Category Archives: Non Waitemata

Mystery Launch at Opua

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Selwyn Deeming 3

Mystery Launch at Opua
photo ex Deeming family collection via Gavin Bedggood

The above photo was taken at the Deemings yard at Opua. We are not sure of the year or the ID of any of the boats. Any woods able to help out?

And a wee bonus – click the link below to view the latest (May>June 2016) issue of the USA on-line Classic Yacht magazine, lots of woody photos & stories in this issue 😉

http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/ClassicYacht/classic-yacht-may-june-2016/2016052501/

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04-06-2016 Photos of Arline ex B Worthington via Ken Ricketts

The Bristol Pilot Cutter – Cornubia – Sailing Sunday

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The Bristol Pilot Cutter – Cornubia – Sailing Sunday

Today’s post is a 8 minute film on the 1911 66′ bristol pilot cutter Cornubia. Built by J. Slade & Son, Polruan, in the UK, she was restored by current owner Tony Winter in 2009. She is carvel constructed, larch planking on oak frames. The film is wonderfully narrated by Tony Winter.
She is a thing of beauty both on the water & down below.

Anyone know the status of the bristol pilot boat that Peter Brooke is building at his yard in Waimauku?

Now if you have ever seen me mooching around in a bay in the dinghy collecting drift wood, if its a tree branch its for the garden. If its a piece of timber its for an old mate, Simon Yates who makes these rather cool signs. He bought an old metal stencil set in the USA (on ebay) & now knocks up the below – they look great at the bach – not for sale, its a labour of love 😉 All the wood on this one I collected last xmas around the gulf.

Si Signs

 

Mataroa (Kenya)

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MATAROA (KENYA)

As they say in the boxing game – Mataroa is the real deal – a 1928 Joe Slattery launch, named Kenya when launched, she measures 36’ LOA & was originally built for Mr Heard of Heards Confectionary. On trademe her owner claims she is a Collings & Bell but that is incorrect – read a lot more about her – build details, war history & more on the link below.

https://waitematawoodys.com/?s=MATAROA&submit=Search

Powered by a Ford 90p diesel, she will cruise effortlessly at 8.5 Knots. You will see from the photos that she is over due for some TLC but boy-o-boy the bones are there & for sale at $15k – that’s a lot of boat.

I have included below a photo from her early days, you will see how smart is was & could be with a little work.

Someone has to scoop her up.

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Awanui

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AWANUI

Home port for Awanui is Motueka, Nelson Bay. She is 30’ LOA with a carvel kauri planked hull. With her hull shape & powered by a 80hp Ford diesel she would get along very nicely. Looking at the trademe photos there appears to have been a lot of work done on her & she is well fitted out – sleeps 5, toilet, shower, engine heated hot water, 2 burner gas stove & grill + sounder/GPS plotter, VHF radio, CD stereo & anchor with electric capstan. Solar battery charging & the mandatory safety gear. If she was mine, that alloy boarding platform would be gone very quickly J.

A lot of boat for around $20k.

Anyone know who designed / built her?

14-02-2024 INPUT EX OWNER – LES NELSON 

My father owned Awanui in the 80″s we had a lot of enjoyment around the sounds during our ownership. We have a black and white image of when she was launched from the Picton foreshore back in around 1916-1919??. We stripped her back to bare timber and painted her from top to bottom, Rescue Orange “top side” with cream decks looked very smart. The mast was removed in favour of a shorter mount above the wheel house roof. A hatch was added above the wheel. A rear “duckboard” was removed to allow better control in a following seas. Would love to know where she is now, the last time we saw here was looking pretty plain and sorry looking in the Motueka marina.
We believe Cobber Kane owned her at some stage.

Mystery Double Ender – Never Judge A Boat On Face Value

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Mystery Double Ender – Never Judge A Boat On Face Value
photos & detail ex Gavin Bedggood

Several months ago Dean Wright sent me a trademe link to a very run-down small double ender motorboat that a friend of his was looking to sell / move on. She was not a pretty sight & at the time I assumed she would be destined for a Beehive (box of matches) restoration.
Well thank god there are people out there with better vision than I 🙂 because as you will see from the photos below her new owner Gavin Bedggood has uncovered a very sweet vessel that appears to have her roots in our colonial coastal farming days.

Gavin has started a post on the boat on the American WoodenBoat Forum, if you click the link below you can see & read more on the journey Gavin as entered on. The one thing with the WBF is that there is a high % of arm chair experts so unless you know the posters you have to view the comments carefully, saying that most of the ones to date on the post are A-Team.
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?206902-Old-New-Zealand-boat-bit-of-a-mystery

A little bit of background from Gavin.
“So I have always had a thing for double enders… don’t know why I just like them.
Three weeks ago I was looking on trademe at old wooden boats just passing the time of day when I see a very cheap double ender for sale ….
It was a mess… small very ugly cabin, rot, no engine, leaking water from above and below… a REAL find…. (not).
The ad says it was once and old life boat, built in the UK from New Zealand kauri.
So I send a message to the seller saying that I thought it could be made into something really nice…
We get talking… I take a boat builder friend with me to take a look… he says, this boat is an utter SH$% heap and I should not buy it… BUT that under years of rubbish additions is what looks like a nicely made, sound hull.
The owner takes a liking to me and basically gives me the boat.
Damn, I should have learned that cheap is sometimes to expensive!

We thought it used in the mid 1930’s in a place called Mokau, on the west coast of the North Island, to row wool out to waiting ships from the beach and bring supplies back in.They were called ‘Surf Lighters’. I received an e-mail from a person who is involved with the Mokau Museum, complete with photos. Its really kind of eerie to see what appears to be my boat in these old black and white images….

Then it was converted to a motorboat and used by the harbour board, then converted for fishing for 10 years, then used ad a private boat. I had plans to turn it into a motor launch with a big open cockpit and low forward cabin…. but as you will see if you read the WBF post the story gets changed and more evidence comes to hand”.

Gavin has to be commended for undertaking this project, so woodys can anyone help Gavin out – all input appreciated – details on surf lighters, similar boats, this boats recent past etc etc.

As always – click on photos to enlarge 😉

AS FOUND

DECONSTRUCTION

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JACKPOT

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COULD THIS BE HER?

 

2016 Floating Bach Award Finalist

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Would this be a Finalist for the 2016 Floating Bach Award?

Regular ww readers will have heard me talk about the growing interest in the ownership of classic wooden launches & how I have tagged it the Floating Bach trend. Well yesterday Scott Taylor having just returned from a holiday at Lake Waikaremoana* sent me some boating photos. One of which (Rawene, above) would have to be the epitome of that tag, complete with poop deck 🙂

Interested to learn more on the other woodys below (Safari, Camaron, Rawene) & get some details on their past & how they ended up at the lake + there are a couple of plastic Logans that I’d be keen to name.

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Note: for the overseas ww followers – Lake Waikaremoana is situated in the Te Urewera National Park, in the North Island of NZ. Some spectacular walks & just wow scenery. A few photos below.

29-12-2016 Update – Photos below of Rawene – sent in by Toni Metz – read more about the boats history in the comments section below. These photos were taken in the 1930’s at Waikaremoana. In the second photo, Rawene is the last boat in the line below the shed.

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08-06-2020 Input from Jason Clough – owner of the launch Cameron in one of the above photos. Turns out its not a woody, but comments added for the record.

“I aquired Camaron just over a year ago. It is a Vindex 32 , launched 1972 , was built by Jim Young. Possibly #9 (purely guessing by thats what I found when sides were being sanded down) I have pretty much all of its history. Camaron is one of the first ever sandwich construction GRP hulls , with a Balsa Core.The topsides, trim are teak , Cedar , and a laminated ply roof. There is also a bit of other timbers in the trim . It was on Lake Taupo from 72 till about 86 as a fishing charter boat. (I even found an original business card under the nooks and crannies)The rear canopy was shorter , It had a upper deck ( if thats what u call it) It ran 2 x 200 hp stern legs. From there it went down south and was owned by the Otago Harbour board. Under the paint , I found in giant lettering “SURVEY” written down the sides. and , clearly hull repairs made where large Transducers had been fitted. It would be reasonable to assume is was bottom surveying / sounding for shipping channels. From launch right thru here , it was in survey , i have pages of its tickets.
Somewhere around 1994 /5 It must have come out of the water , and had its engines removed , rooftop taken away (made to a “saloon”) , and the rear roof line extended another 1200 mm or so , and sold on
It was purchased by previous owner around 1996 , from a broker in Marlborough with 2 x Honda outboards on pods fitted and converted to its present state.
From There , it was Transported to Waikaremoana , where it has been since.
About a year ago , It Was in pretty bad shape, and looked like it needed rescuing before it was too late. I have put a lot of hours into it , and it is looking great again. It has a new laminated roof , foredeck , glass laminating , completely gutted out and every square cm has been touched. The hull structure and integrity was in surprisingly good shape – kudos to the original builder and their skills, expansive use of epoxy sealing and quality work , materials.
I have kept Camaron as original as I can , with just a bit of modern in the comfort dept and where necessary. Even the big old polished brass compass is staying put !
Coincidentally today , We just popped up to Waikaremoana to have a look at the mooring to get and idea whats needed to sort that out, which led me to this site trying to figure out I am looking at the right one!
Camaron is now pretty much ready to be relaunched again in the next few weeks- just waiting on a bit of trim n upholstery , and is looking great.”

Whangaroa Walk-About

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Weona

Diomedea

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Athena
Aranui
Sapphire & Waimana

Sapphire and Waimana

Whangaroa Walk-About
photos ex Dean Wright

Dean took the camera on a wander down to the marina at Whangaroa on Saturday. From the photos above it appears the north are also enjoying our stunning autumn weather. These photos are just what they call ‘happy snaps’ to view some of Dean’s professional photography work click here       http://www.deanwright.co.nz/

I went to the Hutchwilco Plastic Fishing Trailer Boat Show on Saturday & was pleased that I was fortunate enough to have not had to pay the $22 entry fee. There was not much there to excite a woody, but saying that I was surprized by the number of woodys I did bump into, mostly sniffing out small tenders & new fishing gear.

The speedster below was the exception & I only discovered it on the way out 🙂

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Sou’East

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SOU’EAST

photos ex trademe

Sou’East was built by Lanes in 1947, solid kauri carvel planked. She measure 39’3” & is powered by twin 90 hp Ford diesels on V drives.  Underneath all the additions there is a very smart classic , see photo below.

Currently for sale.

She has younger sister – Nor’West that was built in 1951, also by Lanes. View here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/27/nor-west/

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Ken Ricketts took the above photo of Sou’East in Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island, Christmas 1949

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IDA – Sailing Sunday & more

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Ida

Careened early 1900’s

IDA – Sailing Sunday
photos ex Gregor McQuaters

In February Gregor sent me the above photos, with the promise that family members had more & he would track them down, so todays a little bit of name & shame – where are the photos Gregor? 🙂
In the back of my mind Harold Kidd posted a comment on ww a while ago about Ida but I have had no joy tracking it dowm. I can tell you she was built by Bailey’s in 1895, measures 65′ LOA & 45′ LWL. Home is Sydney, Australia & has been for a very long time. HDK – can you help out (again) 😉

23-07-2016 Input from Robin Elliott

Here’s a bunch of owners for Ida. Jim Platt was part of a syndicate that registered her in 1962.

W. Hicks 1919/21+? L.(& O.) Jenkinson 1922/32 A.A. Angell 1932/39+? A. Angell 1946?/49+? E.S. Green & Others 1950+? J. M. Pinkerton & L.H. Mirams 1951?/53+? J.M. Pinkerton 1952/60+? R. Price, J. Platt, O.C. de Bruin 1962+? J. Tenbroeke 1969+? G. Broeke, T. Guthrie & C. Taylor (RNZAF Hamilton) 1970+? E. Tansell (Pt Chevalier) 1976+? (Still Registered Owner NZYF 1980) R.B. Cornell (Pakuranga) 1982+? (Still shows as owner in 1984 NZYF).

In 1968 she was reported as being owned by several members of RNZAF Hobsonville and in 1969 was reported as being on moorings near the Hobsonville slipway.

Cornell of Pakuranga appears to be her last registered NZ owner. By 1992 her sail number (11) has been re-issued to Francis

23-07-2016 Input from Harold Kidd

IDA was built by C. & W. Bailey for the Jagger brothers and Frater and launched on 21 December 1895. She was a contemporary and competitor to the other 5 rater of that season, the Logan Bros’ MOANA which had the measure of her from the start. However, when C.P. Murdoch of Devonport bought her in 1900 her performance improved radically. The hauled-out pic above is during his ownership and she’s seem on the beach in front of Garden Terrace Devonport where Murdoch lived. His house, with a turret, still stands. Murdoch was Commodore of the Squadron at this time.
Harold Nathan bought her in 1907, N A Nathan in 1908, J. & W. Smaill in 1911, W. Hicks 1919 and then L & O Jenkinson in 1920. Robin has provided the rest.
She was badly knocked around in the gale of March 1918 on the Devonport foreshore where she had been laid up by the Smaills with her keel removed for several years since the start of the War.
In the 1940s she was seen as very old-fashioned and survived both wars because of the incredible rise in yachting as a sport post-war and the shortage of good yachts to satisfy the demand.

Details of Classic Boat Construction – 25th Anniversary Edition
Larry Pardey Book
Larry Pardey is/has just relaunched a 25th edition of his world famous book. The link below takes you to Larry & Lin’s very cool website where you can see a great collection of photos of the construction of his ex yacht ‘Taleisin’. I understand that more photos will be added next week, so make sure you check back in 😉 http://www.landlpardey.com/details

Looking for a bargain buy woody project?

Rakino salvaged 017

The Woollacott (Marco Polo) ketch ‘Rakino’, was recently salvaged by the Wellington Harbour Ranger after its mooring
failed and it sank against the Evans Bay Marina breakwater on the night of
22/23 April 2016.
Rakino is a sister ship to Ebb Tide & Maia II both owned by Jeff Cook. See the Woollacott Association website re the Marco Polo design & the exploits of Tony Armit. http://www.woollacott.org.nz/

Since salvaging on the 24th April, the Volvo Penta engine (about 700 hours)
has been professionally flushed and the starter motor and alternator removed
and flushed. The single skin timber hull appears to have relatively minor
damage consisting of one hole and other apparently cosmetic damage.

Most loose interior items and the sails have been removed (and stored) to
enable better access for viewing and drying.

The Greater Wellington Regional Council wishes to dispose of the yacht by way of a closed tender process and
invites firm expressions of interest.
The tender conditions are below. Note the close of date id May 30th so if you are interested , place a tender, historically some real bargains can be had in these circumstances.

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Tender Conditions

What Happened To The Viking?

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Viking?

What Happened To The Viking?
words & photo ex Mark Davis

This is a great tale – I’ll let Mark tell it 🙂

“I stumbled across your web site by accident after reading an article in the Otago Daily Times about the Elsie Evans. It got me thinking if anyone may know it’ll be yourself or one of your members. My late mum used to tell me of her life growing up in Waihi. Her dad, my grandfather, Walter Caldwell, used to own a well known fish shop in Waihi, called simply Waihi Fish Supply, (which is now a burger bar). To supply his shop he used to have a small number of boats moored at Waihi Beach. This, I think was sometime between the two world wars. Anyway to get to the point, he purpose built a boat to his own design in the “backyard” of the fish shop. This is the boat my mum talked about the most. When finished and launched at Waihi beach, most of the then town, turned out for the occasion. The boat was christened the Viking. Mum told me the Viking was an excellent sea boat and remembers going out on it once or twice. Of course being a “girl” she didn’t know any of the important stuff. The story continues, as the world was plunged into another global conflict in the late 30’s the government of the day commandeered as many suitable boats as possible for coastal patrol etc, the Viking was one of these boats. That’s where the story could end, but as chance would have it someone told mum the boat ended up at the Auckland Maritime Museum on Quay St Auckland. I’ve looked on line but didn’t find any trace of her, (the boat not mum), so put it down to urban legend or similar.

So that brings me to this email. After taking possession of mums treasures after her death I came across a suitcase of old photos. Amongst the hundreds of unidentified photos is a picture of a boat being built in a “backyard” of what looks to be the rear of the fish shop in Waihi, (I have visited and still do visit Waihi many times). The photo doesn’t show much apart from a hull being laid over with planking and not a lot of detail, however if you like detective novels then this may appeal to you or visitors to your web site. Please let me know if you’re interested, one way or the other, and I’ll email you a scan to have a look. As we now live in North Otago popping down to the Maritime Museum to research this further is not on the cards anytime soon.”

So woodys, can anyone help Mark out? Is there any truth in the Maritime Museum story or as Mark says – is it just an urban legend.