Previously on WW we documented the holiday the 1935 Colin Wild built Lady Gay was having in Australia (links below). Now thanks to Colin Grazules pointing us in the direction of an online article in the December issue of Afloat magazine, we get to see and read what owner Graeme Wildon has been up to and his plans to explore more of the Australian boating scene. Enjoy the read 🙂
28-11-2025 Input ex Michael (surname unknown) – I recently found this picture taken by Tudor Collins I assume during secondment to the RNZN during WW 2 .
The ex work boat Wakatoa recently popped up on tme, thanks Ian McDonald. She made a brief appearance on WW back in March 2014, link below. At the time she was berth at Thames and it was commented on WW that she had been listed in the CYA Classic Register booklet as being built c.1939 in the Hokianga. https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/03/05/wakatoa/
The tme listing now has her as being built in 1929, and comments that she stated her life towing harbour barges. We now know she is 36’ and powered by a 130hp Isuzu 6BB1 that gives her a 7>8 knot cruising speed.
If you are looking for a nice salty looking double-ender, bidding is sub $10k, so she could be a bargain.
Classic Launch Waitangi (Karamana) In the top three photos above we see Waitangi being relaunched at Hobsonville Marina. The photos came to us via my Hobby eyes and ears – John Wicks, as John commented that’s a very impressive trailer for an old girl.
Waitangi was built as Karamana for F.B. Cadman in 1923 by Bailey & Lowe to a design by Hacker. As Harold Kidd commented on a previous WW story Karamana = Cadman in pig Maori. She was later bought by Auckland Grammar School teacher P A S Stein who rebuilt her and fitted a war surplus 6 cyl Green sohc aero engine producing 120-140bhp, bore 5.5 ins, stroke 6 ins. HDK commented that she was pretty radical (see photo above), and a far cry from her current configuration.
WTF – Next time you go to church you may have to stand up – a nameless boatyard acquired 4 magnificent kauri church pews, for the timber. I assume when the recipient of the wood is launched there won’t need to be a blessing 🙂
Back in May 2020 the launch Caravel made an appearance on WW (link below) thanks to Dean Wright. At the time we new nothing about her and only covered that she was built in Picton approx 20 years ago. Built of wood, possibly strip planked, but using an unusual timber – poplar? https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/05/20/caravel-och-video/
Approximately 10 years ago Southern Ocean Marine in Tauranga did a ’number on her’ to address a leak issue – they re-skinned the hull with double diagonal NZ kauri, sheathed in glass. The boat builder, Alan Craig commented that she was now built like a brick out-house. In the photos above of Caravel, taken by Douglas Owens, we see her recently hauled out at Tauranga for some TLC.
WW would still like to know more about Caravel, so if anyone knows the owners – would you give them a gentle nudge and ask that they share some background on this rather appealing woody.
Back in February 2020 a friend was cruising the streets on Auckland’s North Shore (he is allowed to – drives a car with a strip of lights on the roof) when he spotted the woody launch – Avalon, resting on a residential properties lawn. Turns out the 80+ year old owner has owned Avalon all her life – you can read and see more at the link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/02/17/mystery-sam-ford-launch/
Fast forward nearly two years and it turns out that the launches owner , Marjorie Mumme is Tobias Forsyth’s grandmother. Tobias owns MV Callisto and his Dad, Iain Forsyth has MV Meola. Tobias being a good grandson has stepped up to the mark and taken on the restoration of Avalon. To quote Tobias – no rush, first step = put her in a shed, the fear was she would end up as a garden sleep-out. Avalon was designed and built in 1954 by Sam Ford and is a one owner boat (Lloyd and Marjorie Mumme) , in fact still has the original Morris Navigator petrol engine. When launch she was 24’ but has 2’ added to the stern soon after.These days health & safety would lock you up for transporting a boat like we see on the truck above. The video was filmed by Tobias.
30-11-2021 INPUT FROM Carol Forsyth (nee Mumme) From birth to bikinis and boyfriends, my sisters and I grew up on Avalon. Motuihe, Browns Island, Islington Bay, Waiheke, Coromandel and Kawau was our playground and oh the stories that boat could tell! Dad loved Avalon as much as we did and when he passed on Mum took over Dad’s loving care. Now that Mum has finally handed over Avalon to my son Tobias and his family we look forward to seeing her in the water again.The black and white image of Avalon under sail was taken off Kauri Point and I would assume Dad had the Morris Navigator ticking over, but maybe she was under sail only.
HELP NEEDED – Tobias would like to find out more about the petrol Morris Navigator in Avalon. He is looking for any one that may have spares or have had a lot to do with them in the past but any info or spare parts would be greatly appreciated as he would love to keep the original engine but it must be reliable. Mainly if there are some Morris car guys that know if this engine is just a marinised version of a car engine of some vintage possibly? I can email better copies of the above photos if that would help.
I like the sail set-up – very salty, if I put that on Raindance, I might qualify to be one of the chosen ones to berth at Chad Thompson’s yacht only, new 40 berth Heritage Basin at the Viaduct 🙂
12-11-2024 UPDATE – photo ex John Dawson. Sames owner Tobias is doing some soul searching re what the replacement cabin top could / will look like – older below, and considerations below that.
HOW MANY MORE SUMMERS WILL YOU LET SLIP BY WITHOUT A BOAT………
Waitematawoodys has a sister – its called the Wooden Boat Bureau and we sell classic wooden boats – launches, yachts, big and small. We like to fly under the radar, as do most of our clients. Someone asked me what I did the other day – below sums it up (sounds a bit fluffy, in reality I just sell boats.
Inform and enthuse interest in the joys of owning and sailing traditional and classic wooden boats. And we do this by promoting partnerships between the boats, the sellers and the buyers, for the benefit of all. At the end of the day – its all about the boats, as most will out live their current owners.
Myself and David Cooke (MV Trinidad) are almost always available to offer advice to sellers and buyers – in the interests of marital harmony – in the first instance email to the below
Its only a mystery because the broker selling it has deleted the name…….. She is 36’ in length, has a beam of 10’5” and draws 3’3”. Built in 1963, from kauri and carvel planked. The forward motion is via a 80hp Ford diesel.Home is probably Northland.
Can anyone put a name to the boat, so we can have a record of her on WW.
27-11-21 Update from John H (previous owner) the boat is named – Poseidon
Haunui Restoration Update #3 Almost 6 months has passed since I poked my nose and camera (I was invited) into Paul Tingey’s shed to view the progress on the 1948 Colin Wild built woody – Haunui.The links below will take you back to the two previous visits https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/11/13/haunui-restoration/
Given all the constraints of CV-19, the countless lock-downs, supplier closures etc – Paul Tingey has made amazing progress on the project. A high % of the work done in the last 6 months has involved rebuilding and adding additional strength to the original design / build. Even my untrained eye could see how more resolute the vessel was.
We also got a peek at the twin new engine installations – the main ‘Deutz ‘ engine and the trolling / backup electric side engine.
Yesterdays WW T-shirt winner was Ronald Walton, with his emailed entry – “Todays boat at Milford Sound is the sister ship to Miss Picton and it is a Donald Sutherland photo taken c.1935 I have seen this before down at Milford from an old Museum at the road to the Holyford Track. The museum was burnt out with a loss of lots of old photos.”
The above photo is rather stunning, and comes to us from Lew Redwood’s fb. Its date c.1940’s – and woodys is all we know.Hopefully we can ID what appears to be a commercial boat, given that she is boarding passengers attired for tramping.The poster below were used to promote the area in the 1940’s.
Seeing we didn’t have a winner to the WW t-shirt quiz last week, the most accurate (you’ll need to explain e.g. it could be XXXXXXX that was contracted to the NZ Tourist and Health Resorts Dept etc) answer wins a WW t-shirt – entries via email only to – waitematawoodys@gmail.com
The woody Lady Adelaide has been part of the classic launch scene in New Zealand for a very long time, if you were able to view the old CYA launch event photos (the death of the CYA Forum said bye bye to the old photos)), Lady Adelaide and her skipper, Kerry Lilley feature in most launch event photos. Amazingly Kerry has owned Lady Adelaide for 32 years and being a boat builder, that makes the lady a very lucky boat. Not many classics have that length of ownership and care, most slide up and down in terms of maintenance and appearance.
Built by Dick Lang in 1922, she is kauri carvel planked, and back in 2000 Kerry splined and glassed the boat, so maintenance is minimal. LOL is 36’ (35’ LOW), beam is 8’ and she draws 3’. Power is from a Ford 70hp, 3 litre diesel, installed new in 2000. Top speed is 10 knots, but cruises all day at 8.2knots, with a fuel consumption of 7L an hour.
As you will see from the photos, after 32 years Kerry has refined and fine tuned very aspect of Lady Adelaide, need something, just reach out and it is where it should be.
Kerry contacted me several months ago and said “I’ve made the decision to pass the lady onto her next custodian, so once we escape CV-19, can you sell her” – so woodys Lady Adelaide is now on the market. If you are looking for classic launch that you can just step aboard and be boating this summer – this is the woody for you. Marina also available for rent. Expressions of interest to the Wooden Boat Bureau c/o waitematawoodys@waitematawoodys
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