Category Archives: Launches

Lady Diana

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LADY DIANA

photos & details ex Ken Ricketts

Phil Seabrook had Billy Rogers design and build the 36 foot Lady Diana for him in 1950 and fitted her with an Austin Skipper 100 from new, replacing it with a 155hp Nordberg sleeve-valve engine in 1956 shortly before he sold Lady Diana to Monte Winter. She performed better with the Nordberg than she did with the Austin.

Ken was aboard Lady Diana several times at Kawau Island during Christmas 1950.

She is still around today & still fairly unspoiled, as per the above photos, except for the lovely original varnish work, on the combings, which unfortunately has long since gone.

She also has an almost identical sister ship called Margaret Anne (photo below), which apart from a flybridge & varnish, is also fairly original, as per the photo.

MARGARET ANNE POST 2000

Lady Ethel

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LADY ETHEL

Built in 1963 by Brin Wilson.Designed by Billy Rodgers and is what the owner calls a classic ‘Sounds’ launch.
At 34ft and built of triple diagonal kauri planked.
Powered by a 72 hp Mercedes 4 cylinder diesel engine, she will cruise at a comfortable 7-8 knots.
Currently residing in Motueka and for sale on trademe.

Anyone know how she ended up in the South Island & what of her life in between?

06-11-2015 Chris McMullen Input edited by Alan H

Morrie Palmer of Devonport built the hull and Mr Neil Wilson finished her off. Not Brin Wilson.
Mr Neil Wilson (I believe an ex Joiner) was the owner and manager of the Auckland University Maintenance Department. He wanted no Butt blocks in his new boat and scarfed the planks himself while we built the boat.   She may have been 34 Feet but was not triple diagonal planked. (That was later corrected.)
I started my apprenticeship with Morrie 16th of January 1961 and transferred to M C Carter Ltd  30th of August 1963. I worked for Morrie two years seven months.
When I started he was working in his backyard at Point Chevalier. He was finishing Basl Kelly’s raised deck Stewart 34 Pania. I recall a huge launch hull on his section painted with red lead. I am not sure but it may have become the “Lady Argyle”. I never worked on her.
Soon after, Morrie moved to #15 Clarence St Devonport. (see the Cara Mia site for more https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/01/17/caramia/ )  Cal Crooks joined us. Morrie and Cal had both worked for Colling’s and Bell and were very competent workers. I was only the apprentice boy. It was high productivity and had to be as boatbuilding was a competitive cut throat business. At Devonport at least five major builds took place Cara Mia, Lady Ethel, Venture, Oranoa and the Stewart 34 Phoenician. All that, along with repair and insurance work all done, by three people (average) in just over two and a half years. Sure they were hull only or hull, decks and super structure. Mostly the owners finished the job. “Oranoa” was the exception and largely complete and later launched from Devonport wharf
Morrie had very little machinery. It was measure and cut once boatbuilding, nothing fancy just get the job out.  His call at the end of lunch break was. “This won’t Grace the Harbour”  Lets get on with it.
Morrie owned and cruised with his Family the twenty Six Foot Mullet Boat “Omatere” previously owned by Basil Kelly. It may have been a trade in on the Pania.
Morrie was very keen on Mullet boats and encouraged me to build one. She was the last planked Mullet Boat. The 22 Foot “Tamatea”. I built her while I worked for him. I bet he later regretted his action. I was building the boat after hours in my parents back yard and it must have affected my work.

Luana

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Luana

LUANA

photo ex Harold Kidd

The above photo of Luana shows her with one of the most famous warships of all time, HMS Hood. In 1924 Hood visited Auckland with another battleship, HMS Repulse as part of a 38000 mile circumnavigation. HMS Hood is seen at Princes Wharf.

At 860 ft she was for many years the largest & most prestigious warship in the world, with a top speed of 31 knots what a sight she must have been.

Sadly on the 24th May 1941 she came 2nd in one of the most famous surface engagements of WW2 – the German battleship Bismarck sank Hood in 3 minutes with only 3 of the 1418 men onboard surviving.
There was at the time much controversy into the speed of her demise & the exact cause of the loss of Hood still remains a subject for debate. Whether a shell from Bismarck king hit Hoods armory or a fire detonated her own torpedoes will never be know.

On a happier note Luana is still with us & a quick entry in the woodys search box will reward you with some great photos.

Anyone able to ID the launch?

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Anyone able to ID the launch?

Mary E Taylor Painting

Image ex John Burland

Painted in 1990 by Devonport painter Mary Taylor, titled ‘Houses & Boats’.
Anyone able to ID the launch, bottom left. Looks a little like my girl – Raindance – but not her.

14/04/2014 Some feedback (ex Rod Marler) from the artist, Mary Taylor.

“Re: the launch in the art piece. This pic is based loosely on a launch I saw that day. I don’t know what its name was but the boats I selected for my pic were based on craft that I liked the look of. They appeared in reality in a bit of a jumble, so the challenge was to place them into a pleasing composition and to simplify what was there.

I was in the Torpedo Bay area looking back to the land”

Timeless / Daphne Dee

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Timeless

TIMELESS

photo & info ex Baden Pascoe

The new owner (Peter Clausen) of Timeless, a 44′ launch based in Nelson is looking for any history on her. They have been told she is (possibly) a Laurent Giles design.

The details passed on were that it was built in Auckland by Eric Gibson a local boatbuilder over a number of years and launched 1998. She is kauri planked and her design looks to be from the 50s or 60s. The builder died soon after it was launched, then it was fitted out in Tauranga,. She has been in Havelock for the past 8 years.

Can anyone add to or clarify the above?

10/02/2015 Update
Peter has advised that the launch was renamed Timeless in about 2002 when the builder sold her. Prior to this she was named ‘Daphne Dee’.
I have attached below a couple of photos passed on from the previous owner taken around 2002 of the boat.
Peter can be contacted on email manaroa11@gmail.com

01-04-2020 Further Input from Peter Clasen – Being the present owners of Timeless I can now provide a bit more history on this boat, we posted the enquiry back in 2014 for information on her and have since got a bit more of her history.
She was built in Te Atatu Auckland by Eric Gibson a boat builder and his wife Daphne in their back yard.
The build was started around 1960 but due to poor health in the 70s and 80s he was not able to complete topsides. In 1998 hull and decks were taken to Colin Silby boat builders were the wheelhouse was fitted and other finishing work done.
She was launched 1998 as Daphne Gee and sold onto Craig Littlejohn and Jenny Peace from Tauranga after Eric passed away 2002, they extended the wheelhouse and fitted out the interior.
We purchased her from Walter Elsey in 2014 and keep her in the Nelson Mariner.
In 2016 we circumnavigated South Island and 2019 the North Island.
She is said to be a Laurent Giles design, 44ft LOA , is planked in 1 5/8 inch Kauri, powered by 6 Cylinder 120 hp Ford 2715e. She cruises at around 7 knots at 1500rpm burning about 7 LPH, reduction is 3:1. Displacement 18 tons.

Valmarie

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VALMARIE

details & photos ex Ken Ricketts, Martin Bertold & trademe

Built by Francis Wells of Wakatahuru in the South Island, for himself & was built of double diagonal planking in kahikatea, started in July 1951 & launched in 1960.
Whilst originally built by Wells as a work boat for himself, as you can now see, she is a beautiful, very comfortable, heavy displacement pleasure craft that could go almost anywhere.

Wells owned her until 1981 & after he died in August of that year she was sold by his estate to Murray Harris of Nelson circ. August 1981. She passed to Eric Jacobson between 1985 & 1987, who renamed her Evangeline & brought her to Auckland. In May 1993 she was sold to Brent Haslet & Carol Rush of Auckland who sold her in 2003 to Craig Burrow of Taupaki, West Auckland.

She is presently owned by David Brown of Auckland who advised that the large chrome throttle controls came off the previously destroyed Fairmile Mana.

She is driven by a matched handed pair of Gardner 8L3 eight cylinder in line diesel engines. The motors were originally from the island trader Rana which Brown traveled to Rarotonga to remove, at the end of her life & then bring them to NZ for installation in Valmarie. She had a cruising speed when new of 9.5 knots & top speed of 11 knots.

She has been returned to her original name, somewhere along the way & is currently for sale on trademe.

Laughing Lady

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LAUGHING LADY

A ‘new’ lady from the USA joins the NZ classic fleet. But first stop is the Whangateau Traditional Boat yard. Click any image to enlarge.

USA owner – David Gardiner
As ‘found’
Being packed up in USA
Safely in NZ
The end of the road trip North from Post Tauranga
Into the shed at Whangateau

Luders built the motorboat Laughing Lady in Connecticut in 1949 as a day fishing boat for a wealthy American socialite. A few years later she sold it to David Gardiner, who considered himself the 16th Lord of Gardiners Island. The island has an interesting history. As Americas largest private island, It had been in the family ever since his ancestor, the English settler Lion Gardiner, bought it from the Montaukett Indians in 1639 for ”one large dog, one gun, some powder and shot, some rum and several blankets”. He also obtained a charter for the island from King Charles I of England. Captain Kidd once buried treasure there, and the family withstood several attacks by pirates. Gardiner used the Laughing Lady to commute from the Island to New York where he worked as a stockbroker and also across to the up market Hamptons to ferry his guests to the Island, including Jacqui Kennedy-Onassis. Before David Gardiner passed away in 2004 the boat was sold and transported to a yard in San Diego where it underwent significant restoration of the hull before the restoration eventually stalled.

Enter Kiwis, Michael & Katy his sister-in-law who have both worked in the yachting industry and found a love for old boats working as crew on the historic 142 foot Dutch built Feadship Istros and also crewing aboard Fife yachts in various classic yacht regattas around the Mediterranean. They were looking for a small-scale project of their own and found the Laughing Lady languishing in a yacht yard in San Diego last year. They made an offer and the boat was theirs. The boat was then loaded onto a cargo ship in Los Angeles and shipped to Tauranga in March 2014, then towed on a large trailer up to Whangateau in early April (refer photos above). After being shoehorned into the main shed at Whangateau Traditional Boat yard, work will now commence returning the lady back to her former glory.

Luders stopped making boats in the 1980’s but had a fine pedigree in boat building, pioneering hot molded construction and the use of plywood during WWII.  The yard built and designed, fast commuter yachts, Navy patrol boats, tugs, launches and racing yachts including the 1962 America’s Cup winner Weatherly.

Laughing Lady is 32 foot long and was originally powered by Packard straight 8’s, nowadays is powered by twin Volvo turbo diesels.

Built of double planked cedar and mahogany with oak framing and a unique hot molded cabin trunk, she still has the basin that was used for shaving on the way to work and cast bronze fish fighting chairs. The boat will be kept as original as possible, but they will add some modern navigational equipment and something to cook on for overnight trips. Aside from that there is a lot of wiring, wood working, plumbing, paint and varnish to be done before she is completed and back on the water and turning heads as a fishing boat on her new home – the Hauraki Gulf.

Waitematawoodys will follow the work her owners will be undertaking with the assistance of Pam & George at the Whangateau Traditional Boat yard.

This might be easier to read

 

 

Lolene

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LOLENE

A classic displacement sedan launch, designed and built by Billy Rogers & launched in 1963. She was named after one of his daughters, as were a lot of Billy’s boats.

Kauri carvel construction, powered by 6 cylinder 120hp Ford diesel.

34’Length, 10’ 9” beam & 3’ 3” draft. 5’ 10” headroom, she sleeps 5 in single berths.

Currently for sale on trademe.

Harold Kidd Update

As I understand it, Billy Rogers built LOLENE for himself around 1963. Certainly she was first registered in his name with APYMBA at his then Wiilliamson Ave., Grey Lynn address. Billy had owned the 28ft keel yacht LOLOMA as a young man and was deeply fond of her. As a result some of his boats and children had the letters LO and LOMA in their names eg LADY LOMA in 1949.
Close sister ships were IOWANA (I1966) built for Dr. Kreichbaum and still in the hands of the Shorty Sefton/Pollard family and LADY FLORENCE (1966) built for Hedley Kendall. Andrew Pollard is a mine of information on these lovely sedans.
Subsequent owners of LOLENE have included K.D. Orell, Takapuna (1973), John Cossar 1989-95), Gary Hogg (1995) and Ken and Rhonda Blakie (2001).

Lady Pat

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LADY PAT

photos & details ex Craig Anderson

The owner of Lady Pat describes her as a ‘pub cruiser’ i.e. the perfect boat for navigating the upper reaches of the Waitemata Harbour & seeking refreshment at the Riverhead Hotel. I think that we will see more ‘Lady Pats’ as the popularity of the hotel grows.

Her owner is keen to find out more about her past, what he does know is an amusing read.

Lady Pat, 17′, was rescued from the side of Whangaparoa Road nearly 20 years ago by Stephen Harris (of Auckland Engineering Supplies), who paid $100.00 to the man and hauled her away. She had been stripped bare of her equipment and left sitting in the grass. Steve was told that the boat was built on Kawau Island by a retiring shipwright at the Lidgard yard. She was built of the kauri scraps left over from ship building it seems.
Steve took her home and began the restoration, with an eye toward sightseeing tours up the Puhoi river (another hotel location). While Steve was sanding off the blue paint from her transom he found ” Lady Pat” in pencil written there. After several years he found another boat and this project sat on a trailer in his shed. Two years ago he decided he would never get back to the little boat and offered it to his friend Craig Anderson, as a gift.

Craig moved Lady Pat to Wayne Olsen (Horizon Boats) for replacement of it’s cabin top and window frames along with glassing the topsides. Wayne also built a new drystack chimney for the two cylinder Ford that now powers it. I viewed her in Wayne’s shed while Waimiga was having her make-over (refer photos) & thought at the time that a vessel of this size was very lucky to be under the care of the Horizon crew.
After a lick of paint she was returned to Steves shed and waited for further repair and assembly, which was completed by Paul Middlemiss and Craig. She went back in the water at the Stillwater Boat Club in late March 2014.

08/04/2014 – Photos below ex Steve Harris & show Lady Pat as ‘found’ & at the start of the restoration process – have to say she was a very cute runabout 🙂

10/01/2015 – An update on ‘Lady Pat’
from owner Craig Anderson

“We enjoyed LP for only a short time on the water last season, caught some fish and got some hours on the little engine.
At 7kts she is a gentle performer on a smooth sea. Things get a bit wild on board when it’s rough, as she is small and buoyant.
After we pulled her out and put her on her new trailer last April, a list of jobs was developed, and one by one, done during the better days of the past winter.
We have just had the pleasure of returning to the tide and it is clear we have made improvements that will be enjoyed for years to come. Included below are two recent photos.”

Miss Kathleen

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Miss Kathleen

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MISS KATHLEEN

A 1902 Logan, 27’6″, kauri planked. Built by Logans for a wealthy Whangarei family. She was used as a please boat & spent most of her life in the Bay of Islands. Subsequently used for long-line fishing. She resides on Lake Rotoiti.

Powered by a 50 year old David Brown 50h.p.

Miss Kathleen was rebuilt in 1989 & purchased by her current owner, Barry Green, in 1997 from Captain Richens, an old sea captain.

Harold Kidd Update

Yet another mythological “Logan”. Looking at her hull, she’s obviously neither Logan nor 1902. A 1992 “Northern Advocate” article on her provenance talks about her 1989 rebuild by Colin Richens and infers her original build date at around 1925, which is more like it.
However, I suspect she’s a bit earlier than that and possibly one of several launches of her type built for Whangarei by David Reid of Drake Street, Auckland, around 1914-16.