LOVING YOUR BOAT TO DEATH – Electro-chemical Destruction / Underwater Rot
The subject of electrochemical destruction and wooden boats has been covered extensively on WW – in fact the Chris McMullen articles are the most referenced stories on the site. At the end of todays story I have listed links to these stories.
Today thanks to Chris McMullen and Baden Pascoe we get to share an article they penned for the 2023 Mahurangi Cruising Club Year Book*, this article succinctly backgrounds the topic and suggests what as a wooden boat owner you should be looking out for and what to do to protect your wooden boat. READ IT. But if you are lazy – let me spell stout for you – DO NOT FIT ANODES or BOND YOUR WOODEN BOAT.
Note: PDF version below for easier viewing for the visually challenged – i.e. most of us 🙂
I’m sure all of you are aware of Johnny Wray’s book – ’South Sea Vagabonds’ , if you aren’t – where have you been 🙂
In the December 1949 issue of Seaspray magazine there was an article on Johnny’s 2nd boat – the 1946 launched – 44’ Waihape. As part of the story Johnny lists his 6 key essentials for extended cruising.
Carvel Planking – Caulking The Hull at Smithy’s Boat Shed
Have been a regular follower of Ian Smiths fb posting from the Sydney Wooden Boat School, where Ian is principal. The level of work going into the (new build) carvel-planked ranger class gaff-rigged woody he is building is amazing. The two most asked questions on WW are #1 Electro-chemical damage in wooden boats and #2 Advice on caulking a carvel planked hull. Well woodys todays WW story goes a long way to helping answer the #2 question. BUT remember as Ian says numerous times in the video “To do whatever the best shipwrights in your local area do”.
In the video Ian gives us a different look at traditional caulking from an Australian perspective and discusses the tools, materials and methods of traditionally caulking a hull with cotton and oakum. He shows how the Australian way of doing it follows the English tradition and differs from the way it’s done in the USA and Canada. The video is full of tips Ian can pass on after a long career in wooden boat building and boat building education. He also pays the seams (fills them with seam compound) using traditional linseed oil putty.
Enjoy the video and file the link away 😉
QUESTION OF THE DAY – ANY UPDATES ON THE CYA’S HERITAGE BASIN YACHT ONLY DEVELOPMENT? ANYONE BRAVE ENOUGH TO COMMENT? OR EMAIL IN CONFIDENCE TO THE ADDRESS BELOW waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Chatting last week with Mark Sorrenson, owner of the 43’ launch – Manapouri, that was built by Hector Parks, and he mentioned that he was part way thru a major refit of Manapouri. Obviously the request went out for photos, so today we get to have a peek at the work-in-progress.
In the gallery above we see Manapouri wrapped up in a tent / shelter that Mark helped build. A summary of the TO DO / DONE LIST below:
• New fuel tanks and lines • Complete engine room paint • New bridge sole and beams • Reconfigured engine hatches• New sound proofing • Full rewire • New dash • New gauges and chart plotter • New auto pilot• Fibreglass decks • Extend cockpit roof • Full exterior repaint • new dorade boxes • new name plates • strip, repair & varnish bridge doors
Marks words – “Needless to say, I’m poor, tired and won’t be boating at Xmas” 🙂
Woody Bruce Ryrie has taken on a project – a c.1960’s Couldrey classic launch that he acquired from the Firth of Thames. Unfortunately no name, so the first ask is does anyone know more about the boat?
The second ask is a little bigger, as you can see in the above photos there are a few planks that need replacing and Bruce would really appreciate a hand with the work, or even some guidance.
The launch is hauled out at Clevedon.
WE ARE LOSING OUR WATERFRONT – Okahu Bay Haul Out
It has recently been brought to my attention that our friends at Auckland Council are very anti boating – read below a summary of what’s been happening –
It’s not only the government that thinks it knows best. Auckland City has determined that the Haulout at Okahu bay, known as the Orakei Landing, will be shut down and the area will become a park reserve! The local board, despite overwhelming submissions against any change, decided in its woke way that the Landing haulout facilities, which have been a part of Auckland since the year dot, should be closed to provide another park. The haulout has and is being used by many owners of traditional wooden boats where owners as well as professionals work on them near to their homes. With the closure of this there will be no inner harbour haulouts on the Southern side of the harbour. There are also a number of professionals who will be out of a job or whose businesses will be reduced because of losing this facility. Auckland once touted itself as the city of sails. It seems it no longer thinks this is part of its makeup.In credibly the committee of the RAYC sent out an email to its members encouraging them to vote to close the Landing. That was done in a way which unless you read it carefully and understood what was happening would have led to many members completing the form supplied to submit for closure! It all smells a bit.
If you are even slightly motivated to voice your concern re the closure of the Okahu Bay haul out area – I suggest to use the channel I find works best with local politicians – they hate negative publicity – contact the chairman of the Orakei Local Board – Scott Milne direct via Facebook and leave a message – link here https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007006489029
AND TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO VOICE YOUR CONCERNS SEE BELOW
Local Board members that voted in favour of closing the hardstand*:
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 🙂
The above photo popped up in my ‘odds and sods’ file – it is dated late Jan 2022 so may have been from when I was helping deliver – Korawai to the BOI. But the photos code tells me it was taken on a Samsung device and I do not touch those, so maybe one of the other crew.
Anyway the launch is most likely named – Blue Seas, can anyone tell us if that is her name and any more intel about her.
INPUT ex Graham Hunter – She is still named BLUE SEAS Waiheke Island is also on the transom. She is now on a Mooring in Whakatakata Bay By OBC
25-07-2022 Input below from Chris Cotter (co-owner)
MY LIPS ARE SEALED – NO NAMES
If you need more proof on why not to bond your wooden boat and attach anodes – have a look below – luckily it was very localised. Very scary, the rudder shaft and surrounding area was VERY close to just not being there and you can guess what would have happened.
And if you need more read the most referenced story on the WW site – link below
We followed the refit of the 26′ Colin Wild 1925 built launch – Little Tasman extensively on WW, links below will give you a great insight into the project undertaken by Colin Brown and Josh Hawke at the Omaha Yard.
The other day I uncovered a very cool video put together by Kauri Classics that gives us an overview of the project.
Post re-launching Little Tasman was relocated to her new home in Wellington.
While there is a lot of thought and planning that goes into what we publish, the actual waitematawoodys website has grown organically i.e. sections have been added and deleted over the years, and we kind of assumed that you all had a good understanding of how to navigate your way around the site. In my recent travels mooching out stories, I have become very aware that not everyone is as good of driver as others and this means a lot of you are not getting the full experience.
So I have put together a few graphics to explain how to navigate around the WW site.I hope this helps you enjoy WW even more.
CONTENT I’m always looking out for stories, frequent comments I get are “I only have one photo” or “I have a photo but do not know anything about it” – well woodys, do not be the judge, send it in and let me decide if it has the makings of a WW story. Sometimes I already have another photo of the boat and now with your one, we have a story. DAILY STORY or REFERENCE TOOL When WW started the focus was on a daily story about classic wooden boats and the people connected to them, over time WW has also morphed into an amazing reference tool – we have over 3,800+ stories, 35,000+ photographs on tap. Most days when you look at the daily viewing numbers and what people are looking at, you get a 60/40 split – 60% are reading that days story and 40% are searching for something e.g. the name of their past boat, designs of a particular designer / builder etc. The site continues to grow year on year – the graph below shows the growth of the number of visitors. The graph of views is even more impressive, as people spend more and more time in and around the stories.
THANK YOU & A CALL FOR HELP As always WW would be very average without all your help and input – so a big thank you. If you like the site we’d appreciate you spreading the word – share the content via one of those social-media giants by following the links on the WW site, or may be you’re old school like me and find it easier to tell people or just email the link to others that you think might enjoy a shot of classic wooden boating news each morning.
HOW TO FIND / SEARCH FOR ANYTHING
BUYING OR SELLING BOATS
VIEW RECENT COMMENTS + HOW TO GET EMAIL ALERTS ON NEW STORIES
EMAIL OR SHARE A STORY WITH OTHERS + SHOW YOU LIKE A STORY
ANOTHER SEARCH BOX + HOW TO ORDER WW MERCHANDISE
NEED SOME HELP
FIND THINGS BY CATEGORY (click on a word) – Note: the bigger the size of the text, the more popular the subject
MOST POPULAR CONTENT – Select by tag e.g. boat size / year / type of vessel – yacht/launch/work-boat etc. Note: the bigger the size of the text, the more popular the subject
VIEW MORE STORIES – We try to not slow down your computer loading up past WW stories , so each day only a few appear automatically on the site page you see. Click the box to view more & more & more etc
And There Always Needs To Be a Boat Photo 🙂 Popped out for a lunch cruise to McKenzies Bay, Rangitoto Island – shared the bay with the very handsome woody – Pleasure Lady
Regular WW readers will be familiar with the USA website – Off Center Harbor, Benjamin Mendlowitz who aside from being one of the world’s top marine photo journalists, is a co-founder of OCH – dropped me a note the other day re a video he shot for OCH last week. Its one of those feel good insights into what this classic woody boating gig is all about – Click the photo above to view – Enjoy 🙂
If you not a subscriber to OCH, you should be, neat stories and the back library is one of the best woody boating reference tool out there. In the link above there is a wee bonus – you can view 10 of the best OCH videos at no charge.
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