Category Archives: Sub 28′

MULLET BOAT ON THE WAITEMATA – SPINDRIFT

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MULLET BOAT ON THE WAITEMATA – SPINDRIFT
Recently I discovered (thanks to Lew Redwood) a reference source that wasn’t on my radar – the Auckland Research Centre, which appears to be part of the Auckland Libraries offering. Most of the content will put you to sleep but an article this week on MULLET boats I think is worthy of reproducing. Reproduced below.
The photo above shows an open cockpit mullet boat, commercial fishing boat # AK89, off North Head, Auckland. Can we match a name to the commercial number?The image comes to us via Auckland Libraries Heritage collection 37-173 and may possibly have been taken by Henry Winkelmann.

It started off as a fishing boat for the working class man that became a cult classic – the mullet boat (aka the mullety). The mullet boat was developed in the 1860s for fishermen unused to the estuaries and tides of the Manukau and the Waitematā Harbours, to get their haul of fresh mullet, snapper or tarakihi back to Queens Wharf or Devonport as soon as possible. Included was a covered but cramped foredeck if the fishermen needed to spend a night out on the water. 

By the early 1900s, the days of fishing for mullet on sailboat were coming to an end as steam powered boats took over, but sailing the mulleties as a pastime was booming. They competed for the Lipton Cup which was donated to the Ponsonby Cruising Club by Sir Thomas Lipton, who had raced in the America’s Cup five times but never won. In fact, the trophy itself was made by the same silversmith who made the America’s Cup, is New Zealand’s oldest yachting trophy, and is still raced today.  

HAROLD KIDD INPUT – This is the 26ft mullet boat SPINDRIFT owned by H. Parker of Devonport in 1908. She was built at Devonport in 1904 by R.O. Farquhar. Later went north (Whangaruru, Whisk Martinengo thought) and wrecked.

The Best Sub 35’ Owen Woolley – AWARIKI – Now Offered 4sale At Reduced Price One of the best presented woodys 4sale with the Wooden Boat Bureau is the 32’ Owen Woolley built launch – AWARIKI Link below to more details and photos/

WBB has been advised that her owner wants her sold asap and has agreed to a significant price reduction – NOW $48,000 ono

DETAILS:  https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/11/06/awariki-on-the-market/

CONTACT: waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Woody Fathers & Grandads

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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

WAITERE II SOS

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WAITERE II SOS

Looking for a very cool winter project – 1913, Joe Slattery built 26’ Mullet Boat is in need of a new guardian. Her tme asking price is $1 but its more about finding the right person/persons to take her over, so her owners are open to all offers. Originally an H2 class. Has been in the same family for the last 50 years.

A lot of repair work has been completed and the current plan is to relocate the boat to Westhaven marina very soon. To view and read more about her just search Waitere II on tme.

The gallery of photos above are from varying time periods, reproduced to give you an insight into what she once was and her current presentation. 

MYSTERY LAKE LAUNCH

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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

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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)

Harold Kidd – ‘Yachts and the Waitemata’ – Parts 3>6

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Following on from yesterday today we have PARTS #3/4/5 /6 – Recorded ‘live’ last Thursday evening at the Devonport Yacht Club- we have Harold Kidd speaking on the topic – ‘Yachts & the Waitemata, HDK broke the talk into several time periods.Apologise – Part #4 – 1945>65 is missing due to an editing error.

PART #3 – 1920 > 1945, Post war boom and bust, and boom again. • The rise of the one design and restricted centre board classes and their competitions • Launch building extended • Keel yacht building boom in the 1930s • The effect of WW2

PART 3

PART #4 (Missing) 1945 > 1965, post war boom again, new materials • Boom in keel yacht construction and offshore cruising • New materials arriving. • Designers take advantage of new materials • International contests

PART # 5 1965 to date • Increasing sophistication in design and use of materials• International racing success • Americas Cup • New Zealand at forefront of world yacht design and construction

PART 5

PART #6 Question time

PART 6

The White Boat Show

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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 😉

AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Off The Water Gallery – Part 2

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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/

RSVP – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Dockside Gallery – 75+ Classic Woody Photos – Part 1

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AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Dockside Gallery – 75+ Classic Woody Photos

Slight change of format today. Normally we do one big gallery of event photos, but the 2024 Auckland Wooden Boat Festival deserves two stories – why? Well in the eyes os of the woodys I spoke to, the off-the-water (in the shed) exhibition was on equal footing to the exhibition afloat. So woodys come back tomorrow to see the off-the-water gallery, you won’t be disappointed.

From my mooching the #1 feedback I got was ‘where do they all come from’ i.e. people have never seen this number of classic wooden boats together #2 (from owners) was ‘it is so great to meet all the owners / caretakers’. I think a lot of people were quietly hoping their partners were thinking “there are other zany people out there, my partner isn’t the only eccentric old boat nut in town”.

For a three day outdoor event in Auckland we were gifted to have two (Fri/Sat) days of amazing weather, Sunday was a on/off rain day but it didn’t seem to slow down the people. I believe over 8,000 people were counted thru the dock-gate (it was free entry).

The photos tell the story today – its takes a lot of people to pull something like this off, so well done to all those that rubbed up against the show and well done Tony and team for pulling it all together.

PART TWO – THE OFF-THE-WATER SECTION – LINK BELOW https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/03/05/auckland-wooden-boat-festival-off-the-water-gallery/

AS ALWAYS – CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

AND YES I DID BUY THE T-SHIRT 🙂

RSVP – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Classic Woody Day Boat Project

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Classic Woody Day Boat Project

Every so often we get approach to find new custodians for woody craft, mostly it is a pile of firewood but sometimes its gold.

Woody Alistair McRae) owner of Lady Margaret (ex Lady Mary, ex Happy Wanderer) contacted me regarding a 23’ classic open day boat that has been stored under a cover in one of his sheds for a number of years.

Not a lot is known about her past but the exterior of the hull planking has been scraped and pretty much all paint has been removed. The interior and deck has been rebuilt to what appears to be a high standard. There is no motor, steering or wiring. Her beam is 6’9”. With a nice small Yanmar fitted she would be a perfect lake boat or Bay of Islands picnic boat.

All of the hard (and expensive) work has been done – I understand the owner is looking for a buy price of $5,500 – that woodys is a bargain. Buy her, pop in storage until winter, and relaunch in Spring.

I would be amazed if Cam from {the} Slipway Milford doesn’t snap her up, perfect wet day inside work for the team 🙂

Interested parties to contact Alistair at  alistairm@oceaniamarine.co.nz

Boat Club Yard Sale

Circle Saturday 24th Feb in the diary – the Te Atatu Boating Club are hosting a yard sale – full details in the poster below. Come along and grab a bargain to book a spot to sell your stuff.