MARLIN MONROE
The 19’ Sutton and Mason 1966 built Marlin Marauder – Marlin Monroe made a very brief appearance recently on tme, probably brief because the asking price was $10k.
On face value that is a lot of classic boat for the money.
Built with double diagonal kauri and powered by Mercruiser inboard + stern leg that sees her topping out at 35mph.
The matching dinghy is a nice touch.
ESTRELA
The 43’ 1920’s built launch – Estrela has made a few appearances on tme over the areas and has sadly slipped into the ‘Live-Aboard’ category these days. Its being promoted as the cheapest home you can buy in Auckland.
She was built by Joe Fell, is a double-ender built from triple skin kauri and powered by a Hino H07C 158hp diesel.
Her Panmure River berth is available for rent – so woodys – a waterfront home or rescue her and set her free on the Waitemata again 🙂
(Thanks Ian McDonald for the listing heads up)
She appeared on WW back in 2018 and there was some discussion re her provenance – possibly not a 1920 Joe Fell boat, read this link for more info. Remember to also read the comments section 😉 https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/10/03/estrela/
DUNDONALD > TRANQUILA
Early last week we ran a story on a launch named – Tranquila (link to that story below) at the time hawk-eye Nathan Herbert commented that it appeared to be the Don Brooke designed – Dundonald post a name change.
Fast forward one week and woody John Dawson confirmed that Nathan was correct and sent in the gallery of photos above. John commented that the launch was for sale back in April 2021.
Tranquila is 37’ in length, built from DD kauri (f/glassed) and powered by a Ford 120hp Otsan 6.2L 6 cyl. diesel that gives her a cruising speed of 9.5 knots- top speed is approx. 13 knots. https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/08/02/tranquila/
JAN
Boat builder Alan Craig (Craig Marine) sent in todays’ gallery of photos of the Brin Wilson designed launch – Colleen owned by Bill Stevenson. We see her being launched at Lake Tarawera where she still resides today. Appears that there were a few challenges with the lake level.
Colleen is a near sister ship to the other Stevenson family launch – Jan, refer photos below. Jan is maintained in an as new condition, some credit for this goes to Alan who has repainted and varnished the whole boat at different stages.
Also keen to ID the launch that is helping drag her off.
INPUT ex Hamish Moore “I have spoken with Mother on this, Jocelyn Stevenson. Seems you have amended some of the points already. – Typo, Spelling of the family name. ‘Stevenson’
Some info what what Jocelyn can recall;
Colleen was on Lake Rotoiti for a few years prior to been relocated to lake Tarawera, possibly up to 5yrs.
The launching of Colleen shown here could be at Lake Rotoiti and the little Tug boat could well be Sir Williams first boat on Lake Rotoiti, un-confirmed and details of the vessel unknown.
A notable mentioned needs to go to Norm Keane who was a local boat builder that Sir William employed to maintain all the boats, including Jocelyn in Auckland, and his property at Lake Rotoiti and I’d say Colleen while still in the family ownership. If I recall correctly one of your articles in the past may have mentioned Norm Keane.
Last I heard, Colleen has had some work done over the years and some of which was completed by Danny Pearce boatbuilding out of Rotorua. I’ve lost contact with Danny. However we had attempted to head down and cast an eye over Colleen but life just got to busy.
Jan remains in family ownership, by Sir Williams Grand daughter.
It would be fantastic to see some photos and and article on Colleen if you managed to shake down someone who has the knowledge and contact.”
TAMAHERE SOS
Back in May 2018 when I was loitering around the waterfront at Sandspit I was taken by the 40′ canoe stern 1904 launch – Tamahere. She must have changed hands around the same time and at some stage relocated to Kerikeri, Northland.
Sadly she has suffered a mishap due to deferred maintenance and has taken of a lot of water, but didn’t sink. There is a long list of required work to get her sea worthy again but her current tme price / bid is sub $600. Auction closes this Sunday at 9.52am. (thanks Ian McDonald for the listing heads up)
As the owner states ‘definitely a project not for the faint-hearted’ – but a bargain entry into the wooden boating movement.
The phots below are from 2018 at Sandspit.
Also more here from a May 2017 WW story https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/08/02/tamahere-a-peak-down-below/
Dont normally link to tme but time is not Tamahere’s friend https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/boats-marine/motorboats/listing/3695932222?tm=email&et=47&mt=16373835-5D46-4FFE-A44C-B8ECA6A92162&bof=EC22CNjd
NEREIDES MAKES A SPLASH
In between lock-downs in June 2021 I had cause to do a trip to Tauranga and took up Doug Owens invitation to visit the yard to get a peek at the refit of his 1937 Colin Wild built 55’ yacht – Nereides. The project was well underway and the commitment to best in class and standard of workmanship was already on display.
Yesterday Doug made contact to let me know that Nereides was back in the water and aside from some final interior work the refit was complete.
The gallery of photos above says it all, the pilot house just glows – well done to Doug and son Mohi. We will keep you updated as the final items are ticked off the to-do list.
Link to 2021 story https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/06/13/nereides-gets-a-facelift/
Photo below at haul out – post refit
HEATHER
The 40’ carvel planked – Heather was built in 1965 by Doug Robb and spent her first 35 years as a commercial fishing boat. In 2000 Miller & Tunnage converted Heather to pleasure boat and installed the 1996 Gardner 6LXB, which was brand new at the time. Like all good Gardners she is very efficient e.g. at 5.5 knots, running at 800rpm, she sips 1L pnm. Normal cruise speed is 7.5 knots, but can be taken up to 9.5 knots max.
To use the old car dealer term – Heather comes with all the fruit, incredibly spec’ed and all set for some serious cruising.
Thanks to Ian McDonald for the tme heads up
04-10-2022 INPUT FROM Philip Trow
“Hi, Philip here….the present owner of Heather (2022). It is great to see a correct and largely accurate report on Heather. A couple of things to add: MV Heather was originally built by the Heberley family of the Marlborough sounds. She is named Heather after Heather Heberley (NZ author of some note).
Heather has been a particularly reliable and forgiving vessel for myself and previous owners. I have taken her around most of the South Is and I know previous owners have also used her for some great trips around the North is. She is very economical to run (1l/nm @ 800rpm/5.8kts exactly and circa 9l/hour at 1050rpm/ 7kts average.) Large 1200l+ tanks give her a very usable range. She also has a 6kw gen set and 800watt+ solar panels to handle long periods at mooring or unattended. As of writing she has less than 3600 hours from new on the Gardner 6lxb. That is very few hours on a Gardner.
Heather was rebuilt around 2000 and a great deal of heavy duty good quality equipment was installed. All of the fittings and equipment are much more robust than you would typically find on a pleasure vessel.
MV Heather has benefited from myself and previous owners who have maintained her to a good standard and also spent significant amounts keeping her up to date with features like AIS, drip free shaft seal and Blackwater.
I have retired from aviation, and now have a larger “Bluewater boat”, hence Heather is somewhat regrettably on the market.”
YELLOW SUBMARINE
Not a woody and not a boat but after yesterdays weather it seems very fitting for a story 🙂 Amazingly the story of this Marton, Manawatu NZ Airbnb popped up in the Financial Times (FT) Weekend Magazine. Sleeps 4 and has a very nautical fit out.
Link below if your in the area and looking for somewhere to stay…….
INPUT ex John Olsen – great ‘Tiny House’ YouTube video on the Yellow Submarine
Haunui Restoration Update #4
In the interest of keeping you all abreast of the process of the restoration of 1948 Colin Wild built launch – Haunui, last week I paid a visit to master craftsman Paul Tingey. It has been 8 months since my last visit (where does the time go) and Paul and his team have made big advancements on the project. At first glance – lots of glowing timber either on display or peeking out from behind masking tape, but oh boy the focus is on systems, and the team are performing magic in terms of the available space and keeping it out of sight.
Check out the anchor winch, serious bling. And at the other end of the scale – the original ships clock has been retained – we like that.
I wasn’t brave enough to ask about an estimated re-launch date – but I’ll be back well before that happens 🙂
Links To Previous Haunui Restoration Updates Below https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/11/13/haunui-restoration/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/04/28/haunui-restoration-update-2-woody-classic-event-dates/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/11/24/haunui-restoration-update-3/
1912 Kauri Launch – Dreadnaught
We all know the correct answer when some asks “does my behind look big in these jeans” well in the same vein someone needs to tell the owner of the above launch not to use a wide angle lens for the hero shot 🙂
Putting that aside today’s woody according to her tme listing (thanks Ian McDonald) has a great back story – built in 1912 by the daughter of John Geard, the Geard family were early pioneers in the South Island. In fact the mother was the first English woman settler in the South Island. The family were whalers in the Marlborough area.
The launch is 46’ in length and built from kauri. Her engine is a 1950, 60hp Cummings diesel.
An interesting mix of design styles on display – it states that she s a ‘dreadnought’ design, not sure what that means – dreadnought is mostly connected to early 1900 battleships and more modern day submarines.
The challenge would be to keep as is or get the tungsten tipped chainsaw out and start again.
Can we put a name to the boat and learn more about her?
INPUT EX CAMERON POLLARD – Named Dreadnaught. Owned by the Gaurd family for most of the century. 43 ft long, 4cyl Ford engine. Largely original – photos below
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