Category Archives: Non Waitemata

Mystery Napier Boat – Tautane > Centaurus

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Mystery Napier Boat – Tautane > Centaurus
 
Hylton Edmonds sent me the above photo of the unnamed Napier pilot taken by his late uncle TDE Edmonds who lived in the Hawkes Bay. Hylton recalls that it was taken sometime in the late 1950’s > early 1960’s and shows the pilot boat giving the ship ‘a bit of assistance’, which was common practice at the time.
 
Hylton was hoping one of the Napier / Hawke’s Bay WW followers could fill in some of the gaps re the photo e.g  a more accurate photo date, name, builder, launch date, and was she actually built as a pilot boat or later commissioned as one etc as she definitely  has an ex Fishing Boat – Miller and Tunnage look about her, and of course, what became of her?
 
UPDATE : Thanks to Michael O’Dwyers shape eyes we now know its Tautane – WW link below for details + photo of her today as Centaurus 🙂
 
 
19-08-2019 Input from Michael O’Dwyer
“Had a wee chat with an ex skipper of Tautane today.His name is Morry Trow,now 86 years old. Morry drove the pilot boats in Napier from 1967 through to 1983.He recalls Tautane being a good sea boat especially when driven with the 6/71 but the pilot house could get a little cramped with four people packed in.He regaled me with one account of having to remove an entire crew off a freighter all at once,the problem being one of the crew members had murdered a fellow seaman and the body had to come back too.Morry had taken out a number of policemen of course, so not having enough room and not that keen to have a tense situation on deck they ended up towing one of the lifeboats back with the perpetrator aboard duly escorted by the police.Tautane was replaced with the 120 tonne Athol Burns designed tug J.R. Harland in 1968 now Albatross V working adventure tourism in the Bay of Islands.”
 
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10-09-2020 Update – photo below ex Lew Redwood
 

Lady Ellen Restoration – July Update

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LADY ELLEN RESTORATION JULY UPDATE
 
Today is a first, no photos just videos, shot and narrated by Lady Ellen’s owner Bruce Mitchinson, I have to say its a great format for getting a status report on the progress of the restoration – very impressed Bruce 🙂
I’ll let Bruce tell us what’s been happening
 
“Visit to the boatyard, in Russell, end of july, to check on progress, and start the motor – new valves, rings, injectors, sump, bell housing, number 2 piston and con rod, so we thought it would be no trouble.
after cranking the thing over in the space of a couple of hours, bleeding lines, and trying all sorts, we gave up. It fired up for 4 seconds and we shut it down as the oil pressure was not up, after that we had oil pressure cranking on the starter, but it wouldn’t kick.
Fuel pressure at the injector pump looked pretty weak on all cylinders but number 3, and we thought that we would have to send the pump off to the doctors to get it looked at.
One last go yesterday [7th august] and armed with a new battery, some optimism, and a threatening looking sledge hammer, we had success!”
Woodys – I’m interested in your feed back he being able to view the videos – if you are unable, can you drop me an email (link below) I’m keen to ensure everyone can view them 🙂
waitematawoodys@gmail.com
UPDATE – OPEN THE COMMENTS SECTION IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS VIEWING –  for some reason they will load there but not in the main body of the story.
THE ENGINE
WCW Riverhead2019
Another clinker joined the fleet yesterday…………… thats 4, but who’s counting (other than the wife)

 

Saint Antonio – Work Boat Wednesday

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SAINT ANTONIO
 
I understand the launch Wild Duck (photo below) is for sale, I have included a photo below to give you some inspiration as to what Saint Antonio could look like if you threw some money at a good woody boatbuilder. 
Saint Antonio is from the design board and builder – Joe Jukes of Wellington and was built in 1935. LOA is 40’ and she has the same stern profile as Wild Duck. Strongly built in single skin kauri, she is a typical straight stem, counter stern, Island Bay Cook Straight vessel. 
The best term to describe her current status would be ‘work-in-progress’, her motor has been removed (seized), she is a float and awaits a woody with version and a few spare $$. The the last photo above shows her when she was commercial fishing.
Thanks to Ian McDonald for th listing heads-up.
‘Sister’ ship Wild Duck below
The duck has had an interesting life – started out as a service boat to the Wellington flying boats. She is also a lucky boat, surviving an altercation with a piece of the coast up north. One of boatbuilders based out of Half Moon Bay marina sent in the photos below of Wild Duck after she was hauled out, after an altercation – appears to have been quite a knock.
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Ocean Queen – A Peek Down Below

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OCEAN QUEEN – A Peek Down Below

Mid last month I ran a story on the Taupo based woody – Ocean Queen, most likely built by Joe Slattery in 1920. Nathan Herbert had spotted her at Lake Taupo with a 4-sale sign on her and commented on how stunning she looked.
I have since been contacted by her owner Paul Stewart and given a collection of photos of her interior. In Paul’s words – “she’s had a real spruce up, new Autex paint inside and out, anti-fouled, new varnish to the mast and boom, new duckboard, new raw water impeller, filters and oil. Polished up all the stainless fittings, removed and resealed some of the windows, new carpet, water tank clean and new hoses. new clears and covers. Last job is to make a new sail cover and then the boom can go back on”.
Paul commented that they use the sail often, it does a beautiful job of holding her steady on the wind and gives you another knot.
Paul still has the spare engine that came with the boat when he bought her.
As I mentioned previously at around $36k, if you are looking for an early 1900’s classic wooden launch – this woody has to be the buy of the year. So woodys, someone needs to buy Ocean Queen > then call Boat Haulage and arrange a pick up > then plonk her back in the Waitemata where she belongs 🙂
Read and see more of Ocean Queen at the links below.
 

Spartacus – 4sale

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Spartacus – 4sale
 
Woody Baden Pascoe spotted Spartacus parked up at Waipapa in the far north. Baden commented that his thoughts were she was ex NZ or UK Navy. Can anyone enlighten us on her origins and what she is up to at Waipapa?
 
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11-09-2023 UPDATE – Vessel now for sale, contact Lyall Quaife 021 273 9225 for details

Lady Noelene

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LADY NOELENE

Has appeared on WW before and from all accounts has been having a restoration for the last 20+ years. It appears for her tradesmen listing (thanks Ian McDonald) that she is now offered for sale in a 1/2 finished state. When I wrote this the highest bid was $405 and the reserve had been reached, someone might get a bargain.
The listing states she is a Dick Lane design / build but its actually Dick Lang c.1951/52. She measures 32’ x 9’ x 2’6”. There has been a lot of work done to e.g splined & glassed and 2 pot painted. Her motor is a Ford 120hp diesel. There are a lot of new parts and fitting that go with her.
In her present stated i.e. interior stripped is a perfect blank canvas for someone to fit her out to their spec.
Previous WW story here (lots of restoration photos)  https://wordpress.com/post/waitematawoodys.com/23938

Dawn

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DAWN

I was recently in Thames and snapped the colour photos above of the launch Dawn. Then last week while looking thru Andy Donovan’s old brokering photos, I came across the b/w photo of Dawn – do we think its the same boat? The b/w photo does appear to be on a lake.
Health & Safety – yeah right
Also in the Donovan photos was the photo below of the Cape Brett lighthouse, check out the guy hanging off the aerial on the top of the dome…………..
Cape Reinga Light House

Manunui

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MANUNUI
The 42’ Manunui was designed and built in 1939 by Bill Couldrey for Percy Colebrook, back in 2013 she appeared briefly on WW (link below) but the photo was very poor, now thanks to Lew Redwood fb and Harold Kidd we get to see her in her finest and learn a little more about this very smart launch.
Couldrey was a stunning craftsman, in fact one of the few boat builders preferred by Arch Logan.
When launched she was powered by a 55hp Benz diesel. The Benz lasted until 1963 when it was replaced with a 100hp Perkins diesel.
In 1942>44 Manunui was commandeered from Max Colebrook and taken to Fiji as a Naval patrol vessel.
In the 2013 story it was mentioned that Manunui had possibly headed south to Wellington, HDK has confirmed this, she calls the Boat Harbour marina in Wellington home.
Would love to see some up to date photos.
Input from Simon Smith – these photos were taken approx. 3 years ago and show Manunui motoring round Wellington harbour. Simon commented that her elderly owner is struggling to give her the attention she needs as he lives a 2 hour drive away from the marina.
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Manunui Gun rack

Update ex Hylton Edmonds c.1981 > 1982

Manunui 1943

Manunui 1947

IManunui 1953

 

Manunui 1954

 

Woodys In The Whangarei Town Basin

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Woodys In The Whangarei Town Basin

Previously on WW we have seen numerous b/w photos of the Whangarei Town Basin , today’s photo comes to use via Lew Redwood’s fb. and show a lot of classic launches tied up on pole moorings.
While its a great photo of the area, the wide angle makes it a little hard to ID the boats – any on brave enough to suggest the year ?
The Perks of Being The Commodore
Thankfully we have moved on in terms gender equality in advertising 🙂 the image below appeared in an early 1950’s edition of the American published ’The Rudder’ boating magazine.
Old sexist Ad

Ruru

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RURU

I have been contacted by Lake Rotoiti boatbuilder – Alan Craig (Craig Marine) regarding a lake boat that he and the owner are looking for more details on. Ruru is 19’ in length, with mahogany hull and kauri top. Alan commented that she is well built with seam battens and ribs, the planks have hardly moved. The build date is thought to be in the 1930’s > 1940’s period and was built for Sir Frank Mappin.
The engine is an Austin Triton, it was removed 20 years ago and was never put back in, as you will note in the photos it got as far as the end of the shed.
The owner – George Joseph has had the boat for 60+ years, the last 20 of which has seen Ruru stored in the shed. The previous owner, owned most of the land between Moose Lodge and the Marae.
Can anyone help ID the designer / builder?
Harold Kidd Input –
1. Lidgards built an unnamed runabout for Mappin in September 1935. The Austin TRITON (not TRIDENT – corrected AH) marine engine, based on the Austin 10 car engine, came out in 1935, so it’s a good match.
2. Got a Herald cross-reference on Mappin’s runabout. She was an 18 footer intended for Lake Rotorua. Rotoiti isn’t a huge step.