We have not had a pure game-fishing boat story in a while so when I was sent the above photos of Manana III from the Tudor Collins collection at the Auckland Museum, emailed in by Ken Ricketts, they got the ww fast track. In the photos above we see her off Cape Brett & alongside the wharf in Otehei Bay in the Bay of Islands c.1940’s. (apologies – two of the photos are very poor quality)
What can the woodys tell use about the boat, obviously not a local boat – the ‘Manana III – Miami FLA’ on her stern tells us that – who bought her to NZ, when, how successful was she & did she stay here or head off-shore again?
As a bonus today check out the amazing collection of nearly 100 photos on the salvage of the classic yacht ‘Penlena’ – not sure of the location, but thanks to John Bertenshaw for highlighting it on his facebook page 🙂
Ian McDonald sent me the above photos of the Daisy Belle, the b/w photo was taken by Ian c.1980 at Arid Island. The colour photo is her today (May2016) hauled out at Putaruru, uncovered & rotting away. Her owner is supposedly going to restore her – he better start soon or she will be lost.
Can any of the woodys supply more details on the vessel? I’m thinking the ww followers that belong to the ‘The Workboat Study Group’ must know of her & her past.
Yesterdays story on Max Carter & his boats, received the viewing numbers the man desired, highest in the last 2 months. Very proud that waitematawoodys could showcase his work & record it for future generations to enjoy. Special thanks must go to Chris McMullen for his efforts in securing the material, all too often our maritime history is lost.
A friend of mine, Ray Oxenham, sent me the video link below, what a great idea, perfect for somewhere like Waiheke Island 😉
Input from Harold Kidd DAISY BELLE was built by W.G. Lowe & Sons in 1940 for Vella and Bronlund and had a new 88hp Kelvin. She hit Spray Rock c1970, was bought as a hulk and rebuilt by Baileys. In 2002 she was owned in the Bay of Islands by Darien Boswell with a Gardner 8L3.
DAISY BELLE was apparently fishing throughout the war owned by Peter Bronlund and S. Vella and was part of the Auckland Seine Boat Association. She was considered for war work on 9th June 1942, examination work at Fiji, which the similar craft ZUYDER ZEE and KAIWAKA later did. I really doubt if she did any war service anywhere. Registered as AK62 she was entitled to pass the Auckland boom defence without examination, but as a fishing boat.
Input from Ian McDonald Daisy was originally a trawler pre-war and Darien Boswell (Boz) found her derelict on piles at Beachaven ? & after purchase, set about restoring her. I think Boz told me that she also did service during the war on the harbour defence booms. She has a Gardner 8L3B he got from either Ernie Seager or Shorty Sefton.
Input from Bruce Pullman The extract below on Daisy Belle is from a book called ‘High Tide’ by Bernard Rhodes (photos by Brian Moorhead). Bernard Rhodes is a boat builder on Waiheke.
Input from Wayne Mason The photos below were taken last week when Wayne spotted the Daisy Belle driving from Taupo . The nearby neighbour in Putaruru says she is owned by a Dutchman who was renting a mooring in Tauranga but thought on the hard would save him some money . He’s planning on restoring or rebuilding .
Input from Stuart Johnson
Stuart sent me the photo below that he believes is of ‘Daisy Bell’ (AK24) which didn’t quite make the wharf in Mansion House on he believes Anniversary Day 1959. From memory ( Stuarts 91) the crew managed to get ashore and find their way to the ‘Snake Pit’ whilst they waited for the returning tide.
03-08-2016 update ex Barry Davis
Below is a very low res photo of Daisy Belle taken in July 1974 before conversion to a pleasure craft. Interesting to note that the forward port holes have been sealed.
09-08-2016 Photo below ex Baden Pascoe
31-08-2016 Input from Ian McDonald – Correction to comment that she is owned by a Dutchman. The owner is not Dutch, is from Tokoroa & known to me personally, and it was me who put him in touch with Darien when he purchased her.
Below is a photo taken from the helm, of Rex McDonald on the foredeck circa 1983
03-09-2016 Update – 3 pic’s below emailed to me by Ian McDonald that Rex McDonald took about a week before she was lifted out in Tauranga & taken to Putaruru.
16-07-2020 Input from Stephen Green – refer below the undated newspaper clipping below regarding the Daisy Belle.
His father, John Green was on the USSCo Katui in the early 1960’s.
17-07-2020 Input from Nathan Herbert – Daisy Belle also went aground on the point at Hobbs Bay very much high and dry in the early days. Photo below.
17-01-2023 UPDATE ex Paul Drake – “I saw her for the first time a few days ago, in Putaruru. She was spotted by my passenger, who was visiting from overseas, as we passed through town heading north from Taupo. Top marks to him. Checking WW the last photo appears to be 2016. I am surprised that she still exists, but clearly there is no hope. Note the anchor, ready for letting go. Also, nice mast.
07-11=2025 UPDATE ex BILL ENDEAN – Bill snapped the photos below passing thru Putaruru recently – not looking too healthy.
Max Carter & His Boats details & photos from Chris McMullen, edited by Alan Houghton (remember to click on photos to enlarge)
Max Carter was responsible for building a huge number of boats of all sizes in a relatively short time, refer lists below. Chris believes that Max producing his modified H-28 /29ft was the first serious attempt at building stock keel boats in New Zealand. Back then there were no fibre glass boats, no marinas and no travel-lifts in NZ. The industry was experimenting with epoxy resin & glass cloth.
Max was supported by Consolidated Chemicals (Epiglass), the Colmore William’s Bros & their ceo Trevor Geldard. The P-Class & other small boats listed below in big numbers were kit sets for amateur construction. These boats also used up what would have been waste wood in the yard. The idea was to introduce young people to sailing & ensure a future for the marine industry. It certainly worked, but Max never benefited from his effort.
When Chris was reviewing Max’s files he found a copy of a 1989 New Zealand Power Boat Magazine, which he had never seen it before. There is an article on Sandy Sands and Sea Craft. It talks about how Sea Craft increased their productivity by using methods learned by Sandy Sands while working for Uffa Fox. Chris’s previous observation about a possible Fox connection was right. Sandy Sands commented in the article “without people you have nothing”. Max realized the value of his skilled staff and treated them as friends. He stayed in contact with many for almost fifty years. There was a list of his ex employees and their addresses amongst his files.
When you consider the age of these photos the presence of all the health and safety gear – fluro jackets, disposable overalls & hard hats really stands out. Chris commented that there was the odd accident but nothing really serious.
All Max’s boats were built from medium kauri treated and will last forever (well a very long time). He had huge stocks of timber. At the time most boat builders built hull’s & decks & the owners finished them in their back yard. Max did some hull’s but mainly catered for the few that could afford a finished product.
The shed photos above are more reminiscent of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol, Rhode Island. While Max was way ahead of his time, unfortunately, New Zealand’s economy and small population was such that his operation could not survive. Sadly but wisely he closed the doors, sold the plant and leased the buildings.
To read the eulogy Chris McMullen gave at Max Carter’s funeral, click the blue link below
The photo with the 1/2 model is Max with Les Holt. Of significance in the photo is that the model was made by Chris. It was the Pipe Dream design featured in Francis Kinney’s book. The new version of ‘Skenes Elements of Yacht Design’. The portrait photo of Max shows the MY Du Fresne in the back ground. The yacht on the hard stand is the Rainbow II. Max has written on the back of the photo. “Built in seven weeks after lofting.! “ Another photo shows the kit set boat production. No CNC machinery, just a good man (Lindsey Stone) on the spindle moulder shown in the left of the photo. Another photo shows Max with his long time friend Laurie Davidson. The Stewart 28 is the Hop Scotch. Seems there are huge gaps. Photographers were always at the yard. Chris believes some photos were lost. Orinda and White Mischief were both Max’s designs maybe 40 years apart. The brand new Northerner struck Bollen’s Rock while racing through Tiri Channel. Her first race! Max was her skipper for the day. She was raised and repaired like new. Capt Warwick Dunsford, Owner Boyd Hargrave with the binoculars. (more photos & press clippings below) The H-29 was an H-28 with the sheer raised. It was an attempt to build a small(ready to sail) keel yacht that people could afford. Tom Beaton, Bryan Williams and Nick Panich in the photo. The Du Fresne was built for Mr J M Butland and the first H-29 for his son Mr JR. Du Fresne was a Laurent Giles design. The Butland Family were a well known boating people Thetis, Titan, Sirdar, Dufresne DurVille, Inverness and the brigantine Fritha were commissioned by the family. The Ta Aroa was a 60 foot Sparkman and Stephens design. A beautiful yacht built for Mr Doug Bremner. She had one of the first imported aluminium masts. A single spreader rig. The Calypso shown being launched with a crane was built for Max’s own use. The same design shown under construction is the Tamure. This was a Max Carter design & the second NZ yacht to do a circum navigation of the world. She was owned by the late Jerry Challet & Mac Nell. boatbuilder, Dave Baxter was on the crew. From memory (marine engineer) Terry Burling was part owner or crew. All the big Carter boats were launched by the A.H.B floating crane. There were no travel-lifts. Note the ships in the background.
The Sinking, Re-floating & Repair of Northener
Article below from the New Zealand Exporter magazine that tells the story about
the H-29 better. In the photo of the three builders bending steamed ribs on a H-29 they are from the left – the
late Eric Wing, Chris McMullen and Peter Sowman.
Check out the 1967 Prices
09-08-2016 A Tribute To Max Carter – by Nigel Armitage
Below is a link (in blue) to a downloadable file of rather nice tribute to Max Carter by Nigel Armitage. Nigel worked with Max on the replica scow ‘Ted Ashby’ project that he and Max were very involved in together at the Hobson wharf, Maritime Museum. Its an insight into the amazing work Max did.
Tokatea was built by WG Lowe & Sons in approx 1958 for the Fisheries & based at Coromandel & partially sank there when her skipper (Neil McDonald* possibly) clipped the black rocks in the dark while seeking to chase a trawler sneaking out to do a “burglar shot” as they called them in those days. Proof of the incident was that just forward of the engine room bulkhead, port side, she had 2 or 3 short planks & a couple of tingles where she had been repaired.
Rodger Edwards & Ian McDonald tendered for her when Fisheries bought in the big Steber boats c.1987/88 & took her to Tauranga.
Prior to Tokatea Roger & Ian also owned another ex fisheries boat, Hubert Levy (named after a man who worked for Lowes) & if you look at the step-down from the foredeck on both vessels, you will definitely see the similarity in both vessels. Ian was told that Hubert had a hand in both designs.
The Hubert Levy (photo below) pre dated Tokatea by about a year and was built with a very shallow draft, with twin bilge keels, as she was based for a while on the Manukau harbour. Ian & Roger tendered for her successfully when she retired from service in Tauranga. She had a Gardner 4LW in her – last seen by Ian at Great Barrier Island and powered by a 6cyl Ford, the owner couldn’t afford to fix the 2UC Gardner gearbox – a sacrilege Ian reckons.
*Neil McDonald – was nicknamed in Coromandel the ‘Black Mac’, Ian believes he became the Harbour Master there after he retired from M Fish.
Today’s post could be interesting, the first woody that can ID any of the boats & the location will win a ww t-shirt. Rules are simple – first correct answer in the ww Comments section wins. If by 6.00pm no one has answered correctly, we will count backwards e.g. first woody with one of the two answers wins, if no one gets that, then the best (in my eyes) answer wins.
Only one other condition – the prize has to be either a size XL or 2XL shirt, that is all I have left until the next print run – p.s. they are smallish sizing.
Would have to question the effectiveness of those bilge stabilizers – a little like a pimple on a pumpkin 🙂
AND WHILE I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION – A SPECIAL REQUEST FOR HELP Hi All I am the project manager for Windhaven the Col Wilde ketch undergoing refit at Yachting Developments. Trying to find some original photos so we can look at restoring to as near as possible to her former glory. promise to be on the harbour this summer. Any information would be greatly appreciated. pls send to garyatsea@gmail.com Thx Capt Gary
Alan H comment – a wee tip – if you keep spelling Wild with an E, you won’t get much help from HDK 😉
Below are a couple of photos that I assume you have already seen?
Can any woodys help Gary out with more info / photos?
29-07-2016 – Photo below ex Mike Drummond from the John Salthouse collection showing Windhaven being ‘removed’ from Colin Wild’s Stanley Point yard. The view is looking north over the Bayswater Peninsular.
STRATHALLAN
Strathallan was the name given to this Miller & Tunnage, kauri carvel built, double ender, ex pilot boat by the Timaru Harbour Board. She measures 46’6”” LOA & draws 6’5”. The traditional Scottish boat builder, Doug Robb built Strathallan in 1955 at his Timaru yard.
As you would expect from an ex work-boat the engine room is impressive & dominated by the 190hp, 8L3B Gardner. With a displacement of approx. 20 tons and being driven by the classic Gardner with a 3.1 transmission gives her a cruising speed of 8.5 knots at 810 rpm and max speed of approx. 10 knots at 990 rpm. Her size, design & power unit make her a powerful strong seaworthy vessel.
After being decommissioned as a work-boat in the 1990s she was converted to a cruising vessel. The main saloon, galley & engine room have full headroom & her walk-around decks are perfect for fishing. One of the hangovers from her commercial days is the exterior head with the door facing the stern; I can personally vouch for the view J
Strathallan is currently for sale & would be an ideal vessel for the boat owner who wants a classic, traditional boat that is a part of New Zealand’s maritime history. The asking price I understand is <$80k & at that price would be a good buy & still have the potential for a new owner to add their own touch to the boat in terms of decor.
Photo below was taken at Mahurangi Regatta (2012?) by Chris Miller – slightly different paint ‘job’ back then.
Seabird is owned by Omaha boat builder Colin Brown who very recently bought her off Dave Gould, an ex New Plymouth long-liner who told Colin he had owned her for a good many years & had bought her off another New Plymouth fisherman.
Seabird is 19′ long with a 7′ beam & powered by a crank handle start, 1 cyl Yanmar, salt water cooled diesel, – so no batteries or cooling systems to worry about.
Colin does not know a lot about her early history, except that she was built in 1940, in New Plymouth & used for longlining, most of her life.
Colin reports she has a little bit of rot in one plank, as a result of having been sitting for quite a period.
I was contacted by Bromley, Christchurch boat builder Davie Norris about his families 40′ launch ‘Roamer’ in the hope that we could uncover more about her past. The boat previously belonged to Davie’s uncles Noel and Ken Norris and before that by his grandfather Bert Norris. They have been told that she was possible built in Cass Bay, Lyttelton & launched in 1911.
A summary of her known past ownership is :-
• owned in 1914 by George Andrews & moored in Moncks Bay, Christchurch.
• owned by Mr Friedman in 1928
• owned c.1961 by Cliff Steinhouse.
During Steinhouse’s ownership there was an explosion onboard while the launch was being slipped in the estuary at Moncks Bay, as a result she burnt out & sunk. Davie is friends with Cliff Steinhouse’s son, Mike, who as a young boy watched the event from the shore.
So woodys can we help Davie out?
The photos below were prior to the addition last season of a new cabin top (as per the above photos)
SONY DSC
Update from Davie Norris
The fire on board was around 55 years ago as Mike Steinhouse is now 60 ish and he can recall watching her burst into flames as she was motoring to the slipway in Redcliffs. She drifted onto a sand bank before the fire was put out. The cabin top suffered badly and was rebuilt then.
When my grandad purchased her some years later she was sunk on her mooring in Lyttelton. He re-powered the boat and moved the engine forward into the bunk room to give more space in the main saloon.
My uncles cut off the cabin top about 30 years ago and rebuilt it.
We cut that off last year and replaced it as it was rotten, you will see in the 2 photos below we raised it 150mm.
02-07-20176 Harold Kidd Input – photo below of Roamer in 1935, ex PapersPast ex Press (Christchurch) 14th Jan 1935)
Kupe started life in 1962′, built by the Auckland Harbour Board in their workshop as a vessel for cartography & routine sounding. Was used extensively around / in the construction of the Westhaven Marina area.
She underwent a complete restoration in 2007, by Wooden Boat Workshop cabinet maker Simon Ventura. Rumour has it around $80>90,000 was spent on her restoration, so as expected she is in very smart condition.
Her 30hp Lister Petter LPW3 diesel engine (2007) has no problems pushing the 18′ hull along.
Currently owned by the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust but now surplus to their needs, so they keen to find a new owner for Kupe, she would make a perfect lake boat or a yacht club support vessel for mark-laying, race escort, towing etc. The asking price of around $12,000 is very realistic & reflects the trusts desire to find Kupe a good home.
Saturdays post on the Kinloch Woodys prompted Paul & Roger to dig out at their collections of old Taupo postcards. The brothers uncovered some great photos of Victory from the 1940>1950 era. Also read below Paul’s comments on Victory.
The first photo above shows Victory on the beach at Waihaha with her skipper on foredeck – Ernie Taylor, son of builder Jack Taylor.
The second photo shows her hauled out at Nukuhau, where she was built. Probably in the 1940’s, when she was quite new. Now she has a larger wheelhouse, but is not much changed apart from that.
Boat in foreground is Ahuriri – an ex surf boat from Napier.
On the other side of Victory is Romance, then Lady Pat – well documented and discussed on WW.
The photo below is dated 1959 shows Victory on the other side of the Waikato river sporting her original wheelhouse. It was altered some time later.
Behind her with bow showing only is the Logan Ponui also owned by the Taylor’s at the time.
This side of the river at the breastwork is Rangatira (Otehei) on the left and El Alamein (Ranui) 4th from left.
Details on Victory ex Paul Drakes comments on last Saturdays ww post
“VICTORY is very much a lake boat. As Colin says, she was built at Taupo by local boat builder and charter boat skipper Jack Taylor. She was launched, I believe, in 1942 or 1943. It is said that no power tools were used during her construction. Kauri planks on jarrah ribs with totara floors. She was built to replace ROMANCE (Bailey and Lowe 1914), who was sold by Jack in 1943. VICTORY became a very busy and popular charter boat. The Taylors sold her in 1982. Although it is said that Jack often wished he had never started building such a large launch (40 feet), assisted by his wife, – his two sons were away at the war – he must have enjoyed her immensely once finished. She was a big step up from the 26 foot 6 inch ROMANCE. VICTORY was perfect for the four or five day charters which were very common in the day. VICTORY is a Jack Taylor design, built from a model which Jack towed behind ROMANCE as he refined the shape. She is of shallow draft – a useful attribute on Taupo (no tidal rise and fall) – as it allows access to beaches where the drill is to put the bow on the beach and disembark via a ladder (in VICTORY’s case a rather long ladder). She did spend a few years in Auckland (Pine Harbour) during the 1990’s, but for 90% of her 70 plus years she has been at Taupo. She is well looked after and nicely appointed internally.”
