Back in May 2022 we ran a story on the 55’ ex commercial fishing boat – ARGO, that at the time she was berthed at the Kaipara Boating Club (west coast of Nth Is) during an extended (3yr) cruise around New Zealand. Link here WW May 2022 https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/05/22/argo/
Fast forward and she is currently calling Milford (Sth Is) home and has recently popped up on tme (thanks Ian McDonald).
A very tasteful conversation to pleasure use and being built in 1944 by Miller & Tunnage ARGO is more than capable of handling any conditions that Mother Nature might throw at her.
ARGO is powered by a 240hp Caterpillar D334 diesel engine that gives her a comfortable cruising speed around 8.5 knots.
So woodys today we get to have a gander below decks.
CLASSIC LAUNCH LADY JANE REMAINS UNSOLD AFTER SINKING INCIDENT
The classic wooden 34’ launch – LADY JANE appeared recently on fb, it was a being auctioned by Turners Trucks, and hadn’t reached the reserve price when the auction closed. Thanks Ian McDonald for the heads up.
Reading the listing the seller states that the boat and engine ‘had taken on water’ so I assume she is now a member of the submariners club.
For the record the engine in her is a Ford 80hp diesel.
Hard finding a buyer to take on such a craft, even harder when the seller lists it as fibreglass Roy Ford boat……
TAREE – OWEN WOOLLEY CLASSIC LAUNCH RECEIVES SOME TLC
While walking the docks at the recent Classic Woody Boat Show at the OBC I bumped into boatbuilder Colin Brown, who mentioned the recent work his son-in-law Josh Hawke (Kauri Classics ) had undertaken on the 1966 36’ Owen Woolley built classic launch – TAREE.
TAREE was in the Kauri Classic shed for work to her running gear e.g. new shaft log and floors + some planking work.
BOAT BOOT SALE TOMORROW (Saturday) AT THE MILFORD SLIPWAY BOAT YARD
We have an impressive number of woodys turning up to off load their excess goods, and given what I know about them, I suspect there will be some real bargains on offer. Remember to bring cash, but I’m sure bank transfers will be fine for larger ($) items.
LEGENDARY EX BIG GAME WOODEN LAUNCH SEEKS PASSIONATE NEW CUSTODIAN
The 42’ ex game boat KITTY VANE has a wonderful back story, starting life in 1956 big game fishing and owned by the Going family in Tutukaka, Northland. She has appeared numerous times on WW, starting back in March 2015 when we reached out to learn more about the craft. Link below to that story and others – lots of chat in the comments section.
Fast forward to July 2021 and we learnt that KITTY VANE had been purchased in Auckland and returned to Northland with the intention of a full restoration. As can be seen in the above photos the worked has started and most of the hard yards have been ticked off. Unfortunately circumstances have changed and the decision has been made to find a new owner that can complete the restoration. As she sits now, under cover in Kerikeri, KITTY VANE is a blank canvas that her next owner can refit to match their style and budget.
As the architects say when working on heritage buildings – KITTY VANE has good bones and has not been ‘altered’ too much from as built. KITTY ZANE has always been a good looking woody and with a new passionate owner, we look forward to seeing her back on the briny.
Her owners are very realistic in terms of an asking price, so interested parties to initially make contact via michelle@zewnealanddesign.co.nz
Our first glimpse of the 34’ ex game fishing boat SUSAN ROSE was in August 2017, (2nd photo above) this 1984 photo and others were shared with us by Dean Wright. At the time we saw her docking at Paihia in the Bay of Islands – link below to that story. https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/08/17/susan-rose/
Now thanks to a tme listing we get to see her back in 1975 (top photo) and today, re named ODYSSEA, with an extra ‘story’ on top and a lot of upgrades.
Her back story is she was launched in 1960 in Mangonui, Northland but it has been reported that it took 18 years to build her. Design unknown.
In c.1991 she was repowered with twin 90hp Ford 4cyl. 2722E diesel engines that gives a cruising speed of 8 knots.
The seller comments that all she needs is a lick of paint and an oil change. These days she is Auckland based.
SPOILER ALEART – THE WW SITE OR THE WRITER ISN’T THAT SMART – NO ONE PICKED UP A PREVIOUS STORY WHERE THE BOAT NAME WAS SPELT – ODYSEA………… sorry and just too tired to write a replacement 🙂
32’ MYSTERY CLASSIC BRIDGE-DECKER – Help Needed Identifying – WAINUI
Todays woody is another recent tme vessel (thanks Ian McDonald), no name but looks familiar.
What we do know is she is currently based in Wellington but previously ( 2 years ago) was in the Christchurch area. Before that Auckland was her home.
The seller has undertaken some updates to her exterior and general maintenance to the engine and drive line. Interior looks like it needs some TLC.
Forward motion is via a 3.6L Fordson 4 cyl. diesel engine.
Anyone able to put a name to the craft and hopefully provide an insight into her past.
29-07-2025 UDATE ex CARL – The 32′ bridge deckers name is Wainui originally from the Kaipara sent many years as a fishing boat. an then come over to Auckland around 2000 where she had a major refit and then was a much loved family boat.
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – LADY ALLISON NORLOCK + BOAT BOOT SALE
After yesterday bumper story on the 2025 Classic Woodys Boat Show at OBC Marina, I thought your eyes may need a rest, so a short one today.
The wooody launch NORLOCK recently popped up on tme, thanks Ian McDonald, in a previous life she was named LADY ALLISON.
The listing states that she was built in 1958 by Colin Wild, I suspect this isn’t correct as I’m told Colin Wild’s last boat was in 1955 and he died shortly after that.
What we do know she is approx. 33’ and powered by a 140hp Lees Ford engine that has her cruising at 8 knots.
Interior looks quite smart and she appears to be another bargain buy at $9k ono.
Can we learn more about the vessel and clear up her heritage.
CIRCLE THE CALENDAR – ONLY 10 DAYS UNTIL THE BOAT BOOT SALE AT THE SLIPWAY MILFORD YARD– AUG 2nd
We already have a great group of boaties looking to off load their treasure , details below. Still not too late to secure a spot, or just rock up on the day.
TEINA was built in 1922 by the McLeod Bros. In Bayswater, Auckland to a Glad Bailey design. Current engine is a 60hp Isuzu c240
Probably best described as a work in process / project boat, but as the architects say – its got good bones (see photo below), so at the asking price of $8k ono she has the makings of a good woody.
Kawau Island c.1930’s
OBC Marina OBC Marina
Currently waiting on a low tide to exit the OBC Marina – full report on Sundays OBC/Woodys event tomorrow – check out WW on Tuesday.
THE RESTORATION OF THE CLASSIC WOODEN EX WORKBOAT – ARIANA (TE KAWAU) – PART TWO
Following on from last Mondays story on Sven Wiig’s classic wooden vessel – ARIANA, previously named GLENROWAN and TE KAWAU. Sven has just sent in Part Two.
Todays story takes us up to last week and we will run Part Three on Wednesday and then woodys we will have to wait for the final part for a little while, but rest assured there will be one 😉
And as highlighted in Part One Sven is looking for any intel on her past , and is very grateful for those that commented last week.
“Once the decks were fibreglassed the next mission was to get the coamings and cabin tops rebuilt. Cabin tops were given two layers of ply and clashed in solid.
The little doghouse extension got the same treatment.
I had hoped to find bronze portholes for the coamings but couldn’t find any in the right sizes and quantity. I decided to copy the detailing that existed in the wheelhouse windows.
Next were the doors which I repaired and modified.
The wheelhouse sides were repaired with new tongue and groove.
Once all this had been sanded and given a couple of coats of paint the cover could be removed and I could finally stand back and check out my work. I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t like my design choices once I could view them from a distance, but overall I was pretty happy with her.
Cover off after three years.
It had been more than three years now since she had come out of the water. Progress was frustratingly slow but with the cover now off it finally felt like I was getting there. Next up was to rebuild the Bulwarks. These had been cut away to gain access to the deck. I started cleaning off the old plywood getting ready to rebuild them. When I got around to the stern post I made a horrific discovery. I had always thought her stern wasn’t quite right I now discovered why. I dug out a large chunk of sikaflex and could see that her stem was cracked almost in two. All the screws holding her planks went straight into the crack. It appears that at some time in her past she suffered a trauma. Maybe she was crushed between another boat and a wharf, or hit from behind? Crikey what to do? All the others in the yard came and checked it out. There was lots of tut tuts and sucking through the teeth. A local boatbuilder suggested I cut the whole back off and put a transom on her. Humm… maybe not. It was not going to be an easy fix hence why it had never been fixed properly. Over the years more and more cotton had been jammed it there, more screws added then the sikaflex. This was why all the seams back there were large and the planks uneven, There was nothing for it in my mind I had to pull it all apart and repair it properly. I spent a good day just looking and trying to work out if I was biting off more than I could chew. Was there an easier way. Nope just had to go for it.
Dug out the putty and sikaflex to reveal the crack…
I cut off the outer stem which appeared to be a grown hardwood. Maybe pohutukawa? This revealed the full horror of the situation. Yep I was committed now.
I then carefully removed all the old screws from the planks, removed a knee on the inside and pulled the inner stem out. All that makes it sound easy. In reality it was several painful days where I questioned my life choices.
The inner stem removed from the boat. The crack when right though all the screws going into the cracked timber. To be continued in Part Three – on Wednesday.
THE RESTORATION OF THE CLASSIC WOODEN EX WORKBOAT – ARIANA (TE KAWAU) – PART ONE
Last week we ran a story from Sven Wiig on his wooden vessel – ARIANA, previously named GLENROWAN and TE KAWAU. Sven was looking for any intel on her past , as he undertook a rather epic restoration project. As I always do I asked for some regular updates and photos – well on Saturday the email inbox started to groan when Sven’s email arrived. Slightly different format today, but it suits the story – as told by the man himself.
THE NEW DECK
In May 2020 we bought ‘Ariana’. We knew she needed some work, there were obviously rotten bits here and there and the deck seemed a bit spongy in places but looking inside all seemed pretty sound and she had a brand new engine. How can we go wrong? The owner made me an offer I couldn’t refuse as he said he thought I was the right person to take her on and he wanted me to have her. So we bought her and had her transported down to Wellington and the same truck then took our old boat ‘Primadonna’ up to our good friends in Auckland.
Ariana arrives in Wellington
We enjoyed Ariana for a year just cruising the harbour and taking friends and family out for picnics. A year later I had a break in work and decided now is the time. Ariana was hauled out at Evans Bay I had six weeks before the next job and I was going to have the boat back in the water before I had to leave town. No problem pull the old ply up put some new ply down, easy. That didn’t go to plan. Pulling up the old ply revealed, compost. A bodged previous repair had been letting in fresh water for many years. I enlisted a friend to give me a hand and we kept digging. We discovered the entire deck structure, sheer clamp, carlins, cabin coamings and bulwarks were all rotten. At this point I made a panicked call to my brother Olaf who is a qualified boatbuilder and asked for advise. ‘No worries, you got this, one piece of timber at a time.’ My partner was less encouraging advising me that the only way forward involved a chainsaw and a skip bin. She was right. I seriously considered this option. Couldn’t do it, I had been entrusted with Ariana and I was going to save her. To encourage my madness Olaf came down from Auckland and gave me a hand to start laminating up the first section of sheer clamp. I continued demolishing pieces of the boat. In between I made new bits to try and keep spirts up. I pulled out the old fish hold, still under the rear deck, to discover ballast in the form of river stones and rusty railway iron. The pile of debris grew, less and less of Ariana remained.
My friend Bede discovering the extent of the rot.
Rotten wood and ballast.
Six weeks passed and I had to go back to work. I had some shear clamp and carlins in place and I had a destroyed boat. Several months passed while I was away working and I returned with new energy. Realising I was never going to get it done alone I convinced two clever friends to give me a hand. Pete, Marc and I started replacing deck structure, framed up and new front cabin and replaced planking where the rot extended into the top planks. Broken ribs were sistered with laminated white oak and riveted in place. We were making some good progress…
Front cabin framing underway.
Fiddly time consuming work.
New deck beams installed.
Then the budget ran out and work ground to a halt. Months passed with me only finding the odd weekend here and there to move the project forward. Slowly I finished the deck structure and created a small dog box extension to the wheelhouse, above the old fish hold. One day this will be a cabin for my son. A year had past and finally I could start laying some plywood for the new deck. A job I had optimistically thought I would be doing nine months earlier.
However before I could lay the ply at the stern I decided I had better investigate the lazarette hold. Something wasn’t right back there. I wasn’t to find the full extent of the un-rightness of this area for some time, more of that later. First was to chip out all the concrete that had been poured into the bilge. Several days of extremely unpleasant work later I had removed the concrete to reveal and section of keel or deadwood near the cutlass bearing that was all punky. Degraded by electrolysis. The anodes and bonding wires had taken a toll. I cut back the punky wood until I found good solid timber. Sealed it with epoxy and went looking for some more Kauri. Some large Kauri beams were sourced and a section of keel patched in with new floors.
Last of the concrete.
Keel patch coming together.
Moving on I built a hatch for the lazurette and laid the last of the plywood. Fibreglass was laid. She finally had a deck again and another year had passed. Two years into a six week project and I was maybe half way finished.
To Be Continued………
THE WINNER OF YESTERDAYS DES TOWNSON QUIZ RE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL DESIGNS – IS KEN MULGREW WITH THE ANSWER 74. As recorded in the Brian Peet book – Des Townson A Sailing Legacy.
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