Category Archives: A Peek Down Below

20’ V8 Woody Speed Boat

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20’ V8 Woody Speed Boat


Over due for some varnish porn – today’s woody is a 20’ replica ‘Monaco’ speedboat, and when I say speed its serious e.g. a 290hp Lexus V8 sees her exceeding 50mph. Currently a lake boat (Rotorua) her closed circuit fresh-water cooling set-up makes her equally at home in the sea.

The trailer is a work of art and the total rig is a very impressive look. Currently 4sale on tme (thanks Ian McDonald)

Turanga SOS

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TURANGA SOS


Currently on tme is Turanga – a project looking for a woody to step up and bring her back into the classic launch fleet. There is no mention of a designer / builder, but its thought that she splashed c.1920. Below the sheets of plywood that make up her cabin, is a very sweet kauri planked hull. She measures 36’, her beam is 8’6” and has a draft of 3’.Under the engine box is a 1974, Commer TS3, 135hp diesel engine that sees her cruising comfortably at 9.5 knts. and topping out at over 12knts. 


The photos above were taken approx. 5 years ago and the ones below are current. In a recent storm she suffered a wee oops in her berth, but nothing a good woody boat builder like Geoff Bagnall couldn’t fix.


Her auction closes Sunday at 8pm – its a $1 reserve and when I last looked she was sitting on just over $2,000 – someone will get an entry level woody for not a lot of money 🙂
(Thanks to Ian McDonald for the tme heads up)

28′ Coastal Cruiser

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28’ Coastal Cruiser
Recently American boat designer, Tad Roberts, posted the above design sketch on fb, Tad commented that she was a coastal cruiser in classic British Colombia style. In my eyes, just about perfect – a Gardner 3lx tucked under the pilot house sole and I’d be disappearing over the horizon 🙂 I had better keep buying Lotto.


I shared the sketch with Dean Wright, who shares my passion for converted workboats and Dean sent me the photo below that he took of the launch – Georgia, that has been in the Bay of Islands approx 5 years ago. A pretty boat.

Electra

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ELECTRA
 
I was contacted yesterday by David Grogan whose grandfather, Ted (Edward Alfred) Grogan, who’s family lived in Ngunguru up near Whangarei, in 1919 Ted owned the motor launch, Electra in partnership with a Mr. P Wellington.
 
David had uncovered a Northern Advocate report about the arrival in Ngunguru of the vessel, in October 1919, She was described as having, “just arrived from Auckland…about 28 feet overall with a good beam and mast and sails. She is fitted throughout with every modern convenience”. From this brief description David commented that Electra does not sound like she was a working boat. She may have been converted into a pleasure craft, at that point however. David had done a WW search and found a suggestion from Harold Kidd that Electra may have been designed by C. Harrison Smith and built by Bailey & Tyre, at Hall’s Beach, Northcote.
Ted Grogan married in 1922 and its likely he sold his share in Electra, to help finance the family home back in Auckland.
 
I contacted Harold Kidd and he was able to confirm that Electra was designed by C. Harrison Smith and built by Bailey & Tyer at Hall’s Beach Northcote in December 1912 for G. Thorne George and D.M. Davis of Parnell. She was 30’ x 8’ and had a 10hp Djinn kerosene engine. Harold also supplied the above photos.
She was sold after a couple of years to a Mr Hogan who sold her to Whangarei ‘for fishing purposes’ in 1919, so it would appear that David’s grandfather took her north for fishing.
She disappears from the record in 1922, probably with a name change.
 
Is anyone able to enlighten us on what became of Electra post 1922? Harold commented that she looked almost square bilged, but she wasn’t. Hopefully her distinctive lines may have made her memorable.
 

Quest II

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QUEST II

Quest II was built by Miller and Tunnage in 1924, currently configured as a pleasure boat, her tme listing doesn’t tell us anything about her past life, so woodys today can we uncover what happened to her from 1924 until her conversion?
Home port is Whangarei.
What we know is that she is 40’ in length and powered by a 6 cyl. FD6T Nissan diesel.
A very salty looking woody.
Photos below sent in by Dean Wright that he took of Quest II back in 2012 when she lived in Opito Bay for a bit.
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Bonny M

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BONNY M

Bonny M was designed / built by Morgan’s in 1964. Her specs are 29’6” x 9’6” x 3’.
The forward motion comes via a 2008 190hp Lombardini diesel engine that sees her cruise at a comfortable 10 knots.
Being a Marlborough Sounds vessel she is very well spec’ed in terms of fit out – her owner is obviously not a fan of varnish, thank god for that fuse box 🙂
Deep down she is a woody e.g. 20mm carvel planked kauri but there is a layer of that ‘modern’ wood and ’thick’ varnish (f/glass) 😉
4sale on tme. Nice lines, somewhat hidden under all that white paint, some styling she would look even smarter.

Tradition – A Peek Down Below

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TRADITION – A PEEK DOWN BELOW

Back in May I did a WW story on the 44’ 1990 Geoff Bagnall built, Bo Birdsail designed, spirit-of-tradition (excuse the pun) launch – Tradition, link below.
This was an amazing story and took the form of an interview between her original owners Rhys and Dick Boyd and a subsequent owner, Keith Busch. If you missed the story I would encourage you to read it, its a cracker + lots of photos.
Today, thanks to Ken Ricketts, we get to have a peek down below on this magnificent woody. Ken was aboard while she was berthed at Gulf Harbour marina.
These days Tradition is owned by Chris and Rae Collins – so she is in very good hands and well used – which we like 🙂

Fiesta – A Peek Down Below

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FIESTA – A PEEK DOWN BELOW
At the weekends Woody Clevedon cruise I got the chance to have a look aboard Gordon Love’s launch – Fiesta. I first spotted the woody back in late December 2015, anchored in Rocky Bay, Waiheke.
Gordon has owned the launch for 15+ years and Fiesta is a Panmure river rat 🙂
Fiesta was built by Phillip Lange at Hoppers Landing, Wade River in 1964. Build is strip planked 1”x2” kauri, with mahogany coamings. Specs are 32’ x 10’6” x 3’4″.
When launched she had a 6 cyl. Ford Trader diesel engine, this was updated with a 120hp Ford D series in 1986. She is still very much in ‘as launched’ configuration and is a very room launch.
I cruised alongside her on the way back from Clevedon on Sunday and she looked to be a good sea boat with a nice turn of speed.

Classic Wooden Boat Cruise – 72 photos

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S/S Romany

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Arohanui

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Trinidad

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Matira

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Raindance CCC trip Aug2020

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CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT WEEKEND CRUISE TO CLEVEDON  – 72 Photos 

Lets be honest, a large chunk of 2020 has been very average – locked marina’s, no on-the-water boating and cancelled events. After spending the weekend on-board Raindance, cruising up the Clevedon river and over-nighting with 12 other woody boats at the Clevedon Cruising Club, I realised what I had missed the most was the sense of fraternity that comes with being in a space shared with people who love the same things as I do – woody boats. 
 
The trip up the Wairoa River revolves around a tide window, so it was a very early start for some of us, helped by coffee on-route, the smart ones left on Friday and were enjoying breakfast in a bay as we were sliding down the Tamaki Strait. We were meet at the river entrance by CCC member Barrie Abel who ‘piloted’ us up the river – no opps, so thank you Barrie.
 
Awaiting for us at the CCC wharf was Russell Ward with his steam boat – Romany. The gent deserves a medal – all day Saturday and Sunday morning he was taking the CCC members and families + the woodys for rides. Romany is coal fired and as Russell tells everyone getting aboard – “if its metal – its hot, if its varnished – its dirty 🙂 . I’m a big fan of Romany, but the star was Cooper the English springer spaniel – I could have taken him home.
 
After some wonderful ‘air-traffic control’ we managed to get everyone either alongside the wharf or rafted to another boat that was alongside – soft bumper fenders along the entire wharf makes for very civilized berthing. However – no names, but one woody had to leave the Saturday night BBQ to check that their diesel fired on-board central heating outlet wasn’t roasting the fenders 😉
 
The day was very leisurely with most people enjoying a dockside lunch and CCC members dropping down to view the boats and people having steam boat rides. One woody took the opportunity to buy some fuel from the club’s dockside bowser, seems he forgot to check the level before departing, staring to become a habit……….
In addition to the activities afloat we were treated to some eye-candy in the car park – a stunning 1947 Ford Coupe and a replica 1945 Fairliner Torpedo speed boat.
 
Come 4pm we invaded the CCC club house for the main event – as always amazing hospitality from the club and to use that old saying “a good time was had by all”. It was announced that our visit will be a compulsory event on the club’s annual calendar – so woodys – no excuses for missing out next year. Date to be advised.
 
Check out the outdoor heater – a piece of kiwiana and it worked a treat.
 
Overnight it was a tad nippy, with several re-filling the boat water bottles in the early hours of the morning. But we woke to a stunning day and departed at 10am for the trip home.
 
And the Clevedon Coast Oysters were divine – photo below was my lunch – another set were dispatched as a appetizer – 8.5/10 – not Bluff but on the day as good 🙂
Special note of thanks to David Cook (Trinidad) who is my sidekick pulling these events together 🙂
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Tides Out 🙂  (photo ex Alan Good)

CCC tide out

LADY JANET (Poco Lento)

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LADY JANET (Poco Lento)

The 31’ woody Poco Lento started out in life back in late 1970’s as your typical Roy Parris kauri planked launch, then in 1991>92 master boat builder Geoff Bagnall undertook a major refit to make her more liveable.
Geoff B is a talented man and has a reputation of creating Tardis’s e.g. boats that are bigger on the inside than they appear on the outside.
When I first boarded Poco Lento I was amazed to learn she was sub 32’ and powered by an underfloor Ford Lees 115hp engine. I was even more taken aback with fit-out  – auto pilot, power anchor winch, bow thruster, hydraulic steering, on-board shower, fridge, freezer, pressurised hot water, stand-alone galley, electric toilet, high-end engine sound proofing, holding tank and a lot more –  she really has been a rolling restoration with her owner undertaking a major project every year. The 295L fuel tank allows her to cover a lot of distance when cruising.
 
Now I’m not a fan of the name, if she was mine I would be reverting back to her as launched name – Lady Janet.
The gallery of older photos show her arriving for the re-fit and the work-in-progress + a young looking Geoff Bagnall 😉