WAIPAWA
The photos above show the Percy Vos built boat, Waipawa, back in September getting ready to leave Napier after a week sheltering from a storm.
The skipper’s name is Pete & he was heading north to Whangarei after spending a winter in the Fiords and Stewart Island.
Photo sent in by Michael O’Dwyer. What do we know about her?
Almost A Woody
Today’s story features a Mason Clipper24 that has very good provenance – she was Tony’s own boat and he called it M. Y. Clipper. The later years of production Tony Mason used a fiberglass mould for the hull but all the internals are beautiful timber.
It has been fully restored to a very high quality by a David Smith in Auckland and Dennis Catchpole, who sent me the photos, purchased the boat three years ago. Dennis commented that he always remembered the Clippers as a young man as being the Rolls Royce of power boats when they were built, and the family did have, for many years a Pelin, which were also beautiful boats, and of course Pelin, worked for Tony at one point.
This boat has an interesting history as it was used to take Prince Charles across Lake Taupo fishing in 1980 (photo above of both of Tony with the Prince)
The Catchpole family love the boat and have had a great deal of pleasure from it. They keep her in the marina at Kinloch, and it is powered by a GMC V8 and can do a very impressive 55k at full speed. Most of the time she cruises around at 35k.
The link below will take you to other ww stories on Mason Clippers. Enjoy
https://waitematawoodys.com/?s=Mason+Clipper+24&submit=Search
VALHALLA A PEEK DOWN BELOW
Valhalla featured on ww back in April of this year but we had no interior photos, Ken Ricketts has just emailed me the above. You can read more about her & her past, including photos at this link. Enjoy 😉
23-12-2016 Update – photo below (ex Ken Ricketts) suggests that she was named Valhalla 1 when launched but the plate looks newer than the 1960’s so the jury is still out.
Looking For A Xmas Treat?
The above little beauty, Lady Alice, just popped up on trademe, perfect for the lakes or as a Mahurangi boat.
Now this one is a tad special, she is a Percy Vos boat so almost royalty on the classic wooden boating scene.
Her details are – 12’6″ kauri clinker, built 1950 & powered by a 8hp Kohler petrol inboard – with electric start, perfect for the old woodys with a bad back 😉
Her current owner has owned her for 33 years which is a rarity with a boat this size. I don’t know much about trailers but she sits on a ‘Hosking’ trailer which supposedly makes launching very easy.
This ww story is not a commercial listing – I just saw the boat & thought someone needs to buy her (asking $8k)
And seeing its Xmas , I’ll give a copy of Baden Pascoe’s book ‘Launching Dreams – Percy Vos – The Boats & His Boys’ to the woody that can tell me where Percy Vos served his boat building apprenticeship ? Answers via mail to waitematawoodys@gmail.com , prize draw 9.00pm 21-12-2016. (copies available from badenhp@xtra.co.nz )
NGAIO
This one (there are a few with that name out there) was spotted off Northcote last weekend by Nathan Herbert, he commented that her bow sheer has hints of the ex Winstone owned, Lidgard built – Tuarangi > Silver Tip. Details on her at the links below
Todays look https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/08/24/lidgard-42/
As launched look https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/06/13/wairangi-2/.
Any of the woodys able to supply more details on Ngaio ?
28-05-2021 Comment from Tony Holcroft (owner) – My lovely old girl is “yet another Ngaio”. I would love any /all the info I can get on her as she is out of the water getting some much needed work to restore her and is now up in the Kaipara and myself and family are looking forward to many, many years of fun and great memories to be had with her! I desperately want to find out her story and life befor so if there are any leads you can give me on her past it will be very much appreciated
Laughing Lady Getting Dressed Photos
Todays ww post is a wee peek into the final stages of Laughing Lady’s restoration at the Whangateau boat yard. Photos ex James Dreyer’s ‘Seven Oceans Boatworks’ facebook page – click here to see more on the project https://www.facebook.com/sevenoceansboatworks/?pnref=lhc
In the last few days James has used the services of a good old fashioned master craftsman with experience in the hot rod movement to apply some of the finishing touches to LL.
Given the level of presentation that LL will have when launched one would have to wonder where her home will be – certainly not a swing mooring in the Tamaki River, probably a boat shed or maybe even one of the dry docks?
ww awaits details on the splash date, must be fast approaching 😉
30-12-2016 The original plans have just surfaced. Read more in comments section.
04-05-2017 – Owner James Dreyer hard at work at the Whangateau Boat shed.
WW1 Mystery Launch – Stanley
The photo above was taken in Wellington during WW1. Sent in by Baden Pascoe who has offered up a copy of his book ‘Launching Dreams – Percy Vos – The Boats & This Boys’ to the first woody that can ID the launch (middle) tied up along side the wharf. Entries via the ww Comments section. Its not an easy quiz but the prize deserves a toughie 🙂
Copies of Baden book can be bought direct from him – contact badenhp@xtra.co.nz the perfect woody Xmas present.
The answer is – the launch is called Stanley, see below zoomed in photo. No winners 😦
LADY NOELENE
Lady Noelene has been a ‘rolling restoration’ for the last 4+ years & while still not complete her owner is on the down hill slopes. We do not know much about her past but she is powered by a 6 cyl Ford diesel. The photos are a mix of several people over the years, with the most recent ones, at Greg Less’s Sandspit boat yard, from Ken Ricketts.
Can any woodys expand on the little we know about Lady Noelene ?
GOLD BELL Mystery Launch Quiz
The above 1936 photo from the Tudor Collins (Auckland Museum) collection shows a dark hulled launch in the foreground, the first woody that can correctly name her, wins a copy of the 2017 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Calendar (still available to purchase via Rachel at zea.rachel@gmail.com ). Entries via the ww comments section. Also keen to ID the other vessels in the bay. photo emailed to me by Ken Ricketts.
Harold Kidd Input
GOLD BELL. She was built by Alf Bell (ex Collings & Bell) at St. Mary’s Bay in September 1929. She had a hard chine and was painted gold.
Funny story about that; Dick Coughlan and I helped clear out Alf’s basement in St. Mary’s Bay after his widow (Dick’s great aunt) died. It was a treasure trove of automotive parts going back the early 1900s including an incredibly early single cylinder Cadillac engine which we gave to John Stewart of St. Heliers, a bandsaw using two 1905ish De Dion Bouton car wheels, the major components of a 1914 Wolseley and yards of launch gear patterns, mostly borer ridden.
On Alf’s workbench was a very large wax vesta tin which was extraordinarily heavy, weighing at least 25lbs (11kg). I opened it and found it full of glittering metal grains.We knew Alf had done some panning at Coromandel (as did most early yachtsmen). The Estate Duty had been paid on the estate, so there was an ethical problem.
Anyway, eventually it was analysed and found to be just bronze filings that Alf had used to mix into the paint for the hull of GOLD BELL!
LADY GILLIAN
John Burland sent me the above photos of Lady Gillian moored at Nelson. She appeared on ww back in Oct 2014 (link below) & at the time her owners (Beatson family) commented that she needed ‘a bit of a tidy up’, by all appearances she has had that 🙂 The the 3rd photo we see her berth near Lady Karita, while LK is undergoing a re-fit.
We still do not know much about her – given there is a much bigger ww audience these days, maybe someone knows more about her past?
17-06-2017 Update – new photo below ex Andy Beatson
SEABIRD
Check out the link below to a cool youtube clip that features Steve Thomas’s 1908, John Reid designed classic launch – Seabird, in the musician Greg Johnson’s music video for the song ‘Never turn back’. It was filmed at Cable Bay near Nelson. Nice to see the CYA burgee flying on Seabird. Enjoy.
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