Category Archives: Launches

MoanaLua

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Collings & Bell 1935

MOANALUA
photos ex Philip Hamlin

Sadly for a lot of folks today signals the return to the office, so I thought I would try to brighten up the day with a rather special post.

In early December Helena & Philip Hamlin, the owners of the magnificent 1935 Collings & Bell launch MoanaLua, sent me this amazing photo essay of Moanalua’s past. Philip & Helena would like to acknowledge the generosity of their friends & previous owner of MoanaLua for sharing this collection compiled by Allan Keane.

Where possible I have captioned the photos & remember you can enlarge any photo by clicking on it. Enjoy.

Input from Allan Keane – past owner
Fantastic – great to see that this history is not lost and there is no safer site than WW. I hope people enjoy seeing boating as it used to be.
Seeing crew on the bow reminds me that when we bought her there was no deck access to a huge anchor locker. This locker originally had a large header tank to give pressure water, including to the bath aft. Graham Watt who used to cruise on her told me his first job each day was to pump up water to the header tank—how things change! So all the anchor rode was carried on deck.
We built two good hatches to rectify having to pull everything out over the front berth, and of course the bath is long gone.

1930’s

1935 Launch Day
After launching
Christmas 1935 Cruise. Monowai (ex Razmuk) in background
New Year 1935 Cruise
Northern Cruise 1935. Note extra fuel on board
New Year Cruise 1935
New Year Cruise 1935
Northern Cruise 1935
Underway
Taking snaps 1935
Opua Wharf 1935
Atau Crew – Barry, Cuts & Dolci Boucher
Original interior
Easter 1935 on-route to Kawau
Northern Cruise 1935
Easter 1935 – Uncle Pip,Bill Boucher,Cuts,Mrs Boucher,Aunty VE,Dulcie,Bob
1935 – The Skipper – Bill Boucher
1935 – The New Skipper
1935
1935 North Cruise – Russell
1936 North Cruise. Fueling at Auckland
1936 Nothern Cruise. Russel
1936 Northern Cruise. Opua Wharf
1935/36 – in Matiatia
Christmas 1937. Mansion House Kawau
Christmas 1937. Muriel,Dulcie,Ken,Bob
Christmas 1937. After big storm
Jan 1938 Cruise. Ken,Irene,Sam
Christmas 1938. Alice,Betty,Loris,Irene
1939. Rewa wreck
With cockpit dodger,flybridge & bow rail
Christmas 1939. Muddy Bay Kawau. Te Rauparaha (fwd)

1960’s

c.1969 – Mansion House Wharf. Owner Ken Burroughs

1990’s

Coromandel 1993. Owners Broadbent & Keane families
c.1994/95 – 9>10 knots
1994/95
1999 Refit at HMB
1999 Refit at HMB

2000’s

Schooner Bay, Great Barrier 2001/02
2010 – Patio Bay, Waiheke Is.

27-04-2016 Input from Graham Watt

I am the Graham Watt referred to by Allan Keane as the Lad who had the onerous morning duty of pumping up the water header tank. Moanalua was owned by Denny Bishop during the late 50’s and early 60’s, and his best mate,my father Colin Watt ,plus family made up the regular crew. I believe Denny purchased the boat from the Boucher estate.
She was moored on the piles ( pre marina ) at Westhaven and our regular cruising was to the “bottom end” and Kawau ,with Christmas to the Bay of Islands and as far as Whangaroa.
To clarify the comments around engine, at that time it was a Petrol Kermath Seafarer Special along with a wing motor with its own shaft. Another feature was the R.T. , ex army ZC 1, a massive multi dial affair whose only purpose was to call Auckland Radio to get a telegram away to a mate giving instructions on horse racing bets..
Both Denny and Colin were builders who figured that by cladding the cabin with this latest Formica product they could get a permanent finish without the varnishing. Not a good idea with the benefit of hindsight.

Captaur

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CAPTAUR

Another launch photo from Rocky Bay, Waiheke Island. She appears to reside there permanently.

Each to their own but her lines appeal to me, all the angles work, even the cockpit canopy 🙂

What do we know about her ?

ps Anyone know what the 3 rectangular ‘things’ are on her topsides?

Upper Harbour Power Boat Racing

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Upper Harbour Power Boat Racing
photo ex Historic NZ Photos

I may have posted this before, but do not think so, there are a lot of similar images around from c.1930’s of motorboats moored to watch a power boat regatta held in the upper reaches of Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour.

Russell Ward commented that the launch on the left is Little Tasman, which given how good-looking she is would have to be correct.

Anyone able to ID the launch on the right & supply some details on the wee racer Peggy?

12-01-2016 Harold Kidd Input

It’s pretty clear to me that this pic was taken at the NZPBA Regatta at the Whau Creek/River on Saturday 18th February 1928. TASMAN was an entrant in the race for “fast cruisers” and PEGGY in the Burns Gold Cup for outboards.
The starters in the fast cruisers race were TARUA (scr), TASMAN (3m), ROMANCE II (5m 45s) and LADY MARGARET (8m40s). TARUA carrying number 18 won from TASMAN carrying 82. I think it’s possible the mystery launch in the above image is TARUA (photo below). While the hull details in the above image generally match, the strake forward is absent and she’s painted quite differently. What do you guys reckon?
If not TARUA then she’s a spectator launch and there’s no record of those for this event.

Tarua

Fiesta

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FIESTA

I spotted the above launch anchor in Rocky Bay on 30-12-2015, wind & tide were never my friend so I did not get to see if she had a name on her stern.

She does look familiar – possibly owned by an Alloy Yachts employee & kept in the Viaduct for a while 12>24 months ago ???

Anyone able to shed some more light on her?

Andrew Pollard advised she is called Fiesta & was built by ‘Laing’, powered by a 120hp Ford & moored at Panmure.

Harold Kidd Input

AYA records show FIESTA was built in 1962 by “Lang”. She was 31′ x 10′ x 3′ and had a 100hp Fordson diesel. The first owner appears to have been K.R. Buchanan of Arney Road, Remuera who may have sold her to J.J. Lenwood of Balmoral Road in 1973, although I think there may have two FIESTAs at the time.
So was it Dick Lang who built her? He would have been 74 in 1962 but I’m not sure he was still building that late in his life. He died in 1972. Her hull is sweet enough to be by Dick, not too sure about the tophamper though. The strip plank construction doesn’t sound like Dick. There were other Langs/Laings/Langes about in the 1960s, including Philip Lang, who favoured strip planking and he could be the one. Anyone know anything about him?

23-01-2016 – Update – the photos below are ex Baden Pascoe. Baden has advised that she was built by Philip Lang in 1964 (confirms Harold Kidds thoughts) & is currently owned by Gordon Love.

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Raira

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RaIra

photo ex Brian Fulton

Brian took the above photo in Woolshed Bay, Coromandel over the 2015 Xmas / New Year period. She is called Raira & is based at Panmure.

Interested to learn more about her.

Harold Kidd Update

RAIRA was designed by Charles Collings but built by her first owners, the McLeod brothers, Ted and Ray, and J. Verran, at Bayswater and launched in February 1915. She was 38′ x 38′ x 9′ x 3′ and was originally fitted with a 3 cylinder 30hp heavy duty Twigg, built in Auckland. She usually cruised with AUMOE after Alex Foster (of Fosters) bought her in 1919/20. The bridgedeckerisation was done by W.G. Lowe & Son in 1937 when owned by N.J. Campbell.
Her lines were published in the N.Z. Yachtsman magazine in 1914.

Photo below ex Jason Prew (Wairiki) of Raira crossing the Firth of Thames on the 27-12-2015

08-01-2016 Input from Jonathon Aston

Raira has been our family launch for the last 13 years and have many great memories. In 2009 we put Raira onto a large shed and over the next 3 years completely re-ribbed, refastened & re-corked her hull with thousands of copper nails & roves just like the McLeod brothers did when building her all those years ago as well as replacing all her keel bolts with new silicon bronze bolts. The stern deck was added in the 70’s & the bridge was added in 1982 by a local boatbuilder while based in Tauranga. She was brought back to Auckland in the early 90’s & has been based at the Panmure  Yacht & Boating club since.

Original lines & recent photos ex Jonathon Aston

 

 

Princess

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PRINCESS
photos & details ex Paul Drake

Paul has advised that the above launch has arrived at Lake Taupo within the last few weeks. Now if we believe the name plate she is a 1927 Colin Wild boat. Paul commented that its a nice touch having the build year and builder’s name being advertised, but it would be nice with they spelt the name correctly (Wild not Wilde) 😦

Paul believes that if her provenance stacks up, she is probably the only Col Wild on the lake.

The name plate states her home anchorage was Mahurangi, so what more do we know about Princess & how did she end up on the lake ?

Pirimanu

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PIRIMANU

Every time I catch the ferry to Waiheke Island I notice this classic sedan top launch moored in Matiatia Bay, in close & to the the right of the ferry terminal. Never been close enough to get its name so last week after anchoring in the bay (just a coffee stop) I rowed past with the camera. She looks to have recently had some TLC as she appears a little smarter than on previous visits 😉

What do we know about Pirimanu?

ps hard to tell from the photos but a very tall mast

Harold Kidd Input

The 28 footer PIRIMANU is an Arnold Couldrey design built by Salthouse Bros in 1968 for W.M. (Bill) Macindoe. Her design harks back to 1948 but good things don’t date, do they? Both Couldrey and Macindoe put some time into the build at Greenhithe.
Macindoe still owned her in 1972 according to Couldrey’s notes and in 1973 according to AYA records. Dennis and Suzie Craig owned her 1997

Waiere

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WAIERE

I have been waiting for details, ex the owner, on the above launch for a while & to date have received nothing so thought I would post the photos & see what we can dig up.

I took the photos of this very pretty boat while aboard Trinidad on-route to Greg Lees shed at Sandspit. I understand that she was ‘rescued’ from a farm paddock in West Auckland & has been restored & recently relaunched.

Would love to to hear / see more details about the restoration project 😉

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

FYI – Some interesting waitematawoodys blogsite stats from 2015

1. The ww site was viewed over 830,000 times in 2015
2. The busiest day of the year was Feb 9th with over 13,000 visitors – the post that day was on the 2015 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade
3. In 2015 there were over 400 new posts, growing the total archive to over 1,400 posts
4. The post that got the most views in 2015 was ‘Chris McMullen’s ‘Electrochemical Damage To Wood’
5. The vessel topic post that got the most views was the restoration of the classic launch Arohanui, with over 10,000 in the first 24 hours.
6. ww had visitors from 151 countries – the most came from NZ. Australia & the USA were not far behind. My challenge in 2016 is to improve the UK viewing audience
7. The 3 most active commenters were – Harold Kidd, Whangateau Traditional Boats & Nathan Herbert
8. There are lots of stats on ‘where you came from’ i.e. the web browsers you use & where you have been before visiting the ww site & where you go afterwards – very interesting to a marketer like me, but boring to most of you 🙂 I will say that you not big facebook users 😉

Mahina

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MAHINA
photos & details ex Russell Ward

Mahina is a William Garden (USA) design & was built in the early 1960’s, her wheelhouse is a later addition. She had an open steering position. She still retains the inside helm and  is still powered by a Gardner.
Russell has a suspicion she was launched as Konoihi, any able to confirm this ?

With yesterday being the end of the year it was perfect timing to hit the 1,500,000 views – thanks to everyone for following the blogsite. Cheers Alan H

Santa slipped a few one-off ww tee-shirts into some friends & family santa sacks. ‘Santa’ was a little concerned they might not have been well received but they have been spotted at Waiheke, London & Prague !! so santa must have got it right 😉

 

 

Arahi

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ARAHI
photo ex Pam Cundy

The above photo shows Arahi moored in Tryphena Harbour at Great Barrier Island. Looking at her there are some seriously old bones there, so she must have a past that some of the woodys know about?

Almost forgot to wish you all a happy New Year & if you are out on the water – be careful, booze & boats are not always good partners 😉