JENNIFER II
photo ex Tony Kellian ex Pam Cundy at Whangateau Traditional Boat Yard
The photos of Jennifer II were sent to Pam by Tony & show her hauled out at the Whangateau slip & at sea. Jennifer was used by Tony’s grand father Ross Kellian to commercially fish out of Leigh.
The Kellian family would like to know who built her etc. and if she might be still be around.
So woodys – can anyone help out with info on Jennifer?
MANAAKI
photos & details ex Crispin Waddell
Crispin has owned the 1926 Collings & Bell launch Manaaki since 2013. Manaaki’s specs are – length: 11m, beam: 2.5m, draft: 1m & her current engine is a 1970’s Lees Marine Ford diesel 75hp. She is carvel planked, with full-length 32mm heart kauri planks over steam bent and laminated ribs, with less than 200mm spacing.
She cruises at 8knts. & tops out at around 12knts. but unlike some other boats of her era, Manaaki has more of planing hull & is flat at the stern & could do up to 16knts. with the right engine.
She is one of 6 boats build for the Zane Grey fleet – Alma G, Otehei & Avalon were the names of some of her sisters. Manaaki was originally fitted with a petrol Redwing engine.
Crispin has been involved with the boat since he was a child, (now 29). He bought her off the Hunt family. Like most of us he is always keen to find out stories and collect any old photo’s and history of the boat. She lived in the Whangaroa for around 30 years & there are a few photo’s of Manaaki on wall of the pub & records of all her catches in the Game Club up there.
Electrochemical Wood Damage
Crispin came across the ww article about electrochemical damage & the timing was great as he is having problems with it occurring on Manaaki. It’s mainly happening in the area where the prop shaft sleeve comes through the keel under the floor. The kauri fluffs up around this area and he get lots of salt crystals. Thanks to the ww article he is hoping to get on top of this as it’s just started over the last 3 years.
If anyone knows the boat or has any old photo’s send them into ww, Crispin would also be interested in getting in contact with anyone from the boats past.
24-02-2018 Manaaki was anchored alongside me today at Motuihe Island, looking very smart 🙂
ANITA BAY / TE REPO REPO / MAHARATIA
photo & details ex Paul Drake
The above photo of a woody on a truck is the launch Te Repo Repo that was at Taupo in the 1960’s, run by the Tourist Hotel Corporation. Paul is pretty confident that her skipper was the Internal Affairs Harbour Master. Whilst at Taupo she was called Te Repo Repo but previously she came from the South Island, where she was called Anita Bay. Paul thinks that this was probably her “as built” name.
Copy of flyer below, promoting her services ex Harold Kidd
Photo below ex Ken Ricketts & B Worthington
I have to say given how beautiful she was, the more recent photo of her below is a little sad, sure someone now as a boat that they probably enjoy, but we have lost a classic along the way 😦
MAJOR UPDATE 07-08-2015
details ex Paul Drake, Ken Ricketts, Harold Kidd, Russell Ward, Jimmy Thomson, Caitlyn Beazley, Troy Searle. Extensively edited by Alan H
This story grew from a single photo sent in by Paul Drake & with the help of the above people has morphed into a comprehensive record of the the vessells past. In the interests of the recorded facts & woodys reading pleasure I have attempted to pull it all together as one. If I get something wrong – let me know 🙂 Alan H
Maharatia was launched in 1947 from the Auckland yard of Roy Lidgard, her hull was entirely built to deck level on a concrete slab at their property in Smeltering House Bay, Kawau Island. They bought, dismantled & shipped a shed from the mainland, to put over her, this shed is still there today (photos below). This became the shed where the Lidgard’s built & maintained many boats after Maharatia.
The hull was towed to Auckland where she was put in their Auckland shed, to be completed (photos below of shed, Maharatia is top left in the 1st photo).
She was built for the Birch family of the Tauranga region in the Bay of Plenty who were farmers & the boat was named after their farm, named Maharatia, which means “memories” in Maori.
According to Jimmy Thomson (close family friend of the Lidgards) she only remained in Tauranga for a fairly short time & actually spent most of her life during the Birches stewardship in Smelter House Bay at Kawau. They were however keen fisher people & she was used in Tauranga fairly extensively for game & other fishing in her early days apparently, note the number on her bow in some of the older photos.
In the 1960’s she was sold to the Government & went to Taupo. It would almost certainly have been the Govt., as owners who first changed her name from Maharatia to Te Repo Repo. Her skipper whilst at Taupo was the Internal Affairs Harbour Master, Lt.Cmdr. Pete Petersen, RNZNVR, who was Harbour Master from 1955 until 1978. Back in those days, he was it – just him and his Imperial typewriter.
After her time at Taupo, the Govt. then trucked her to Tauranga & sailed her to Milford Sound, to the Milford Tourist Hotel Corporation hotel & while there her name changed again, to Anita Bay.
She was damaged whilst there & taken to Bluff for repairs & sold to a Keith Wright, who took her to Whangarei, where he had a tow boat business & he used her in association with this & also for local tourist trips. She was quite badly damaged on a trip to an exploratory oil platform he was associated with, during his ownership.
Wright later sold her to Bruce Davies, also of Whangarei, who replaced the original Buda diesels with the 2 LX Gardners which she still has today. He later sold her Lawrence McCleod, who owned her for approx. 25 years. It was McCleod who changed her name to Anita Bay IV, for reasons of liquor licensing for tourism use. He took her the Kaipara initially, where he used her for that purpose, as this is where he was living. When he later moved to Snells Beach he took her to the Sandspit, which was in the mid 1980s. He sold her to Dave Searle of Warkworth in 2013. She had not been used for a number of years when bought by Dave Searle.
She is presently in Steve Grice’s shed at Omaha & being given an extensive restoration by the classic artisan boatbuilder, Colin Brown. The restoration will be to her original concept more or less & she is going to go back to her original name of Maharatia. She will have completely refurbished engines (photos below). Ken reports that the ‘upstairs wheelhouse’ put on by the Government when they owned her has gone along with her funnel – we like that 🙂 Restoration photos below ex Ken Ricketts
Her present owners have promised to keep ww updated on the work so fingers crossed we will be able to follow the project.
Update -8-08-2015 Seeing Double ?
OK folks heres a curly one – I received an email last night from David Balderston & he puts forward a very good case that there were/are two Anita Bay’s – read on
Fascinating post of Anita Bay. I note the para where it is stated that she went to Milford. However, I think that Anita Bay at Milford is a different ship and your Anita Bay went to the Kaipara.
In the 1980s, I became aware of an Anita Bay running for the old THC at Milford. She was used to bring the survivors who had made it over the Milford Track across to the hotel at Milford. I actually adjusted her compass in the early 1990s. Here are two photos of her at Milford, March 1992 and 7/7/92. Note she has no port holes and I reckon her bow is straighter, in any case she looks far different to the one in your post.
I visited the Kaipara in February 1998 and took these two snaps of Anita Bay at Helensville , could not get closer, rather a large dog. Note in the second snap the signpost advertising her tours, how faint it has become, which would perhaps indicate she had been operating there a while.
The final item is from my scrap book, with two adverts of the Kaipara Anita Bay, dated 1988 and 31/1/90.
Therefore I submit that there were (are) two Anita Bays.
08-08-2015 Input from Denis O’Callahan, owner of the Colin Wild launch Tasman. Ian reports he walked the track in April 2014 and Anita Bay was still on the run to Sandfly Point picking up trampers.
You can recognize her comparing Denis’s photo with David Balderston’s.
04-12-2015 Input from Ray Morey
‘Anita Bay’ was hauled out at Tauranga at Ray’s father in law’s , Sulpher Point yard on the ‘Eva’s’ cradle. This was right next to the roadway. She was lifted onto the house removers rig by a mobile crane from the Ministry of Works which was working on the Mt Maunganui Port extensions. She was not at Taupo for very long, maybe 2 years at the most and came back the same way. Ray’s recollections are that Keith Wright delivered her to Steve Petty who had taken over the “Kingfish Point” lodge at Whangaroa,(there may have been a T.H.C. connection there.)
She was the general service launch there for quite a few years. There was no road access in those days. Keith Wright did have her later after he had sold out of the coastal tug and barge business. Ray is not too sure but thinks the aft wheelhouse was built and fitted in Auckland prior to going to Taupo but removed for the road trips.
07-03-2016 Update ex Ken R from Colin Brown’s shed
The 2 x 6LX Gardners are back in place, looking just like new. Her T & G cabin top has been removed & new T & G roofing will be used to correct the ‘holes’ left after the removal of her dry stack exhaust & the block of flats.
30-06-2016 Update from Ken R ex Colin Brown’s yard on her restoration + some old photos the late 1940’s – early 1950’s showing the hull leaving Smelting House Bay, Kawau Island & another of her being towed to Auckland for finishing off.
Tamahine – supplied the lunch
And the Raglan Fish – cooked the best F&C’s I have had in a long time – 3x Dory + chips $10 @ Raglan Wharf
Even when its a weekend away in the car, still managed to slip some salty activity in. If you are in Raglan, check out the Wharf area, great coffee (Raglan Roast), funky shops that had enough appeal to lighten the wallet/purses of the blokes & blokets + one of the best fish shops / cafes I have been to in a long time.
And a plug for a great beer we discovered, its not often Mrs H enjoys a cold ale but the “Good George – Sparkling Ale’ (ex Hamilton) was spot on.
Saturday saw a walk to the inland ‘Bridal Veil Falls’, 55m drop – very impressive.
![DSC_0034[2]](https://i0.wp.com/waitematawoodys.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/dsc_00342.jpg?w=580&h=385&ssl=1 "DSC_0034[2]")
A Woodys Trip Report from France
photos & story ex Russell Ward
Getting the other-half to go on holiday in France – thats easy, but how Russell manages to sneak in visits to wooden boat yards, beats me. I need some tips 🙂
I’ll let Russell tell the story. Remember to click on the photos above to enlarge 😉
I visited a fellow steam boater in Arcachon and the conversation on steamboats lulled a trifle and we went on to local work boats the Pinasse! Yep, when the French say Pinasse it is rather akin to the technical term for one’s diddle!
They are a breed of double ender peculiar to Arcachon on the coast out from Bordeaux. Arcachon is a rather larger harbour than Whangateau. Golden sands and sandbars abound. Oyster farms are everywhere and the origin of the Pinasse in the area dates from 1900 or so.
The local work boats abound and many have been retired to pleasure duties and some look real posh.
They have a broad beam, some have elongated bow and stem posts to give a Venetian look; bold sheer (as befits a work boat intended for fishing), self draining cockpit fwd, low deck house and aft cockpit.
The engines were marinised automotive engines and many early ones were made by local engineers.
The older traditional boats have a disappearing prop arrangement akin to the American Dispro boats (check out Wooden Boat). The Dispro has a cast tunnel that the prop shaft and prop pivot up into. The Pinasse has a slot about six inches wide from a third of the way fwd from the stern post. The prop shaft emerges at the fwd end of the slot and there is a bronze universal to allow the prop shaft to pivot up when a lever is raised in the aft cockpit or automatically if the skeg scrapes on a sandbar.
The hull form is interesting. They appear round bilge but in fact have a chine on the middle third of the hull.
One boatyard built most of the boats and above are several photos of the sheds. Makes my eyes go all misty and George and Pam’s will too. They have so much space in there but only a couple of major rebuilds in progress. One smallish burdensome sailing boat of about 16’ and one elderly Pinasse who has a new stem, chines, set of floors and most of the bottom having new planks.
Six generations of one family worked the yard and it was recently sold to a man and his sister who continue the work.
Lovely place!
There are a lot of references but few specific to our interests. Go trawling!
http://www.dubourdieu.fr/en/history.html
WAIKAWA AK41
photos & details from Joseph Shanks
The 57ft. Waikawa was built in 1948 at the Percy Vos yard in Westhaven & launched as a fishing boat (AK41). Today her home is Lyttelton, Christchurch & she is owned by James Shanks (Joseph’s father) who has had her for 7 years & almost completed the restoration to the pleasure boat you see above. Joseph has promised to send in photos of the restoration so hopefully today’s post will spur him on 😉
The photos below of her during construction, on her sea trials & as a fishing boat are from Baden Pascoe’s magnificent book ‘Launching Dreams, Percy Vos – The Boats & his Boys’. Copies available from badenhp@xtra.co.nz
MYSTERY LAUNCHES 21-07-2015
photo ex Harold Kidd
During the recent post on the launch Manana (Raehutia) Harold Kidd sent me several photos of Manana while she was owned by the Seagar family.
Thats her on the left in the photo above – today’s question for woodys is what are the two launches to the right of the wharf ? & while we are at it – the location?
To view / read more about Manana – click link https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/07/17/manana/
And to brighten up the day – some stunning yachting photos from the first 2 days of the British Classic Week -click the link below
A spectacular 2 days of Panerai’s British Classic Week in images.
Update from Hylton Edmonds
From Left to Right – Manana (pre Leon / Chris Brown), Albacora (Pat Edmonds) and Lady Doreen (“Snooks” Fuller / AE Fuller & Sons), – and yes, taken at Otehei Bay, hmmm… guessing around late 50’s?. Due to the fact that Otehei Bay had the Lodge and was an official BOISFC Weigh Station Site, a lot of the Big Game boats would operate out of there, (as well as their home bases Russell / Paihia ) over a season. A few of them had permanent moorings down there too. Great Photo of a wonderful era.
WAITEMATAWOODYS TRIP REPORT FROM OVERSEAS
Today’s photos & story came in from James Dreyer, who along with the extended family currently have Laughing Lady at the Whangateau Traditional Boat Yard. Jame’s work / travel take him off-shore a lot & in late May he was in the USA & put together a little story on the Southern California wooden boating scene. I’ll let James tell it. Enjoy 🙂
Remember if you click on a photo it will enlarge & you can read the captions. Scrolling over also reveals the captions.
“Back in late May, my father Barry & I headed to San Diego to spend a few weeks working on my Rhodes 33 “Therapy” and to visit the some of the 160 odd small breweries in the County, just to ensure their IPA’s were up to scratch. San Diego is known as the home of craft brewing, with each brewery having a tasting room and kitchen, or if not, bringing in a different gourmet food truck each night. Needless to say the hard work sanding and laying Uroxsys/Awlwood in the Southern Californian heat was well balanced with hydrating activities. And yes, the beer is so good, it was mind bottling (to coin a phrase).
While we were there I got in touch with Ralph Rodheim, the owner of another Rhodes 33 “Madness”.
I was hoping to head north to his place on Balboa Island / Newport Beach, to take some measurements and hopefully go for a sail. As luck would have it, the Balboa Yacht Club’s second inaugural Wooden Boat Festival was on during the final weekend of our visit, and Ralph was both an organising Chairman, entrant, and judge. This was a perfect opportunity to give the worn down finger tips, and high calorie intake a rest, while seeing how economical our rental Prius Hybrid could be heading North on the Pacific Highway to Newport. We left early, and stopped at a diner on the way for some bad coffee and an overcooked bacon muffin. This was California after all.
The show was just brilliant. A very Interesting variety of boats, interesting characters and live music.
I bumped into a number of “Rhodes people” and we swapped stories and info about the history of the class and how our restorations were coming along.
Above are some photos of the various boats, some I am lacking much info on, so my apologies in advance. If anyone wants more info on a certain boat, I am more than happy to respond with what I have, or get some more info from friends.
I thoroughly recommend viewing the following collection of photos from the event: http://bycwoodenboatfestival.com/schedule-of-events/ They are beautifully shot and feature a whole lot of boats I didnt photograph, and many of their interiors.”
KATHLEEN M
photos & details ex Paul Drake, edited by Alan H
Paul writes so well, I’ll let him tell this tale. Enjoy. AH
“I had an association with this boat in the 1970’s and I’m sure the photos above will be of interest to WW followers.
In 1971, KATHLEEN M was operating as a long-liner out of the Viaduct Basin, in the days when that basin was full of interesting working boats of all types. She was AK444, as is evidenced in one of the above photos. She was purchased that year by the woodwork teacher from Taupo Nui-a-Tia College and taken to Taupo. My brothers and I were involved in getting her from the Viaduct to Westhaven and onto a trailer.
At Taupo the Rugby engine was replaced with a Universal Cruiser Six – a magnificent engine, rather bigger than necessary, but which gave a very satisfactory turn of speed at lowish revs. The addition of a mast and simple but stylish foredeck rails and toe rails made her into a useful and attractive small launch – 22 feet I believe she is.
Some years later she was sold to the Lake Taupo Yacht Club who of course threw out the Universal in favour of a small Buhk diesel. She served the club well for many years, under the name P3.
She was sold into private ownership again and was last noticed offered on trademe as a freebie, probably about 15 years ago. I have a feeling she may have had some rot issues. Her hull had been sheathed in GRP a long time ago – in the 1960’s. Perhaps this had eventually led to problems.
It is interesting to see that she has ‘turned up’ at Pam Cundy’s Whangateau Traditional Boatyard, a good home for her and I will follow with interest to see what happens to her there.”
Pam at Whangateau Tradtional Boatyard Input
“I spotted Kathleen M on trademe whilst we were at Whangaroa on our Christmas cruise & I think it had a buy now on it, so I did. We could only see the bow in the photos and I remember thinking what ever came aft of the bow was going to be sweet and she is. She’s going to be such an easy restoration but I can’t get to her yet. We have the cabin top and the small upper set of windows and other parts of the puzzle to restore her to, we shall go with the lower wheel house though. The fiberglass has not hindered her in any way. It’s a shame it was done but then she may not have been around today…The rot is isolated, well when I last looked her over. One section of a plank has gone, I think it was probably just a bit of sap not heart kauri that’s all. The chop strand is extremely thick and heavy, her hull shall be around forever.”
I thought I had photographed everything that existed at WTB but I can not find a photo of Kathleen M in residence so Pam will have to send one in 😉 AH
PHOTO GALLERY
Photo # 1 – Haul out time at Westhaven
Photo # 2 – Trial run with fisherman owner doing the splits. Yours truly on the bow fending off.
Photo # 3 – Hauling out at Westhaven – yours truly on the deck, brother Roger at the bow, new owner Laurie in the water.
Photo # 4 – Many hands make light work – scrubbing off at Westhaven. Various members of the Drake family lending a hand, including our mother Marjorie.
Photo # 5 – On the slip at Taupo being worked on shortly after purchase by owner Laurie Tyler.
Photo # 6 – As found in her berth at the Viaduct Basin, surrounded by other beauties of the past.
Photo # 7 – Looking good and in use at Taupo, inside the Waihaha River mouth.
Photo # 8 – AK444 about to leave Auckland for Taupo early one Sunday morning. For various reasons, this trip took 12 hours.
ALBACORA
details & photos ex Hylton Edmonds, Karen Moren & B Worthington
Albacora was built by Mac McGeady in 1954 for Pat Edmonds (Hylton’s father). She was to be a big game fishing boat in the Bay of Islands. She was 36′ & when launched powered by twin 90hp Graymarine engines.
The photo above is from a postcard (image a ‘little’ enhanced) of when she went up to Fiji in 1969 to start another successful game fishing career, operating out of the Fijian Hotel on Yanuca Island near to Sigatoka on the Coral Coast. While in Fiji, kiwi boat builder Ben Hipkins raised her cabin top to increase headroom.
Hylton has a rather nice collection of classic woodys – with Zane Grey & Lady Eileen both in varying stages of restoration at his Russell, Bay of Islands yard/shed.
Link to Lady Eileen https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/05/22/lady-eileen-3/
Update from Hylton Edmonds
Hi Alan,
Great to see Albacora back in the lime light, and taking yours and a few of your correspondents lead in the quest for accuracy, if I could just correct a few things as follows,
Albacora was 38′ 6″” x 11′ 6″ x 3’6″, mostly full length kauri of 1 1/2 ” thick.
Her cost as-built was 4,500.00 pounds, transported by Hammond and McIntyre from Summer Street, down Franklin Road to Quay Street. She was launched at 7.5 tons by Mrs. Eileen Bronson (a well known fisher-woman of the day) on 13 September 1954 at Admiralty Steps by the floating crane Mahua.
She had twin Petrol Morris Commodore’s of 50 HP each.
Unfortunately these were the only motors readily available for her first season of 1954 /55, and were replaced the next year by twin 4 cylinder Lees Marine Fordson Diesel’s of 75 HP each. The work was done at Deeming’s on Tapu Point (as all the work in NZ was done) including changing her from wet exhausts to dry. A great friendship between Dad and both Roly and Ted Lees ensued. These were later replaced in her last years in New Zealand with twin 6 cylinder Lees Marine Fordson’s of 115 HP each.
Albacora had a successful Game Fishing career and at the time of being sold to Marlin Investments in Fiji in 1968 she had 4 World and 7 New Zealand records to her name.
Albacora was only ever in Auckland twice, firstly when she was launched in 1954, and secondly when she came back down from Russell to go as deck cargo on the USSCo Tofua to Fiji in the May of 1968
In the mid 70’s she was sold to a Mr. Dick Evison who was setting up Turtle Island Resort. Details became sketchy after that until in 1980, family friend and well known yachtsman Dick McIlvride saw her in a derelict state up the Nadi River.
Acting on a tip off that Albacora was still “alive”, and a hoping to fulfill a life long dream of bringing her back home, – a trip to Fiji 5 years ago was made primarily to find out once and for all what happened to her. The late Dick Smith of Musket Cove was most hospitable to me, but confirmed the sad news, that Albacora had indeed been a wreck up the Nadi River, but then purchased by the owner of (adjacent) Plantation Village (a Mr. Reg Raffe) in the November of 1982. She was re-floated, towed over to Malololailai and hauled up onto the hard between the 2 resorts. A rebuild was intended sometime after the Christmas/Summer Holiday season. Tragically on March 1st 1983 Cyclone Oscar decimated not only most of that side of Fiji, but Albacora as well. She (as was most of the buildings on the island) pushed into a heap by bulldozer and burnt.
My Father always said, as all McGeady Boats were, – she was a strongly built boat, and a comfortable sea boat, and to me Albacora was a very good looking well proportioned classic sedan launch, that acquitted herself well in every respect, but as we all know, – wooden boats in the tropics…… a very harsh environment to say the least.
