magic’ day to schedule a fashion photo shoot afloat. The 1947 Colin Wild built motor launch – Lady Crossley was on stand-by, all buffed up from her recent round of TLC in Opua in the far north. The model was flying in from the UK so come Tuesday the call was made for Friday, and what a call – best day of the year – blue sky, flat seas, norther boats in the bay and the prefect light for photography.
Come 6am skipper Jamie Hudson and myself were drying LC off and at 7am we were heading to West Bay at Rakino Island.
I’ll let the photos tell the story but Lady Crossley was the perfect catwalk for the shoot.
The 26′ Roy Paris c.1960 clinker built launch – Stormbird recently popped up on tme , thanks Ian McDonald, and to a brave buyer could be a great gulf cruiser. By brave I mean having the courage to get out the tungsten tipped chainsaw and dropping the cockpit top down some, if you want full headroom and good looks , there is only one solution – buy bigger 🙂
Stormbird is powered by a 60hp Isuzu desel engine that gets her along at 5 knots.
Home is the inner estuary at Sandspit and she comes with a swing mooring, which probably justifies the buy price of $12k alone.
Anyone know more about her past.
NEXT SATURDAYS BOAT BOOT SALE AT THE SLIPWAY MILFORD – so we can ensure there are enough bangers on the BBQ, if you are intending coming – seller or buyer – can you give us a heads up email waitematawoodys@gmail.com
For several years I have been ‘following’ on-line a YouTube weblog named ‘Boat Life – Travels With Geordie’. The Chanel is hosted by a gent named Peter Knowles and Peter has been recording the restoration of 3 classic wooden cruisers, plus we get to go/see his annual cruises in and around the Vancouver, British Columba, Canada area. Amazing location.
Earlier in the week Mark McLaughlin posted on WW a link to Peter’s latest story that includes a visit to the 2023 Victoria Classic Boat Festival – see above. Well worth checking out, lots of boat porn to view + I would encourage you to check out the past episodes of – ‘Boat Life – Travels With Geordie’. Link to more details on the site here https://www.youtube.com/@TravelsWithGeordie/about Warning it can get slightly addictive 🙂
THE REBIRTH OF CENTAURUS I often remark on WW that some boats get lucky in terms of owners and some sadly do not – Centaurus the 1969, 42’ Bailey & Sons bridge-decker is one of the lucky ones. A succession of owners have cared for her over the years, but even the best practices and intentions aren’t enough to ensure a 50+ year old wooden craft is 100% fit for purpose.
When Angus Rogers purchased Centaurus in late 2019, he had already compiled a ’To-Do’ list. Work started immediately on the projects that would make her more live able and comfortable for extended cruising. Fast forward to September 2020 and she was hauled out for an upgrade on systems and the installation of a bow and stern water thruster unit.
Fast forward to June 2021 and Centaurus was out again for a below the water-line back to bare wood refurbish.If you know Angus you will know that in-between all this there were dozens of other enhancements going on.
Fast forward to 2023 and the decision was made to undertake a refit that would see Centaurus live on for another 50 years. Initially most of the work was based around the decision to re-power with a new John Deere 175hp engine, this replaced the original Cummins V6 215hp that was the size and weight a small elephant. As anyone that has done a transplant knows, the to-do list just keeps growing…….
Below is a list of some of the work undertaken, I’m sure a few things got forgotten along the way, but its a tad scary. Well done Angus. WW has recorded a lot of the work over the last3 years, use the WW Search Box to view. Centaurus re-launched last week and looks stunning, ever the perfectionist Angus has another to-do list to finish her off, but he is under the pump to have her at the upcoming Woodys cruise to Clevedon on Sept 30th > .
Overview of recent work One new water tank, two new fuel tanks, all new plumbing and valves and fuel filter, fuel and water sight tubes and valves, new fuel breathers, new28x23 inch propellor, new and re-positioned motor water intake and toilet water intake and valves all Truedesign nylon and piping, new toilet outflow valve, new 175hp John Deere with ccv and a second alternator (Balmar 175 amp) engineered onto continuous belt, new 2.5:1 ZF gearbox, new fibreglass exhaust system, replaced exhaust on Webasto diesel heater with genuine Webasto parts, installed SaltAttack injection system for flushing motor, built dorade tubes for the 4 half funnels on the sides of the wheelhouse, created a soft closure hatch in the cabin top for the future when needed, new insulation for engine room hatches and around fuel tanks. Cleaned up all bilges under motor and painted white. Able to use existing shaft, dry seal and jack shaft which were all replaced two years ago. Anti-fouled hull and Propspeed to new prop.
The launch Yvonne was recently for sale , asking /start price was c.$37k, quite a jump from the $17k she was listed for back in 2017 – but as you will read below Yvonne had a rather large birthday.
Before we get into that some background – her builder is up for discussion – could be Lane Motor Boat Co. or Collings & Bell, then again as Harold Kidd commented in a previous WW story – she could just as well have been built by any number of Auckland builders from, say, 1912 to 1924 and may even have started life as a flush-decker under a different name. Approximately 33’ in length, built from kauri single plank carvel construction in c.1924. Powered by a 85hp Nissan diesel engine.
During her current owners stewardship Yvonne has had all new electrics, LED lighting throughout, new gas system, new stove, new solar panels, and some interior TLC. The Greg Lees boat yard at Sandspit did a lot of structural work that included a custom fabricated stainless steel keel “shoe” and restored kauri window framing.In my book the coolest item is a genuine Model T wheel – I have admired that piece of kit since I first saw Yvonne back in 2014.I understand she didn’t sell – can anyone confirm? More photos and details in the June 2014 WW story – https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/06/23/yvonne-2/
Waimana had the best possible start in life – built at the Percy Vos yard in 1943 as a 51’ seine trawler for Sanford Fisheries (AK77). At one stage post launching she was set to be requisitioned by the US Army for war use in Noumea, New Caledonia, but this cancelled.
Built from single skin 1.5” kauri planks over double hardwood frames, she weighed approx. 35 tonnes.
Powered by a Gardner 6L3B diesel (not sure if original) .
Fast forward to the 1980’s and Waimana was converted to pleasure use and these days has a very homely fit-out. But still very well spec’ed for cruising.
Originally for sale for c.$110k, its a deceased estate sale and the new tme listing (thanks Ian McDonald) is $60k – that woodys is very low entry into a 6 >10 bed apartment.
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