A Classic Lake Boat?
This has Lake Rotoiti written all over her. Not sure when she was built but she is 11’5″ + bow sprit with a 3’3″ beam. Powered by a Briggs & Stratton in-board that pushes her thru the water effortlessly. Comes with a trailer (legal) & is for-sale on trade me – current bid (no reserve) is $2500. A steal & the ensign is included 🙂 Be fast auction closes Wednesday 😉
waitematawoodys.com Gets 1,000,000 Views
At some stage today the counter on the watematawoodys.com blog site will tick over & show that people have viewed the site 1,000,000 times.
I choose the above photo for todays post because to me it captures what the classic wooden boat movement was / is all about. Its got everything there – motor boats, yachts, dinghies, people hanging out having a good time – there is even a dog 🙂 . The location is obviously Mansion House Bay at Kawau Island. The photo was sent to me by Robert Brooke & is from his father’s, Jack Brooke, stunning collection. (click on the photo to enlarge)
When I look back at the first few posts on waitematawoodys its amazing how we have evolved & now how big the audience is both in terms of numbers & the geographical reach.
I would like to thank all the followers of the site, but special thanks must go to everyone that sends in material (photos & info). Doing a daily post can be a little challenging at times but just when I start to panic, an email arrives from someone with some old photos of granddads boat. I would also like to thank Harold Kidd who gave me a swift kick in the backside 2 years ago in terms of getting serious about the site & the accuracy of the content. I would be embarrassed to say how many hours I had to spend to go back & populate the existing posts in terms of year, designer,builder etc but now the site is the #1 reference tool for New Zealand classic wooden boats. But that is a by-product, the real success of the site is that everyday it delivers to people something fun & enjoyable to read & interact with, something that puts a smile on their face.
Way did I start waitematawoodys ? – well the idea came to me via my involvement in the NZ Classic Yacht Association, the CYA is a great club but like most small clubs it can be seen as slightly cliquish, we do so many neat things but the audience is small & there are so many more people out there with an interest in wooden boats. With the birth of social media networks, stuff (photos, stories, info) that had previously been packed away, could now be available to anyone with a computer or smart phne. The future was all about content being on-line & easy to access. It was also about being collaborative. With the advent of personal websites (called blogs) people like myself are able to create a communication channel that has no boundaries. But more importantly blogs are able to be managed/controlled so that they remain true to the topic, which in the case of waitematawoodys is – the study & appreciation of classic wooden boats & the desire to tell the stories behind them & the people who built them, owned them & crewed on them.
At the start the content was all about motor boats but as the audience has grown the readers now have a broader interest in all classic wooden boats & things related to them.
Why did I call it waitematawoodys – now I could put my advertising hat on & rabbit on about what the words mean to people but the simple truth is its just a cool name & looks great on a tee-shirt 🙂
I still get a buzz out of posting daily & from the feedback I get, so do you. But folks – do not hold back on spending stuff to me, some of it in isolation may not be enough for a post but I file it & then bang, someone else sends me something on the same topic & we have a story.
Again thanks for being part of waitematawoodys & remember – its all about wooden boats.
Cheers Alan
ps below is an advertisement I made to plug membership of the CYA (you should join up) the photo (ex Chris Miller) shows we are still enjoying these wonderful craft. If you look hard that’s me in my number one clinker dinghy – I say #1 because there are a few………….. 🙂
CYA Classic Journal – Issue 100
In todays world of publishing, hitting 100 issues for a bi-monthly is pretty impresive. If the below is a little hard to read, click on the blue link below to download a pdf file. Enjoy 🙂
Santa Rosa > Argyll > Lady Argyle
Updated details from Harold Kidd, Don Galbraith, Lynton Bates, the Lidgard family & Ken Ricketts. photos ex Don Galbraith& KR
Lady Argyle was built in 1965 by John Lidgard at his Glen Eden factory, for Mac Stewart & one other partner (a taxi driver), when launched she was named Santa Rosa. She was built based on drawings done for the original owner by “Hoki” Williams, a retired staff member of Shipbuilders Ltd., with modifications by John Lidgard.
She is a big volume, massively strong traditional bridge-decker measuring 52′ with about 15′ beam & an impressive flared bow. She is still powered by what is believed to be her original engines, 2 x 6 cyl. 130hp Ford Dover diesels, with 2 enormous props, which John & Graeme Lidgard both think are original.
Mac Stewart & partner retained her until c.1975. Norm Galbraith was the next owner & changed her name to Argyll after the part of Scotland from which the Galbraiths originated. The Galbraiths sold her to Maurice Mahaffe (a Salvation Army officer) who changed her name to Lady Argyle. Mahaffe most likely sold her to a John Taylor (who previously owned Marine), Taylor still owned her in 2002. Another owner was “Spick Spicer (date unknown). Someone (??) sold her to a Steve Lay, who sold her to a Dr. Eric Horne, a Scottish GP, Horne sold her to Graeme Lidgard, a cousin of John Lidgard, who has owned her for approx. 2 1/2 years.
Check out the comments section for more chat on her
Classic Reproductions
Today’s post profiles the work of Wayne Spicer, a very talented modeler who has built an impressive number of our classic fleet. Wayne has been modeling for approx. 17 years & is a volunteer model maker at the Maritime Museum in Auckland (on Tuesdays). Wayne has built a number of square riggers including Endeavour, Bounty (3), Victory (3), Spanish galleon.
While at the Museum Wayne meet Rod Marler, the owner of the Logan yacht ‘Little Jim’, Rod commissioned Wayne to build a model of LJ & this got Wayne hooked on Logan boats. Wayne told me that he enjoyed the classic lines of the Logans and how they showed the evolution of sailing designs since the late 1800’s. You will see from the the list below that he has built quite a few.
BUILT TO DATE:
Thelma
Rainbow
Waitangi
Jessie Logan (2)
Little Jim (2)
Tawera (2)
Ariki
Aromoana
Ngaio
Gypsy
Nomad
Ranger
Helen
Most of Wayne’s models are made from scratch which means they are not kit sets, fyi below are some photos of the model making process for Nomad.
AROHA
photo ex Robert Brooke
Another photo from the Jack Brooke collection. Son Robert thinks the location is North Harbour, Kawau Island, but not positive.
What do we know about Aroha ?
Input from Harold Kidd
I have always thought that this image was at Lidgards’ property at Shark Bay in Bon Accord. The launch is the 23’9″ x 6’3″ AROHA owned by T H Scandrett of Mullet Point about this time. She was built about 1907 in Auckland but I can’t tell you who built her. She had a 4hp Standard marine engine and reverse gear.
A Quiz photo ex Harold Kidd With todays post we are looking to put a name to this Auckland steam launch, her build / launch date being just post the WW1 period. She was twin-screw, twin Simpson-Strickland tandem compound-engined. Her boilers were by Price, 40 ihp per engine @ 250 rpm that pushed her along at very impressive 24 knots.
Anyone able to ID her or provide more info?
27-05-2015 A Confession from Harold K
Alan has suggested that I come clean and confess that I was winding up Russell aka vintagesteamer.
Daniel was a bycatch.
I bought the postcard on which this image appears many years ago and immediately thought it was a spoof for all the reasons that Russell and Daniel advance. The Simpson Strickland, 24 knots etc were poetic licence on my part.
In the original image there appears to be a shimmer of heat from the forward “funnel” which smudges the rigging of the little coastal steamer at the wharf. That does lend verisimilitude to the steamer thesis.
The point that Frank Stoks makes never occurred to me, that the conventional oil launch nearest the camera was conveniently juxtaposed in front of a twin-funneled steamer. I am not at all sure that’s the case as the same objections would apply to the boat behind which would have to be jolly small (and a fake itself perhaps). I did think that the boat behind (if there was one) could be some kind of smart Naval picket boat or pinnace from, say, one of the many visiting warships during the interwar period but can’t find a suitable prototype in the British, US and Japanese navies.
I now think that the two funnels are dummies done as some kind of visual joke…but why?
And why have those two short clerestories, which would seem to serve no purpose, unless they are dummies too?
I trawled through newspapers of the time and can find no reference to such a spoof taking place, nor can I id the launch, sans accoutrements. I have been busy and haven’t followed up one wild line that might explain the spoof. Will do so and report.
However, it’s time to confess and congratulate the contributors on their display of erudition and common sense.
Mandalay II?
colour photos ex Ken Ricketts
The question for ww’s today is – is the Mandalay above the same boat as below – the 1957 Mandalay, built by Dave Jackson & Graham Christian in Devonport for Ken Quinton. She was designed by Brin Wilson ?
Keen to know more on the vessel.
PILOT
photo ex Dean Wright
The above photos show the launch Pilot competing in the Whangaroa Classic Boats Game Fishing Contest. She was based up in Houhora at that time. Not a lot of brain cells were used up when they named her, as in her previous life she used to be the pilot boat in New Plymouth 🙂
I’m keen to learn a little more about her, anyone able to help?
More photos from Dean taken in 2007. At the time she was owned by Paul Nattrass.
LADY EILEEN
photos & report ex Hylton Edmonds via Ken Ricketts. edited by Alan H
Ken reports that Hylton, who bought Lady Eileen the 1947 Shipbuilders/SupaCraft bridge-decker approx. a year ago & relocated her to his property at Tapu Point in the Bay of Islands, is now 8 months into an extensive refit/refurb. You will see from the above photos that Hylton has rather a nice ‘shed’ & has retained the services of some true craftsman to undertake the work.
ww followers may recall that after her previous live-a-board owner passed away, Lady Eileen was listed on trademe for a long time. Lady Eileen is a very lucky boat to now have Hylton as her custodian & based on the standard of the work completed to date, despite being 68 years old, she will be relaunched better than new.
We look forward to more update.
Search Lady Eileen in the ww search box to see early photos.
Update from Russell Ward who you will see is a fan 🙂
Oh sterling effort, Mr Edmonds. Ten points/five stars for your effort! And a most deserving ship to lavish all that effort on. A super SuperCraft job!
Tim Windsor was the in-house designer at Shipbuilders at the time and Lady Eileen and her half sisters Mahara, Rosemary and Rakanoa were all just right. Mahara (just the same cabin arrangement) being a much shorter boat still worked OK (and that was hard to do); but Eileen managed to draw it out much better with the extra length.
Have a squint and admire the details. Humour me…. That graceful sheer, little kick up aft, the rubbing strakes that set it off (get one of those wrong and it would spoil it); the curvaceous tops to the toe rail fwd (Mahara was the same) -almost a turtle deck effect. The cabin tops -just a little curve in them fore and aft. Look at the curved edges to the tops of the fwd wheelhouse screens. A lesser designer would have had them angular and would have put three in. He might have put an eyebrow atop them and again detracted from it. Admire the treatment of the alternate windows/portholes aft -all four had that. It is mimicked up fwd too. Yep, everything just right. The flying bridge -a later add on is not bad -works OK because she is a big boat.
I surmise that Shipbuilders still had the men that were there during WW2 doing Fairmiles and the like -the knowledge capital/ expertise. Tim had trained by correspondence from the USA, I heard once. Anyone got anything else on his history?
Oh, say again. Well done (doing?) Hylton!
Work Report from the owner – 23-05-2015
Sadly the cabin sides are well passed returning to varnish (which in any case would have been the old imitation graining system so popular back in that era through to the 60’s, ex Pilot Boat Waitemata was a classic example).
I feel though, with a combination of refurbished varnished pieces and all her refurbished chrome, she will still look the (glamourous) Hunter’s Lady Eileen, as follows;
1. Hand rails (on refurbished stainless steel stanchions – added at time of flying bridge 20 years ago)
2. Skylight (original)
3. Dorade boxes (original complete with refurbished Chrome Bronze cowls)
4. Mast
5. New Teak Wheelhouse doors (sadly the old ones were full of gravings, repairs and freshwater rot and have been “retired”)
6. Entire Flying Bridge . The internal panel is painted out now, accentuating the shear and considered by all – a great improvement on this “large” addition.
7. Oregon Boat hooks (with chrome tips) on new Teak cradles
8. Cockpit Coamings (attached is a photo with just 3 coats of Uroxsys on to protect in the interim before final 6 more coats)
9. Foredeck Teak Hatch (original)
10. Name Boards (with chrome letters)
11. Ensign Mast
12. And…..if one can procure the original Clinker Dinghy or suitable replacement……
Lady Clair (L) & Lady Eileen at Gulf Harbour May’14
28-04-2016 Work in progress photos ex Ken Ricketts (17 April)
waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news - updated daily - 15+ million views 