SUSIE BELLE – A Peek Down Below
Todays woody photos come to us from John Dawson and feature the spirit of tradition launch – SUSIE BELL, built in 1986 by Don Brooke to a G Wheeler design.
She is 34’4” in length with a 9’5” beam and draws 2’9”.
Built from wood with that very thick ’special’ top coat paint (f/glass) 😦
Forward motion is from a 60hp Isuzu Diesel engine.
Mystery Lyttelton Launch
Again only a mystery because her owner didn’t include a name on tme (thanks Ian McDonald). If we believe the tme story she is a Logan, built in1908, 36’ in length. Powered by a 1970, 65hp Rustin Rover (???)
And that woodys is all me know – any southern readers able to enlighten us more on the launch.
BUY OF THE YEAR – HEAO – LOGAN 33 – A Sailors Motor Boat – Reduced Price – Low $80’ks – Click link below for details. https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/02/29/heao-a-peek-down-below-4sale/
Woody Fathers & Grandads
Be an instant hero and take the kids out for a day trip – this weekend the Matakana School are hosting the – Matakana Model Boat Show. Over 200 boats static and afloat + races. And if there are no siblings around, even better – more time to enjoy it. See flyer below for full details.
If you go Saturday – take in the Matakana Market, I was there last weekend – great food, produce & coffee. Opens at 8am. And the new express way makes the trip a doddle 🙂
Special thanks to Mark Lever (MV Nereides) for the heads up + photos
MYSTERY LAKE LAUNCH
Well woodys it is only a mystery because the owner, trying to sell her chooses to not show the vessels name – a tad crazy when selling a classic – the name is what joins the dots.
What we are told (thanks IanMcDonald / tme) is that she was built in 1978 and is described as a Woolley 25, kauri planked, powered by a Volvo Penta 28hp diesel engine and calls Lake Rotoiti (Nth Island) home.
The ability to trailer the boat is a big bonus – but sadly the trailer is probably worth more than the boat 😉
Hopefully one of the Lake Rotoiti woodys can enlighten us more.
MAGGIE – Clinker Dinghy 4sale
Regular WW readers may recall that sadly last year one of the classic boating movements most committed crew – Alan Good departed this life.
Alan was co-owner along with partner Nicky of Lucille – a L33 launch. Alan would always wind me up that his f/glass boat had more bronze and varnish than most wooden classic craft – he was probably right, but I’d never admit it.
Back in 2012 Alan undertook a project to build a classic clinker dinghy, which he named Maggie. I was recently contacted by Nicky advising that the family had made the decision to find a good home for the dinghy.
So woodys if you are looking for a clinker to accompany your classic or maybe just want a traditional gaff rigged sailing dinghy for the grand children – Maggie is for sale and Nicky is looking for realistic offers. If you are a serious woody you will know the time and $$ that it takes to craft a boat like Maggie, so please only genuine enquiries to Nicky via email in the first instance nmlgood@gmail.com
Specs – 7’6” , designed by Selway Fisher, Redshank Dinghy. (Note: oars excluded from sale)
OUTSTANDING IN A PADDOCK – Duke of Marlborough
When I received the photos above the first thoughts were ………… where and why.
Chatting with the sender, Ant Smit, I learned that the location was the MacKenzie Basin, which is situated approx. 1/2 way between Christchurch and Queenstown in the South Island. The area is almost the dead centre of the island.
Ant advised that a friend was on a motorcycle tour and spotted the boat and couldn’t not stop and snap a few photos.
I quick chat to my WW steam guru – Russell Ward and we learn she was purchased ex Picton and should currently be viewed as ‘art’. Lets hope there is a long term plan to restore her.
Her back story is a good read and she appeared on WW in May 2020 – link below. We learned then she was made of steel in 1987 and was originally named – James Torrey, and was used for trout fishing tours on Lake Tarawera – lots of details in the story. In the photo below we see her at Picton when she was running as a commercial passenger vessel. https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/05/17/ss-duke-of-marlborough/
Anyone able to enlighten us more on her future
INPUT ex DAN CONAGH (owner) – I can confirm that I’ve purchased and moved the Duke to a section of land I own in Twizel. Our intention is to restore, repaint and return to service on one of the lakes in the MacKenzie District.
Unfortunately the boat is showing the signs of having been stored next to the ocean in Picton. The hull has some rust that requires attention. The wooden topside has some sun damage. New varnish required, and the PVC roll up sides are beyond repair. The photos in this article are very recent as I was up there on Saturday cleaning up all the coal spread across the floor inside.
The White Boat Show
I dropped down to the Viaduct yesterday to check out the Auckland Boat Show – a very impressive line up of big white boats and bits that make them go fast and stay a float.
But that is to be expected. The craft on offer just seem to get bigger each year and spec’ed with more gear. You have to question if it is all needed and how many owners actually know how to work the tech.
I struggled to find much to point the camera at but if you are looking for advice on painting / anti-fouling your boat, a bow thruster, an electric outboard for your tender or the latest in solar charging / batteries its worth a visit – not sure about the $26 entry fee – its really a trade exhibition that the public are allowed into. There appeared to be few of the marine industry ’traders’ from previous years that sold boating ’stuff’. Show runs until late Sunday afternoon.
I did spot a wooden boat, it was encapsulated in f/glass on the MAST (Marine and Specialised Technologies ) Academy stand + the sport boat that I assume is a new Riva is rather swish.
Another boat that took my eye purely for the paint scheme was the Innovision Boats 656 Explorer – love the colour – we tend to very boring , so a big ups to the owner of – ’Ship Happens’ 🙂
A BIG THUMBS DOWN TO AT (ATEED) FOR POOR TIMING – THE SWING PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE CONNECTING DOWNTOWN WITH THE NORTH HARBOR AREA (site of the show) WAS STUCK UP ALL DAY FOR REPAIRS……………. THIS APPROX ADDED AN HOUR TO THE RETURN TRIP.
A SIGN OR SOMEONE TELLING PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN A NICE TOUCH – SO MANY PEOPLE MADE THE WALK TOWARDS THE SHOW TO FIND THE BRIDGE NOT FUNCTIONING……………
FINGERS CROSSED IT IS REPAIRED BY THE WEEKEND………
ps take your sunglasses, its very bright walking the docks 😉
ANNA ROSA
Todays woody has got southern boat written all over her, this backed up by her birth place – the Morgan Boatyard in Picton.
The 41’ Anna Rosa has a build date of 1974 so she fits into the ’spirit of tradition’ category. Lots of zoom zoom with a 320hp CAT 3208 engine below decks. With the rego number on her, she is or must have been in survey.
Any of the mainland woodys able to shed some more light on Anna Rosa for us.
Photo and details sent in by John Dawson
KIRIKIRIROA – A Peek Down Below
Well after two days of ‘wall2wall’ classic woody porn it was always going to be a big challenge to back up with a run-of-the-mill story, so I thought its Wednesday so must be time for a Work Boat Wednesday story.
Todays woody is the Terry Bailey built 1983, 36′ ex workboat – Kirikiriroa , a woody thats been on my top 10 list ever since I first spotted her at Gulf Harbour marina many years ago. Built from strip plank kauri.
She was originally built for the mussel industry on Great Barrier Island and later used for various fright and cargo transportation. While not currently in survey (on hold), she is still capable of carrying 5 ton of cargo.
AND – down below is a 70hp 4LW Gardner…………….
Kirikiriroa recently popped up on tm , thanks Ian McDonald. I could own her but I’d have to stop churning out WW everyday, I’d be too busy polishing that engine 🙂
Link here to the previous WW story April 2016 Story https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/04/15/kirikiriroa/
07-03-2024 Input ex Russell Ward – Kirikiriroa was ashore at Gulf Harbour for a tidy up when I had Hinemoa’s Boat up for the same several years back.
The sign in the wheelhouse appealed to me somehow.
She was looking a bit tidier back then, but she’s an appealing wee boat for a real man.
HAVE YOU RSVP’ed FOR THE WOODY CRUISE TO RIVERHEAD TAVERN – SATURDAY 16 MARCH
AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Off The Water Gallery – 70+ Classic Woody Photos
Today we focus on the spectacular collection of smaller woody craft that were displayed in and around the viaduct events centre – to a large % of the shows audience that had some salt in their veins this was a trip down memory lane.
Just so much care and attention has been furnished on these wooden craft. Sadly I suspect that a lot are now in the ‘display’ category. And as we all know with wooden boats you have got to use them or else they deteriorate quickly and then the cost to bring back is just too steep.
The minders / owners of the craft on display were overrun with people wanting to rely their own experiences and memories of the boats. Hopefully the show has ignited some interest in finding the craft that they enjoyed in a past life. The was certainly no shortage of owners looking for new blood to take over their artefact.
Enjoy the gallery and remember you can enlarge the photos if you click on them and the link to the other half of the festival – the classic woodys berthed dockside is below. https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/03/04/77770/
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