LADY THELMA
photo ex Nathan Herbert
I probably should know something about this launches past – but I do not, but thats probably due to the fact she is tucked away up the Whau River.
So woodys – who can shred some light on this old girl?.
OWAKA
This ones a bit of a shot in the dark.
Stuart Lewis has contacted ww on behalf of his father who is looking for information on the launch Owaka, built by Collings and Bell c.1927.
Stuart’s fathers uncle, Jack Burdett of Whangarei, owned and carried out extensive work on her (in the 1970’s, he thinks) Jack used her as a work / pleasure boat servicing his farms on the Cavalli Islands and Limestone Island in Whangarei. Jack died in the 1980’s (unsure of exact date).
Any information any of you may have, or details on the later life of the Owaka would be appreciated.
Update from Harold Kidd
OWAKA was launched by Collings & Bell in November 1927 for Lyttelton Ferries Ltd. W E (Edmund) Lane of Russell had her in 1953, Lane”s Sea Services 1961, Bay Sea Services 1963. Fullers had her after (?) that time using her with the barge LORNA. She was advertised on TradeMe last year, moored at Great Barrier, asking price $49,500 ono with heaps of images which I have at home (now in South Island touring).
Update & photos below from Baden Pascoe
Baden tells us that Myra Larcombe, who is now in her late 80’s, father Edmund Lane owned Owaka in the l950’s. She was then powered by a Kelvin K 4, 88hp.
Baden also advised that Owaka is still based at Gt Barrier Island.
Stuart – I have emailed you Myra’s contact details, in case you want to follow up with her.
Baden Pascoe Update 16/07/2014
The photo of Owaka being craned was when she was returned to Auckland from Otago in 1953. For her new owner, Mr. Edmund Lane
16-07-2015 Update from Ray Morey ex Harold Kidd, edited by Alan H
I joined Fullers late 1962 and drove Owaka mostly but also Miss Doris and Miss Ida and quite a few of the others.
I don’t know when she got the extended wheelhouse and standing top but it must have been in Lanes time.
“Bay Sea Services” was a shelf company set up by Fullers to finance a third person to purchase Owaka and the barge Lorna as there were bad feelings between Fullers and Edmund. Owaka got the Ford engine shortly after I left in late 1963 when the Marine Dept. started to frown on the petrol start engines in passenger vessels. Fullers also had several spare engines in storage. I think Jack Burdett may have put the accommodation and after cabin over the old cargo space in the former aft cockpit because he lived on it when mustering on the Cavalli islands. She was getting a bit nail-sick from the pounding of the Kelvin when I drove her.
A partner and I looked at the Lidgard built “Mairie” then lying at a jetty in the Tamaki River but the K4 put us off. She is a beautiful and well built workboat, would be nice with a Gardner down below. We wanted a workboat that could tow a barge, be hire-able to the W.H.B. for general work, carry a reasonable size party for fishing and have a fair turn of speed as its a long way out of Whangarei. We finally settled on a Picton built launch “Rata”, 4-71 GM powered. I think she went to Fiji as a village boat.
20-03-2017 Input ex Linda Wright
Owaka, was owned by my father, Colin Wright, from approx 1989 to some time in the 1990s after he purchased her from Jack Burdett.
He has given me some stories and info from his time aboard the Owaka, and I have some photos from our visits stored away.
Dad was living aboard Owaka for extended periods and ferrying material from Whangarei to the Barrier, where he was doing some work at the time. A lot of trips were made at night and alone, as Owaka was so easy to handle. Whenever possible, she was under sail or motorsailing.
He would keep marine band radio on all the time, and was sometimes called to assist others in the area by George Mason, who ran the Whangaparapara marine radio on Great Barrier.
When Dad bought Owaka she was painted white, and he did not make any structural modifications apart from installing an electric toilet, as the toilet was rather cranky.
UPDATE 15-01-2019 Photo of Owaka off Tapeka Point, taken by Nathan Herbert onboard Pacific – got to love the veggie garden 🙂
MOUTERE
There is a kauri planked launch hauled out at what they call ‘House Boat Bay’ on Waiheke Island (Ostend). It has been under cover on the hard for one year and is perfectly dry. It has a 40hp marine-ised Ford diesel that was going the last time it was cranked over about 8 months ago. Hours of use are unknown. The boat was trucked from the Kaipara and then motored from the city to Waiheke about 7 years ago. It apparently belonged formerly to the Stables family on Kaipara. It was bought by the Waldens of Waiheke, who would now like her sold. Mary Christie and Steve Matatahi who live on the house boat Kukurei are helping to find a home for the Moutere and they have done some work on her – most of the ribs are now strengthened and/replaced and much of the inside paint has been removed as has the paint on outside hull.
The owners & Mary are only trying to recovering their costs so Moutere could be a very affordable classic project.
Interested parties – Contact Mary Christie c/o kukurei.crew@gmail.com
Also keen to know more about her – designer / builder. I hope Zach Matich is able to chip in re her Kaipara days.
SIREN
photos & details ex Scott Taylor
In the early 1960’s Mac Taylor of HM Taylor Shipbrokers drew up the lines for Siren & had Snow Waters build her c.1962. The Taylor family used her to cruise the gulf & sold her c.1966.
In the launch day photos above, the tractor driver is Flap Martiningo, Tony Mason provided the trailer and Snow Waters is encouraging Scott’s mother to smash the bottle on the anchor, Scott recalls it took six attempts 🙂 Mac Taylor is on the foredeck.
Scott is curious to find out where she may be now and what state she would be in.
click photos to enlarge
Update from Dave Jackson 13/07/2014
She is now renamed “Nancy Belle” and lives on moorings behind the Whangaparapara wharf, Great Barrier Island. Owned by Max Howard. Topsides have been painted white. He uses her as a cray boat.
The building of a replica 1898 Nathanael Herreshoff triple expansion steam engine – as told by Chris McMullen.
The Herreshoff engine is a triple expansion type with cylinders 3-1/2” x 5”x 8” with a 4-1/2” stroke. It is a smaller version of that depicted in the L Francis Herreshoff book ‘The Wizard Of Bristol’ page 228.
The engine is very different to what the textbooks on the subject show. Everything designed by Nathanael Herreshoff seems to be that way. He certainly never copied traditional thinking but worked it out for him self.
Those interested may notice the two crankshafts gear driven one to one. The right hand one drives the piston valves. Going astern is effected by sliding bush or sleeve within the driven gear activated by a lever, this rotates the valve C/S to a new position. The bush, gear and shaft required machining male and female three start threads, left and right hand 8” pitch! Not easy. The threads have / had to be cut on a planer using a dividing head coupled to the motion. Modern cars use a camshaft driven by a timing belt, similar to Herreshoff but remember this engine was designed in 1898! The engine is very short to allow the crankshaft to be supported by two bearings and also to prevent loss of heat as the exhaust steam travels from one cylinder to the next, thus trying to reduce pressure loss.
If you look at the image of the crankshaft casting (below) you will notice the overhung balance weights. Notice the lack of material in the web between the second and third journal. The crank can’t be ground and there is no easy way to machine the metal designed to be eliminated by casting. Casting this crank was a mission in SG iron. To cast it in steel (with 1/4” to the foot possible contraction) is going to be more difficult to achieve the correct length.
H.M.C.O had an outside foundry cast their steel but I notice in reading a recent article on Herreshoff Anchors they did have problems with their steel castings.
The base of the engine is a bronze casting to hold oil. The engine max revs are about 700 so the engine will have to be enclosed or throw oil everywhere.
There are good drawings available for this engine but no tolerances are given. I guess the fitters knew what was required. The original drawings were coloured to show the different materials, as was normal drafting practice. The prints I got were black and white and difficult to read. No layers as in CAD drawing.
The Boiler is a three-drum type with curved tubes. It is similar to a Yarrow Type boiler. All the circulation is achieved in the tubes, the outer tubes being cooler than the inner. Once the circulation starts it continues. This was proven by Yarrows experiment in the early 1900’s. So Herreshoff and Yarrow, an ocean apart, came to similar conclusions. The upper drum of the boiler is 8“ OD, the lower drums 4-1/2” all with 5/16” wall. The 1/2“ tubes are expanded. Not easy to do up a tube just over 4” ID.
The boiler was built under survey. The working pressure is 250 PSI.
There are no pumps on the engine. The boiler is fed and the cooled exhaust condensate is removed for reuse by an independent steam driven combined feed and air pump. These pumps were the only item on the launch not made in house by H.M.C.O. There were no drawings of these Marsh Pumps made by The American Steam Pump Co., Battle Creek Mitch. I copied mine from ‘Vapo’, an incredibly clever but simple pump with two moving parts but very difficult to manufacture.
I should add there has been no fabrication. Everything has been cast in iron or bronze.
Again this interesting project has been done for no other reason than for my own personal satisfaction. I guess Prof. Evers Burtner’s comments (see copy of magazine article below), I quote “It is too bad that this engine is so complicated that amateurs would not be tempted to build one of their own”, was red rag to a bull.
To view part one i.e. the boat click here https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/07/07/chris-mcmullens-herreshoff-steam-launch/
Click Any Image / Photo Below To Enlarge
AWAROA
photos & details from Geoff Brebner
This old ship has a long history. Unsure of the dates but she was built by Joe Fell on the Hokianga and was owned by Bert ( H. A. ) Subritzky for many years. She is pictured at Rawene in the 1950’s, that is Bert Subritzky you can see at the wheelhouse door. Bert moved to Auckland in 1956 with Awaroa and the barge Maggie and set up Tamaki Water Transport at Pakuranga, later becoming Subritzky Shipping Line.
Awaroa is still alive and well at Thames in a ‘berth’ on the Kauaeranga River just downstream from the road bridge going into town.
Thames has a interesting collection of old launches – Inverness, now firmly hemmed in by the rampant mangroves. She was formerly Awhitu and Geoff recalls her as a passenger launch on the Manukau Harbour. Geoff worked for Subritzky for a number of years mostly on the vehicular ferries and became very familiar with the wooden Romo and Maro.
07-01-2016 photo of Awaroa at Manaia, Coromandel ex Peter Croft. Those windows would have to win the TV1 and TV2 award e.g. widescreen TV’s 🙂
17-10-2018 Input from Geoff Brebner -, who sent in another photo, below, of Awaroa, seen here recently in Thames. She is powered by a 4cyl. Ford diesel.
A.H.B. / KELVIN
A.H.B. is 1907 Chas Bailey Jnr, 3 skin Kauri and 39ft., she was built for the Auckland Harbour Board hence her name A.H.B….Once she was sold out of their ownership she was renamed Kelvin and spent most of her life called that, her current owners, the Pollard brothers, we put her back to her original name.
Paperspast says she’s worked alongside Ferro in the early days, even receiving Ferro’s old engine at one stage. Also that she was leased to the police during night time hours for patrolling the harbour in 1911.
She was transferred to the Manukau and used by their harbour board for quite some time there before being sold off eventually.
The old stern on photo (supplied by Harold Kidd) is thought to be before or after the shot of the other old photo (ex Paperspast ) which caption says she was being returned to the Waitemata to be used in cray fishing industry 1933. Refer b/w photo/caption below.
Some info supplied by CYA member Baden Pascoe even has her fitted with two engines in the late 1940’s. Both shaft logs are still installed but plugged off.
She was also owned for a time by by boat builder Dave Jackson.
For a while she languished amongst the derelict boats down in Waikawa, then she was sold and steamed to Mana where she was forgotten and almost met her end via chainsaw before the Pollards rescued her, got her running / floating and bought her back to Auckland.
She’s powered by a D series Ford with a hydraulic box and is berthed at Panmure. She is mobile but she is a project boat requiring plenty of work and a loving owner to take her to the next step.
The Pollards boys – Andrew & Cameron have rescued more classic motor vessels than anyone I know, I have heard Harold Kidd say on numerous occasions “the their blood is with worth bottling”.
Like all of us, there are only so many toys you can fit in the box so A.H.B. is looking for a new owner / home – initially contact me on waitematawoodys@gmail.com
as always – click on any photo to enlarge 😉
OKAHU BAY LATE 1950’s?
Timespanner photo & details ex Russell Ward
Left to right, who can name the launches?
Russell feels the photo most likely dates from the late 1950’s as over at the Devonport Naval Base, the minesweeper Stawell is alongside, astern of the Loch Class (Rotoiti?) and she was put into mothballs July ’59 which means she would have been moved inside the wharf.
Chris McMullen’s Herreshoff Steam Launch
I visited a rather special boat shed the other day, shed is a bit of an understatement – I have a shed, Chris McMullen’s one is more like an aircraft hanger.
The reason for the invite was to have a look at the 1933 Colin Wild built launch Wirihana out of the water, but what really made me accept the invite in a flash was the chance to view the 34′ Herreshoff steam launch that Chris has been creating for nearly 30 years.
I use the term creating because every piece of this boat (including the steam engine) has been crafted by Chris’s own hands. Its a little way off launch day but already its a piece of art.
Why would someone undertake a project of this magnitude ? Chris’s view is “the whole project is an engineering exercise and an interesting challenge to recreate what was done 100 plus years ago. Further, traveling on a fast steam launch is a great experience and there is something about generating your own power from fire and water”.
Click any of the above photos to enlarge 😉
I’ll let Chris tell the story – read on
“I have been building this (lets say) machinery and boat on and off for would you believe 27 years! I started the project in 1987 –88 the year I sold McMullen & Wing Ltd. Unlike some of my steam friends in the USA and the UK who are single minded,this has not been my only interest, during the time I have owned or had the use of other boats and done many other things.
The long winded project, is an embarrassment for me being a professional boat builder. It must be explained that I am not a trained Engineers Pattern Maker, Foundry Moulder, Fitter and Turner, Coppersmith or a Boilermaker. I have had to learn these skills. Believe me, the Herreshoff’s draftsmen certainly did not compromised his design to make it easy for manufacture. The castings for the engine are complex and thin walled. Several foundry’s kindly allowed me to do my own sand moulding on their premises. It would never have been possible without their cooperation. I have had four attempts at casting the crankshaft. The only good casting (currently installed in the Engine) is of material not up to spec. This has been a major blow and I guess my knowing this has set back the job.
The 3 throw crank has been drawn in “Solid Works” with the idea of machining it from a solid 9 inch diameter bar of steel on a NC lathe and Mill. A huge job and still can not be completely finished on these remarkable machines. At this stage there is no way to change the design. Crazy, the original was cast and machined in steel over one hundred years ago!
I went on and built the 34’ x 6’ 3” x’ 1’10”hull exactly the Herreshoff way (with a mould for every White Oak steamed frame) The hull double planked carvel style and glued with epoxy rather than set in shellac (as was the original) The planking was two skins of 5/16 NZ Kauri. So thin it could not be edge set. On the bilge the planks were made from thicker stock as they had to be backed out (hollowed and rounded) Very easy to loose control of thickness doing this and I believe Herreshoff Manufacturing (some how) steamed the round into the planks. I have a steam box, experimented but could not make it form the planks. I could have built the same boat double diagonal in a fraction of the time but the design scantlings would have had to be changed. At the time I wanted an exact replica! To what end? Now, I am not sure. (See below Vapor)
Anyway, the hull is basically finished with the boiler engine and water tank installed ready for the plumbing.
For those interested the design is HMCO design # 263 it was built 1908 as the Starboard launch for the Beautiful Twin Screw Steam Yacht “Cassandra” Cassandra was built for an American owner by Scott’s at Greenock. Scotland in 1908 .She was 238 f.t O.A.L and could travel at just over 15 knots. Her tender was designed and built in the USA would have been “State of the Art” at the time and most likely the fastest launch available. It would seem to me there were excellent Steam Launch builders in the UK. Simpson Strickland and Liquid Fuel Engineering (Lifu) and others but the owner chose the Herreshoff design / build. I have a copy of a letter written by Francis Herreshoff (the designers son) stating these launches could do 14 knots. To many, that seems unlikely but I have been on two Steam launches on Lake Windermere that can do 13 knots, so lets say we do not know. These launches are proportioned closer to a rowing eight than a normal hull. On design #263 The boiler pressure is 250 PSI The propeller is four bladed 22 x 30 inch pitch. the Hull and machinery is light. The shaft is low angle and the weights well forward. The speed and shape of “Vapor” a similar steam launch has been discussed at length on Wooden Boat Forum I have never got involved in the discussion but I am very familiar with “Vapor” and know the owner. Ed Louchard a boat builder from Port Townsend has done a wonderful job of building a replacement hull. Vapor is the only surviving Herreshoff Steam Launch. The hull had been re planked at some time but the machinery is all original. Regarding “Vapor”, when I started my project I thought there were no Herreshoff Steam Launches in existence. I tracked down” Vapor” and her friendly owner in California about 12 years ago. Now she has been rebuilt it sort of makes my replica surplus. In some ways procrastination has helped as more information about these remarkable launches comes to light from all over the world. I have enjoyed the research but now I am looking forward to finishing my project but it does get harder as one gets older”
Part 2 – The building of a replica 1898 Nathanael Herreshoff triple expansion steam engine – https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/07/11/chris-mcmullen-herreshoff-steam-launch-part-2-the-engine/
Update on Vapor on the WoodenBoat Forum 24/07/2014
Vapor photos & kind words about Chris McMullen
And more Vapor – 25/07/2014
NANA
thanks to CYA members Jason Prew for the colour photos & Nathan Herbert for the b/w (Papers Past)
BACKGROUND
Nana was designed by C. Bailey Jun. & built by C. Bailey & Sons for Mr F Alison of Matiatia, Waiheke Island in1934 & launched in late November / December. She is 35′ with a 8′ beam & a 3′ draft. A day cruiser, all her controls were in the raised top amidships.
When launched she was fitted with a 100hp Redwing engine & expected to reach a rather speedy 17 knots. The photo above was taken on her sea trails, early Dec 1934.
Alison had her built for trips to town (Auckland City) & for taking friends out to the fishing grounds in the gulf.
As an aside, Alison sold his 35′ cruiser Makora, built to order 20 years early by C. Bailey to Mr Jas. Gordon of Awaroa Bay, Waiheke.
TODAY
Nana’ was hit whilst moored in a recent storm. She took on an undetermined quantity of water which partially flooded the Ford diesel 125hp engine which has now seized.
To quote the trademe listing the vessel has suffered reasonably extensive structural damage around the deck line, stern and aft cabin top & is currently leaking badly.
‘Nana’ is for sale ‘as is, where is’ on behalf of insurers at Orams Marine hard stand, Westhaven.
Now I’m not a boatbuilder but from the photos & feedback from those that have seen her the damage doesn’t look at all terminal.
This launch needs to be saved from the chainsaw & could be purchased for not a lot of money. The trademe auction closed yesterday, there was no reserve & the opening bid was set at $1,000, there were no bids. So Woodys – anyone looking for a project ? Remember as well as being a looker she was quick. I don’t normally put trademe links up but Nana needs a helping hand.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/motorboats/auction-747029166.htm
UPDATE 06/07/2014 – SHE HAS DODGED THE BULLET – NANA HAS A NEW OWNER
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