Category Archives: Non Waitemata

Poranui

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Pouranui

PORANUI
details ex Greg Chapman’s father. photo ex Ken Ricketts. edited by Alan H

Ken recently sent in the above photo of Poranui & advises that he was told that she was owned by Greg Chapman, who kept her at Thames, in the early 2000’s. Greg brought her off someone who had kept her in the Herald Island area. At the time she was powered by a 4 cyl. Ford diesel with a Paragon manual gearbox. Greg sold her to 2 retired professional people in Whangamata.
These days she is owned by a Mr Taylor who lives aboard at Thames.
There is speculation she may possibly be a converted yacht & while not visible in this photo, she may have a counter stern.
Any woodys able to help with any more details on Poranui’s past?
Last Chance Today To Win A Copy of Robert Brooke’s ‘Beautiful Boats’ Book

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Today is your last chance to win the fourth & final copy of Robert’s book. The first woody that can answer correctly the two questions below will win a copy of Robert’s just released book ‘Beautiful Boats’. All replies most be in the ww comments section to be eligible. The 3 previous winners are excluded from entering  🙂 – Bruce Tantrum, Martin Howson & Bruce Pullan.

Again I have held back posting this live on ww until 6.30am to give the woodys that like a lie in, a chance to win 🙂

Q1. Which boat builder did Robert serve his apprenticeship under?
Q2. After leaving the above boat builders yard, name the two other boat builders Robert worked with before branching out on his own?
Some Background On The Book

Robert has been collecting classic yacht designs for over 50 years, amongst his collection is work from our most talented & recognized designers – Arch Logan, Chas Bailey, Charlie & Alex Collings, Colin Wild, Bert Woolacott, Bob Stewart, Des Townson, Alan Wright & Robert’s father – John Brooke.
From his collection Robert has chosen 50 & redrawn each design, tracing off the original drawings to present them in a similar format. To add to the wow factor, Robert used the drawing equipment & ships curves that were once used by either Arch Logan, Charlie & Alex Collings or his father.

The 105 page, A4 size book allocates 2 pages to each vessel with specs & photo/s on the left & the drawings – hull lines, profile, half breadths, sections, diagonals & sail plan on the right hand page (refer Rainbow drawing example below). Its a must have in all serious woodys library.

I also have a framed 380 x 300 rendered copy of one of the Beautiful Boats to give away, details soon on how you could win this for your wall.

There are thousands of ww followers out there so do not get your hopes up on winning a copy 🙂 I would suggest you visit Boat Books at 22 Westhaven Drive, Westhaven, Auckland & grab a copy for yourself, cost is $60. For out of towners or those who refer the web – copies are available on line at https://www.boatbooks.co.nz/
Its a very limited print run & Boat Books are the sole outlet. Boat Books also have framed copies of the prints for sale.

Looking For A Wooden Boat Project?

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Looking For A Wooden Boat Project?

The photos of the above skiff were sent to me by Baden Pascoe. Baden reports that it is a genuine Orkney Island fishing skiff bought back from the Orkney Islands by Baden’s friend Lyle Woods of Whitianga. The skiff was built in Lerwick c.1960/70’s as a training sailing rowing boat for a group similar to Sea Scouts. Her overall length is approx. 16’. The design is closely related to the St Alyes or Fair Isles fishing skiff now used by the NZ Coastal Rowing Association. The boat if restored would make an excellent two person raiding boat. Baden has know doubts she would sail well with a balanced lug rig & Baden told me that the NZ Coastal Rowing group would welcome this lovely boat to our fleet.
Her owner, Lyle, is looking to move the project on to a new owner & is asking a very fair price of $1,000. The not a lot of money for a boat this size & design. In fact on face value its a steal 😉
Baden commented that the NZ Coastal Rowing group would be able to assist with technical details on setting her up for rowing and sailing.

Interested parties can contact Lyle Woods at    lylemandcal@xtra.co.nz

Tangaroa (Seaway)

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TANGAROA @ GH 26.4.16-9

TANGAROA (Seaway)
details ex Bill Burrill, photos ex Ken Rickets

According to Bill Burrill, Seaway was built in 1953 for Fred Brake, of Riverview Rd, Panmure, by the Lane Motor Boat Company, for whom, Fred, worked for about 8 years & which was right next door to his family home. Fred was also the harbour master for Panmure, in that era, & kept Seaway at the bottom of his garden on a pile mooring & slipped her on a railed electric slipway that he built on his property.
Fred B sold her to a Mr Gray who owned the station at Man o war bay Waiheke (which he later sold to the Spencers) in approx. 1955. He died in 1959 & Max Burrill bought her through the Guardian Trust, off the estate in 1959. He changed her name to from Seaway to Tangaroa upon purchase. Max Burrill died in 1984 &  Bill Burrill, his son, bought her off his mother. Bill sold her this year (2016) to Allen Heatley.
She was moored at Pine Harbour but is now berthed at Fairway Bay, Gulf Harbour. The Heatleys intend to live aboard for the next 12 months whilst they build a property in the area.

She was originally powered by a P6 Perkins diesel when built which was replaced around 1960 with a 6-305 6 cyl. Perkins diesel & 5 years later this was also replaced with a horizontal 6-354 Perkins diesel, to fit under the floor, thereby giving more cabin room. The 6-354 died in 2000 & Bill  replaced it with a 100hp 4 cyl. Yanmar turbo diesel, which she still has today.

05-09-2018 Update – Interior photos below ex trademe via Ian MacDonald

Update 21-09-2021 Photos added

From Timber To Tide – Sailing Sunday

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From Timber to Tide – Sailing Sunday

I discovered the video ‘From Timber to Tide’ while mooching around wooden boating websites, it features a traditional Cornish boat builder Ben Harris. In a beautifully shot video, Ben talks about his work and what inspires him. Featured is ‘Alva’, a Paul Gartside – designed 30′ gaff-rigged cutter that Ben built. Her lines inspired by the quay punts of Falmouth. Construction is larch on laminated pitch pine and steamed oak frames. Cedar decks, cabin-sides and capping rail in iroko, teak cockpit and trim, pitch pine interior and bronze and copper fastened throughout.

Enjoy, you’ll feel good after watching it 🙂

Looking For A Great Read

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I mostly plug nautical books here on ww but friend Richard Loseby has just published his 3rd book titled ‘A Boy Of China – In Search of Mao’s Lost Son’ & as expected its a cracker read. Pick up a copy at Paper Plus, Whitcoulls, Unity Books – pretty much everywhere + Ebook version on Amazon, iTunes etc etc

Richard used to own a beautiful Townson but has temporally drifted over to the low(er) maintenance side with a rather nice f/g ketch. I’m sure he will return to wood one day 🙂

Richard’s two previous books ‘Blue is the Colour of Heaven’ & ‘Looking for the Afghan’ are on my all time great reads list. Both available on iBooks, Kindle, Kobo etc so fork out a few dollars, you won’t be disappointed. Start with ‘Blue…….Heaven’ 😉

ps when I went to look at my copies of the above two books, I discovered (again…..) that one of my books ‘out-on-loan’ has not found its way home. These days I keep a digital record of who has books of mine on-loan. A quick visit to trademe & I picked up a copy of ‘Blue is the Colour of Heaven’ for $4 😉

Tainui – The old days

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TAINUI - c1940s

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TAINUI – the old days

Photos & details ex Fraser Chapman via Ken Ricketts. edited by Alan H

The above photos show Tainui in the 1940’s & 1970’s.
There have been several posts on Tainui on ww (link below) but these photos deserved their own post, rather than be added to the existing. I’m a little confused because the top b/w photo Ken emailed to me is tagged 1940’s but else where on ww it has been stated that she was built in 1967 for the Auckland Harbour Board.

Tainui is currently at the Whangateau boat yard undergoing an extended restoration which includes a full rebuild on the Gardner engine. Her Kiwi owner lives/works overseas so will be very keen to view these photos, equally we look forward to following her progress at the yard.

Fraser Chapman has told Ken R that he recalls he bought Tainui in the 1980’s off the widow of a Helensville gentleman, who had owner her for approx. 10 years. Tainui was moored at a jetty, on a private property, opposite Herald Island, (probably Beachaven), when he inspected & bought her. He took her to Thames, where he has lived for a great many years. He owned her for approximately 7 years & sold her to the proprietor of a Boatel in the Sounds, who sailed her directly down the East Coast, to the Sounds from Thames, without stopping. This ties in with the existing details in one of the previous posts on herr which states she was on-sold, (presumably by the Boatellier) in Plimmerton in 1994.

When Fraser C., bought her she had a 3 LW Gardner, but whilst on a trip to the Bay of Islands, not long after he bought her, Fraser called on the people at Opua who had replaced her original engine, which was a 3 cyl Kelvin, with the Gardner & actually saw the old engine, which was painted green, still there, under a tree, on the property. Fraser believes it was replaced because the Gardner was more economical & she went faster. Fraser said she cruised at 9 knots all day.

Fraser believes she was built by Coulthard possibly around 1953/55 & the kauri for her milled in Thames at the Twentymans Mill. Fraser was good friend with the Gt. Barrier Island radio operator at that time also, during the early days of her Govternment ownership era. They both spoke often, about her trips to service the lighthouses in the area during that period.

Fraser advises that her new owner John Sloane, rang him in an effort to try to find her, some time back, as John Sloane’s father, along with John as a young lad, had cruised on Tainui with Fraser frequently & John had such happy memories of that era, he contacted Fraser & told him he would like to buy her. Fraser told him that she belonged to the Christiansens, of Gt. Barrier Island, who he thought had had her there for about 10 years. John tracked the boat down & now owns her.

Can anyone confirm the builder / year?

Link to past ww stories on Tainui

Tainui On The Move

Typee

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TYPEE
photos & details ex Brian Cuthbert

Typee is a 33′ Baxter boat built in Whangarei in 1968. Alex Baxter moved to Whangarei about 1958 from Picton where he had worked for Roger Carey for many years.
After Typee he built Pandora (his biggest at 48ft for Brookie Richards) then Valiant (photo below) a sister to Typee which is still line fishing in Northland.
After a brief time trawling in Whangarei Typee ended up in Auckland seine fishing and owned by Ivan Guard. Brian bought  her from Ivans estate in 1993 and has owned her since. For the last 12 years Brian has worked her as a charter fishing boat out of Gulf Harbour.
She is powered by a Gardner 5LW and cruises at a comfortable 7 1/2 knots.

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Update 09-04-2020 – photo below at Gulf Harbor, ex Baden Pascoe

Typee Gulf Harb early2020

Classics at the Sandspit Yacht Club

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Rotomahana & Tuna 1

Rotomahana & Tuna

Rotomahana & Tuna
Tuna

Ngatira
Ngatira

Erinor
Erinor
Erinor
Erinor

Karros

Karros

Classics at the Sandspit Yacht Club
photos ex John Pryor

John sent in the collection of photos above of woodys currently hauled out at the Sandspit Yacht Club & asked the question is SYC the new ‘Traditional Boat Yard’ ? I think I would have to agree with him, a grand line-up & with their impressive haul out set-up + the legendary Greg Lees Boat Builders alongside, you would struggle to find a more woody friendly facility.

All the woodys above have featured on ww before, so to read more on them, use the ww search box.

A true woodys smoke-0

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Mystery Launch 03-05-2016

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mystery launch 03-05-2016

Mystery Launch 03-05-2016
photo ex Nathan Herbert, via Keith Hay Ltd, Whangarei office (taken with permission)

Details on the above launch are zero but given the model / year of the truck, the Keith Hay name on the truck & the present day location of the photo (KH Whangarei office) – maybe just maybe someone can ID the vessel or even the blokes in the photo. There is an extremely interested woody keen on covering details on this vessel.

So woodys – anyone able to help?

ps When I typed above ’05’ for the month I did a backward flip – where has the year gone…………………..

 

pps raw photo below.

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Irene

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IRENE
photos & details ex Dave Murphy via Zach Matich

OK woodys, today’s launch is the Lane built kauri hulled ‘Irene’ – 31′ long with a beam of 9’6″ & 2’10” draft. Other than that ww does not know a lot about her past. She is currently powered by  a 120hp, 6 cylinder D series Ford which was rebuilt 2012, with approx. $6,500 spent on her & has only done 100 hrs since then. You will see from the photos that she has all the things that make life easy on these old girls – auto anchor, gas fridge etc. If this is starting to sound like an advertisement, that is because Irene is for sale & at around $20k in my eyes is very good value + she has not been too mucked around with. Throw $5>10k at a good wood friendly boat builder & you would have a very smart classic. Not that there appears to be anything wrong with her now, as the architects say ‘the bones are there’.
Her owner Dave Murphy can be contacted on 09 439 8609

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Can we uncover more about her past ? home at the moment is the Kaipara Harbour.

Wainui

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Wainui on Slipway 1931 Photo sent by Arthur to Cora after purchase30102015

1931 on slipway after purchase

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1931 – Love the dogs

Wainui on slipway Bulwer1938 undergoing alteration to stern 30 10 2015

1938 – on slipway undergoing stern alts.

Wainui Bulwer 1940s 30 10 2015

1940’s – Bulwer, Pelorus Sound

Wainui 1955 Smiths Bay Clay Point 30 10 2015

1955 – Smiths Bay, Clay Point

WAINUI
photos & details from Brynn McCauley. edited by Alan H

Brynn’s grandfather owned the launch Wainui in the Marlboroough Sounds from the late 1930’s to 1950 & she was last seen in Wanganui in the late 1950’s.

Brynn is convinced his grandfather’s Wainui is the same Wainui that featured on ww on 16-07-2015 (link here  https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/07/16/mystery-launch-16-07-2015/  ) The hull shape and size are a near perfect match for this vessel. This Wainui is lucky to be owned by the Pollard Bros. & when it comes to custodians of classic wooden boats they do not come much better than Cameron & Andrew Pollard.
The Wainui was shortened by cutting off her stern and raised her gunnels by Brynn’s grandfather in the 1930’s so he could use her to fish in the Cook Strait and Outer Sounds. The photos above show her when he originally bought (dark cabin and long stern) her and then the year he sold her (white with high gunnels and cut off stern).

In the 1987 Onehunga photo of the Pollards Wainui we see her with the raised running boards added as she was bought after serving as a mail launch in the Sounds by Arthur McCauley as his fishing boat, and fished on the fishing grounds well out into the Cook Strait and around Durville. She was one of the McCauley Mosquito Fishing fleet described in the book on Nelson and Marlborough pioneering fishing families, and served the family for well over 30 years, fishing, hauling wool and sheep around the Sounds. Patrick McCauley settled in the Sounds in the late 1870’s mining for gold and then cutting the family farm out of the bush. He taught himself to build boats building a fleet of fishing boats initially all sail, then introduced the first petrol engine into the Sounds at the turn of the century in the Ark. He pioneered a design suited to fishing in and out of the Sounds, building them on the beach in Bulwer, Pelorus Sound. He drowned in 1913 by falling off her near Havelock. Arthur his eldest son initially fished from the Ark, on returning from WW1, then purchased the Wainui and fished in her along side the Ark, The I’m Alone and the Eastern Star till 1955 when he downsized to a smaller clinker named the Nunui which unbelievably he continued to fish from well out into the Cook Strait and around Durville. Brynn still has the tender dingy that the Wainui towed which allowed access for picking up the nets and landing ashore on the many hunting trips enjoyed from her around the Sounds.

Wainui has a very special place in Brynn’s family history and they would very much like to learn if this Wainui is the same vessel and be able to chat to the current owners. Which won’t be a problem – Brynn can be contacted on brynn.mccauley@xtra.co.nz.

ps when ww does these ‘hook-ups’ it makes all the work in the background so worth while – 🙂  Alan H

Input from Andrew Pollard
She sure looks like the same boat…Many alcohol fuelled stories with Wainui, one involving some an umbrella and some faulty navigation lights..
Anyhow, as mentioned before we bought her in 1997…as a semi afloat wreck, as I hopped on the floorboards floated into the cockpit to meet me…She was a mess, bitumen on the decks,decay everywhere, a stuffed 40hp Ford diesel and a long since departed snapper carcass soulessly eyeballing us from the bilge…
She was at Te Atatu boat club on poles right outside the clubhouse. They kept her there so they knew when she was about to sink, apparently one of her pastimes!
We purchased her off a dubious bloke named Ryan Cornelious. He purchased her of the guy that steamed her from New Plymouth to Onehunga (a Gary Swordc. Rumour has it they had to wait outside the Manukau bar for the weather to calm down and ran out of fags and booze and things got tense between the crew as a result.
Anyhow Sword took her to a K’road panel beaters yard and fitted the cabin she know has but back then it had huge black tinted windows.
Now we were told he purchased her from a couple of Maori brothers who had cray fished her out of New Plymouth and Waitara area and she was built in 1903…
I had heard whispers of a history in the Sounds…with wool bales…
She is two skin not three, and has 6 (3 each side) huge Pohutakawa knees a midships running from deck level to keel…
She steams like a witch with the Gardner…we don’t open it right up as she starts to suck the back deck down and…

Update – photos below ex Angus Rogers show her hauled out in April 2017 at Okahu Bay, Auckland

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07-07-2017 Input from Brynn McCauley

I was given the photos below in November 2016, when I stopped in at Waitara where the Wainui spent some time, by the son of Paul Blossom who owned her there. Its a photo of her in New Plymouth, you can see the breakwater to the left. Amazing when you see her in this photo, taken in the early 1980’s before Paul Blossom took her to Waitara. She looks pretty rough in the photo, incredible she survived.
The colour photo shows where she used to be docked in this tidal stream beside the main river. Spent most of the time sitting in the mud.

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