The woody day boat Popeye last made an appearance on WW back in August 2018, at the time we uncovered a lot of history on her – see WW link to read and view https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/08/28/popeye/
A few months ago her owner, Adrian Howitt contacted WW advising that she was most likely for sale and that he was testing the water on tme.
Popeye was built in c.1941 and started life on the Hokianga Harbour as a fishing boat. She has twice been given a birthday – back in c.1998 by Greg Lees Boatbuilders in Sandspit and in 2015 by Colin Brown Boatbuilder.
The photos above are more recent from when Adrian gave her a ‘general spruce up’ (his words) A newish (2012) Yanmar 1GM provides the forward motion.
Nautical Car Boot Sale – This Sunday – 3rd – Sandspit Yacht Club
Seeing you have an extra hour to play with on Sunday (end of day-light-saving) why not point the car north and do a road trip to the famous SYC car boot sale – lots to see and buy + there is a live band and great coffee & food.
Sale starts at 8.30am > 10.30
Lots of other activities to do in the area, so get off the couch and head north.
WOODYS CRUISE TO CLEVEDON POSTPONED – NEW DATE TBA
Recently WW was contacted by the owner of the launch Ramoe, who was looking to find a new owner to complete the restoration of the boat. At the time they commented that ‘they have all the gear needed, she just needs to be put back together’. The boat has had the deck stripped back and cabin sides to glass over, also the windows need to be fitted. Ramos has been fitted with new Volvo Penta 75hp engine.
In the ‘old’ photo above she looks very smart. Anyone interested or wanting to know more – contact owner at steve.b.mouldey@gmail.com Also interested in learning more about the boat – designer / builder etc etc
Amazing Restoration of 1912 Classic Lake Boat – Lion
How did I miss this story on fb from a year ago – back in August 2020 on WW we covered the amazing restoration of the 38’ launch built in 1912 by James McPherson in Dunedin for Hugh McKenzie of Lake Wakatipu (thank you HDK for the intel)
How today thanks to a fb post by the company that restored her – the Repair My Boat Yard (formerly Southern Classic Boats) in Invercargill, South Island, we get to see Lion, back on Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown.
Hats off to everyone that was involved in the project – she is up there with Rawhiti in terms of attention to detail and workmanship.
Nereides II would have to one of the biggest woodys built in NZ in terms pf length and volume – the Oliver and Gilpin built launch was launched in 1974 and is 66’ in length, with a 15’ beam. Tripe skinned diagonally laid kauri with some of that ‘fg’ stuff on top.
A one owner boat she has sent most of her life cruising the Kings and outer islands on fishing and dive trips, hence the fuel tanks – 5,455L. Powered by twin GM Detroit 671s rated at 275hp a side.
Being ex survey, and reviewing the tme photos (thanks Ian McDonald) Nereides II is very well spec’ed.
100 Year Old Classic Clinker Back in late 2015 I rail-roaded a good friend into buying a beautiful classic clinker day boat – he lives on Waiheke Island and it was a perfect match for him. WW link to the 2015 story here https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/11/21/an-evill-boat/ Well as always seems to happen, life gets in the way of hobbies and the old girl just isn’t being used – so the decisions been made to pass her on to her next caretaker.
As her owner is a far better wordsmith than I am, I have reproduced the trademe listing story below:
“I am reluctantly selling my beautiful 108 year old boat. This clinker built tender/lifeboat is purported to have been built in 1914 likely by one of the Miller Bros (precursor to Miller & Tunnage est 1922) It is claimed to be one of two launched on the back of the tug “Dunedin” on Jan 6th 1914 ( see photo) 14′ length. 6′ beam. The craftsmen in Port Chalmers, where some of the finest boat-builders in NZ and their clinker built craft are amongst the most sought after collectibles around.
Powered by a single cylinder 7HP Yanmar Diesel, installed by Miller & Tunnage in 1961. It propels the craft at 6 knots and is extremely economical. Running for hours straight on a cup of diesel. The engine was last serviced in 2019 and has not run since, so it will need some TLC but should be simple to get going again as it’s fool proof. (I have a 1970 BMW D7 marine engine, semi complete with many new parts, i was going to replace the Yanmar with, that I would consider selling separately.)
It was used as a salmon boat in Port Chalmers for 30 years and then spent ten years on Lake Taupo until I bought her 7 years ago.
I used her a fair amount until 2019. The last owner told me he spent $40,000 restoring her and I can believe it. She has teak decks and posts. Huge bronze hinges and a magnificent bronze bilge pump and prop. Brass whistle and controller and anti- aircraft gun cartridge cases as rod holders! The woodwork is good for her age and the bespoke trailer is really solid. She’s a joy on the water and capable of handling any seas in safety. Extremely stable with 4 on board. Like most of its kind she lets in a little water on first entering the sea but takes up rapidly within 24-48 hrs. This is a superb piece of New Zealand seafaring history. I am looking at offers over $7,500 but it is more important to me that she goes to a good home so if you love classic boats and want to own a piece of our boat building heritage then get in touch.”
Where it started – if only the wind had been blowing the other way
KOKORU RAVAGED IN MARINA FIRE – A CALL FOR HELP
Late on the afternoon of 14-03-2022 I started receiving messages from woodys about a fire at east Aucklands – Pine Harbour Marina , that was / had desecrated 5 vessels. Looking at the early photos coming thru on social media – one of the vessels appeared to be a classic launch. Within minutes another image appeared that clearly showed that the woody was the 1960 Jack Morgan built 38′ woody – Kokoru. A woody that less than 4 weeks before I was crawling over taking photos of, post a 18+ month restoration that included her owners spending most of the CV-19 lockdowns working on her. On that day do not think I have seen more proud and happy boat owners and a week later they attended the Woodys Picnic at Stillwater and Kokoru was rafted up on the wharf for everyone to view.
While taking photos the owners asked that I just use only a few exterior ones on WW and that when she was 100% dressed up, I could reveal more. Well woodys sadly that day never came, as Kokoru was one of the vessels at Pine Harbour that through no fault of their own, was left in ruins by an onboard fire on a neighbouring boat – with the combined size of the insurance claim being seven+ figures I won’t speculate, other to say the dockside chat is that the explosion > fire was related to a battery installation.
I posted one photo of Kokoru the following day, but in respect to her owners, refrained from showing more.
Last Friday talking with the owners, who are still distressed with the whole affair, I was thrilled to be told that the decision had been made to rebuild Kokoru – a mammoth undertaking, that has some big hurdles upfront – the first being – where to find the kauri, that magical timber that sadly these days you can not just order from Placemakers.
So woodys todays story has two parts:
(1) to congratulate the owners on making the rebuild call – to quote them “you can’t take it with you but you can leave a legacy”
(2)to shout out to the classic wooden boating community for a source for the kauri Kokoru needs – which is approx 8 lengths approx 150mm x ideally 8 metres. But beggars can’t be choosers so it’s what ever can be found. Obviously prepared to pay – any ideas on who we can talk to – contact me onwaitematawoodys@gmail.com
Kokoru has made several appearances on WW before so I have included the links below to her back story. Its interesting to read that she is no stranger to incidents that would have been the end of most modern day vessels – back on 10th April 1968 during Wellington’s Wahine ferry disaster (loss of 51 lives on the day), Kokoru was one of the vessels that went out to assist the rescue of the passengers – after returning one load she headed out again and was rolled on her beam by a monster wave, the force of which ripped one of engines from its bed. Kokoru limped back to port, taking on water. But as a testament to Jack Morgan’s boat building skills, Kokoru was hauled out and repaired.
The gallery of photos below are reproduced purely as a record of the craftsmanship and mastery that went into the refit of Kokoru and to provide inspiration and reference during the rebuild. As always click on photos to enlarge.
The launch Ngarunui was designed by Jim Young c.1955/7, I’m unsure of the builder, was it also Jim Young – can anyone advise? Built from kauri planks, carvel on ribs, she measures 48’ in length, with a beam of 12’ and draws 4’8”. Power is via a 200hp Doosan L136T engine that gives her a comfortable cruising speed of 8.5 > 10 knots, at idle she will do 5 knots, so only slips fuel. A bonus is a 20hp Yanmar auxiliary with its own prop, not seen often these days but a nice comfort factor. The Yanmar also drives the freezer compressor. As seen in the photos she really fits into the motor sailer category and comes with good set of sails – note the wooden mast shown in the photos above has been replaced with a new alloy one, but the wooden ones are available (needs repair).
With a combined fuel tank capacity of 1200L and 800L water Ngarunui is well set up for extended cruising. And of course a 12’ beam makes for a comfortable life aboard. Very well priced for 48’ launch presented in her condition.
The launch Meteor / Comet II was built by Collings and Bell and is reputed to by at the time the fastest commerical launch in New Zealand, with a top speed of 36 knots, carrying 12 passengers. She plied her trade as a tourism launch on Lake Wakatipu, Oueenston, but also has been based out of the Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Picton and the Marlborough Sounds.
Just popped up on tme as a work-in-progress and sadly a long way off her original configuration.
33’ in length, these days she is powered by a Ford 180hp diesel engine – would be interested to hear what powered her in the zoom zoom days.
Classic Launch Kokoru Damaged In Pine Harbour Marina fire yesterday – refer the NZ Herald for details, its still a little to raw to go into details – more later. But I’m sure you’ll all be thinking of the owners.
When designed and built by Owen Woolley in 1968 the launch – Acheron started life at 38’ and the build took place in Woolley’s shed on the water’s edge of the Tamaki River, Pakuranga. She was constructed of single skin heart kauri with hardwood ribs. The design was a very popular concept for Woolley and he built several other boats later through a number of years that were more or less sisterships to Acheron.
Post launching Acheron spent 4> 5 years on a pile mooring in the Tamaki River, on the Panmure side of the river, near Ken Rickett’s parents house. Ken supplied the intel for todays story and the photos come to us from her current Wellington owner – Tim Prescott.
Harold Kidd has advised that Acheron was owned in 1973 by E & J Lane of Kohimarana, Auckland so given this date they may well have been the original owners.
Acheron’s past between approx. 1974 and 1991 is mostly unknown, until in 1991 she was relocated to Wellington by a Des Deacon, who had purchased her. Fast forward to 2005 when she was purchased by Tim Prescott. At this stage Acheron measured 44’ in length , with a 12’6” beam and draw 3’6’, the additional 6’ had been added to her stern giving her a bigger cockpit. In a December 2019 WW story on the launch Proteus, Neil Lineham commented he purchased Acheron in 1984 and had the extension done, by John Gladden, and with the additional 6’ she had a new top speed of 19 knots. Linehan owned the boat between 1984 and 1987.
Acheron is powered by two TS3 model 3DB-215 Commer diesels, which have been in her since new. They drive thru two 22″ diameter x 21″ pitch 4 blade propellers. The current photos of the engine bay confirm that they have recently been taken out of the boat & had a major overhaul by a TS 3 expert.
Are we able to fill in more of the blanks in her past in the 1972 > 1991 period? Not sure Mr Woolley would approve of the radar arch ………………. but tastes change with time 🙂
Update ex Paul Holdsworth – Owen Woolley built Acheron for Eric Lane an executive at NZI Insurance, my farther an engineer worked on Acheron’s Commer diesels that had a distinctive rumble to them. Owen built a smaller launch for Eric before he commissioned Acheron which was very similar to Allen Williams Banshee design. Before having these Woolley designs built Eric owned the Colin Wild Talua with mooring in Okahu Bay which was immaculately kept and regularly haul out onto the handstand at Okahu.
Update ex Ken Ricketts – post a lot of ringing around and emails Ken believes below is an accurate record of the boats owners – Built by Owen Woolley 1968, owned by E & J Lane 1973, bought off a Mr Furness (probably off the Lanes) & sold to Neil Lineham in 1984. Sold by Lineham c.1987. We have a 4 year gap, then Des Deacon bought her in 1991 and trucked her from Auckland to Wellington.
In 2005 Tim Prescott, the current owner purchased her, possibly from the estate of Deacon.
As mentioned above Lineham had John Gladden extend the stern by 6’, this work was done by John Gladden. Lineham was an engineer and has a substantial knowledge of the Commer TS 3 engines, he went to much trouble upgrading the horsepower of Acheron’s engines and making them quieter than is usual, for these engines.
Her radar arch was fitted in Wellington by or for Des Deacon. It was Tim Prescott, who has had the latest refurbishment of her engines done, by Mark Erskine a very talented TS3 engine expert, who Ken believes worked on the engines in – Invader and possibly Royal Falcon. Her top speed is now around 13>14 knots.
19-03-2022 Update ex Alan Sexton – Acheron was described above as being single skin kauri, I doubt this, per the article (refer Sea Spray below) all this series were built with multiskin diagonal planking. One change on boats after Acheron, eg Proteus and Accolade was the addition of the topsides knuckle.
Annual CYA Round Rangitoto Race & Cake Day BBQ
I made a late call to mooch down to Issy Bay to catch the tail end of the annual CYA round Rangitoto Race and Cake Day BBQ. Well thanks to the loyal launch group the day wasn’t a waste of time, as what seems to be the norm these days – not one classic yacht bothered to attend 🙂 Pacific cleaned up the prizes – first in the race (i.e. closest finisher to their handicap time) and first for the best looking cake – well done Nathan, Darren and crew. I’m sure the other results will be on the CYA website. Got to love the judging panel – 3 very well behaved kids – I suspect their focus was on getting first dibs on the cakes 🙂 Special thanks to Jason Prew from the Slipway Milford for organizing the BBQ and prizes ex Manson Anchors and Lawson Dry Hills wines.
Regular WW readers will know that there are no size limitations when it comes to what features on the site and some of the prettiest woodys live on a trailer. Today’s story is on Taranui – a c.1960’s 19’ jet boat, built by a Mr. McPhearson of Mapu, Nelson around 1967>68. Her owners manual says first service was at Perry’s Automotive in Mapua.
The zoom zoom comes from a 220hp Crusader Marine petrol engine (factory marinized 327 Chev) via a 1965 Hamilton Colorado 2 stage jet unit. The tme listing states that Taranui has spent most of her time in Tennyson Inlet, western arm of Pelorus Sound in the Marlborough Sounds but for a 20 year period she was in storage.
Her hull and cabin exterior has been sanded back and repainted/varnished and the interior and upholstery remains untouched and in excellent condition.
Hopefully she will be bought by someone that will continue love and maintain her – BUT she could easily be a piece of art in a large man-cave. Last time I said that about a boat, that is exactly what happened 😉
I will post more details closer to the event, but if your are considering attending please send a quick RSVP email to the address below – just need your name, vessel name and approx. (if you know it, the number of people aboard*). waitematawoodys@gmail.com Remember – participation in the Woody Classics Weekend events is open to everyone, but only one condition – you have a passion for wooden boats.
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