Category Archives: A Peek Down Below

Stargazer

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STARGAZER

Several woodys (Barbara Cook – Waitemata, and Dean Wright – Bay of Islands) have sent in photos of Stargazer mooching around our waters.
Stargazer is a tender to a sailing super yacht. For us Kiwis calling a 75’5’ vessel, powered by twin 925hp Scania engines a tender is a bit of a stretch 🙂 but with the upcoming Americas Cup regatta we will be seeing a lot more of these beasts in and around the Hauraki Gulf.
Stargazer was launched in 2019, built by Claasen Shipyard and their sister yard Vitters Shipyard working with the navel architects – Hoek Design.
Built from aluminium, she has a beam of and draws 4’9”. The twin Scania engines give her a top speed of 25 knots, but most Stargazer cruises at 15 knots. But Barbara reports she easily pulls two water skiers.
Link below for construction details and photos.
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Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade – WW Best Boat Award

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Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade – WW Best Boat Award

The launch Ellen is owned by Helen and Grant Wallace. She measures 26’ and is based on a ‘Milkmaid’ Bailey & Lowe design.
Ellen falls into the ’spirit of tradition’ category, being built of strip plank cedar by Malcolm Sowman in 2006 from a ‘plug’ taken of an old abandoned hull found in Kopu.
A 29hp diesel with standard straight drive pushes her along effortlessly.
I crawled all over her and in my eyes she is perfect, with some very cool touches e.g. her gauges are mounted in a fold away ‘draw’ and the bow ladder is a work of art.
Grant – I hope you found the WW gift I left on board 🙂
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Goldandrina

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GOLDANDRINA

The 36’ launch Goldandrina popped up on fb late last year, all we know is she was built by Alan Orams in 1964. At the time, Lew Redwood commented about the appearance of slightly unusual clipper bow.
What more do we know about Goldandrina ?

REMEMBER WOODYS – IF YOUR LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO USE THE BOAT – COME ALONG TO TODAYS WAITANGI DAY WOODYS PICNIC AT WAIKALABUBU BAY, MOTUTAPU ISLAND – KICK OFF 1.30pm

9m Oregon Mast Free To Good Home
Off the 1901 year old Moerangi – original condition, but sound.
Any takers?
Woody Waitangi Picnic
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Pohuwai + Lakeside Woody Parade

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POHUWAI
The owner of Pohuwai, Danny Dalton, is 46 years old and has owned her for 29 years – I’ll save you the maths, he bought her when he was 17. That must have been like owning a Ford Mustang when you were still at high school.
The 1963, 17’ Mason Marlin has been a rolling-restoration over the 29 years, when purchased she had a 350ci Chevrolet V8 inboard and is currently on its 4th outboard.
Danny is keen to uncover any history on the boat, what he knows is – Pohuwai started life on Lake Taupo, her name has not changed since launched.
The boat resides on a custom trailer in it own shed in his home town and sadly does not get a lot of use as Danny currently resides in Australia. But he has set a target to be back for the North Island’s – 2021 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade.
Fingers crossed Danny has promised some photos of her when he purchased her.
2021 LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE – THIS SATURDAY – 8TH FEB
If you are a regular visitor to the WW site you will know that this woody event, held on the North Islands Lake Rotoiti is one of best on-the-water woody events in New Zealand. One of the really cool aspects of the parade is that the ‘public’ i.e. those without a boat – can view 100% of the parade from the banks of the lake at the Okere Falls Inlet. The fleet of 60+ woodys do a lap of a waterfront course, only 25m from the shore, complete with commentary.
The parade starts at 11am, but to secure a good spot for your rug / chairs, I would suggest you are on-site by 10>10.30am.
To see previous years parades, enter Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade in the WW search box.
WIN A 2020 Lake Rotoiti Classic Wooden Boat Calendar
The first 2 woodys to correctly answer the question below – will win a calendar.
If you miss out you can but them at  zea.rachel@gmail.com
$15 for one and $40 for three – + $7.50 p&p
NOTE: Entry is via email only – To waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Q: What year was the first parade? (Hint answer on their website) www.woodenboatparade.co.nz
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Ocean Angler

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OCEAN ANGLER
 
Chatting recently with Paul Pedersen the owner of the 42’ Ocean Angler and Pauls has asked for some help filling in the gaps in the boats past.
So, firstly – what we ‘know or have been told’.
Built c.1960 on the Panmure River, possibly a Lane (aren’t they all) or could have been built by a retired electrician, who then on sold her to the late Noel Maker. She appears to have spent a large chunk of her life in and around East Auckland. She also spent time in Kerikeri and the Clevedon River area.
Noel possibly had a partner in the boat, named Murray Forsythe and they may have used her as a dive charter boat. The current owner, Paul, bought her of a gent named Dan Monroe, who kept her at West Harbour, Dan only had her for a short time.
 
When Noel purchased her she had twin Ford 4cyl. engines in her, Noel swapped these for the 120hp’s she still has today.
She is of diagonal construction with three layers of plank kauri and has since had a layer of fiberglass cloth and resin added to the bottom to make her water tight with out caulking.
Paul and partner Jo Whiteman have owned Ocean Angler for approx. 10 years and her home port is Dove Bay, Kerikeri.
 
Each to their own but I’d lose the hot-house if she was mine 🙂 
 
So woodys can we digest the above and see if we can confirm / expand her history.
UPDATE 04-02-2020  – photos below from the ‘past’ 😉
 
THE WAITANGI DAY WOODY PICNIC IS SHAPING UP TO BE A GOODY – 18 BOATS CONFIRMED ALREADY
If you have not RSVP’ed – time to get off the couch and do it 🙂 email to address below. The venue is – Waikalabubu Bay, Motutapu Island.
waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Had a few woody yachts asking if they can join – of course, the more the merrier 🙂
Woody Waitangi Picnic
 
 
Any One Need / Want An Old Style Ford Engine Manual
Baden Pascoe sent these in, he thinks they are for the old style Trader type engine. Free to a good home.
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Astrolabe At Sea

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Astrolabe At Sea

Late last year we featured the stunning 51’ 7” Bruce Clark designed, John Salthouse 1974 built sloop Astrolabe and got to take a peek below. The WW link below will take you to the story – have look, she is a very impressive yacht that has done some serious blue water sailing.
Since then her owner has found the above photos of Astrolabe. The sailing ones were shot from a helicopter and the out-of-water / shed photo (below) was taken when her mast was being overhauled.
When the first story run on WW her owner was considering finding a new owner for her, after a Christmas break – the decision has been made – “sell her, but only to the right family”. So woodys – after a summer cruise or sitting on the beach looking at the boats anchored in the bay – who is considering either up grading their vessel or returning to the fold? Yachts like Astrolabe do not come on the market very often. Interested in a viewing? Initial contact to waitematawoodys@gmail.com.
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YESTERDAYS MAHURANGI REGATTA BROKE ALL RECORDS FOR WW VIEWING NUMBERS – OFF THE RICHTER SCALE AND BIG OFF SHORE INTEREST – THANKS FOR MAKING ALL THE HOURS OF EDITING WORTHWHILE 🙂
Graph below shows the last months daily viewing numbers & the scale of yesterdays performance (red column)  😉
Second image shows the viewing by country ranking – just can not crack the UK scene. FYI, a lot of the Asian readership comes from Kiwi ex-pats working overseas and super yacht crews. I sell a lot of WW t-shirts into this area.

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Mandingo

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MANDINGO
Chatting recently with Sam Douglas he mentioned he owned a Max Carter 18’ runabout that he was restoring, obviously I asked for details – below is Sam’s reply.
 
“Launched in 1959, Gerry Gowan commissioned Max Carter to design and build this 18 foot outboard runabout to his specification. As far as I can tell she is kauri framework, solid mahogany trim and mahogany ply. Sometime in the 1960’s she was fiber-glassed to the chine. She has had about 5 outboard changes in her life, starting with a 40hp Johnson and ending with her current 1970’s Mercury 800. It is believed she was the first one of her kind and possibly an extended version of some earlier, smaller Max Carter runabouts. There is believed to be one other boat later built to the same design but Mandingo is the original. She remained unnamed until sometime in the 1970’s when the OBC, where she was a member, required all boats to be named. At the time one of the family was reading the controversial novel ‘Mandingo’ and so somehow the name stuck. Used extensively for cruising and fishing the Hauraki gulf, often to Tiritiri and Rakino she later took up residence at the family bach at Rotoiti where she stayed until the late 1980’s when she was sold to a family friend in Turangi where she resided until early 2018 when I purchased her and brought her back to Auckland.  
 
She had been sitting unused in a shed for 15 years. Unfortunately at some point said shed sprung a leak, dripped down onto the deck and fresh water had left a tide line in her bilge. I bought her as a project site unseen and made the journey down to Turangi early one morning to collect her, not entirely sure whether she’d happily be coming back up with me. The trailer also hadn’t been moved in anger all this time but I was informed it had been driven a few hundred meters recently in order to have one tyre replaced (the other is still the original radial). Aside from the obvious downsides of fresh water and wood, what I did find on arrival was that the fresh water of the lakes where she’d resided for the latter part of her life had been very kind to the custom built trailer and the main outboard as well as the original 1950’s Seagull auxiliary looked in great condition and still turned over freely. The light board too plugged up and worked perfectly. So, with nothing to lose I nervously begun the journey home and with frequent stops to check such things as heat in the bearings and a lot of time spent looking in the mirrors to see if a wheel had yet fallen off, made it back to Auckland incredibly incident free that afternoon. (photo below)
 
She now resides less than a km from where she was originally built, in a shed in my backyard where I am trying to breath some new life into her (and learning a lot on the way!). I have now finished the hull and am working on the decks and interior. One of these days (a longer time after I had initially thought) I hope to re float her, use her extensively in the harbour again and reunite her with her 2 previous family custodians.”
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‘Old’ photos below of Mandingo ex the Gowan family, the 2 black and white water skiing ones are presumed early 1960’s when she had a 40hp Johnson and the colour one 1983, sporting her still current Mercury 800.  Sam believes all are from Lake Rotoiti (North Island).
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Update ex Sam Douglas

Ana Maree

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ANA MAREE

Just before Christmas I was contacted by Mark Skinner the owner of the launch – Ana Maree.
Mark sent in the above photos detailing the refit he did on her. Her home is Pine Harbour. Nice to see she got a top-chop, in my eyes 100% better looking 🙂
I do not know anymore about her but assume she is the same Ana Maree that appeared on WW back in November 2013, WW link below. Making her built in 1965 by Oliver & Gilpin and originally named Joanne.
There was a lot of chat re re provenance in the Comments section 🙂

Maharatia (Anita Bay / Te Repo Repo Relaunched

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MAHARATIA RELAUNCHED
 
Last week in the WW inbox up popped a note from Troy and Dave Searle the owners of the 1947 Roy Lidgard built – Maharatia, the subject line said “Maharatia (Anita Bay) Update”. Well woodys that was an understatement, I can report that Maharatia has been relaunched 🙂
Firstly excuse me while I rewind – back in August 2015 Paul Drake sent me a single b/w photo (c.1960’s) of a rather large woody on the back of a truck in Taupo. Paul commented that the launch was Te Repo Repo as she was named while operating commercially on the lake.
That single photo (below) ignited one of the biggest chat sessions on WW, there have been over 64 comments posted around the boats provenance.
I attempted to summarize it into one read, which you will find along with a great photo gallery of her past at the WW link below. Make sure you read the comments, start at the bottom 😉 
 
 
Now back to the the Searle’s email – I have reproduced it below – rather a big project – well done guys, amazing effort – email me your T-shirt sizes and I will gift you a couple of WW t-shirts. Hopefully in person at this weekends Mahurangi Regatta.
 
“Well finally after a 4 1/2 years restoration we have relaunched Maharatia.
Last Wednesday (8th Jan 2020) Boat Haulage safely transported her up to Dockland 5 in Whangarei from the boat shed at Omaha. 
She is now berthed in Marsden Cove Marina
Colin Brown, Josh Hawke and owner Dave Searle have worked hard to help bring her back to a very solid representation of her former glory.
Just a brief overview of the restoration work
– Replaced 23 frames in hull
– Replaced garboard plank
– Replaced all keel bolts
– Replaced all through hull skin fittings
– Re-corked hull
– Replaced worm shoe
– Rebuilt shaft logs
– Rebuilt rudder logs
– New diesel tanks 
– Motors (2 x 6LX Gardner) rebuilt by Shaw diesels Ltd
– Replaced all fuel systems, lines and filters.
– Complete rehire and re-plumbed.
– All new toughened glass windows
– New dash panel, gauges and instruments
– New Interior, saloon and galley
– Raised and built new roof to increase headroom by 80mm
– New shower/head room built in.
– New capping on rail
– New exhaust system
– All porthole windows removed, new glass and seals fitted.
– 2 new hatches made. Fwd cabin and roof top.
– New anchor winch
– Aft deck, seating and storage compartments made and hatch to lazarette installed.
 …and Lastly a full repaint.
 
Looking forward to spending our summer on the water this year! 
We hope to be at the Mahurangi regatta In a few weeks time and catching up with other woody enthusiasts.”
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Marlin 17 Rescued

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Marlin 17 Rescued

Have been contacted recently by Keith Bradley concerning a Marlin 17 that he rescued from the chainsaw. The previous owner was about to cut the hull in half and mount it on the wall of the fish and chip shop in Nelson……… 😦

In steps Keith and the woody run-a-about is now 1/2 way thru a re-fit.
When Keith acquired her she had a large crack in the bow, that with help (verbal) from a local boat builder Kieth has addressed.
The project is actually more of a custom re-build than a restoration to as built, but rest easy – she will look a picture when completed.
Keith has set himself a target to have her back in the water for the Lake Rotoiti (Nelson Lakes) classic boat show at St. Arnaud this year, so he better get a move on 🙂
Keith would love to hear from any other Marlin 17 owners to swap notes re his and their boats.
The photo below of Keith’s shed shows an impressive collection of deer antlers  – must be a very good shot 🙂
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