Category Archives: A Peek Down Below

PIKO – A peek down below

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PIKO – A peek down below
Piko was built in 1924 by Collings & Bell and is 28’ in length, with a 6’ beam and she draws 2’.
Power is from a 2002, 18hp Volvo diesel.
Her current home is on Lake Rotoiti (Nth Is.) She has made numerous appearances on WW before as part of the annual Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Parade.
She has just popped up on trademe with a very realistic price of $15k, needs some TLC to the interior but nothing most of us couldn’t do.
Interested in hearing more about her past life i.e. has she always been on the lake and if not where has she been over the years.
Harold Kidd Input – PIKO was built in Parnell in September 1927, designed by and built under the supervision of H.N. Burgess, formerly boatbuilding in Judges Bay. Her first owner was J Bates. She had a Briscoe heavy duty engine. Bates kept her at Judges Bay. Not Collings & Bell.

Murray Deeble Input – She was on a mooring off Akarana prior to being transported to Tauranga/Rotoiti in the early 90’s

Diana White

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DIANA WHITE

Today’s woody story is a tad out there – we have a 38’ ex lifeboat looking for a new home. Well to be honest we are really looking for a woody with a big shed and lots of vision. Owner John Fairburn wrote to me saying he had too many projects on the go and needed to find a new home. I’ll let John tell you in his words:

“Diana White has crossed the Manukau Bar in extreme conditions without a worry and travelled at sea when no-one else was, is now for sale. It had always been a slipway boat until it’s 1st private owner previous to me took it over and the huge anodes that earthed the SSB radio brought on a softening of timber through electrolysis around bronze, stainless and galv steel plus alloy cabin.

A lifeboat has many compartments held together with many bolts and special bronze and galvanised steel framework that had begun to rust in a few spots, so it took a bit to get back to bare hull to work on any soft stuff, and then I was going to use epoxied timber to rebuild. It’s a double ender 37’6″ x 12’0″ x 3’6″ with 2 x 23″ propellers in tunnels and weighed 13 tons. 

I was going to re-power and fit twin rudders so sold the 2 D series Fords that returned a litre per nautical mile at sea. At the moment it’s a bare hull so easier to survey (tap hull for soft timber) and is much reduced in weight and therefore easier to transport. I was in process selling props / shafts / stern-tubes / stuffing boxes and couplings, rudder, stainless bow rails and alloy swing down mast with radar reflector and 2 x stainless fuel tanks and the guy across road wants to turn hull into a house/cabin but a local Katikati boat owner reminded me of Waitemata Woodys, so if someone wants to pay me $3000 they can have the lot complete with RNLI drawings (1 inch to the foot) so they can plan their finished project.

I’ve still got a big oak tiller that has bronze end fitting that clicks into bronze shoe for manual steering and a special cutting tool to clear propellers through tunnel access ports.”

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Hinewai – A peek down below

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HINEWAI  –  A Peek Down Below
Thanks to Ian McDonald giving me the heads up on Hinewai’s trademe listing, we all get to see what this very salty trawler style woody looks like down below.
Designed by Roger Carey, she was built by John Gander in 1968 – measures 39’, with a beam of 14’9″ and draws 4’11”.
You can read and view more about Hinewai at the March 2015 WW story – link below

https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/03/28/hinewai/

Katoa

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KATOA
Built in 1988, Katoa fits in with my definition of a spirit of tradition launch + being built designed and built by Geoff Bagnall, it was always going to get my tick for a WW story.
Geoff B is one of the few modern day boatbuilders that can incorporate a flying bridge that looks ok to the eye (my eye at least).
Katoa measures 37.7’, is built from 2 skin kauri glassed and powered by a 130hp Lees Ford diesel.
Thanks to Ian McDonald for the heads up on the trademe listing.

Awana – A peak down below

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AWANA – A Peak Down Below
Awana has made a brief appearance on WW back in 2014, but now thanks to her trademe listing we get to have a better look at her.
Built by Brin Wilson in 1967, carvel planked kauri, she measures 35.5’ in length with a  11.8’ beam and draws 4’. There is an impressive 6’4” of headroom and she sleeps 5.
Power is via a 120hp Ford diesel. If you are a regular follower of this site you will know that Brin Wilson was a very good craftsman and a quick glance at the photos above tells you that Awana is one of his best builds.
During the current owners 5 years of ownership they have commissioned a lot of work and an impressive list of maintenance. They have been very upfront stating that in the near future she will need a hull repaint and some TLC to the cabin top hatches + a re-varnish inside – but woodys if the hull is sound and the motor good – that work is nothing,
Her owners are selling due to relocation and woodys on face value I think this is the buy of the year – I do not normally include prices but in this case I have. – the asking price is $26,500. I predict it will be sold by the end of the week.
Previous WW story – read the comments section – lots of chat.

Koura

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KOURA
The launch Koura was on trademe earlier this year – she measures 24’and was built by Ford (Sam Ford?) at Ellerslie in the 1930’s. 
Powered by a recently refurbished  30 hp Yanmar 3 cylinder diesel engine. 
From the above photos she appears to a well presented woody.
 
Do we know anymore about her past & whether she sold and if so where is she now?

Castaway (Islander)

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CASTAWAY (Islander)
Castaway was built in 1947 by boat builder Dick Lang as his own boat. A bridge-decker she is 33’ in length, has a 10’ beam and draws 3’.
Over the years there have been several engines (Chrysler Crown > Fordson 6cyl,100hp), these days her power is via a 1984 65hp Mitsubishi diesel (marinised by Chris Moon) that sees her comfortably cruising at 7 knots with a top speed of 8.5.
As launched Castaway was named ‘Islander’ but this was changed c1973 to Castaway. I recall there was an interesting tale around this, along the lines of the word Islander not being very PC 🙂
In the period 1985>1989 she underwent an extensive re-fit that included the hull being re-fastened and a new oak timber interior.
Castaway has been owned for the last 20 years by well known woody – Chris Leech, and cruised extensively from the Bay of Islands to Coromandel and Great Barrier Island. Castaway is now on the market following a ‘consolidation’ of the Leech families fleet. She is a very well equipped classic woody and with her 10’ beam very live-able.
You can read more on her past here.

Lady Ellen Restoration June ’19 Update

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LADY ELLEN RESTORATION UPDATE – JUNE 2019

Just received the above photos and story below from Bruce Mitchinson, as before, I’ll let Bruce talk you thru the report.
“Over the weekend we cleared out the boatbuilders shed ready to lay out the plywood cores for the cabin coamings, which are to be clad in Iroko inside and out.

This is the last of the major woodworking, apart from the engine box and associated trim and accessories, and fitting the coamings back on the boat.
Galley is complete ready to go in after the interior paint job.
Below deck the cabin woodwork is done and ready for paint, which is all white, with varnish door frames and jambs.

Unfortunately our painter has a hand injury so we are on the lookout for a new painter at the moment. 

We also lost our engineer, Ken Jaspers, who looked after our engine through its recondition, sourced all the new parts and running gear, and had things primed ready for assembly and paint.
Ken battled bone marrow cancer for the last year and was still working on our job up to a week before he checked out.
There will be a plaque for Ken, ‘Engineer to Lady Ellen’ that will go on the bulkhead in the engine bay. 
The trailer and engine which became a feature in Ken and Eileen’s driveway for over a year, is now up in the boatyard, ready for Brian to finish the assembly.
All the finished parts are stacked in the shower cubicle in the shed, ready to bolt on.
 
Still a lot of work to do, but it looks like a boat now.”

Owen Woolley 45’ Launch – Aries

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Owen Woolley 45’ Launch – Aries
This Owen Woolley is currently on trademe but given the lack of photos of the exterior, you would have to wonder how serious the broker is in selling her 🙂
What we know is that she was built in 1957, is 45’ in length, with a beam of 14’ and draws 3’3”. The propulsion comes from twin Ford 120hp diesels, pushing her along at 8>10 knots.
Her 14’ beam makes her a very roomy old girl, so with some TLC you could have a very liveable woody to enjoy. But as always – best to get a survey. Broker comments she would make an excellent live aboard, which she would.
So woodys who can put  name to her? Thanks to Mark McLaughlin we now know she is called Aries
Input from Harold Kidd – ARIES was built by Owen Woolley in 1957 for E.C. Carter and was originally fitted with twin Commer diesels of 105hp. By 1959 she was owned by W.A. (Max) Burnett of Arney Road, and by 1964 had twin 100hp 6 cylinder Chrysler Crowns of 1943 vintage.

REPORT EX STEVE BURRETT THAT CORRECTS SOME OF THE ‘BOATS CLAIMS AT THIS WW LINK https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/10/22/aries-4/

Ngaru

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NGARU
Ngaru’s trademe listing (thanks Ian McDonald) states that she is an old Sounds launch that made her way across Cook Strait to Wellington 20 years ago.
She has had the same owner for most of that time, but changed hands 18 months ago. During this period her current owner has undertaken a lot of system upgrades and caught up on her maintenance. Changing circumstances are the reason for the sale.
Ngaru is 27’ in length and powered by a Nissan LD20 diesel, that’s sees her cruising at 6 knots.
With some TLC Ngaru would make a perfect boat to enjoy Wellington Harbour and beyond.
Does any of the Southern woodys know more about her past?