Category Archives: Designers & Builders

Waione Restoration Update #2

Posted on by
2

WAIONE RESTORATION UPDATE #2


Today’s story sees us taking a peek inside the boat shed at Quayside Marine, Mahurangi where Daniel Taylor is putting the finishing touches to his families launch – Waione. Daniel is the 3rd generation to own the boat. Taking over from his father Steve and grandparents Jack and Missy McCabe.

Waione has appeared on WW before – links below.Daniel by trade is a marine electrician so the fit out is A1.

Photos taken by Daniel and sent in by K Ricketts.
https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/10/24/waione-restoration-update/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/07/06/waione/

Update 18-07-2021 Out of the shed

Waione c.1997

FREE TO GOOD HOME – BUT BE QUICK (>24HRS)

The Roy Parris launch (sub 20’) below has washed up on an inner harbour beach (broke her nearby mooring) and will most likely be salvaged and taken to the landfill within the next 24hrs. The photos are 2+ years old, but give you an idea of what she could look like again. The last photo is as of yesterday. Perfect opportunity for someone wanting a winter project. The engine is outboard in a well – I believe the intention is to sell the o/board (75hp) to re coup salvage costs. Contact owner on 027 254 9442 – but do it now.

RIP BERT WOOLCOTT

Sadly I report that Bert Woolcott, partner of Margaret, passed away last Friday in hospital, aged 76. While a lot of woodys that have had the privilege of attending the annual CYA Patio Bay, Waiheke Island weekend will be familiar with Bert and Margret’s legendary hospitality, most wouldn’t be aware of the volunteer work Bert did in the background – on Classic Race Committees, skippering finish boats at classic regattas and club racing. Bert always made the time to chat and would always enquire about your vessel and more importantly how you were.

Bert was a big man with a big heart and leaves a big hole in the classic boating movement. Fair Winds.
A funeral service for Bert will be held in the Main Chapel of the Morrison Funeral Home on Friday the 19th of February 2021 at 3.00 p.m 

Classic Boat Designer / Builder – Nat Benjamin Interview

Posted on by
Reply

Classic Boat Builder and Guiding Light  – Nat Benjamin Interview

WoodenBoat magazine editor Matt Murphy interviews Nat Benjamin – one of the classic wooden boating movements guiding lights. Nat co-foundered of Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway in Vineyard Haven Harbour, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.  https://gannonandbenjamin.com

Nat has been designing and building boats from dinghies to schooners for more than 35 years. Sit back and listen to Matt and Nat chat about how Nat and business partner Ross Gannon set up the yard and went on to be at the forefront of the revival of wooden boats.

Mystery North Shore Launch

Posted on by
5

MYSTERY NORTH SHORE LAUNCH

Today’s woody story comes to us via Peter Jenkins fb. Peter’s father – Des Jenkins and his uncle Murray Jenkins built the above 23’ launch in the families backyard at 67 Shakespeare Road in the early to mid 1960’s.In the photos we see the neighbours and friends assisting in turning the hull over for completion of the topside.

A transporter was later backed down the side of the house, boat loaded on an then transported to the launching ramp by the northern side of the Harbour bridge, probably Sulphur Beach boat ramp. It was sea trialed and then moored up to the jetty in Milford Creek at # 12 Craig Road, which was where Peter’s grandparents lived. The launch was used for family fishing trips around the Rangitoto Channel, and beyond.


Peter is keen to ID the design of the boat and learn what became of her. It has been suggested that it may have been a Pelin Express design.

CYA ROUND RANGI LAUNCH RACE & BBQ – THIS SATURDAY – DETAILS BELOW


The CYA are running a Round Rangitoto Launch Race and BBQ at Islington Bay, if you wish to be eligible for prizes, please nominate a female skipper, or someone that ‘looks’ the part, get your entries in to admin@classicyacht.org.nz as soon as you can.  


If you want to just arrive, eat and socialise without the round island voyage, thats all good – but can you please let Joyce know on admin@classicyacht.org.nz so they can plan how many sausages to get. 


The  “race/log rally”  will start off Orakei, using the Yacht Start Line at 10.45am (Sat 13th feb). The race is clockwise around Rangitoto and Motutapu, do it at your own speed.  BBQ only boats should aim to be there by late afternoon. Families welcome, but feel free to BYO some top up food, drink etc….. There is A-Cup racing this day so if you want to watch the racing and attend the BBQ this another option.BBQ kicks off at 5pm.  ish….

Almaray

Posted on by
6

ALMARAY
Over the last few years the name Almaray has popped up on WW, mainly in reference to being built alongside the Lidgard launch Monterey. The shed photos below c.1946-8 shows Monterey, Almaray and possibly Tangaroa. All three were fitted with 30hp Lister engines when launched. Almaray was built by Lidgard for Stanley Bell-Booth, whose son Nick Davenport recently contacted me last week after uncovering the photos above in an old family photo album.
Harold Kidd commented on a WW story last week on the launch Jean – that the Bell-Booth family name was linked to BERNICE (1922) Stan’s father perhaps?, ATAROA (ex SPEEDWELL II) 1930-34,LADY PATRICIA (1943-48) and ALMARAY (1946 onwards). Nick has commented that his father also owned the launch Jean, somewhere in this mix. 


Nick would like to know what became of Almaray post his fathers stewardship.

TOO MUCH SUN 🙂

I think I must have sun stroke –  I’m writing about a 1980 Vindex………. But despite what a certain debarred lawyer thinks, I’m actually a nice guy. So here goes – I have been contacted by 21 year old apprentice boat builder, Connor Sanderson, who has taken on a project – I’ll let Connor tell you the story”Late last year I was presented with an irresistible opportunity to purchase a very tired and rundown wooden vindex named “Vin Maree” The only information the seller was about to provide was a build year of 1980 and that it had been from Gulf Harbour prior to them moving it down to Whangamata. It is double diagonal kauri planked, resorcinol glued and coated with ample red lead. It is powered by a inline 6cyl ford I believe to be a “Dover” and had Lees marine manifolds, gearbox and V-drive. I have not yet seen another vindex in V-Drive configuration but I’m familiar with it and hope to retain the use of one. I’m eager to know more about this boat.”

Pacific Sea Trial

Posted on by
10

PACIFIC SEA TRIAL 

Last Wednesday we saw the 1917 Joe Slattery classic launch – Pacific sliding back into the H2O after a 5 month refit (link to that story below). Over the weekend, owner Nathan Herbert took the 105 year old out to stretch her legs post the installations of a brand new 100hp FPT / Iveco N45A engine. The old Lister in her was a beast of an engine (1500kg v’s 450kg new engine) and mounted well forward, I would not be the only one to have commented previously that she had a certain “heading down hill” look to her – well as you can see in the top photo, she almost looks like she is about to pop up on the plane. Nathan says no, its just camera angle – but to the eye she sure looks smart.The installation project was not a simple – out with the old & bolt in the new procedure – you can see in the photos below it was a major, but the Nathan is an engineer (mouse in hand not spanner) so the attention to detail is certainly there 🙂 
She always was a looker – but she is now a stunner – well done Mr Herbert, your forebears , same family ownership since new, would be very happy to see her today. I’m told that the inflatable will be replaced with her original clinker – currently being restored at The Slipway Milford yard 🙂

https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/01/27/pacific-the-105-year-old-woody-get-a-new-heart/

INPUT BELOW FROM OWNER – 19-02-2021

“If anyone is wondering- a few notes about the re-engining process:

-The new engine was barely smaller than the old one due to the Lister having had many remotely mounted parts eg. heat exchangers, oil tanks etc.
-The engine beds had to be widened to accept the new motor
-In stripping the bridge and for’d cabin out completely I found around 24 completely broken ribs- some in a row which were very dangerous. New red beech ribs were fitted by Jason Prew. These ribs would have written her off in a survey as is so often the case these days when you see $1 reserve classics.
-The 4 cylinder engine vibrates much more at idle than the 6cyl Lister did with her large flywheel. The GPS does a dance as it shakes around.
-The tanks were unexpectedly difficult to replace. after the old copper ones were stolen I had two 4mm aluminum 170L units fabricated which to install necessitated disassembly of the cockpit seating area with a new stern ‘bulkhead’ built and so on and so forth.
-Steering is a little harder in a fresh/choppy seaway now but this may just be perception as I now have more power which I’m probably using where before I didn’t.
-The bow no longer pushes water like a bulldozer, and in a slight chop actually has positive buoyancy to lift over waves instead of submarine through them.
-Despite being beamier than other launches of her era, she is still as much of a pig when rolling at anchor. And please- enough with the comments about adding ballast- there is still a line of huge lead ‘AUSTRALIS’ ingots along each chine in the saloon which require two people to lift each ingot. The engine is not a lightweight, and there is over 100m of chain in the bow plus some pretty large anchors.
-Speed: 11.5 knots in the photos, cruise has gone up from about 8 knots, to about 8.7 knots. Higher speeds get a bit noisy.”


ID THE ENGINE QUIZ – The correct answers were

MAKE & HP: Stearns MDR 125hp

AGENTS: H. O. Wiles

BOAT FITTED TO & WHEN: Romance II – 1925
No one got all the answers correct – but Jason Prew and Nathan Herbert were tied at 3 correct elements (but not the same) so its a tie – they can decide what bits of the prize pool they each want 🙂

YESTERDAY WAS A RECORD BREAKING DAY ON WW

As you can see from the graph below – Mondays story (the pink skyscraper) on Mahurangi weekend was off the charts – so many people here and around the world logging in to view. No doubt helped by it being winter in a lot of the countries and the ongoing CV-19 lock-downs – I use that old Fred Dagg line – “We Don’t Know How Lucky We Are”  

Rebecca > Dolphin – A Rolling Restoration

Posted on by
6

Rebecca > Dolphin – A Rolling Restoration 


Hello woodys, if you aren’t a float today, todays story is a gem – its all about what makes the classic wooden boating movement so special – Caleb Bird contacted me to advise that he had taken over the restoration of the yacht Rebecca (now back to being called Dolphin) from the Tino Rawa Trust. The 24′ Dolphin was built in 1902 by the Ewen brothers (Frank,Ernie & John) of Whangarei. Constructed of 2 skin kauri she was once owned and restored by the late Peter Smith, who also restored the stunning 1938 Sam Ford launch – Menai.

Todays photo gallery shows us what Caleb has been up to for the last 2 years i.e. stripping her out and getting the interior back to an amazing look. Well done Caleb, we need more of you 🙂

The first batch shows her ‘as found’ and later photos the work-in-process.

La Rosa – Flashback

Posted on by
7

LA ROSA – FLASHBACK


I just love opening the WW email inbox, particularly when out of the blue you get a treasure trove of photos on a boat that you know but do not have much content from her past.The other day Alan Duckworth contacted me to say he came across the WW site while searching for new photos of the 1923, Ernie Harvey built launch – La Rosa. Bob King, who owned the vessel for 50 odd years and significantly modified the ketch, was Alan’s grandfather. 

The above gallery of old photos are from Bob King’s ownership period. Alan recalls that the motor was a Lister, compression start, that could run for hours on bugger all fuel.


The current owner of La Rosa – Ward House will love the photos – hopefully his good friend Baden Pascoe will alert him to the story. You can see and read more about La Rosa at the WW links below:
https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/16/la-rosa/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/02/27/castaway-la-rosa-on-the-slip/

Input below from Mark Erskine

“I was interested to read about La Rosa and what a wonderful antique engine she has.

I see “Graeme” posts the engine is a 26 HP Lister HW2, but it is a Lister JP2M.

The JP2M specs are: Capacity: 2,868cc. / HP: 21 @ 1,200rpm. / Weight: 2,576 lbs/1.168 tonnes

https://www.stationaryengineparts.com/Lister-Petter-Engine-General-Specs/

They were made from 1936 and 1954 apparently (haven’t been able to confirm), so it would be interesting to see if the owner knows the age of the engine.

Like all of the old Lister / Petter water cooled range of engines, the JP2M is built so big and heavy and runs so slowly that if properly serviced, maintained and used, it should never wear out in marine use 😁 “

https://www.marinepowerservices.co.uk/engines/past-engines/90-1952-lister-jp2m

https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/12/01/wooden-boat-bureau-advice-for-buyers-and-sellers/

Katoa

Posted on by
Reply

KATOA
The photos above of the 37’7” launch Katoa , were sent in by Bay of Islands woodys – Dean Wright. Dean snapped Katoa in the Te Puna and Kerikeri Inlet area last week.

Designed and built by Geoff Bagnall in 1988, she may by ‘youngish’ for a woody but she is an oldie at heart 🙂 Powered by a 130hp Lees Ford diesel.


Katoa has appeared on WW before – link below for a peek-down-below. https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/06/19/katoa/

DONATE HERE https://givealittle.co.nz/org/nztbs

A Woody Christmas – A Time For Giving

Posted on by
Reply

A Woody Christmas – A Time For Giving

I have an ask today – one of wooden boatings coolest and most deserving organisations urgently needs help – relax, you don’t need to do anything other than put your hand in your pocket – more on that later. But first let me tell you about the New Zealand Traditional Boatbuilding School – it was started back into 2005 by a group of visionary wooden boat enthusiasts. I have rubbed up against it a lot over the years – during the re-birth of the classic wooden launch movement we used their facilities for social gatherings and seminars. I have even done boat maintenance workshops and built a woody tool box (under close supervision)If ever there was something that deserved its place in our maritime community – it’s the NZTBS, more so than a lot of other questionable entities that live off rate payer handouts.I won’t bore you today with the day to day challenges the current trustees have keeping the doors open – just trust me when I say – to survive the short term they need help, mid term hopefully they will be able to secure sponsorship.


Today’s WW story is an example of the amazing work the school does – last week, trustees Olaf Wiig (classic launch – Lady Margaret and Alan Hooper (spirit of tradition launch – Katherine) ran a pilot course for one they are hoping to offer in the future. In a joint venture with Taikata Sailing Club, Drowning Prevention Auckland and Coastguard Education, NZTBS ran a week long course for a group of 9 year olds, building a pair of John Welsford Scraps dinghies. The whole week was a great success, resulting in two cool little boats being launched on Saturday. Just check out the looks on the kids faces – you don’t get that from playing on an electric device. The kids all made a name board for their boat and then voted for the best names and then Moonlight and Rose Gold were christened and launched – so cool.

Special thanks to James Hutchinson and Olaf Wiig for the photos
HOW CAN YOU HELP

The NZTBS is a charitable trust – donations are eligible for a tax credit and its so easy – click on this link and invest in the future of wooden boating in New Zealand. And do you know what?, you’ll feel good about it 🙂

https://givealittle.co.nz/org/nztbs
Merry Christmas & Thank You. alan houghton – waitematawoodys founder

Classic Wooden Small Boats

Posted on by
2

Classic Wooden Small Boats
In the days before remote controlled model yachts – the yachts were divided into two kinds – Free sailing – were boats were sailed in open water and ‘chased’ by their skippers in dinghies who ’touched’ the yachts during the course of the race to adjust their course.

The other kind was – Pond yachts, sailed on small lakes, basins or special ponds (in parks), the skipper would race around the pond to tack or gybe the model as it got close to shore. Refer b/w photos below for examples of the racing.

The top colour photos were sent to me by an ex work colleague – John Maxwell, we worked together over 30 years ago in the crazy world of advertising in the late 1980’s. Unknown to me, one of John’s passions is the building of old style pond yachts, but with a modern take, refer examples above of Ranger, Innismara, Infidel, Meter class (black hull) and one in the vein of an A class. Not exactly accurate, but instantly recognizable as the original. They are all hand painted, so as to faithful to the old style. John commented that the problem with making the models sail, is that the depth of the keel, mast position/ height etc, have to be altered slightly from the plans of the real boat, otherwise it just sails sideways or rounds up into the wind. John aims to capture the spirit of the original, but still maintaining the ‘Old school’ charm of the yesteryear pond yachts. They are all free sailing models and quite big ie 1.8 m long. Typically they have a lot of lead on the keels approx 15-20 lbs., most are balsa over wooden frames with glass over the top. 
Stunning work – but it doesn’t surprise me, John was / is a very talented man, and rather good with a paint brush and canvas.