On Friday we featured the launch – Spindrift and asked for more details – well as you can see from the above photo gallery we certainly got an answer 🙂 Firstly Spindrift is a new build, launched in early December 2021 – designed by Gary Underwood (design #71) and owner built by Hilton and Melva Ward. To quote Hilton she is a 10 metre, multi-chine ply passage maker powered by a 35hp Beta (Kubota) engine.
Hilton has a very informative blog on the whole back story from design to first cruise, link below. I have just ‘cherry picked’ a selection of photos for todays story. https://thenewspindrift.blogspot.com/?m=1
Spindrift calls Ngunguru Estuary, Northland home, but there are plans for some serious cruising this summer. The build commenced in early 2016, but Underwood did the design work two years prior – see sketches below + model Hilton made to see how it would look in real life.
As always – click on photos to enlarge 😉
01-06-2024 – photo below ex Natalie Collinson fb anchored at Ngunguru
In the opening line the seller says “whole boat made from kauri, no rot!”, well I think rot would be the least of your worries. The major features promoted are the brass bits – “steering wheel, anchor winch, prop – the value of these bits probably dictates a fair starting price for bids….
Vender says -“Opportunity not to be missed” , I suspect it will be a miss.
It is not a bad looking craft, but presented like it is, and with a an engine that doesn’t run – it should be – Free To A Good Home. Way too many negative photos that showcase how neglected she is, then again maybe the woody folks down south like a major project 🙂
Back in June 2014 WW was approached with a request for intel on the 28’ kauri planked classic launch – Kotare, that is a poplar name for boats, so I was surprised at what we uncovered.
At the time Harold Kidd was able to tell us that she was designed by Bill Couldrey in 1960 for Frank Wilkins of Church St., Northcote to build for himself. Wilkins launched her in October 1961 with a 45hp BMC diesel.
Fast forward again to the present day and as you will observe in the above photos – Kotare is being restored / refitted by sage boat builder Alan Craig and his team at Craig Marine.
Half Moon Bay Marina Jan 1978Pre purchase travel lift haul out at Half Moon Bay – Jan 1978Pre purchase inspection at Half Moon Bay – Jan 1978Leigh – Aug 1978A permeant roof being built over the cockpit – Oct 1978Flying bridge being built at Half Moon Bay – Dec 1978Flying bridge being built at Half Moon Bay – Dec 1978
Ngarunui 1970s > 1980s
Back in 2015 when Ngarunui first appeared on WW Robin Elliott commented that to his mind she is the best looking boat in the Bay (Bay of Islands). Since then Ngarunui has mad numerous WW appearances – links below. The 2016 one gives a great insight into the building of Ngarunui and the 2022 give us a look down below.
Last week Mike Mulligan sent in the gallery of photos above from when his family owned her, they purchased her after selling the launch – Patina, approx. time line of ownership is late 1970’s > 1987.
During this period Mike’s father fitted the Yammer auxiliary engine and fly bridge.
Ngarunui was designed and built by Jim Young in 1955 for J.A.K. Spicer and C.R. (Russ) Pollard. She is 48’x46’x11’8″x4’3″ and was originally powered with twin GM 165hp diesels of 1942 vintage (ex-USN) + an 11hp Coventry Cub. These days the engines are a 200hp Doosan and a Yanmer auxiliary.
Our friends at the Australian Wood Boat Festival have just released another film in the ‘Boat Folk’ series.
Todays one is on the 1947 Tasmanian built 43′ yacht – Westward.
Westward started life designed as a recreational fishing yacht but prior to completion was converted to a racing yacht. Quite a successful one – winning the 1947 and 1948 Sydney > Hobart race.
After a long life of extended cruising Westward was donated to the Maritime Museum of Tasmania. These days she is back home in her home state and has been restored as a floating exhibit at the Constitution Dock in Hobart.
This a great story with a long tail. I first rubbed up against the boat back in 2009 when a co Kiwi based – WoodenBoat Forum follower named Graeme Tearle, lived in Thames, mentioned online he was considering buying a Townson 22 – known as a Pied Piper (Piedy) on trademe in Auckland. Turns out it was sitting on the hard at the Devonport Yacht Club (I was a member back then) so I took some photos for him. Graeme bought the boat, below is an edit of his postings on the WBF, he has a unique style of chat and the yanks on the WBF loved him –
“But this boat has issues. For starters, her name. “Born Slippery”. Ye Gods, whatever was he thinking. So my daughter Abby came up with a new name. “Ceilidh”. Pronounced “kay-lee” it is Irish (or Scots) for an informal get-together featuring traditional song, dance and drinking. In other words, a party. My kind of party (I’m half Irish). Perfect. Next, her cabin shape is all wrong. Ceilidh has the original, shorter roof, which designer Des Townson lengthened when he redrew it, and I suspect he may have lowered the roofline an inch when he did so. Either way, Ceilidh’s cabin is too short & too high for my tastes. If you can’t stand upright in a boat, there is little point in adding an inch or two to the roof height and you still can’t stand up. It just spoils the aesthetics. Also the cabintop is built in the original style with internal roof beams & a 9mm ply skin. The new style has a laminated roof with no beams. This is vastly preferable; nothing to hit your head on & a much easier paint job. So the whole cabin top has to come off. This has the added bonus of allowing me standing room inside while I do the rebuild, and I can replace the ply coamings with varnished mahogany, as they were with Candyfloss (a previous Piedy he built) In my own personal, very biased, opinion, such a beautiful shape deserves nothing less.
The cockpit has been hacked about in the modern way with an open transom. I will fill the transom back in again & add an aft deck forward to the mainsheet traveler, then an aft coaming across it, aft of the traveler. There can be no lazarette here as the rudder shaft comes up thru the cockpit floor aft of the traveler, making a bulkhead impossible. Also, she has a rise in the companionway of about 300mm, to stop water entering the saloon should the cockpit flood. What absolute nonsense. This is the Hauraki Gulf guys, the best cruising grounds in the world, not Cape Horn. I’ll cut it out, fit a lintel about 50mm high, and should the weather become so severe that I fear a wave might jump into the cockpit, (yeah right, it is sooo going to happen) I’ll fit the first washboard & lock it in place. The ability to easily step thru the companionway without having to clamber over what amounts to a bridgedeck is a boon beyond measure on a cruise. The existing tiller is an ugly stick. I’ll build a new, properly shaped one.”
Graeme did an amazing job restoring the yacht (sadly all the work-in-progress photos on WBF have been lost) and bought Ceilidh by road up to Auckland for a Des Townson exhibition at the Viaduct and motor sailed her back to Thames – memory is hazy but I think I lent him a life jacket and a VHF radio for the trip. Graeme’s past post on the WBF was c.July 2014 and I think he sold the boat in June 2014.
Fast forward to mid July 2022 and the son of old family friends – Gavin Woodward tracked the boat down to a mud berth in Thames and was trying locate the owner, dockside chat was that she had been abandoned. Photos below showing Ceilidh looking very sad.
Fast forward to mid September 2022 and Andrew Sander – a previous owner of the boat , tracked her down and re-bought her. Andrews words “Spent Sunday preparing and Sunday night on the high tide dragging her from her mangrove and rat infested grave, she’s now in a berth in Thames Marina. Her next adventure is going to Tauranga for cosmetic work, a weight loss program and a new set of sails. Then it’s back to Auckland to catch up with her old Piedy mates where she will live. Looking forward to some great racing and antics. Get a Piedy up ya (again)”
Photos below of the extraction at Thames.Wonderful that these iconic craft are held in such high regard that yachties go to these lengths to keep them sailing.
ANYONE GOT A POT OF THIS WOODY PRODUCT?
Steam boat woody – Russell Ward contacted me as Russell and some of his fellow steam boaters are bemoaning the loss of Davis Slick Seam. The trailer boaters swear by it. It holds the leaks until the seams take up and it squeezes out -doesn’t set. Stops the incontinence when you launch.
Anyone got a spare tin or know what might have been in it? It was black, had some waxy filler apparently, stayed put and wouldn’t go hard. It is no longer being stocked. West are not answering emails, it is obviously not a big seller.
So woodys what would have been in it -NO EPOXY but maybe some of the filler they use. But it was tarry looking.
The 30’ kauri launch – Nerrida was built in1969 by Shipbuilders. Forward motion is via reconditioned Ford 110hp 6 cyl. diesel Ford 110hp 6cyl diesel As per a lot Shipbuilders craft she has a semi workboat look to her.
While the interior fit out looks like they used the same people that do the Fullers ferries, there has been a lot of recent work done. From the number and size of all the chilly bins, the seller must be a serious fisher-person. (Thanks to Ian McDonald for the tme heads up)
One can only assume the San Costanzo, built in 1969 by Curnow & Wilton started life as a work-boat and was then, date unknown, converted to pleasure use.
She is an impressive woody – built from kauri planks and 49’ in length, with a beam of 14’9″and draws 5’4” – that canoe stern gets a big tick from me.
A Cummins 250hp engine sips only 8>9 L of diesel per hour when cruising. Add to that the 2200L fuel tanks and that is a long time between trips to the fuel dock.
Very well spec’ed, with a good survey result you could doing laps of NZ. Recently for sale on tme – thank you Ian McDonald for the heads up.
INPUT BELOW ex Brian Kidson –
“While doing some background into Curnow and Wilton boats I found this out from various sources…
This Jack Guard designed double ender was launched at the end of July 1965 for Mr Salvi Rocco of Wellington. It was built for crayfishing and longlining out of Island Bay. St Costanzo is the patron saint of Capri from where the Rocco family come from. While Rocco’s had her, they took the aft wheel house off and had a new one built forward by a Wellington boat builder. Rocco’s sold her to a Chinese chap in Auckland who used her for catching blind eels out of Tauranga. He only owned her for approximately two years before selling her to Tom Fishburn who then set her up for trawling. He fished her for ten to twelve years with his nephew Marcus Fishburn. By the time Tom bought her she had had an engine change from a Gardiner to a Cummins NH250 which is still in her. It is said that she is a good sea boat and fairly dry on deck which is a credit to her designer. Guard’s of Nelson were unable to build her at the time. Her stern is very tight and bluff double ended, almost a ‘transom’ a credit to her builders. Not the only Guard design like it. The Marconi being another that comes to mind. At some stage the ‘St’ in her name was changed to San Costanzo. There was an article in the local newspaper, Nelson Evening Mail, at the time of launching. Other names San Costanzo
Length 50ft
Beam 15ft
Draught 6ft
Date launched 31st July 1965
For Salvi Rocco, Wellington
Subsequent Owners Name unknown, Tom Fishburn, Marcus Fishburn, Sean Reichardt, Robert Lynds,
Engine(s) Gardiner, Cummins NH 250″
EVERYTHING GOING WELL TOMORROW WILL BE A GOOD STORY WITH LOTS OF PHOTOS FROM THE WOODYS CLASSIC WEEKEND CRUISE TO CLEVEDON.
During my annual jaunt to the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade one of the woodys that always catches my eye is the 28’6” classic launch – Alberta, designed and built in 1913 by HN Burgess in Parnell, Auckland.
I have featured her on WW twice, WW links below, there is lots of older photos and details there.
Now thanks to Ian McDonald and a tme listing we get to see down below.
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