Category Archives: Tales & Yarns

The Restoration Of Melodeon

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The Restoration Of Melodeon

Now woodys if you know Dick Fisher you  will know that Dick likes BIG things – big classic boats, big projects, big (zoom zoom) cars. Chatting with Dick recently he informed me he had a project on the go, his words “something to keep me out of trouble” so of course I said ’send me some details – givens Dicks other two boats – Akarana, the 60’ 1960 AJ Collings designed and built by WG Lowe, ex Auckland Harbour Board pilot boat and Hamal, the 1975 purpose built exploration ship – I suspected the project would be a doozy. Photos of Akarana & Hamal below.
Dick and Colleen have a stunning track record of converting ex work boats into the most amazing classic cruisers so WW looks forward to following this project, we will be giving Dick a friendly nudge for updates.
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I’ll let Dick tell us what he is up to, remember click in photos to enlarge 😉

 
“The story so far goes a bit like this……
We purchased Melodeon from Greg Hayes in April 2018. Greg had owned & fished with her for the past 25 years. 
One of the photos above shows her at her semi-permanent berth at the Whangarei Town Basin prior to our buying her.
After the successful negotiation of price with Greg, who had expressed the wish for Melodeon to only be purchased by someone prepared to restore her.
We lifted her out at Dockland 5 in Whangarei, her estimated weight at this point was in excess of 50 ton. We removed as much equipment as were able which included 9 ton of lead balast. This would explain why when blasting the paint from the hull we uncovered seven (7) waterlines this made her draft aft at 7 ft. 
 
With the assistance of Boat Haulage Ltd we moved her to our workshop at Kamo & then commenced dismantling decks, bulwarks, wheelhouse & removed the engine & fuel tanks etc. She was then high pressure water blasted & garnet blasted all of the paint off inside & out.  She was then moved inside the same shed where Akarana had been for 5 years during her restoration.
 
The hull was copper fastened of 3 skin construction.. unfortunately the 2 inch Kauri decks were iron fastened & unable to be saved.
 
To date we have treated with preservatives the inside of the hull & currently has a holding undercoat.
 
The last few month I have been focused  on restoring the T8 Kelvin engine which was in reasonable condition. Main items needing replacing were a set of 8 exhaust valves , a complete gasket set plus other small items. I was able to purchase these from  Kelvin Diesels in Glasgow, a subsidiary of British Polar Engines. We have found this company & their staff most helpful in procuring parts. The engine is now complete & running very nicely. 
 
Up to date the work has been carried out mostly by myself & my son Richard when he had time. The engineering side of the restoration we can manage ourselves.  We now realise we need a skilled boat builder to assist us with the woodworking aspect.
It is our intention not to alter the overall design, with the exception being the wheelhouse which needs to be a little bigger.  
 
We are fortunate in that Greg Hayes has passed on to me the Marine Dept files dating back to October 1934.
Some salient points for you:
Plans, specs & building was carried out for Melodeon by Chas Bailey & Son in Auckland.
Original engine was a German Deutz/110BHP / 2 cycle diesel/ @ 450RPM this was replaced by the current T8 Kelvin.
Propeller:  4 blades /59 inch dia x 48 inch pitch – 3.3 to 1 reduction
Dimensions: Overall 57ft Beam 15ft6in draft 7ft
The existing T8 Kelvin was installed new in 1960 & the estimate from info we have, is that she has run well in excess of 100,000 hours.
Melodeon fished using different methods all around NZ, during the 1939/45 war the US Navy commandeered her for service in the Pacific.
  
This is an ongoing project for me in my dotage & its keeping me out of trouble.. in fact it’s a pretty big job….as the TV Ad goes…”
 
A Heads Up
Two cool things you may have overlooked in the last week
1. Do check out the link that Hylton Edmonds posted in the WW comments section. Its to a National Film Unit movie that features the then police launch Lady Shirley going about its duties on the Waitemata Harbour – fast forward to the 5:10 mark to catch the start, its a great watch and lots of our woodys make appearances – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mlqfwtybXE
2. Put your hand in your pocket and spend NZ$5 to subscribe for two months to the very informative and entertaining Vblog – OFF CENTER HARBOR. The guys at OCH have offered up this deal to WW readers so you can get your classic boating fix during the lockdown – details here  OCH $5 Deal
Akarana (L) – Hamal (R)

IDA – All Dressed Up & No Where To Go

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IDA – All Dressed Up & No Where To Go
Last night this 125 year old A-Class classic yacht was going to be the leading lady at the RNZYS for a party to celebrate her relaunch – but CV-19 put a stop to that 😦
So woodys today you get a peek at her tucked away in Wayne Olsen’s shed waiting for the green light to step out.
It seems unbelievable  that it was only July 2019 that I Iast visited the yard and now she is all set to splash (see link below for photos + details on her history and how she came home after ‘migrating’ to the Big Island.
Ida was designed by Charles Bailey Jnr and built / launched in 1895 by C&W Bailey gaff rigger
She is 58’ LOA, with a beam of 8’ – LOW = 45’ so there is a lot of bits hanging off her when she is in racing mode
Once again the classic yachting movement is indebted to John Street and his Classic Yacht Charitable Trust, they restore and maintain the cream of New Zealand’s A-Class fleet, and race the pants off every other woody in the fleet. Well done.
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Manunui

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MANUNUI

Todays’ story on Manunui comes to us from the ‘desk’ of Paul Drake – as always, well written so I’ll pass over to Paul.

 “Arriving at Taupo for our annual holiday one January in the late 1950’s, my brothers and I were intrigued to see a very unusual looking new commercial boat on the scene.   Before we knew her name, we kids called her ‘The Ugly Boat’.  She turned out to have a proper name – MANUNUI – after the saw milling town just out of Taumarunui.   It was there that she was built by the manager of said sawmill, Basil Maude.

Basil’s hobby was building boats, but he rarely got more than about three-quarters of the way through before losing interest.  MANUNUI was the exception.  He wished to see how big a boat he could build out of plywood.  He had the plywood made at his mill from selected timber.   Her bottom had two sheets of ply each twenty feet long , six feet wide, and one and a quarter inches thick. She measured 36 feet by 12 feet.

She had to be chunky and strong because Basil had two Allison Kittyhawk 12-cylinder aeroplane engines which he wanted to fit.   He designed and built the double gearbox himself.  It measured eight feet by three feet by two feet deep.   At the last minute the plan changed and the two gallons per minute Allisons were wisely ditched in favour of Ford V8s. But the gear box remained – larger than the two engines.   This most fascinating gearbox was mounted forward of the engines with the propeller shafts running back under the engines.   Chains were involved, and each propeller was operated independently of the other in the normal way.  MANUNUI was the first diesel powered launch on the lake (so it is said) and also the first commercial plywood boat to operate on the lake.

In the good old days when fishermen would club together and charter a launch for five day expeditions to Taupo’s Western Bay, MANUNUI was a very successful and busy charter launch under her very capable skipper Ron Houghton.

The original canvas arrangement over the aft end was eventually replaced with the rather functional effort shown in the second photo. In about 1970 a whole new cabin appeared.   Shortly afterwards MANUNUI was sold to New Plymouth.   I wonder if she survives?   Somehow I doubt it.

Much of this information is contained in ’Boats of Taupo’ by Charles Cox.

 

Taranui (Gailene > Masquerade > Taranui) 

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TARANUI (Gaylene > Masquerade > Taranui) 
 
Today’s woody story comes to us via the collective input of many people – Harold Kidd, Grant Faber, Barry and Christine Johnston, Grant Richards – under the guiding hand of Ken Ricketts and edited (a lot) by Alan H.
Some basic facts – 
Taranui is 30’ in length with a beam of 9’ 7”. 
She was built in 1948 as an internally ballasted 350 sq. ft. sail area Bermudan ketch (D28). There is speculation that Taranui was built either on the Hobsonville Air Force Base, or nearby, of kauri.
Her current owner is Grant Richards, who supplied all the above photos, and she is kept at Gulf Harbour marina.
 
Her provenance (with a few holes) goes like this – 
 
She was built by G Neville in 1948, her first registered  owner is D.H. McMillan of Ellerslie, Auckland – she was kept at St Heliers Bay.
Her second registered (15-09-1951) owner was W. (Bill?) Ridley of Pakuranga who kept her at Panmure.
She passed to D Wintle in 1961 & then Ron Faber on 13-10-67.
Grant Faber (son of Ron) has commented that when she was owned by Don Wintle, she was kept at Northcote Point, where she was moored when Faber Snr. bought her. Faber Snr. continued to keep off Northcote but later secured a mooring for her in Westhaven. 
By the 1960’s one mast had been removed and later both masts & rigging were removed by the owner from whom Barry Johnston bought her off. That owner still had them & offered them to Johnston, but he declined, as it was his intention to retain her in launch mode. Barry Johnston made her present mast during her major 1996 -2000 refit.
Johnston bought her off a private advertisement in trademe in the 1990’s and cannot recall who from. He owned her for about 15 years and kept her at Westhaven.
When Johnston bought her, she was called Gaylene (changed by an unknown previous owner) and in a very sad state, with lots of rot in the coamings and decks, and other much deferred maintenance, which he spent the next 4 years getting her up to pristine condition.The work all being done, on a family member’s private slip, in the Whau River. In view of all the work he undertook, Johnson changed her name to Masquerade.
One day when Johnston was on a cruise, Grant Faber rowed over to Masquerade and asked Johnston if he could have a look aboard, as he believed his father Commander Ron Faber RNZVR OBE VRD, may have owned her in the period c.1964 -79. After an inspection, he confirmed it was indeed his father’s old boat. After being informed that her original name was Taranui, during her 4 year re-fit, Johnston changed her name back to her original name, which she still has today.
According to the APYMBA records (ex Harold Kidd) – her original engine was a 28 hp petrol engine, with a 17 x 10, 3 blade prop. 
Grant Faber has commented that when his father bought her, she had a marine converted, 6 cyl. petrol Chev car engine, most probably her original engine, this engine gave a lot of trouble so Faber Snr. replaced it with a brand new, 6 cyl Holden petrol car engine.
By the time  she arrived in the hands of Johnston, she had acquired an old 4 cyl. slanting Ford diesel c.60hp, which during his 4 year refurbish, he replaced with a Moon Engines converted Isuzu 4 cyl. diesel c.60hp – which she still has today.
 
Recently, Grant Faber sent Ken Ricketts the note below:
 “Of nautical interest, the ensign staff shown in one of the photos, and the ensign, was passed to Dad, from my grandfather (Roy Drummond). It came from his launch Te Whara. He purchased it and fitted it to Te Whara in 1921 specifically for the visit of the Governor General visiting Whangarei in his ship Tutanikai. The launches of the day formed a guard of honour in the harbour. This ensign which is of real bunting made by Le Roy’s (the noted marine canvas makers) flew on Te Whara until Pa sold her, then on Taranui, then on my launch Te Whara 11). It is currently framed and hanging in my library showing remarkably little wear for an ensign coming up to 100 years old.” (edited)
 

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Classico – Launch Day

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CLASSICO

A few weeks ago I was tipped off by Adrian Pawson that one of his buddies – James Ledingham, had ‘acquired’ a very special Frostbite named Classico, one of things that makes her special is that she was built but never launched, so effectively is a new boat. Adrian is the owner of – Kiteroa, the ex Brooke family boat, which Adrian has restored and ’tweaked’ a little, thats her in the photos with the orange hull.

I was onto James quick smart to get more details. But before that I have to say how cool it is to see these ‘young’ sailors getting into the classic wooden dinghy sailing scene. The guys sail out of Taikata Sailing Club in West Auckland (Te Atatu), on a good Sunday there are upwards of 15 Frostbites racing. Both Adrian and James would be too modest to say this – but both work at the very pointy (high tech) end of world sailing, which makes their passion for these woodys even more special 🙂

Adrian also supplied for our review (see below) a copy of Doug Sharp’s secret copy of the ‘Frostbite Go Fast Tips’ by Kevin Lidgard.

I’ll let James tell the story –

“Recently I was fortunate enough to purchase ‘Classico’ a wooden frostbite dinghy.

What made this boat unique, aside from her immaculate timber detailing, was that she was brand new and had never been sailed. Something of a rarity in the frostbite class these days.

‘Classico’ is the result of a labour of love by her builder and previous owner David Strickett (Brother in law of Rex Maddren – a well-known Frostbite sailor and champion in his day). Looking for a wooden boat project and with a love of the clinker style, the Frostbite dinghy was a natural choice for David to get stuck into. Having picked up his wooden boat building skills at Carrington Tech under the guidance of Robert Brooke (son of Jack Brooke, who designed the original frostbite back in 1937) he was certainly well equipped to tackle such a build. Robert helped him source some temporary frames from Wakatere Boating Club and he got stuck in.

The boat is built in kauri, the majority of which was sourced from a farmer in Mangamuka, just south of Kaitia. The exception was the single piece transom, which came from a kauri slab that David already had in his garage.

Many hands make light work and during the build David sought help with the planking and ribbing from Robin Dew, who had built several wooden Frostbites himself. Whangarei boat builder Nick Rodokal also lent a hand in constructing the gunwhale, having previously built David a Lotus 9.2 (Pursuit).

David kitted the boat out with modern aluminum spars, a Quantum Mylar sail, and the latest Harken deck gear. Adding a touch of performance to the classic kauri hull.   

It was a bittersweet moment to launch ‘Classico’ down at Taikata Sailing Club on the first Sunday of March 2020, ahead of the regular afternoon sailing. She would have been equally at home in a museum (or the lounge!) and once wet and raced, unlikely to ever be quite be as immaculate again. However, they are such great boats to sail I was looking forward to getting out and seeing what she could do. She was appropriately blessed by another frostbite legend, Doug Sharp, and champagne was poured. A successful first sail ensued with minimal leaking.

While the quality of the boat couldn’t be faulted her performance was an unknown. However, she certainly seems to be fast (when the skipper sends her in the right direction) so far grabbing a 2nd in the first race of the Taikata Sailing Club winter series held earlier in March.

I plan to race her regularly down at Taikata Sailing Club, where the Frostbite fleet is thriving – with 12+ boats on the start line every fortnight. Wooden boat enthusiasts are welcome to come down to the club and have a yarn. There are a good number of well-kept and restored timber Frostbites amongst the fleet, and no shortage of stories! 

The name ‘Classico’ stems from a holiday dinner in Tuscany where David and his wife were enjoying a bottle of traditional Chanti wine – Chianti ‘Classico’.”

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WW Needs Help Navigating The Next 4 Weeks

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Duchess – 1920 Bailey & Lowe – parked off Cowes Bay, Waiheke Island

WW Needs Help Navigating The Next 4 Weeks
 
Hello Woodys
We all knew ‘Lock-Down’ was going to happen but Level 4 status so soon was a surprise, I thought we had a few more days before that. But it is the right call for the country. 
The last few days have been surreal, driving around Auckland the traffic / parking has been brilliant and almost every thing is on-sale. But no people in cafes and high street shops, so the buzz of a big city is missing – its a bit like walking down the main street in Whangarei at 2.30pm on a Saturday afternoon.
So woodys whats the next 4 weeks looking like?
• There will continue to be a daily WW story
• I’d encourage you to visit some of the WW stories from upwards of 6 years ago – there are approx. 3000 stories and over 20,000 photos on the site. Use the Search Box to find a particular boat, or a builder, year of launching etc.
• Always read the comments section on a story, there have been over 500,000 visitors to the site and 5,300,000 views, so the feedback sometimes is better reading than the story 🙂
 
I Would Love Some Help
If you have some spare time over the next few weeks during the enforced stay at home, have a look in the bottom draw for any old photos, log books and memories of you and your families boating life. Do not play god and try to decide if its of interest to WW readers, let myself and my helper – Flora McKenzie  do that 🙂
 

WOODY WATCH

I have had a cool idea – a lot of us live close to marinas. As part of your ‘allowed to do’ exercise, we could walk to the marina and check WW friends boats. Only applies to those marinas with open gates.
I’ll be strolling (its a good walk) to Bayswater once a week, so let me know if you want a txt confirming the love of your life is still afloat etc
These May Save My Marriage 🙂
Recently I purchased a pair of Bose bluetooth sunglasses that allow you to listen to music and take phone calls – there is nothing in or over your ears, so you can hear and interact with things around you. In the enforced close quarters we will find ourselves in being able to listen to your own music, shows and take mobile phone calls will be cool – I suspect there would be a murder if we were all listening to something different at the same time. Plus – perfect on the boat, last trip I listened to a whole day of cricket and could still hear the engine purring.
One of the coolest features is the gesture control for volume – to turn the volume up/down, you press and hold a button and look left or right to adjust the volume 🙂
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Alana – Where Is She

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ALANA – Where Is She
 
Recently I was contacted by Al Laslett regarding the launch – Alana, that his grandfather, Alan Laslett, owned in the 1950’s. Subsequent correspondence with Al’s mother, Anne Palmer (nee Laslett), has uncovered the above photos and intel on the vessel below.
 
Alana  was built in the 1950’s in the backyard at, Anne believes 54 Tarawera Tce., St Heliers or on a property nearby. Anne it not sure of the exact date she was launched, but believes it was before mid 1958. Anne believes that Alana was kauri planked and her mother once told her it was approx. 36’ > 40’ in length.
 
Anne’s father, Alan, was quarry manager for McCallum Bros. on Pakihi Island from approx. 1958 until his sudden death in May 1960 (heart attack). He had separated from his wife, and was waiting for the divorce to come through when he died.  Because he was still legally married, the launch passed to his wife Elsie and the family do not know what happened to her after that – presumably sold. The family has tried several times to find where she is now, but to no avail.  The only reference they know is a single mention in a Radio Hauraki news bulletin in the 1980’s about a cabin fire on a launch called Alana on the Waitemata Harbour.
The unusual cabin design was because Anne’s father was a very tall man and specifically built a cabin where he could not hit his head. She was rigged for deep sea fishing, but Alan never got the chance to do that. Alan died just before his 50th birthday, at the time Anne was only 19 months old and her sister was 6 weeks old. Sadly Anne has no memories of my father or the launch, only the old photos above.    
In the photo at the wharf at Pakihi Island, Alan is the tall, balding man at the back, is full name was Alan Edgar Laslett. He used to drive taxis in Auckland just before he and Anne’s mother went to Pakihi Island. 
 
So woodys – big call out today – Anne and her son Al, would love to find the Alana and if possible see her in person – I’ll give a WW t-shirt to the woody that provides the best intel.
30-03-2020 Update / Input from Anne Palmer

Anne was sent the photo below from her cousin David who lives in Australia. David commented that the boat was nearing completion in the backyard of Alan & Elsie’s property at Tarawera Terrace, St. Heliers, taken in December 1955.
David H and Alan's boat St Heliers Dec 1955
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Liberty 446

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LIBERTY – 446
Earlier this month I featured the launch Liberty on WW, the story generated some good chat around her provenance and some b/w photos from her past (link to that story below). 
In the WW comments section Tom Morris mentioned that he had a photo of Liberty still with her wartime number on bow. Today that photo arrived in my in-box, and its just too good to ‘bury’ in the existing WW story.
 
Tom commented that the launch was built by Lou Burns and Stu McCallum at Te Papapa Onehunga. In the photo above we see Lou at the helm, and Tom’s late mother standing, Tom’s grandad is sitting in cockpit.Tom believes that Lou and Stu also built the launch Pirate and Stu McCallum built Avanti.
 
Liberty is for sale – someone needs to buy her & using the above photos reference,  bring her back to ‘as launched’ condition. She is a looker and with the right engine appears to be a zoom zoomer 🙂
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Deepstar

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DEEPSTAR

Bay of Islands woody – Dean Wright sent in the above photos of DeepStar, the dive charter boat built and operated by John Gander. John a B.O.I. boatbuilder who served his time with Careys in Picton, also penned the story below. Take it away John 🙂

“In the 1970s we were operating our sail yourself charter yachts out of Picton and along with our dive business of “Picton Underwater Centre” we were getting more and more divers chartering. Although wooden boats are very forgiving compared with glass and gelcoat, weight belts and dive tanks in the confines of the deck of motor sailer’s was hard on the paintwork, so we decided to build a boat for dive charters, mooring work and salvage.

I drew “Deepstar” as a purpose built dive boat with accommodation for ten divers plus her skipper. the underwater lines are from a Roger Carey plan with some minor changes. For her layout I chose to build a raised forecastle as I did for “Hinewai” were we found the extra headroom and space very desirable for the sleeping quarters. Aft of the wheelhouse that also doubled as the skippers bunk room, I planned the deck house and furniture to be comfortable for ten divers for mealtimes and relaxing. The wood range proved very popular after a days diving on cool evenings.

Her aft deck has the space for divers to kit up and the hold below is the storage for dive gear. We carried aboard twenty dive tanks and ten weight belts that were part of the ships equipment. To fill the tanks was an onboard Bauer air compressor run by a 4107 Perkins engine, her main engine was a 5L3 Gardner with the original Gardner hydraulic gear change. Divers like hot showers, so her water tanks are of generous capacity. Built into the deck house with an on deck door is the toilet – shower room fitted with regular household models, and as boat owners will understand, this combination proved very suitable for non boat people and was trouble free.

In 1978 I submitting her plans to the Marine department survey office for scrutiny and approval, I had drawn the plans showing the bulwarks rounded on the aft quarters, as we did on the the Carey boats, and terminated at the transom to give access aboard. This caused a problem at the office, passengers were meant to be kept aboard within the confines of the rail’s and not swimming about overboard. I had to submit a lengthy submission explaining the purpose for the vessel and the importance of getting potentially tired divers on to the dive platform and back aboard. The message got through and I think I could just about have cut the transom out if it meant getting divers back aboard were the department thought they belonged.

After lofting and making the moulds, shaping the stem, stern post and horn timber we laid her keel in our yard at Waikawa bay. Fitted stem, stem knee, keelson, stern post and horn timber, and set up the moulds. Next it was cutting the rebates to take the foot of the frames at nine inch (230mm) centres, steaming and fitting ribbands in preparation for fitting the frames (ribs). Her frames are two laminations of Spotted Gum, it steams well and is strong and durable. For her planking I used Kahikatea below the waterline and Macrocarpa ( South Island Kauri ) above the waterline to finish at 1 3/8 inch ( 38mm ) the planking is fastened with bronze screws.

Floor timbers, stringers and gunwhale are Australian Karri as are quarter knees and breast hook, all copper fastened. The deck is two laminations of marine ply covered in heavy glass cloth, wheelhouse and deck house joinery are Fijian Kauri as are the hatch coamings.
Dimensions : 43’6” (13.2m ) x 13’ (3.9m ) x 5’ (1.52m ) The registered length, fwd side of Rudder post to fwd side of the stem is 39’.6” ( 12.1m ) displacement 28 tons.

After eighteen months of build time we were ready to launch but like most building projects there was still a list of things to do. My two son’s Wayne and Neville were familiar with work at boatyards and slipways and proved to be good boys at anti-fouling, my wife Bev made the appropriate “Deepstar” Picton cake in the shape of a life-bouy a tradition at our launchings, ready for the launching festivities.

On the 2nd of November the trailer was manoeuvred into place and “Deepstar” was ready for the short road trip to the beach on the western side of Waikawa bay for launching at the top of the tide at 0900hrs on the 3rd of November 1979″.

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Woodys On Tour – Tasmania

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Woodys On Tour – Tasmania


Last month I was contacted by Andrew Hewitt from Ashburton who in December (2019) had jumped the ditch for a trip to Tasmania – I’ll let Andrew tell the story –  “This last December, my partner and I made a trip to Tasmania. We built the trip around three key booked experiences, one of which was a bit of a ‘sail’ on the ketch ‘Yukon’ on the Huon River from Franklin. We spent some time in Franklin, visiting the Wooden Boat Centre, and exploring the woodies abundant in the harbour. As old houses and old boats go together, and one thing leads to another… we ended up being introduced to a fellow ‘woody’ enthusiast who’s involved in the Wooden Boat Centre, and invited into his vintage home – lovely and welcoming people. So over a couple of further days we’d finished exploring the greater Huon valley area, and south coast up to Hobart, we travelled across to the West Coast and spent some time there also.

What an amazing place to visit. So much to see. In pretty much every little bay we nosed into, there would be at least two or three classic woodies waiting to be photographed. My own interest aside, I did take quite a few with your website in mind, as I’m sure the readership would enjoy seeing them. 

For starters, here’s a selection from what I found in STRAHAN (pronounced ‘strawn’) over on the Macquarie Harbour, West Coast. That green (almost a bridgedecker to look at; lovely counter too) one was quite an attractive boat. And ‘Mayfair’ , appears to be an old passenger launch (see interior pic for detail). I love the fact that these old girls are still all original (in their working clothes) and unmolested, probably by virtue that Strahan is away in the middle of no-where pretty much, and maybe it costs bugger all for the moorings so they’ve just been tied up and left to rest there….. For those restorers amongst us, if only we could get our hands on at least one and bring it home…. “

Update – received the photos below from Ross Mason who is just back from a cruise (big liner). One of the stops was Hobart where Ross came across the pretty woody, she is approx. 60’, hull is Spotted Gum, deck Aust Mahogany. zoom zoom 8 cylinder Gardner. Just back in the water after paint job. Cray pots are Teatree which the owner prefers and only one guy left in Aust who makes them. Works the southern and western coasts. Looked at a similar boat with the same engine done 55000 hours (proper marine engine). 

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