DEFIANT — A RATHER MAGNIFICENT CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH
On one of my recent trip north I spotted a rather impressive woody hauled out at in Whangarei named DEFIANT. Hard not to miss her given her size.I had a brief phone chat with her owner Mike, and was given the green light to go aboard. Mike went to great lengths to tell me she was a tip inside as he was part way thru an upgrade project.
Excuse the quality of some of the photos, as I edited them to remove WIP clutter.
First impressions of DEFIANT is her overall size , she is huge. As a guide in the photos you can see some ‘LazyBoy’ armchairs – there are 4 in the saloon and they are the full domestic size.
Keen to learn more about her – but for now – designed by Nick Peel, I think 54’ in length, powered by a Gardner engine (possibly 150hp).Home port is Whangaroa, Northland.
CLASSIC MULLET BOAT WAIATA’s POST WAR TRIP > JAPAN
Todays woody tale features the 1934 Dick Lang built 26’ mullet boat – WAIATA (H15). Probably the most travelled mullet boat ever.
Chris Leech sent in a link to a fb post by the boats owner – Steve Rhodes, Steve had shared details and photos on the ’Sitting There Rotting….’ page.
We learnt that WAIATA was taken over in c.1939 by the Royal NZ Airforce for use in a R&R programme during the war. Fast forward to March 1946 and the airforce loaded WAIATA onto an English aircraft carrier named GLORIA headed for Japan where she continued her R&R duties for the J-Force.
WAIATA returned to NZ in 1948, and returned to civilian ownership. The article below is dated from the year 2000 and provides more background.Steve Rhodes commented he bought WAIATA awhile ago in disrepair and pulled her out and is spending ‘shiploads’ on doing her up. In the b/w photo above we see WAIATA on the aircraft carrier GLORIA along with our troops and the Corsair planes. Great history, keen to learn more about the future plans for the ‘yacht’ (I suspect from the photos she is now better described as a launch)
During the week WW was contacted by Lyndon Chambers the owner of the 36’ classic wooden launch – OMOKOROA, which was re-launched on September 8th. after a 3 year 7mth refit. The woody has appeared numerous times on WW and probably holds the record for the most name changes in her 106 year history – PHENELLA > WANGANELLA > KOTUKU > OMOKOROA. She was hauled out and relaunched at the Shelly Park Cruising Club in East Auckland.
Links below to the the most recent WW stories, whereto can read about her former times.
The classic launch MAKORA made an a appearance on WW back in Dec 2024, thanks to a 4sale listing. There was a lot of intel at the time but thanks to Harold Kidd we learnt that MAKORA was built by in 1914 Chas Bailey Jr in 1914 for Fred Alison of the Devonport Steam Ferry Co.
Her original power was twin 9hp Andersons (Christchurch built) for which Bailey was the Auckland agent. These days she is powered by a 40hp, 3 cyl. Fordson Dexter engine that gets her along nicely at 7 knots at 1600rpm.Her specs are 35’x9’6″x4′.
Todays photos of MAKORA where sent in one of my woody spotters and we see her hauled out at DOCK5 for some TLC. Keen to learn if she changed hands in 2024 and where she has been since.
There are a few ‘hard to achieve’ things in classic boat design – one is to create a motorsailer that doesn’t look like a compromise between a yacht and a motor boat and second to create a craft 30’ or less that to the eye looks proportional correct and visually appealing. Most get it wrong.
On a recent web forage on the Wooden Boats of Tasmania fb I came across todays woody that straightaway caught my eye.
The boats name is HUON KELLy and is a design by Terry Lean and tagged ‘Cloudy Bay 30’, built in Tasmania at the Wooden Boat Center in Franklin c.2005/6. The fb poster, Andy Mac, commented that 4 sister craft were built between 2005 >2011.
A quick google search popped up a broker video , link below, from 6 years ago when she was for sale in Sydney. Check it out, a very impressive woody packed with everything you would want aboard but discreetly hidden to give a heritage look.
During 2019 I closely followed the fate of the classic wooden launch LADY MARGARET, back then home was the top of the South Island and she was for sale. By birth LADY MARAGRET is a Waitemata woody, but its rare that we get one back from the south – transport costs being the #1 hurdle.
Sadly her time in Auckland was brief as she relocated further north, where she currently remains.
Some background – built in Mt Albert, Auckland in 1955 by L. Deacon. As launched she was named Lady Mary, sadly her builder / owner passed away in 1956 and Lady Mary was sold to Mr John Senior, who changed her name to Happy Wanderer. At some stage she was renamed again to Lady Margaret.
While classified as a ‘home-build’ her builder was a professional builder / cabinet maker and the standard of workmanship and finish is second to none. There is a dockside tale that LM was based on a Colin Wild design, scaled down to 38’. The tale mentions that a friend of a friend lent some plans…….. no proof of this but in my naive eyes she is too perfect to not have had direction from one of the grandmasters.
Her hull is two skin kauri – inner is 3/8” diagonal and the outer is 7/8” horizontal.
LADY MARGARET is been re-powered several times and currently forward motion is from a Ford D series 120hp diesel engine.
Thru out LADY MARGARET’s life she has been blessed with good owners who have maintained her very well, in the 2007/8 period approx. $300k was lavished on her. This care has been continued by her current owner, a marine engineer.
Recently I received a call asking for assistance in finding a new custodian for LADY MARGARET, in an earlier life I would have bought her 🙂 So woodys if you or someone you know are in the market for one of the best looking classic launches afloat, contact me at waitematawoodys@gmail.com fast. Serious buyers only please. Its a buyers market, has been for 2+ years. Now is the
time to take that leap of faith, throw caution to the winds, take the plunge, and get yourself, your family, and your friends on the water this summer.
(footnote – along the way she lost the varnished coamings (1st photo below), I have taken the liberty to render an image, below, of what could be, est cost $10k.) FYI – I will be taking more photos this week.
It is only a mystery because the owner doesn’t think a vessels name is part of its history…….
The woody featured above is approx. 33’ in length, with a carvel hull and powered by a Ford 75hp diesel engine. And that woodys is all we know so keen to learn more about her other than home is Nelson.
I suspect her owner has some basic engineering skills – the stern davits suggest a DIY addition, practical I’m sure but maybe better suited to a workboat.
Earlier in the week WW contacted by Steve Bass concerning details on a Weiti River craft. Steve mentioned a launch that he had previously owned named – ROSINA, and in reply to my standard reply -“send details”, we get to learn her history. Best if I let Steve tell the story (edited)
“I bought Rosina at Easter 1999 after she had had a major rebuild from 1986 to 1995, work included her Kauri planked hull clad in 1/4″ ply on the sides of the hull and 1/2″ on the bottom over 1/2” kauri planks and then fibreglassed. Her decks, cabin and interior were new so was basically a brand new boat when relanched at Stillwater on the 15th Jan 1995.
She was originally called Iron Bark and was launched at Meola Creek in 1947. I re-powered her in 2005 with a Nanni 3.10HE as the original 2 cyld Nanni was too underpowered. She is 20’ long x 6’ wide and draws 18”. Has a cruising speed of 6.5k and tops out at 8k.
Sadly I sold her in March 2024 after owning her for 25 years when I retired. She is currently land bound near Raglan after her current owner took her out of the water after sitting in the mooring at Wyuna Bay Coromandel for 20 months. Hopefully she will see some more use in the near future.” In the last photo we see ROSINA being hauled and trucked back to Steves property for her biannual dose of TLC.
Anyone able to make a suggestion on the design / builder.
THE MIGHTY KAURI — A WOODEN BOATBUILDER’S BEST FRIEND
Todays woody photos were sent in by Andrew Molloy and give us peek back in time when there was more of the magnificent kauri than the boatbuilders of the day needed. Hell we were exported it to Australia and I’m told 1/2 of San Franciso, USA, was rebuilt with NZ Kauri after the 1906 earthquakes there.
In the top photo, dated 1963, we see a halved Kauri log at the Helensville rail siding, it was used for building a fishing boat and a keeler and then some left over. Of note – we have 2nd from left Percy Vos and Sam Mason 3rd from left left. The log was 43 ‘and had a girth of 21’. From the log they milled 14,800 superficial feet of lumber.
Second photo is of the Goldie’s Timber Mill, St Mary’s Bay, Auckland. There is an impressive block – stack weathering there. Keen to learn the indignity of the launch seen in the bottom right hand corner – refer close up below.
In the 3rd photo we see a clinker dinghy taking shape at one of Auckland’s boat yards c.1910 . Has the look of the Percy Vos yard about it.
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