Category Archives: Launches

Waione

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WAIONE (LAUNCH) AT OMAHA- 28.6.16

WAIONE

During a recent visit to boat builder Colin Brown’s Omaha yard, Ken Ricketts was shown the launch Waione that currently shares shed space with Little Tasman.

Waione is approx. 32′ long & these days is cared for by Steve Taylor, the son-in-law of the  elderly owner Dorothy McCabe. Steve told KR, he thinks she may have been built by Baileys but is not sure, so input from other woodys would be much appreciated, to confirm or correct this.

Waione was bought by Dorothy & her late husband Jack in the mid 1990s, Jack passed away in 2001. Currently Waione is being refurbished for Dorothy by Steve. She has an 80hp 4 Cyl Ford diesel, the same engine when the McCabes bought her.

Dorothy  has advised that Waione was originally owned by  the Alf Court family & Dorothy has seen a  photo of Waione from that era, shown to her, by one of her own family, who is married to a member of the Court family.  Dorothy has also been told that the boat may have been intended to be taken to the Pacific Islands, which never happened.

When the McCabe’s bought her, she was at Gulf Harbour & they initially moored her after they purchased her, at Herald Island, but they later moved to the Warkworth area & took her to Mahurangi, where she is now moored, when in the water, however she has been undergoing her present refit for some time. In a past life she may have been moored at Milford Marina.

While its hard to get a good view of the boat from the above photo, KR commented that it appears  the present coamings are not original, although aesthetically acceptable & appropriate.
Interested to hear from any woodys that may know more about Waione’s past.

Harold Kidd Input

A former owner to c1985, Dean Silich, thought WAIONE was built by Joe Wheeler at Bayswater c1970 which is more likely than Baileys, frankly. Joe Wheeler died in 1972.

19-07-2016 photo below ex Steve Taylor (dated April 1996)

Waione1996 Steve Taylor

 

 

Rotomahana 4-Sale

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ROTOMAHANA 3

ROTOMAHANA 1

ROTOMAHANA 4-SALE

While searching for details on a launch the other day I went to cross reference some Bailey & Lowe boats & discovered that the 1923 Bailey & Lowe launch Rotomahana had not appeared on ww.

Today’s post is a gallery of photos from my files & owner John Prior emailed in by Ken Ricketts. Enjoy 🙂

Harold Kidd Input

As identified by Chris Leech the b/w images with her flying the DYC commodores burgee were taken when she was owned by Humphrey Duder, then Commodore of Devonport Yacht Club. The 401 number was her WW2 reporting number. She was never impressed into service for patrol work. Bailey & Lowe launched her in December 1923 for A. McDonald (NOT A.B. Donald) as EDWINA. Duder changed her name to ROTOMAHANA when he bought her in 1936. Very like a shortened ROMANCE II in styling.
06-07-2016 The photo below show Rotomahana after the recent (2016) repaint.

Rotomahana 2016 b

Rotomahana 2016 a

 

Lady Ngaio

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Lady Ngaio 4

Lady Ngaio 1

LADY NGAIO
photos & details ex Brenda Chappell

Today’s story features the 1928 Collings & Bell launch Lady Ngaio.  Brenda & her late husband, Dan, have owned the 28′ Lady Ngaio for the last 24 years. Prior to this she  was kept at anchor in Jacks Bay in the Bay of Islands & owned by Pete Drummond who was the local Jacks Bay plumber. Pete had the late Wayne Roberts, the Chappell’s neighbour and boat builder from the West Coast, totally strip the boat down at which time he extended the cabin and built new berths and a small new galley. This work was carried out at Te Uenga in Parekura Bay in a boat shed two properties along from the Chappell’s.
Dan Chappell had became very interested in Ngaio’s refit and when Pete Drummond decided to sell Ngaio not long after its relaunch, he asked Dan if he would be interested.  Amazingly the engine still went well after its long sojourn in Jacks Bay, but a few years later it became apparent a new one was required.
In c.2000 Chris Moon at Moon Engines supplied a new engine, a Ford diesel 85hp and the work was done at Opua, possibly at the Deemings yard.
For the last 24 years the boat’s home has been in Parekura Bay in the Bay of Islands.

Sadly with Dan’s passing last year, Brenda feels it is time that Lady Ngaio was passed onto another classic launch enthusiast who can care for her as much as Dan did.

So woodys if you or someone you know is looking to buy a very smart classic launch, add Lady Ngaio to your shopping list. In the first instance contact Brenda at haumoana@xtra.co.nz

Also interested in any details on LN’s life before 1990.

Seabird

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SEABIRD 28.6.16 - 1

SEABIRD
photos & details ex ken Ricketts

Seabird is owned by Omaha boat builder Colin Brown who very recently bought her off Dave Gould, an ex New Plymouth long-liner who told  Colin he had owned her for a good many years & had bought her off another New Plymouth fisherman.

Seabird is 19′ long with a 7′ beam & powered by a crank handle start, 1 cyl Yanmar, salt water cooled diesel, – so no batteries or cooling systems to worry about.

Colin does not know a lot about her early history, except that she was built in 1940, in New Plymouth & used for longlining, most of her life.

Colin reports she has a little bit of rot in one plank, as a result of having been sitting for quite a period.

Any woodys able to fill in the gaps on her past.

Roamer

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Roamer 2016a

Roamer 2016b

ROAMER
photos & details ex Davie Norris

I was contacted by Bromley, Christchurch boat builder Davie Norris about his families 40′  launch ‘Roamer’ in the hope that we could uncover more about her past. The boat previously belonged to Davie’s uncles Noel and Ken Norris and before that by his grandfather Bert Norris. They have been told that she was possible built in Cass Bay, Lyttelton &  launched in 1911.

A summary of her known past ownership is :-
• owned in 1914 by George Andrews & moored in Moncks Bay, Christchurch.
• owned by Mr Friedman in 1928
• owned c.1961 by Cliff Steinhouse.
During Steinhouse’s ownership there was an explosion onboard while the launch was being slipped in the estuary at Moncks Bay, as a result she burnt out & sunk. Davie is friends with Cliff Steinhouse’s son, Mike, who as a young boy watched the event from the shore.

So woodys can we help Davie out?

The photos below were prior to the addition last season of a new cabin top (as per the above photos)

SONY DSC

Update from Davie Norris
The fire on board was around 55 years ago as Mike Steinhouse is now 60 ish and he can recall watching her burst into flames as she was motoring to the slipway in Redcliffs. She drifted onto a sand bank before the fire was put out. The cabin top suffered badly and was rebuilt then.
When my grandad purchased her some years later she was sunk on her mooring in Lyttelton. He re-powered the boat and moved the engine forward into the bunk room to give more space in the main saloon.
My uncles cut off the cabin top about 30 years ago and rebuilt it.
We cut that off last year and replaced it as it was rotten, you will see in the 2 photos below we raised it 150mm.

 02-07-20176 Harold Kidd Input – photo below of Roamer in 1935, ex PapersPast ex Press (Christchurch) 14th Jan 1935)

Roamer 1935

Ena Mae

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Unknown flush-decker

ENA MAE

We are overdue for a genuine mystery boat story – so woodys can anyone ID the above flush-decker? The photo is from a collection of photographs by the marine photographer Tudor Collins. Location? Bay of Islands / Whangaroa ?

The crew must have had a lot of faith in their engine to anchor that close in – fishing ? or something else going on?

There is an awful lot of string holding that mast up, must have snared a few birds 🙂

Make sure you check out the comments section today – some good updates on previous stories.

07-08-2016 – another photo added below  from the Auckland Museum’s Tudor Collins collection, this one emailed to me by Ken Ricketts.

REWA 1940 - CAPE BRETT

04-10-2016 HAROLD KIDD UPDATE

Mystery solved. The launch is ENA MAE owned by Cyril Sharp c1949. That’s not a huge amount of help because I have no record of her and it’s probably a re-name. Any clues out there? The Bay people must know something about her?

05-10-2016 Harold Kidd Input

Lew Redwood of Whangarei, who has a quite amazing collection of postcards and images from Northland, sent me the pic of ENA MAE below. It seems to be in the same Tudor Collins series. Lew is working on the provenance of ENA MAE now.

ena-mae

Boating in the Late 1950’s & Early 1960’s

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2006
1959

Boating in the Late 1950’s & Early 1960’s
story & photo ex Brian Mace

When gathering info on the recent ww story on Sobrine, Brian Mace passed onto Ken Ricketts the story below he once wrote titled ‘Memories of boating in the late fifties & early sixties’, with Brian permission we have reproduced the story on ww. Its a great story of life aboard the launch Sobrine owned by Brian’s father Gordon Mace. I have included a 1959 photo below of Sobrine. ww readers can view / read more on Sobrine here  https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/05/31/sobrine/

Enjoy the story, it will be very familiar to a lot of ww readers. The launch in the photo above was once owned by Brian but he can not recall its name – anyone able to help out? Also above is a 1959 photo of Brian aged 13 years  kitted out for diving, which would have been a big thing for a 13 Year old back then 🙂 Sorry for the lay out/big gaps between pages – these are original typed notes.

BRIAN MACE1

BRIAN MACE'2

BRIAN MACE3

SOBRINE c1959

Dawn

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20160227_081835

Dawn 2016

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DAWN
photos & details ex Steve Archer & Darren Arthur

I was contacted by Steve Archer who owns the launch ‘Dawn’, Steve believes Dawn may possibly be the L C Coultard design/built launch ‘Doraine’.
According to Steve, Dawn (Doraine) was built by Coultard in Onehunga for a flounder fisherman on the Kaipara in 1936. She is 28ft long and was owned for 24yrs by the Arthur family who kept her moored in the Tamaki River. Darren Arthur sent Steve a collection of photos from Dawns past, he was 11 years old when on the foredeck in one of the photos.
Steve has owned Dawn for 6 years after trucking her down from the Hokianga. During the 6 years she has been kept at Bucklands Beach Marina, then on a pole mooring at Panmure, on a berth at Pine Harbour and currently on a swing mooring at Wyuna Bay Coromandel.

So woodys – is Dawn actually Doraine?  And woodys I can help the discussion – last night Rosemary Robinson emailed my a photo of her grandfather L C Coultard’s drawings of Doraine below, also I have included a photo of Doraine. (Harold Kidd once commented on ww in regard to the number of launches named Dawn – “TOO MANY DAWNS” 🙂

29-06-2016 Update ex Rosemary Robinson

“The plans say 24’ V bottom Cruiser drawn by LC Coulthard 23/5/58 – so NOT the plans of the Doraine despite the cardboard roll they were stored in, being labelled “Plans for the pleasure craft Doraine”.  The other drawings are of random boats and are very indistinct.  Sorry about that!
I’m not sure the Dawn is actually the Doraine because she seems to have been kept in the family until at least 1943 and my mother distinctly remembers her being in Taupo but cannot remember who she was sold to.  It would be amazing to think she still exist and looks that good after 80 years.”

Doraine (a)

Doraine plans

ps the Auckland Motor Yacht Club burgee looks even better flying 😉

AMYC on RD

Minx

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Minx - Wattle Bay 1913

Wattle Bay 1913

Wattle Bay
Te Tora 1916
Orua Bay 1923, Awhita Peninsula, Waiuku

 

MINX
photos & details ex Rosemary Robinson

Today’s story is on the L.C. Coulthard built launch Minx, the photos were sent to me by his granddaughter, Rosemary Robinson.
The locations of these photos all appear to be on the Manukau Harbour, I wonder if she ever left the mud & made it over to the sparkling waters of the Waitemata?

I know nothing about Minx so woodys can we help record her history on ww?

Harold Kidd Update – Les Coulthard built MINX for himself in 1913. She was 22ft loa. She was on the Waitemata in 1945 and on the Kaipara as recently as 1999 when Mark Thomas told me she had been sold from Helensville to Dargaville. A very pretty launch, reminiscent of Arch Logan’s work on, say, COQUETTE.

 

Lincoln Wood Dinghy Restoration (Rebuild)
Harold Kidd sent me the two photos below of a very nice little (8’6”) sailing dinghy built by Lincoln Wood which George Emtage at the Whangateau boat yard is rebuilding for him & Pauline.
The yard is a hive of activity at the moment with some of our finest classics lined up in the creek getting some TLC.

WBY

Phyllis M

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Phyllis M @ Smoke House Bay Gt Barrier

PHYLLIS M

The photo above of Phyllis M was taken recently in Smoke House Bay, Great Barrier Island. She would have to be a finalist in the Husqvarna Chainsaw Boat of the Year Awards 🙂
I know that some ww readers will beat me up for focusing on the construction added to her rear but bloody hell here we have a pretty motorboat that is obviously well loved, just look at the hatches & mast – that has been altered to suit an individuals personal requirements with no consideration to her historical design or aesthetics. I accept each & everyone of us can do what we want but you have to ask yourself, does the owner own her because its a cheap way to go boating or are they a classic wooden boat fan. The way she is cared for & presented leads me to think they do love her, so I have my fingers crossed that one day Phyllis M well have a top-chop 🙂

What do the woodys know about her past?

ps had a great response to yesterdays story about the Auckland Motor Yacht Club burgees (below), have a pile of applications for my assistant Flora McKenzie to review, so if you think your classic is deserving of flying one, send me an e-mail. waitematawoodys@gmail.com

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