My Girl Restoration Update
Work on Jason Prew’s launch ‘My Girl’ is processing along well – but not at the speed indicated by the above photos. Jason remembers to take photos, but he is a bit slack with telling / showing people 🙂 In fairness, he does keep his weblog up to date, you can see & read more on the project at the link below.
http://www.my-girl.co.nz/mygirl/Restoration/Restoration.html
Saucy Sue – 12′ Jack Logan Dinghy
Woody Mike Johnson sent me the above collection of photos of Saucy Sue – his 12′ Jack Logan dinghy. Mike mentioned that he was very grateful to friend David Peet for spotting the Logan on trademe and for his brother and our friend Brian for convincing Mike’s wife, that ‘you can have two boats’……… even if it means her car is now exposed to the weather.
Mike was doing up a 9ft Mosquito Craft at that time and there was understandably a degree of concern as to where this was all going, so well done Brian.
The weathered varnish in some of the attached interior pics has since been restored. A few ‘mods’ have been tastefully added in the interests of comfort (aka staying dry) 😉
You can tell from the background scenery in the photos that Mike & Saucy Sue have traveled around the wooden boat events, great to see craft like this being used. Subject to the event, the Suzuki gets swapped for a Seagull.
Trolling On The Lake – Mokoia
The above photo, ex Harold Kidd, is of Mokoia, fishing on Lake Rotorua. The question of the day is – when was she built and who built her?
The first correct answer in the ww comments section, after 6.30am, scores a 2017 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Calendar.
Harold Kidd Input – MOKOIA was built by Bailey & Lowe in December 1903 for the Hot Lakers Steam Navigation Co. Typical “settler’s launch” by Bailey & Lowe, very similar to Chas Bailey Jr’s MILKMAID type. There were hundreds of these all over New Zealand.
MYSTERY LAUNCH – BOAT YARDS
Morning woodys, after the gigantic post (160+ photos) yesterday from the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade, I thought it was time to serve up some mono-tone imagery. Today’s photo is from the album that one of Peter Renall’s clients saved from the dump bin.
The S. Ford & R. Lang branded sheds must help with ID’ing the launch in the forefront.
And woodys if you were out & about yesterday enjoying Waitangi Day, just scroll down for a serious woody experience 😉
Enjoy.
TAREE
Taree, the 1966 36’ Owen Woolley sedan launch has appeared before, briefly, on ww. Back in the late 1980’s I even looked at buying her. I think she held a few records:
(1) the longest trademe listing for a classic launch
(2) the number of failed surveys
So to see her in the hands of a new owner & one thats sympathetic to woodys is a very good thing. From the photos above, some ex her owner & some 2016 emailed to me by Ken Ricketts, she is getting the attention she deserves.The name Taree means “sticks” in Aborigine, I assume a link to the fact that she is built with kauri, carvel planked over jarrah ribs, the Australian hardwood. She has teak coamings.
Power these days is via a GM 165 hp V8 Diesel fuel pincher, installed by the previous owner in 2009. This sees her easily cruise at 8 knots.
She was bought by present owner Don Bruce in Dec 2015 & is now kept at Gulf Harbour. He bought her off a John Graham, who owned her for 23 years & kept her at Pine Harbour
Her current owner believes she was built for Emmitt Keenan and had a Perkins 46109 installed when launched.
Gray Mathias, possibly the 3rd or 4th owner, fitted a 2 stroke Detroit in 1985 and after one more owner Mike McDonald, John Cameron bought her in 1988. The Detroit lasted till 2005 and the 165hp V8 fuel pincher was fitted in 2009, at a cost of $17000.
Recently she has spent time in the Brin Wilson shed at Gulf Harbour (see photos above), receiving some serious TLC.
Always good to see a classic get lucky & find a good home – well done Don Bruce 🙂
Peter Peal Book Winner
The winner of yesterdays quiz for a copy of – Thoughts on Clinker Lapstrake Dinghy Construction.
Is Nathan Herbert with – Z Class. Lots of people sent in Silver Fern & Frostbite but surprisingly only one – Z Class entry.
Well done Nathan.
What Is Electrolysis?
I have published Chris McMullen’s comments below for 3 reasons:
1. Out of the blue, today I was sent the above 2 photos by a woody owner who has just discovered they have a time bomb ticking away. Bomb is a good analogy to use as the green wires in the bottom photo are the detonator 😦
2. The subject of electrolysis & wooden boats is topical at the moment
3. I’m passionate about saving our old wooden ladies.
You can read more on the subject here https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/04/28/electro-chemical-damage-in-wooden-boats/
To quote the dictionary – Electrolysis of water is the decomposition of water (H2O) into oxygen (O2) and hydrogen gas (H2) due to an electric current being passed through the water. Electrolysis of salt water or Brine – electrolysis turns NaCl + H2O in electrolysis will produce separated hydrogen gas, chlorine gas and sodium hydroxide*. *Sodium Hydroxide is also called Caustic Soda. It is used for pulping wood in the paper industry and on a boat it forms around any anode protected metal (Cathode) and softens the wood.
Lets check again in the dictionary – “The cause of Electrolysis?”
Electrolysis is due to an electric current being passed through the water or Brine. Surely, the way to prevent electrolysis on a wood boat is by eliminating any electric current passing through the wet wood.
There are two sources of electrical current on most boats.
1. The DC battery used for starting the engine and services. Stray currents are common,(can be very damaging) and hard to find on wooden boats. Any connected dissimilar underwater metals including anodes will create a galvanic current 24 hours a day. There should be no connected dissimilar metals underwater and keep the ships DC system isolated from any metal connected to the sea.
2. Bonding makes a circuit and encourages stray and galvanic currents; the result will be electrolysis and degradation of the wood around metal hardware.
Protecting marine metals (bronze or copper) with an anode is pointless and sets up a current and causes electrolysis that again produces sodium hydroxide that pulps the timber in a wooden hull. If you have brass or manganese bronze underwater, an anode may help protect the metal but set up a galvanic current with resultant damage to the wood surrounding the cathode or protected metal.
See on Google – graphic descriptions of exactly what happens on our boats if we create an anode and a cathode. Chlorine gas is produced at the anode and hydrogen gas at the cathode.
Whether we like it or not, the brine around any cathode or protected metal converts to sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and this is fatal to a wooden boat.
The solution is very simple – you should not use anodes on a wooden boat.
Anodes are necessary / desirable on steel structures where there is no wood. To use them on a wooden boat is a relatively new idea or myth designed as a solution looking for a problem. On wooden boats it has been proved worldwide to be a disaster but some in the NZ marine industry refuse to admit they have been wrong and continue to promote this profitable business.
The Logan’s, Baileys and Colin Wild never used anodes or bonding and neither should anyone who cares for their wooden boat.
Read http://mgduff.co.uk/support/knowledge-base/questions/what-is-electrochemical-decay-in-wooden-vessels
If you would like some more technical evidence read. http://www.mcclavemarine.com/text%20pdfs/Corrosion.and.Corrosion.Protection.Wooden.Boats.pdf
P.S. Chris would like to advise that he has had no input or involvement in any organised discussions on the topic of electrolysis & wooden boats.
Sailing Sunday Eye Candy – Kahurangi & Manitou
Baden Pascoe forwarded me the above photos of Kahurangi ex Pepe d Miguel. The ‘old’ girl is looking very sharp & looking very much at home on the Med. classic sailing circuit. She was built by Percy Vos in 1952 & would have to be one of the prettiest yacht to slide down the Vos slip.
MANITOU – JF Kennedy
Check out the link to the video clip below to view JFK’s old yacht, Manitou. Same bloodlines as Dorade & Stormy Weather i.e. a Sparkman & Stephens (Design #90), she is one of Olin Stephens finest. Launched in 1937, LO= 62′, LW= 44′, Beam+ 13’9″, draft= 8’6″. She carvel & made from mahogany on oak frames. Rumour has it that Aristotle Onassis tried to buy her once. The open fireplace is very me 🙂
If you are interested – 4sale in France for USD$1.3 million – makes the sale price of our Rawhiti the buy of the century.
W1 JUNIOR
If you are a regular follower of the ww stories you will know that there are a several ‘woody nutters’ out there that have a thing for the ex WWII RNZAF coastal cruiser – W1.
John Bullivant is one of them. John has been building a model of W1 & its very close to completion. The photos above show some of the build process.
John reports that he has purchased some cowl vents from the UK, (made them all rotatable) fitted new water cooled motors, made rudders, masts, windows, rubbing strips and fitted LED lighting (courtesy of cheap solar garden lights). He has also made a decal pattern for the bow insignia to print out (see bow photo above). John has even bought a miniature water pump so he can have water running from the water outlets when the boat is stopped. This will sit where the centre engine usually sits. He is currently looking for an engine sound module. Thanks to Ken Ricketts for fowarding John’s email to ww.
Details on the ‘real deal’ here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/09/11/the-story-of-w1-one-of-fastest-boats-ever-on-the-waitemata/
REAL BOATS
The Classic Yacht Association is holding one of its launch cruises to the Riverhead Hotel on Sunday – we are expecting approx. 20 classics to make the trip. so it should be a cracker of a day. If the sun shines, there will be lots of photos on Monday 🙂
Update below & photos from John Bullivant on his progress (emailed in by Ken Ricketts)
“I have also re-done the lighting using LEDs from Xmas string lights which are smaller and can be made to fit better. Getting there slowly but it’s almost like building a full sized boat as you can spend hours making the smallest things. The lighting alone took about 3 days, as it’s hard to hide any sort of bulb in a small model and get it shining in a reasonably scale manner, eg trying to get the nav lights shining in the correct arc takes a lot of fiddling and painting but they look the part when they are on so that’s good enough for me. I’m not being too fanatical about the detail as long as it looks ok on the water.
I have a theory about the location of the real W1 in the photo of her with the survivors on board and where she was headed which I am working on with the help of Google Earth and some info I read on the rescue effort. This was regarding the position the survivors were picked up from. I am trying to find the info again but it was in an obscure site (to do with recovering the gold I think) which gave the co-ordinates of the ship and the lifeboats positions before rescue and the crews communications. Just a bit of a fun challenge to see if I can pinpoint the exact spot.”
SUSAN JANE – Sailing Sunday
With Omaha boat builder Colin Brown having just re-launched the Colin Wild built launch – Little Tasman, we have been wondering what was next into the shed. The answer is the yacht Susan Jane, built by Chris Robertson c1950. Colin is not sure whether or not he designed her so is looking for any more info the woodys can supply.
Susan Jane is having a major rebuild as a result of rot issues. Colin has taken the project over from a friend of his, who due to poor health is unable to complete the project. The above photos are by Colin, emailed to me via Ken Ricketts.
01-07-2017 REFIT UPDATE
The Brown family – Colin, son Dylan & son-in-law Josh have been hard at work on the refit.
All exterior hull work done by Dylan & the interior ex the hands of Josh.
Photos below, ex Colin, emailed to me by Ken Ricketts.
20-10-2017 Refit Update – photo ex Colin Brown via Ken Ricketts.
06-11-2017 Refit Update – photos ex Colin Brown via Ken Ricketts
She is going to be powered by a 38 Hp 3 cyl Nani Diesel
10-04-2018 Update – More photo ex Colin Brown via Ken R
And more
24-04-2018 Update – Susan Jane & her restorer Colin Brown had a special yard visit (23/04) from the original builder Chris Robertson, aged 91 years. Chris was accompanied by his son Martin & grandson Aaron – all 3 boatbuilders.
Photo below shows Susan Jane getting the royal inspection from the Robertson family. I understand Colin was very honoured. Photo ex Colin , via Ken Ricketts.
Finished Project
Romance II – the inspiration
The project
Cockpit Table Project
As I tend to do I had been admiring & gathering ideas for a cockpit table for Raindance for a long time. Then one day I was aboard Harold Kidd’s launch Romance II & I spied his set up. He had the table ‘hanging’ of the stern & a drop down leg. This was enough inspiration to start me off.
I bought an old table on trademe for $30 (horrible yellow formica top & a bloody big drop down leg) & I started playing around with how I could adapt it to fit on Raindance. Being a bit of a wood butcher, I was lucky to discover a wonderful wooden craftsman, a perfectionist, by the name of Lional Barkle & we started the project.
I already had the bronze stern mounts, bought in Germany from the marine chandlery ‘Toplicht’. I striped the table & had custom-made s/s brackets that fit the bronze mounts.
Lional being much cleverer than me came up with the idea of an arched / cantilevered leg/support. It’s almost like a tiller & slots into a foot. Makes the area so much more open & frees up the space underneath.
Lional made the leg from 116-year-old kauri timber I discovered underneath my grandparents home in Herne Bay, actually ceiling boards. These (x8) were cleaned up & steam bent & laminated together. The leg fits into a teak & kauri base with pins to hold it in place. It took an unbelievable number of hours, as everything had to be tailor made – measure, make, dry fit, adjust, dry fit, adjust etc. We had to rebuild in the stern locker to take the strain of the leg set up. I love the suspended look & its just so practical. The leg also sits in a ‘boot’ under the table to secure it more.
The finished unit is perfect & has so much more Lional B in it than Alan H 😉 he is just so talented. Also makes other wooden products – toys, chopping boards etc – his website is http://www.woodspark.co.nz & on facebook as well, reach search woodspark.
