Back in May 2020 the launch Caravel made an appearance on WW (link below) thanks to Dean Wright. At the time we new nothing about her and only covered that she was built in Picton approx 20 years ago. Built of wood, possibly strip planked, but using an unusual timber – poplar? https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/05/20/caravel-och-video/
Approximately 10 years ago Southern Ocean Marine in Tauranga did a ’number on her’ to address a leak issue – they re-skinned the hull with double diagonal NZ kauri, sheathed in glass. The boat builder, Alan Craig commented that she was now built like a brick out-house. In the photos above of Caravel, taken by Douglas Owens, we see her recently hauled out at Tauranga for some TLC.
WW would still like to know more about Caravel, so if anyone knows the owners – would you give them a gentle nudge and ask that they share some background on this rather appealing woody.
Back in February 2020 a friend was cruising the streets on Auckland’s North Shore (he is allowed to – drives a car with a strip of lights on the roof) when he spotted the woody launch – Avalon, resting on a residential properties lawn. Turns out the 80+ year old owner has owned Avalon all her life – you can read and see more at the link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/02/17/mystery-sam-ford-launch/
Fast forward nearly two years and it turns out that the launches owner , Marjorie Mumme is Tobias Forsyth’s grandmother. Tobias owns MV Callisto and his Dad, Iain Forsyth has MV Meola. Tobias being a good grandson has stepped up to the mark and taken on the restoration of Avalon. To quote Tobias – no rush, first step = put her in a shed, the fear was she would end up as a garden sleep-out. Avalon was designed and built in 1954 by Sam Ford and is a one owner boat (Lloyd and Marjorie Mumme) , in fact still has the original Morris Navigator petrol engine. When launch she was 24’ but has 2’ added to the stern soon after.These days health & safety would lock you up for transporting a boat like we see on the truck above. The video was filmed by Tobias.
30-11-2021 INPUT FROM Carol Forsyth (nee Mumme) From birth to bikinis and boyfriends, my sisters and I grew up on Avalon. Motuihe, Browns Island, Islington Bay, Waiheke, Coromandel and Kawau was our playground and oh the stories that boat could tell! Dad loved Avalon as much as we did and when he passed on Mum took over Dad’s loving care. Now that Mum has finally handed over Avalon to my son Tobias and his family we look forward to seeing her in the water again.The black and white image of Avalon under sail was taken off Kauri Point and I would assume Dad had the Morris Navigator ticking over, but maybe she was under sail only.
HELP NEEDED – Tobias would like to find out more about the petrol Morris Navigator in Avalon. He is looking for any one that may have spares or have had a lot to do with them in the past but any info or spare parts would be greatly appreciated as he would love to keep the original engine but it must be reliable. Mainly if there are some Morris car guys that know if this engine is just a marinised version of a car engine of some vintage possibly? I can email better copies of the above photos if that would help.
I like the sail set-up – very salty, if I put that on Raindance, I might qualify to be one of the chosen ones to berth at Chad Thompson’s yacht only, new 40 berth Heritage Basin at the Viaduct 🙂
12-11-2024 UPDATE – photo ex John Dawson. Sames owner Tobias is doing some soul searching re what the replacement cabin top could / will look like – older below, and considerations below that.
Haunui Restoration Update #3 Almost 6 months has passed since I poked my nose and camera (I was invited) into Paul Tingey’s shed to view the progress on the 1948 Colin Wild built woody – Haunui.The links below will take you back to the two previous visits https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/11/13/haunui-restoration/
Given all the constraints of CV-19, the countless lock-downs, supplier closures etc – Paul Tingey has made amazing progress on the project. A high % of the work done in the last 6 months has involved rebuilding and adding additional strength to the original design / build. Even my untrained eye could see how more resolute the vessel was.
We also got a peek at the twin new engine installations – the main ‘Deutz ‘ engine and the trolling / backup electric side engine.
Yesterdays WW T-shirt winner was Ronald Walton, with his emailed entry – “Todays boat at Milford Sound is the sister ship to Miss Picton and it is a Donald Sutherland photo taken c.1935 I have seen this before down at Milford from an old Museum at the road to the Holyford Track. The museum was burnt out with a loss of lots of old photos.”
While mooching around the yard at Hobsonville Marina today I spotted the launch – Oranoa out for some TLC. We do not see her out and about much and WW only knows a little from her very early days.
Chris McMullen commented on a previous WW story that during the first few years of this apprenticeship to boat builder Morrie Palmer at 15 Clarence St Devonport, he worked under Morrie and Cal Crooks. As Chris said back then boat building was a competitive cut throat business. At the Devonport yard at least five major builds took place Cara Mia, Lady Ethel, Venture, Oranoa and the Stewart 34 Phoenician. All that, along with repair and insurance work all done, by three people (average) in just over two and a half years. Most owners finished their boat off but Oranoa was the exception and largely complete and later launched from Devonport wharf c.1962/63.
Oranoa was built for the Lineham family and as of 2015, was still owned by the family. Can you learn a little more at Oranoa eg length, propulsion etc.
Also hauled was a nice selection of other woodys – see below. Lady Ruby is a very salty looking motorsailer, the double-ender launch I think hails from Bayswater and has grazed WW before but her name alludes me. The sedan / flybridge launch I suspect has a few too many sheets of plywood for my eyes. The classic yacht waiting her turn to be relaunched ? – very pretty.
Saturdays Quiz – ID The Launch – No winners. And we still do not know the boat.
A little bit of a flash back today – in the above gallery we have a mixture of photos which show the yard in several stages e.g. the top two are of what might be a working bee at the club to build the slipway. And another showing the completed yard and ‘workers’ standing around. Not sure about the ‘paddock’ photo, maybe someone can enlighten us on a possible date for this.The photos come to use from the Parsonson family collection via Mitchell Hutchings and are dated 1948.
WIN A WW T-SHIRT
If you think you know the identity of the launch hauled out in the 3rd photo – email your answer to the address below and go in the draw to win a WW t-shirt. Entries close 8pm 20-11-21
Todays all about on vintage outboard engines – mooching around a boat shed yesterday I spotted this wee gem – aside from being such a cool piece of engineering, the first thing that hits you is how light it is – compared to the Yamaha 3hp alongside, it was a less than a 1/4 the weight – how does that work?
So the question today is can we ID the model and year – we must have some o/b nutters amongst us.
UPDATE (A) 21-11-21 Mark Jack advised the model of the engine is a MATE, refer photo below, and rated at 1/2 hp and built in 1939, they were also marketed as the more basic Elto. Renown as one of the must frustrating engines ever made, smooth and sophisticated when it ran but it frequently didn’t. The engines are relatively lightly built intended for fresh water use.
UPDATE (B) 21-11-21 Chris McMullen sent in the photos below of the engine and a page from the Popular Mechanics magazine, the shows the intended usage – as a canoe engine.
Second half of the storytoday – a few months ago I did a plug on WW for the small hydro-plane Miss Wahoo , it was snapped up by Keith Munro and she has already been given a spot in the man shed, see photos below – Keith is now on the lookout for a 15 hp motor of 1950 > 1960 vintage – an Evinrude or Johnson would be the 1st picks – any one able to help out?
Today we get to take a gander at the stunning work that Tom Rundle has been undertaking on his classic launch – Hami, previously named Wanda II. Wanda II was built in 1948 by the Lane Motor Boat Company, and as launched she was 38’6”. Tom purchased Hami off Chris Horsey, brother of Steve Horsley of SY Ngatira fame. View photos from then at link below: https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/11/25/wanda-ii/
Under Tom’s watch Hami has had a major refurbishment with all the latest bells and whistles added, but very cleverly tucked away out of sight. Power comes from twin BMC Commodore 55hp diesel engines. You can view the early days of the project here: https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/11/12/wanda-ii-refurbishment/
In Tom’s words “the exterior is fairly under control, its now back to teak comings and decks glassed. New hatches bar the original butterfly hatch which was saveable, and gradually changing out the old windows. Cockpit still to top coat and a few touch ups. Systems are on track- all new electrical, plumbing, steering and tankage. The interior is about 80%, still some lining and finishing, but usable for summer.”
Chatting with Tom he was very complementary to the help and guidance given to him by boat builder Geoff Bagnall and Curly Salthouse, Tom says he even followed some of the advice 🙂 The fold away dinghy davit is by Larry Randell of Randell Stainless and a work of art.
Tom has very high standards so I had to lean on him to get the above photos, once Hami is finished we will go back for a A > Z story on the project.
Today’s classic photo comes to us from Lew Redwood (via Ken Ricketts) and is of the yacht Mizpah, seen here off Leigh. The two crew are – Earnie & Ted Torkington.
15-11-2021 Harold Kidd Input – This MIZPAH is the Logan Bros yacht built in November 1895 for A.L. Wilson of the NZ Herald as a centreboard 2 1/2 rater.
FREE TO A GOOD (or bad) HOME I’m told the yacht below is/was an 18’ racing skiff, project came to a halt several years ago – comes with the trailer. Maybe not 100% free – a few cartons of beer and the boat and trailer are yours. Auckland based.MUST BE PICKED UP IN 6 DAYS EMAIL waitematawoodys@gmail.com if interested
Back in October 2019 Nathan Herbert shared with us the b/w photo above of the launch – La Paloma, at the time we were unable to uncover more about the launch.
Then as WW is so good at – we fast forward to earlier in the week and Alistair McRae owner of Lady Margaret (Happy Wander / Lady Mary) from Whangarei lets us know they had just hauled La Paloma out at the Port Whangarei Marine Centre yard. Alistair commented that La Paloma has been owned by Alan Scott for many years and kept in a boat shed at Kissing Point, Whangarei.
Would love to know more about the launch and when the obelisk was added.
Recently the boys at The Slipway Milford ‘moved-on’ one of their semi permanent woodys – Lonestar, a 28’ woody that had its hand up for saving for lengthy period. Sadly covered boat shed space comes at a premium and commercial reality set in – so Cam and Jason loaded Lonestar up and took her to an off the beaten track woody boat park. Lonestar will not be lonely, there is small flotilla of craft being worked on or repurposed.The selection of photos ex Jason Prew will either make you happy or sad – my view – they have been saved from the back-hoe > box of matches, so who knows there is always a chance someone will step up to the plate 🙂 Check out WW tomorrow for a hero > zero woody story.
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