Todays vintage woody recently popped up on tme with a $1 reserve (thanks Ian McDonald).
Now hush my mouth but the chrome fittings would be worth buying her for. But there’s the bones of a nice lake boat there – 20’ in length, made from mahogany , stored under cover its whole life. Designer / builder unknown.
OFF CENTER HARBOR WEBSITE
Regular WW readers will be familiar with the USA based website – Off Center Harbour, but if you aren’t already a member I would encourage you to subscribe.
A day wouldn’t go by when I do not log in to view one off the 600+ video’s from the back library – for advice, inspiration of just entertainment.
When I first sighted todays 16’, 1961 built clinker run-about I was a little startled and my first thoughts were had she started life as a project boat at a boatbuilding school were every skill / feature was explored. But as they say – beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and if you pay the bills you can do what ever you want 😉
And she was awarded the top prize at the 2018 NZ Antique and Classic boat show at Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes. So she appeals to them southern folks 🙂
What we know about BEATTIEFUL is she was designed and built in 1961 by Jim Beattie, a kiwi boat builder based in Blenheim, and then in the mid 2000’s she was restored in Blenheim by Wayne Foley of Blenheim. Power is via a 60hp Yamaha outboard.I understand the boat changed hands at the 2026 Nelson Lakes boat show, so nice that she remain ‘local’ and presumably lake based.
During the week WW was contacted by Jeff Giddens concerning the classic wooden launch – MALUA. Jeff tells her story below –
“We have sort of acquired the above named vessel “Malua”. At this stage make and builder unknown.Story goes……there was a brand new 65 Volvo marine diesel engine fitted in the boat some 25 years ago, it did very few hours, then was put into a slipway cradle and has been on the slipway ever since (approx. 17 years).
Someone may know some history on this vessel. We would love to see this old girl be restored, hull is 98% sound, but unfortunately the decks and cabin sides need work. Be nice to know there is someone out there that wants her. Not free but her price will reflect the buyers commitment to restoring her.”
What we know – approx. 26’-28′ in length and very beamy for her length. Constructed from single skin, most likely kauri planking. 25+ years ago, she was on a swing mooring in Ivy Bay, Paremata, Pāuatahanui Inlet, then she went to Tauranga, then came back to Ivy Bay, Paremata, and has been on the slipway cradle ever since.
From the photos we see that her cradle sits above the water at high tide so this should have helped reduce the ‘drying out’ effect over the years.
If you have room and the passion for a classic wooden launch like MALUA in your life – initially contact Jeff at j.giddens@xtra.co.nz
And it saddens me to add that if we can’t find a new owner, she will face an appointment with a back-hoe…… 😢
AUCKLAND’S 2026 WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Show Tour Part #1
Currently underway down on Auckland’s waterfront is the 2026 Auckland wooden boat festival. The event kicked off late Friday afternoon and runs through until 5pm Sunday.
I dropped down on Friday hoping to grab a few photos before the predicted weather turned sour. Thankfully we were treated to a few welcome bursts of sunshine, which made for some great viewing and photography. As it turns out, today (Sunday) is shaping up as the best day to get along and soak it all in.
Today’s woody story focuses on the undercover displays and surrounding shore-side areas. Tomorrow we’ll bring you Part #2 — a full dockside walk-through featuring the boats afloat.
The festival is a visually stunning showcase, with around 80+ classic woodencraft on display along the docks. In an era where most marinas are locked away from the public 24/7, events like this provide a rare opportunity to get up close to these beautiful wooden boats and chat with the passionate owners and crews who keep them alive.
Pulling together an event of this scale doesn’t happen by accident. It takes hundreds of volunteers, organisers, exhibitors and supporters working behind the scenes to make it all happen.
Hats off to everyone involved — it’s a fantastic celebration of our wooden boating heritage.
If you’ve got even a hint of salt in your veins, make your way down to Auckland’s Viaduct (Jellicoe Harbour) this weekend for the Auckland wooden boat festival.
The festival is a true celebration of everything that makes the classic wooden boat community special.
Expect a visual spectacle of beautifully crafted wooden boats both afloat and on display ashore, alongside undercover exhibitions and a series of engaging talks and seminars from people who live and breathe wooden boats.
From elegant launches and yachts to working classics, it’s a weekend that showcases the craftsmanship, heritage, and camaraderie that define the woody boat world.
Regular WW readers will be familiar with my frustration around the plight of the Vos Boat Yard on Aucklands waterfront, well I’m pleased to advice that its now once again a working boatyard and home to the NZ Traditional Boatbuilding School. To celebrate the yard will be open to the public during this weekends Auckland wooden boat festival and the team from NZTBS will give visitors the chance to see traditional clinker construction and repair skills up close, demonstrating a live build of a kauri clinker Frostbite dinghy in the shed. DETAILS: Saturday, 14 and Sunday, 15 March, 10am-5pm Percy Vos Boat Yard, 34 Hamer Street Wynyard Quarter Auckland CBD Free entry. Find out more at: https://www.maritimemuseum.co.nz/events/percy-vos-boat-shed-open-day
Last week WW was contacted by Graeme Carr concerning a launch named – NAOMI, now back in the day that was a popular name and it pops up several times in the WW archives. In Graeme’s opening correspondence he referred to the launch as NAOMI II, but subsequently came to the view that this name came from his sighting the tender that was being used with the boat when afloat was labeled the NAOMI II. But the likelihood is that the main boat was just named NAOMI and the tender was named NAOMI II, as is the often the case.
Graeme commented that he first encountered NAOMI when it was on the hard located at Daimond Harbour, quite a ways from the sea and in a somewhat sad state, refer photos one and two above (dated c.1995/6). His intention was to buy the boat and relaunch. There were many conversations with the young owner but no deal as he wished to keep it. Graeme lost touch with it after that only to find that he had planted the seed of its sale and that the owner had sold it to an older gentleman who had repaired and re-floated it.
Graeme later (2015) came upon it again moored at Cass Bay close to Lyttelton. Refer bottom photo.
Can we learn more about NAOMI, Graeme is aware that there were sister ships built but unfortunately all records were lost in a fire at the boat builders (Bailey Bros.).
LAST WEEKEND AUCKLAND’s CLASSIC YACHTING ENTHUSIAST’S HELD THEIR ANNUAL REGATTA – woody John Dawson sent in a link to a brilliant you tube video filmed and edited by Roger Mills that showcases some of the cities best classic yachts. Enjoy
Recently, woody Angus Rogers sent in the top photos of HOTSPUR , a recently restored 24’ Mason Clipper that calls the Outdoor Boating Centre (OBC) in Auckland home.
Angus pointed her owner – Fraser Elder in the direction WW and Fraser sent in the gallery of photos of HOTSPUR.
This wasn’t a fast project, in fact Fraser commented that from start to finish it was 9 years, fitting it between work and family commitments.
Some background – HOTSPUR was built c.1968/1969 and during the restoration, several bits of the timber in the boat were numbered (as in the photo with H15 on the inside of the instrument panel) and they are numbered H15, H16 and H17. Fraser reinstalled these parts to keep the numbers in the boat. Puzzled about the presence of three numbers, Fraser spoke to Anne Mason about this, and was told ‘Oh that’s to be expected, we built the boats in threes’, so there was always an amount of cross pollination between the boats.
HOTSPUR was built with a fibreglass hull, after the first tranche of builds with a timber hull, but there is a lot of mahogany in her. During the restoration Fraser needed to replace a high percentage of that timber, using sapele, as real mahogany is no longer allowed to be sold because of the CITES agreement.
Before the restoration, she had a BMW D150 (around 140HP) diesel engine. However, this had several parts that were too corroded or rusted too be used and very hard, or impossible to replace because of the age of the engine. So Fraser installed the BMW D190 (around 180HP) that he had purchased along with the boat. It was also newer and had, he was told had been rebuilt, although this is later questioned. It is this engine that you see running in the boat after he had figured out the few issues he had getting the engine started.
The restoration was mainly completed around August 2022 after nine years but as with any of these restorations, there are still (mainly small) tasks to do, and things that Fraser will eventually get around to, including replacing some of the work he did in the early days, as he says he is now more skilled 🙂 and more knowledgeable about some the techniques to use.
Todays woody popped up on tme late last year (thanks Ian McDonald), at the time the starting bid was $300, sadly it didn’t sell.
What we learnt was she was 18’ in length, built from kauri carvel planking, and there was a Lees Marine Ford engine in her. Her fittings must have been worth the asking price, but the location – Maungaturoto, Northland, would have put people off + no trailer in the sale.
Anyone know more about the launch and what became of her.
One of my Gulf Harbour spies sent in todays photo of the launch – ECHO, he spotted her late last year hauled out at the Gulf Harbour Marina in Auckland.
Now hopefully I’m right in saying its a woody, could be ply/f-glass or even worse pure white plastic…….
Her size lets her get away with the flying bridge and sun shade. Smart looking craft.
Can we learn more about ECHO.
INPUT ex ANGUS ROGERS – photos below taken during her pervious owners period.
28-02-2026 INPUT ex ALAN SEXTON – ARTICLE BELOW EX SEA SPRAY MAGAZINE MAY 19991
UPCOMING AUCKLAND ON-THE-WATER BOAT SHOW – 5>8 MARCH If your looking for classic wooden boats you will looking for a long time but if you need a new – tender, outboard, safety gear, bbq, electronics, VHF etc – this is the boat show for you. Personally I always seem to find something I didn’t know I needed for the boat 🙂 Its a very professional run show and a great opportunity to see the latest and greatest marine related goods – just do not buy a white plastic boat 🙂
During the second half of 2025 Sven Wiig was undertaking in Wellington a major refit on the ex work boat ARIANA , previously named GLENROWAN and TE KAWAU. WW covered the project in three parts – links below. Last week Sven updated WW on the final push to getting her back in the water.. As we learnt previously Sven has reverted back to the original name – TE KAWAU, we like that 🙂
As previously I will hand over to Sven to tell the story. Enjoy – its a great read.
“Time for an update on the Te Kawau project. Winter had me up in Auckland with work. Returning to Wellington in the early spring I got back into the project with fresh energy. First up was the wheelhouse sole. I built a new structure and cut out hardwood ply to line it. Pretty basic but a vast improvement on what had been there. The small cabin I had created out of the old fish hold got the same treatment.
Time to move outside. First up I fitted a hardwood seat to the stern. This was a request from Jessica. She has visions of lunches out on the rear deck.
With these projects out of the way and summer rapidly approaching it was time to get started on the hull.
I started scraping the old antifoul off. Two or three days passed and I had less than a third of the starboard side stripped. Was definitely going to need to find a more efficient process. I experimented with a heat gun and various sanders no luck the old paint was rock solid. Eventually I settled on burning the paint off with a LPG torch. Much more efficient but slightly terrifying. In the space of a couple of weeks I had the whole hull back to bare timber. I raked all the seams out discovering that the whole garboard had previously been filled with mortar. Apparently, this was quite common on old work boats. It had however really damaged the edges of the seam. I decided that it needed some repair and most of it was tidied up and I glued Kauri splines onto the plank edge. There were several other areas that needed a similar treatment. I also removed all the old skin fittings and through-hulls. All seams were given a coat of red lead paint.
I then got a lesson in caulking from one of the old boat builders who is often around the yard. With this new knowledge I set about re-caulking the boat. This is a task that I had been dreading as it had seemed like a dark art, with people warning me it was hard. As it turns out I quickly got a feel for it and fortunately my brother arrived for his summer visit just in time to finish the caulking and get the seams puttied. The putty proved to be much harder work than the caulking. As my boat builder friend advised me “If your hands aren’t aching at the end of the day you are doing it wrong.” A couple of weeks later I had the first coats of primer on and Te Kawau was looking better than she had in a long time.
The race was now on to get her in the water before my next work project started. The systems all needed sorting out. I spent a couple of weeks plumbing the new tanks sorting out wiring, installing a new hydraulic steering system, etc, etc. Antifouling and propspeed were applied and finally she was ready for launch. Couldn’t quite believe that I had got to this point. There were plenty of times along the journey that I thought she was never going back it the water. One fine Sunday in early February with little drama she was put back in the water. I was expecting that she would have water gushing in but as it turns out the water ingress was not too dramatic and slowly she is taking up.
There is still plenty to do. The interior has to go back in and both sleeping cabins will need fitting out but in the mean time we can get out and enjoy her.
PAIHIA – BAY of ISLAND – PLEASANTLY SURPRISED I haven’t been to Paihia in a very long time, like 35+ years, tend to dodge it when driving north + I do not have good memories having nearly bleed out in an encounter between a plate glass door and an artery. We traveled north to perform babysitting duties while daughter was doing bridesmaid duties at a wedding. While still a tab OTT touristy / Rotovegas, I was impressed. Won’t bore you with too much but Sunday breakfast at Zane Grey’s, over the water was very good on all fronts – location, setting, service, food and price. Only spotted one woody at anchor.
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