Category Archives: Designers & Builders

Lola – NZ37 + Easterly – Picnic Boat

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LOLA – NZ37 + EASTERLY – PICNIC BOAT

Todays story comes to us from retired boat builder Allan Hooper, just back from an extended trip to visit family the USA (Carlsbad just north of San Diego). I’ll let Allan tell the story :-

Prior to leaving I made contact with Morgan Spriggs the current owner of Lola, an NZ37. Lola was built at Jim Young’s NZ Yachts in 1969-70 while I was the foreman. 

I was very keen to see the boat after all these years. Morgan has spent  a lot of time restoring Lola and she looks as good as the date she left the factory apart from a few alterations and replacements. Morgan was excited to meet me and be able to talk about the build of the boat.

The hull construction is 4 skins of 1/4’” Kauri cold moulded with all of the back bone, floors, transom and bulkhead boundarys set in the mould. The hull was sheathed in Epoxy and glass. After the hull was taken off the mould the bulkheads and the interior were put in place and gunwales fitted.

The cabin,  cockpit and decks were built on a separate mould complete with paint work, glazing and hardware. Then in an operation taking only a couple of hours, was lifted and placed on the hull, located over the bulkheads, glued and fastened down.

The techniques developed to build these yachts enabled a NZ37 to be built from start to finish in 4 weeks.

Read and view more on Lola here https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lola-55-year-old-kiwi-sloop-finds-home-san-diego/

Morgan‘s father Robert owns a beautiful picnic boat, Easterly (photos below), an ex  Maine lobster boat on which we toured the San Diego bay.

It was used by Denis Connor is a chase boat when he was sailing in the Americas cup. Robert Spriggs has owns the boat for 22 years and it is in as new condition, you could have eaten your lunch of the engine or engine room floor.

The teak cockpit sole is the best laid teak I have ever seen, the timber selected is absolutely perfect, as was the whole boat.

The waterfront at downtown San Diego has a beautiful collection of maritime exhibits including a sailing immigrant ship the “Star of India” which was a regular visitor to New Zealand in the 1800s, once a year it is taken out for a sail.

Further along the waterfront is the USS Midway launched in 1945, she was finally laid up in the 1990s. If you’ve never been on an aircraft carrier it’s well worth a visit. 3.5 acres of 3 inch thick steel makes up the flight deck. It is an interesting harbour to visit and extremely busy as it is alongside the international airport, a military airport, a naval base, several marinas and the city. When you go out on the bay you see it and hear it all.

The Younger Generation – Australian Wooden Boat Festival Film

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The Younger Generation

Our friends across the ditch in Tasmania that pull together the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, commission some wonderful short films that provide an insight into the people and vessels that help make the AWBF so special.

We have featured several in the past and todays one is just such a cool, warm, feel good story. We meet Matt and Iefke – a young couple that were drawn together by a shared passion for wooden boats and are now building the boat of their dreams – Tarkine. 

Both Matt and Iefke take us on the journey of how they meet, and express in words the reason why we do what we do and why we love wooden boats.

If today is anything weather wise like yesterday – find that spot x in the house and sit back and enjoy this short film.

To learn more about the upcoming Australian Wooden Boat Festival  – Feb 10>13 2023 – Hobart Waterfront – click here https://www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au

Colleen – Launch Day

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JAN

Boat builder Alan Craig (Craig Marine) sent in todays’ gallery of photos of the Brin Wilson designed launch – Colleen owned by Bill Stevenson. We see her being launched at Lake Tarawera where she still resides today. Appears that there were a few challenges with the lake level.

Colleen is a near sister ship to the other Stevenson family launch – Jan, refer photos below. Jan is maintained in an as new condition, some credit for this goes to Alan who has repainted and varnished the whole boat at different stages.

Also keen to ID the launch that is helping drag her off.

INPUT ex Hamish Moore “I have spoken with Mother on this, Jocelyn Stevenson. Seems you have amended some of the points already. – Typo, Spelling of the family name. ‘Stevenson’

Some info what what Jocelyn can recall;

Colleen was on Lake Rotoiti for a few years prior to been relocated to lake Tarawera, possibly up to 5yrs.

The launching of Colleen shown here could be at Lake Rotoiti and the little Tug boat could well be Sir Williams first boat on Lake Rotoiti, un-confirmed and details of the vessel unknown.

A notable mentioned needs to go to Norm Keane who was a local boat builder that Sir William employed to maintain all the boats, including Jocelyn in Auckland, and his property at Lake Rotoiti and I’d say Colleen while still in the family ownership. If I recall correctly one of your articles in the past may have mentioned Norm Keane.

Last I heard, Colleen has had some work done over the years and some of which was completed by Danny Pearce boatbuilding out of Rotorua. I’ve lost contact with Danny. However we had attempted to head down and cast an eye over Colleen but life just got to busy.

Jan remains in family ownership, by Sir Williams Grand daughter.

It would be fantastic to see some photos and and article on Colleen if you managed to shake down someone who has the knowledge and contact.”

Nereides Makes A Splash

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NEREIDES MAKES A SPLASH

In between lock-downs in June 2021 I had cause to do a trip to Tauranga and took up Doug Owens invitation to visit the yard to get a peek at the refit of his 1937 Colin Wild built 55’ yacht – Nereides. The project was well underway and the commitment to best in class and standard of workmanship was already on display.

Yesterday Doug made contact to let me know that Nereides was back in the water and aside from some final interior work the refit was complete.

The gallery of photos above says it all, the pilot house just glows – well done to Doug and son Mohi. We will keep you updated as the final items are ticked off the to-do list. 

Link to 2021 story https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/06/13/nereides-gets-a-facelift/

Photo below at haul out – post refit

The Relaunch of Frances

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THE RELAUNCH of FRANCES 

 The 44’, 1906 Arch Logan designed / Logan Brothers built yacht – Frances is one of the lucky classic woody yachts on the Waitemata Harbour, in 2004 she came into the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust fleet and became one of the most regularly sailed yachts in New Zealand. But as we all know wooden boats need regular TCL and Frances returned to the water on Friday after a visit to Wayne Olsen’s yard – Horizon Boats ready for the next 100 years.

Todays’ photos come to us from Angus Rogers, a trustee of CYCT

Link below to the CYCT website where you can read and see more of Frances and the rest of the CYCT fleet.

http://classicyachtcharitabletrust.org.nz/trust_boats.htm?boat_id=6

Haunui Restoration Update #4

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Haunui Restoration Update #4

In the interest of keeping you all abreast of the process of the restoration of 1948 Colin Wild built launch – Haunui, last week I paid a visit to master craftsman Paul Tingey. It has been 8 months since my last visit (where does the time go) and Paul and his team have made big advancements on the project. At first glance – lots of glowing timber either on display or peeking out from behind masking tape, but oh boy the focus is on systems, and the team are performing magic in terms of the available space and keeping it out of sight.

Check out the anchor winch, serious bling. And at the other end of the scale – the original ships clock has been retained – we like that.

I wasn’t brave enough to ask about an estimated re-launch date – but I’ll be back well before that happens 🙂

Links To Previous Haunui Restoration Updates Below https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/11/13/haunui-restoration/

https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/04/28/haunui-restoration-update-2-woody-classic-event-dates/

https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/11/24/haunui-restoration-update-3/

Sea Spray > Helena

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SEA SPRAY > HELENA

Back in Nov 2020 boat builder Alan Craig (Craig Marine) and I were chatting re a 1956, 17’ clinker run-about named Sea Spray that was on tme and claimed to be built by J Logan. A quick call to Harold Kidd confirmed the provenance and Alan acquired Sea Spray on behalf of a client.

More photos here of the boat as purchased https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/11/14/sea-spray/

By Feb 2021 Alan was well into the restoration / refit – photos here  https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/02/27/jack-logan-would-be-happy/

The yard re-planked the bottom up to water line and rebuilt the whole cabin top and interior. While to some it may appear a lot of effort for a 17′ boat, remember woodys it’s the real deal – a Jack Logan boat.

The project was finished at the end of 2021 and relaunched at Xmas 2021.. Now called Helena, she has been converted to electric, through a steerable pod in place of the rudder. Helena will do a good 10hrs without charging, Alan commented that’s a lot of trips to the Lake Rotoiti hot pools 🙂 I’m told Helena is a quite comfortable boat, even with 4 people aboard.

Her old engine, a 10hp Arona diesel is hopefully going to replace another in a yacht in the far north. 

Raiona – A Peek Down Below

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RAIONA – A Peek Down Below

Last week we featured the relaunch of the 48’, 1919, Joe Slattery built launch – Raiona, after a 2 year refit at the Colin Brown / Josh Hawke yard. Today thanks to her owners we get to have a gander down below. Launching story link below – https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/07/09/raiona-relaunch/

The ’new’ decor (can I use the word when describing a classic woody?) really lightens the interior up and the varnished woodwork is magnificent. Well done to everyone that rubbed up against her during the last two years – below is a shot of Raiona leaving the yard, on-route to relaunching.

Norman R Wright & Sons – Boatbuilders

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Norman R Wright & Sons – Boatbuilders

The Norman R Wright & Sons began building boats in Brisbane Australia in 1916 and are still operational today – building almost anything that floats – tenders to Superyachts.

To celebrate the 110th anniversary the yard launched a very cool interactive website that allows you to select the vessels that most interest you eg motor boats / timber – you can then slide across a time line to narrow the search to a particular period  – then if you click on a vessel, it opens up to display more info on it . Link Below – have a play, its slightly addictive 🙂 https://www.wrightsons.com.au/archives/app/

Raiona Relaunch

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July 2020
July 2022

RAIONA RELAUNCHED

The double-ender Raiona or Alcestis as see was called when launched in 1919 , was built by Joe Slattery. She would have to be a contender for the most appearances on WW, mainly due to the wonderful photographic collection ex the H.D. Guthrie collection from the early 1900’s. Search both boat names in the WW Search Box to read and see more.

Almost exactly two years ago (July 2020) the new owner of Raiona hauled her out and trucked her off to Colin Brown and Josh Hawke’s – ‘Kauri Classics’ boat yard for a birthday. 

We will cover the extent of the work in another story – today is about celebrating the relaunch of Raiona and to step back and admire the craftsmanship of Colin and Josh.

Photo below taken in 2018 prior to Raiona changing hands – it was never a dull day when Raiona was in your bay 🙂

B/W photo below ex Graham Guthrie shows Alcestis in the 1920>30’s period when owned by the Guthrie Family