Today we get a peek down below. She is a solid old girl, 1-1/4” kauri carvel planked and powered by a 6 cyl. 100hp Ford Lees D series that give her a cruise speed of 7 knots. As Ian McDonald commented “crying out for a Gardner” 🙂
GUNNER was originally intended for work and fishing in the Marlborough Sounds. However, she was requisitioned by the Crown during wartime and transported to the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland for final fitting out. After the war, Gunner was sold and began commercial fishing out of Leigh Harbour. During this time, she also operated a mail run to Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf. Around 1957, Gunner changed hands again and continued her commercial fishing career from Port Ohope. In 1973, she underwent a 3-year conversion from a working vessel into a pleasure craft. This transformation included extending the wheelhouse and adding an aft cabin.
Each to their own but she appeals to me, a very comfortable boat that could easily do laps on NZ.
1911 CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – KERERU – A Peek Down Below
Today thanks to Ian McDonald’s eagle eye spotting the 35’ classic wooden launch – KERERU popping up on tme, we get to have a gander down below on this woody that was built in 1911 by Charles Bailey Jnr.
Her owner is very frugal with words, all we learn is that its home port is Picton and it is powered by a Ford 80hp engine.
For a craft that is 114 years old we must be able to learn more about her provenance. We did find press clipping from the Southland Times () relating to an incident in June 1933 – reproduced below.
Photo below of KERERU/s sea trial on the Waitemata Harbour, post launching.
LAUNCH ADRIFT– PILED ON ROCKS CREW LAND SAFELY – A NIGHT IN THE SCRUB (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, June 5,
A Wellington Aero Club _ plane, piloted by Captain Bolt and with Mr R. Morphy as observer, left the Rongotai aerodrome at daylight to search the coast to the eastward for the launch Kereru. When they got four miles past the mouth of Orongorongo they saw the launch piled up on the beach, but no sign of the men. The plane thereupon flew low, returning along the. beach, and soon saw four men walking towards Riddiford’s station apparently in a fit condition. A message frorn Riddiford’s station at about ten o’clock stated that the men had arrived there and had already been sent on their wav to Wellington. The launch Kereru’s engine broke down off Turakirae Head and, afterthat, the sails were tom to ribbons and the launch drifted for 91 hours from mid-day before being driven ashore. The Kereru was manned by A. Wolfe, Wolfe, H. Green, C. Prince and H. Nagle, who left yesterday morning for a day’s fishing off Baring Head. The launch, which is 35 feet in length, was thrown on the beach by a big wave, landed on an even keel and is reported to be undamaged. The men made a fire in the scrub, spending the night where they landed.
A NIGHT OF TRIAL CREW’S DESPERATE FIGHT. (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, June 5.
The story was told by the crew of the launch Kereru on their return to Wellington to-night of their fight to keep the boat from being wrecked on the stormy and rock-bound coast in Palliser Bay. The party fished off Baring Head until noon and then decided that as the wind was rapidly freshening, they would return into the harbour. The engine was started, but owing to a defective water pump it continually became overheated and would not function for more than a few minutes at a time. At about 4.30 p.m. the northerly wind changed to an increasingly gusty south-easterly, which threatened to drive the partly disabled vessel on to the coast. Two small sails, a jib and jigger, had been set, but these soon carried away in the heavy squalls. The skipper tried to head the launch for a less forbidding part of the coast near Riddiford’s station, but the engine worked only intermittently, making that objective impossible. The crew’s main efforts were then turned to keeping the launch away from the long shelterless coast on to which the wind was driving it. As darkness grew the men on board the storm-tossed Kereru began to lose all idea of their position. They could only tell they were still dangerously near the coast by the sound of breakers on the rocks. As a last desperate resource, Prince, who was at the wheel throughout, decided to anchor- the launch and try to ride out the gale which was approaching hurricane force. Two anchors were dropped when the launch was two or three hundred yards from shore, but the seas continued to increase until they were breaking on the deck. At about 9.30 p.m. a huge wave broke over . the launch and snapped both anchor lines.
“We rushed out on deck,” said Prince in describing the adventure, “and were buffeted about in the seas which flooded the deck, sometimes five feet deep. Another great wave caught the launch and in the darkness we felt it lift and strike the shore. We were simply amazed when we jumped down and found ourselves standing on a small sandy beach. There was the launch out of reach of the waves lying on the beach on an even keel. We all shook hands and considered ourselves (he luckiest men alive.” The party lit a fire from driftwood and spent the rest of a wild and cold night in the scrub. In the morning they made their way to Orongorongo station. The launch was left on the beach, only slightly damaged. Arrangements will be made for it to be towed back to the boat harbour on the first suitable day.
INPUT ex BRIAN BICKNELL – Kereru was built in 1911 for the Hay family of Pigeon Bay as a sister ship to Bailley’s Phyllis, and I believe they had her for ten years. I am not sure what happened next but my understanding is she came up the coast in 1968-69, possibly by members of the Carey family, for Alan Crawley of the Marlborough Harbour Board. It then went to a marine engineer, Roger Frazer around 1975, who had it out of the water for some time and totally renovated her. She was then owned and lived on by Bruce Vickers in the Sounds and we bought her in 2005. There are also a couple of great articles by Harold Kidd and Robin Elliott on the Hays and their boats. I have never heard of her being in Wellington, or having sails, but there are large gaps in her history so it is possible. Such a seaworthy and comfortable boat but our family is older now and we use it less so it is time to let her go. Hope that gives a bit more background,
CLASSIC SPEEDBOAT BLACK TULIP – LOST HER SHINE, KEPT HER ATTITUDE
Earlier in the week one of my Picton spies (Steve) spotted a ’new’ arrival at Waikawa Marina, in Picton. Boats name is BLACK TULIP, which rang a few bells with Steve, so a quick WW search popped up a July 2022 story – link below. At the time Dean Wright had spotted the boat sign and dry in Paihia.
Now a few days later she popps up on tme – post an extensive make over, and powered by a 280hp Yanmar, that sees her topping out at 23 knots.
An oid salt told me once that once you lose the varnish on a classic ,it just becomes another white boat – well I think if you check out the photos below, you would have to agree, she has lost the WoW factor – but its only paint and maybe the next owner will see the light 🙂
NO EXCUSES – GET OUT ON THE WATER THIS SUMMER + Whangarei Maritime Festival Details
Todays story stretches the WW statute around what’s a classic wooden boat but in our book beauty always wins. I know its plywood and probably has some f/glass but at sub $10k you get a very smart looking boat the will turn heads and get admiring thumbs up.
And you get to bring it home and avoid the marina robber barons. In the last 10 yrs been garaged and mostly used on the central north island lakes. If in late summer you decide boatings not for you – re-list it , I’d be surprised if you lost anything on the purchase price.
2025 WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL
In just over a week (Oct 11>12) the salty Whangarei folks are hosting the annual – WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL at the Whangarei Town Basin. If you haven’t attended before, it is time you did – why?
1. There will be an impressive on & off -the-water display of classic and traditional water craft
3. A Kids’ Zone + live music on the waterfront, and maritime talks
4, Entry is FREE
5. With the new expressways it is less than 2 hours drive from Auckland
6. Your car needs a good run 🙂
Now do not think this is a small-scale event – last year 20,000+ people attended the festival, including me – you choose whether you go Saturday or Sunday, but my recommendation would be Saturday, the Town Basin has more of a buzz on Saturdays + lots of markets in the area for those that are bored easily with things boating related.
An unnamed woody recently sent me a link to a craft on tme with a one line note “wow check this out, you should buy it”.
Well woodys turns out the craft was a 1955 17’ speedboat . Bui;t by someone named ‘Lewis’ and repowered with a 350hp Mercury inboard V8, capable of 90 kph (50 knots).
Short answer – not for me.
Reading the listing it was all a little OTT eg “Rare vintage boats like this almost never come up for sale”, well thats not correct tme has mutable listings and then this line – “Trade-ins and finance welcome, and transport can be arranged nationwide.”
The nostrils started to twitch , smells like a car dealer…… well reading on turns out it was being sold by a car yard. And with a $40>45k price tag someones been sniffing the fuel tank.
So what’s the real story today – well this listing just illustrates the current divide between classic wooden motorboats and zoom zoom recreational trailer craft.
For the same $$ you could own the 40’ Miller & Tunnage classic woody below and do laps of NZ.
Yesterday in the post I received a package from Denis O’Callahan, past owner of MV TASMAN. Denis had recently been going thru his ’to good to throw out’ files and found a collection of old boating magazine from 1911, 1913,1938 and 1958 – after a quick glance I had to put them away before I wrote the whole day off 🙂
A couple of things did catch my eye –
1. The above advertisement for the Central Boating Company, promoting the Hyde Propeller and Regal engine – which CBC were agents for. I assume the motor boat in the advertisement is named REGAL as a result of its engine and that it ran a Hyde Propeller – caption reads 15.38 knots, very impressive for the size of boat. But, back then there were very little home comforts aboard, so significantly lighter. Further on in the issue we learn that REGAL did have a 32hp Regal engine and her specs were 32′ in length with a 6’10” beam, She was also for sale, no price mentioned.
Do we know what became of REGAL
2. A boats for sale listing from 1913, see below. One of my pet frustrations with boat dealers is they never show / list a boats name, in fact even go as far as removing the name from the photos if the name is visible . The vessels name is an integral part of its DNA, equal to designer / builder / specs etc.
One can only assume the boat dealer is too insecure to publish the name.
Well after reading the 1913 December issue of New Zealand Yachtsman seems the insecurity has been around 100+ years, after reading the listing I wasn’t able to put a name to any of the launch for sale descriptions. The reference to a race winner on the 3rd from top listing might make that one identifiable.
If we believe her tme story, the classic wooden launch – MAXIE, was built in 1903 by Logan Bros in Auckland. That makes her royalty in the NZ classic boating world – with a starting bid of $10k, someone needs to snap her up quick. Home is Lake Taupo.
What we know from tme is she is 32’ in length, and powered by a 75hp Ford 2701E diesel engine.
Back in 1985 she had some serious work done which included a new engine, new deck and new cabin. The hull is double skin kauri and in sound condition as is the cabin structure. The deck as seen in the photos has rot and is leaking and in need of replacement.
So woodys who is going to step up and take over ownership of this blue blood classic Logan launch.
UPDATE – I asked Harold Kidd if MAXIE was the real deal – answer below “Yes it is. She was built as LIGAR for H H Harris of Pelorus but was sold to the Kennys at Picton then on to Wellington in the early 1920s renamed MAXIE. She was there for many years but has been on Taupo recently.She’s in the Logan book as unknown built for Harris in late 1903.”
INPUT ex PAUL DRAKE – Photo below of MAXIE at Paremata Wellington not long after her rebuild and before coming to Taupo – in the 1980’s?
03-02-2026 – INPUT ex PAUL DRAKE – Good news from Taupo. MAXIE (Logan Bros 1903) SOLD and was taken away for some extensive TLC. The intention is that, in time, she will return to Taupo in pristine condition.
Todays woody bridge-decker is only a classic because the seller choices to not record her name, nor builder (made not known). What we know is she is 32’ in length, has a beam of 8’3”, and draws just over 3’ and is built from kauri.
Forward motion is via a 4 cyl., 3.6L Fordson Major diesel engine.
Currently inWellington, previously Christchurch and Auckland before that. Given current tme bid of $1500 (reserve meet), could be a good buy given what appears to be a lot of worked / $$ done to her. (thanks Ian McDonald for the heads up)
Can we put a name to the vessel and maybe learn who built her and when.
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – BALSONA – To Good To Be True Story
The 50’ Oliver & Gilpin 1967 built wooden launch – BALSONA recently popped up on tme (thanks Ian McDonald) – the asking price was $25k ono, including her Hobsonville marina berth. Now it seems a bit whiffy – big boat, twin Ford 130 hp engines , over $300k spent etc BUT only one photo shown(as above).
I’d like to be proved wrong but I suspect this offering is an attempt to exit the Hobsonville marina berth lease. These days a lot of marina ownership is really a liability eg est. only 6 years term left x 12 months = 72 payments x maybe $1,200 mth for a 15m marina berth = $86,000. Thence a lot of the berths are for sale at $1,000 or even free.
As mentioned in the listing owner open to partnership, sweat equity / payment.
So if you’re looking for a cheapish waterfront home, BALSONA might be an option.
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