Category Archives: Designers & Builders

Slainte

Posted on by
6

Snapchat-1668096968

SLAINTE – 1947 Chris Craft Restoration

I mentioned last Monday that while chatting to Alan Craig about the new restoration project for his yard – Craig Marine at Lake Rotoiti he just casually mentioned t “Speaking of projects, should probably show you the Chris Craft we just finished” – & then sends me a selection of photos of a simply stunning classic woody.

Slainte is a a 1947 27′ super delux enclosed Chris Craft. It was imported into NZ by the owner as a project that was walked away from in the states. The outside was 90% done but the inside was a shell. No motor, shaft or strut etc. A 5.7L v8 Crusader was imported too and Alan lifted the cockpit sole to suit.
Pretty much every single piece has been pulled apart fixed/painted/varnished and put back again. Some ‘ before’ photos below.
The idea has been to keep it looking original but turn key functionality!

WoW, what an additional to the Lake Rotoiti classic wooden boat fleet, can not wait to see her in person at next years Classic & Wooden Boat Parade weekend.

ALPHA A90 ( Arrow Class) – Sailing Sunday

Posted on by
21

Screen Shot 2017-08-06 at 4.39.38 AM

Photo 17-06-17, 14 24 12

ALPHA A90 ( Arrow Class) – Sailing Sunday
I have been contacted by Adam Akehurst who is Interested in what us woodys knows about the Arrow class sailing dinghy. Adam is currently restoring A90 – Alpha. Progress photos attached. Wood working done, interior nearly done, soon time to turn it over and sort the outside ready for summer.

All Adam can find on the class is that they are a Jack Logan design from circa 1950 and that until recently the class seems to have been based at Glendowie but interest seems to have died out a few years ago in favour of the Mistral. Also interested in what else Jack Logan designed. I have heard he had a boatshed at Mangawhai at some stage.

The historic photo of Alpha above on the beach (date unknown) shows her rigged for a gennaker on a fairly long prod. Adam assumes this is a later class development and that they originally flew a symmetrical kite.

Adam hasn’t been able to find many photos of the class online, so is interested in seeing anything ww have.

07-08-2017 Update from Adam. Project finished – see below. Stunning

image1

Check The Video Link Below Out – If you thought the commute to work was bad, these guys are mad 🙂

Lake Rotoiti Barn Find Restoration

Posted on by
15

20170723_130731_resized

20170723_132404_resized

20170726_100204_resized

Lake Rotoiti Barn Find Restoration

Alan Craig the Lake Rotoiti boat builder (Craig Marine) dropped me a note the other day to say that he was restoring the about boat. She would have to win the WW barn find prize 🙂 Her story goes like this – has be in a shed on a farm in Rotoma for the last ten odd years. Built in 1928, 24′ in length, appears to be to a USA Hacker Craft design or most likely copied, she is in fact not to dissimilar to Malolo.
It has been owned by Peter Davies and was his Fathers boat from near new. Details Alan has been told about her history: Built in Picton by Vic & Clarrie Olson? (Scandinavian or Swiss?). Built for a Mr Stocker then brought by Mr Davies in 1930, it was sold a while later and brought back again by Mr Davies once the wool price lifted and in 1950 an old, but still new, 1938 Osco marine flathead V8 went in it and is still there now. Alan thinks it was sold once again then found by Peter and brought back to Rotoma.

There is a Hacker Craft step pad fitted to her (the only reference to Hacker Craft) but this could easily have been a later addition. The plans are to rebuild the engine and try get a bit more than the supposed 90hp out of it. Apparently they didn’t get much speed out of it but looks like pretty small prop set up.

This will be a great project to follow – Alan is keen confirm / learn more about her past so if any woodys can help, please comment.

Now Alan’s not a man to run things up the flag pole, chatting on-line he says ” speaking of projects, should probably show you the Chris Craft we just finished” – totally blew we away – amazing project. I’ll run a story on her soon.

Update ex Alan Craig – Alan found the below under the fore-deck – D Jennings?

Unknown-3

WAIATA II – Sailing Sunday II

Posted on by
9
Screen Shot 2017-07-29 at 5.58.10 PM

Screen Shot 2017-07-29 at 6.01.07 PM

Screen Shot 2017-07-29 at 6.02.16 PM

WAIATA II – Sailing Sunday
Waiata II was Snow Waters personal yacht, designed by Alan Mummery, and launched in 1971 /2 – Alan Sexton gave me the heads up on the trademe listing & Alan commented that remembers seeing her around Waiheke Island on their first summer on Tarata.

She was featured in Sea Spray August 1971 whilst under construction. The feature noted that Snow was looking for waterline length, in the Innismarra (or even further back William Garden’s Oceanus) style, ie long (55′) and narrow.

She is single skin strip planked kauri glued with steam bent ribs. No doubt with the 6 cyl. Ford she motors at a good pace too.

Waiata II has been owned by current owner for 41 years in NZ, with the last 3 years being based in the Australian East Coast, where she is 4sale. The current location making her perfect for someone wanting to cruise the Queensland Coast, Whitsundays or further north.

05-01-2025 – INPUT ex RICHARD LOCK  – It was brought to my attention that the grandson of the long term owner of Waiata II was trying to locate her.This image might assist. New years day 2026.

Yesterdays Quiz Winner – WW T-Shirt

Mr M Deeble – proof that the early bird does catch the worm, with his 6.00ish entry 🙂

A Woody Trip Out West

Posted on by
8

P1250252

P1250253

Steve Cranch

A Woody Trip Out West – NZ Traditional Boat Building School Re-opens

I received an invite the other day in the mail (nice for once to not be via email) to the re-opening of New Zealand Traditional Boat Building School. Getting it made me very happy – firstly, because we all need the school to be a success & secondly because I personally have fond memories of the original school (read more below), I attended numerous CYA meetings there & also participated in two events – the Robert Brooke – Caulking / carvel planking workshop & a basic boat building techniques course that ran one night a week over winter. Learnt so much & meet some great people.

Today’s function was to share the vision for the future of the school & to meet some of the past & present stakeholders.

I’ll let Steve Cranch tell you the story:

“After nearly four years in recess the New Zealand Traditional Boat Building School has just re-opened its doors in new premises on the Te Atatu peninsula.

The school was founded in 2005 by trustees Robert Brooke, Harold Kidd, Bruce Tantrum and Ron Jamieson and successfully ran wooden boat building courses at Hobsonville for seven years before being forced to move to make way for the new housing development.

During that time hundreds of students attended classes on everything from traditional boat building to apprenticeship training and small boat building in which students built their own small boats to take home, often involving a son or daughter in the process.

Our new premises are much smaller than previous so we have been forced to restructure how we run our courses and a new program is being developed. It will kick off with a full day seminar on winter maintenance. Six specialist speakers will present on topics ranging from Diesel engine maintenance, Batteries and Electrical, Sails and Covers, Marine sealants, Paint systems and common splicing all common winter maintenance issues for the larger boat owner. Following on from this will be a course on re-ribbing clinker built boats and a laminated stand up paddleboard paddle course plus many more to come”.

In a few days when the dates are finalized, I’ll publish them on ww. I would encourage you to support the school; it’s a big step forward in bringing increased visibility & sureness to the wooden boating movement. There is a website, currently getting the final finishing touches, so I’ll let you know the link to that later as well.

Today was also a wee bit of a reunion with a lot of woodys catching up. The best chat was in the car park, where I got to view a very cool RC model of the Bailey designed ex Waitemata Fisheries trawler – ‘Waiwera’ (photos below). Built by Murray White. Stunning attention to detail.

P1250264

P1250260

The 1946 Launching Of Mahara

Posted on by
8

MAHARA535

The 1946 Launching Of Mahara

Harold mentioned on the Mahara ww 2015 post (link below) that he had an upcoming article on the Shipbuilders Ltd’s SupaCraft launches in the August issue of Boating NZ magazine. Included in the article is the above great photo taken in 1946 of Mahara being launched. The photo came from boat builder, Tim Windsor’s collection. Thanks go to Harold for sharing Tim Windsor’s photo, its superb quality & showcases what a stunning wooden vessel she was / is.
Check out the link for more photos & details.

Mahara

How To Steam Ribs – Sailing Sunday

Posted on by
1

How To Steam Ribs – Sailing Sunday

Robin Elliott sent me the youtube link below to Australian Ian Smith ribbing the 24-foot Ranger class gaffer he’s building for himself. Its good viewing. Ranger, was designed by E.C. (Cliff) Gale and built by Billy Fisher in 1933 & is still going strong under the ownership of Cliff’s son Bill Gale and races with others built to her design with the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club, photos below, again ex Robin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaaNzCzGQHw&sns=fb

Ranger Aust 2

Ranger Aust 1

KOTIRI B20
The below photo of the yacht Kotiri B20 was sent to me by Lesley Brennan, who commented on ww that she had come across an old B/W 6×4 photo with Kotiri hand written in pencil on it. Lesley will give the photo to the most deserving – no doubt the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust?

Kotiri

 

Do You Have One Of These?

I have asked before but the repairs did not last – so has any woody got a switch like the ones below in their bottom draw?

WW t-shirt if you have a spare one 😉

Unknown-3

 

 

Ngapuhi – Help Wanted

Posted on by
11

Unknown-3

Unknown-4

Ngapuhi – Help Wanted

Today’s post features a launch that is most likely named Ngapuhi. In fact Harold Kidd is 95% sure of that & we are pretty confident she was owned by S.B. (Hoki) Williams the manager of Shipbuilders post WW2.

But the big questions are – who built her?, when? and what happened to her at Shipbuilders?. One thing for sure, she is a fine looking ship. So woodys can anyone help out on her provenance?

UPDATE 18-08-2022 photo below of Ngapuhi in Schoolhouse Bay, Kwau Island xmas 1949 ex Ken Rickets.

18′ Clinker Day Boat Restoration Project

Posted on by
4

Screen Shot 2017-06-05 at 11.33.29 PM

Screen Shot 2017-06-05 at 11.41.48 PM

18′ Clinker Day Boat Restoration Project
Today’s story is a pictorial of the restoration at the Peter & Angela Murton – Murton’s Timbercrafts yard in Richmond, Nelson of an 18′ clinker day boat. It’s claimed to be a Colin Wild design/build but could equally be a Seacraft.
Peter has done a wonderful job of sympathetically rebuilding the boat, equal with her vintage. Right down to the Via 7hp two stroke engine.

Hats off to her Christchurch owner, funding a restoration of this scale on a 18′ craft is a big call & needs deep pockets.
No-doubt we will see her at next years Lake Rotoiti (Sth Island) wood boat festival.
You can view more of Peters work here http://www.murtons.co.nz/

White Cloud Movie – Leaving The Shed + Launch Day

Posted on by
4

White Cloud Movie – Leaving The Shed + Launch Day

Today’s post is based around a movie of the launch White Cloud, being shoe-horned out of the Supreme Craft shed at 1a Summer St., Ponsonby & making its way to Fodenway Motors, Penrose for engine fit out. And then the final leg to launching at Panmure in June 1965. The movie was filmed by her original owner, Len Buckby & shared with ww by his daughter Pam Mare via Ken Ricketts.

You can see & read more about White Cloud here

The Building & Launching of White Cloud + A Peep Inside 1A Summer Street