Category Archives: Working Boats

Kitty Vane Update

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KITTY VANE UPDATE

Back in 2015 we posted a photo of the 1956 Kitty Vane on the hard at Te Atatu Boating Club, West Auckland – she was looking very down in the dumps, then in Jan 2020 we were told she had been sold and returned to the North in late 2018. Designed and built by Ces Watson, Kitty Vane spent many years big game fishing out of Tutukaka, under the ownership of the Going family.

Then in April 2020 we did a story asking if anyone knew where KV was and hit the jackpot, lots of information and photos came in – see here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/04/20/kitty-vane-where-are-you/ We even have copies of her line drawings, sent in by Peter Watson, son of Ces Watson.

Fast forward to June 2020 and WW is contacted by her new owners – Michelle and Blair Kennard – I have reproduced Michelle’s email below

“In 2018 my partner and I found Kitty Vain on Trademe, my partner an avid fisherman and has had the life-long dream to own and restore a boat. When we saw Kitty Vane for sale we started reading about the history and fell in love, we couldn’t believe the state she was in and knew she needed rescuing.

We had her bought up on a truck and she now lives on our section under a purpose built shed in Kerikeri. We are slowly chipping away at restoring her to her former and original glory, it will be a father and son project who are both carpenters with a love for beautiful craftsmanship. 

We are hoping in the next couple of years she will have two new engines and will become our family boat along with the dream of being a ‘historical experience’ fishing charter. 

If you know of any boat history books with Kitty in could you please let me know”

Fast forward again to Jan 2021 and we are contacted by ‘Nelliefish’ (sorry that’s all I have from their email address), who sent in the rather grand photo above of Kitty Vane – do not know when or where, so only really inspiration for the Kennard’s unless me can date the photo and location.

Update: Location may be Hobsonville and 2005 – but not confirmed.

1965 SEACRAFT SPEEDOMETER
Woody Barrie Abel needs to replace the speedometer on his 1965 Seacraft – its is a 4″ diameter chrome pitot type gauge.
Barrie commented that the modern ones look out of place and what started off as a delicate procedure to assess and repair, has gone from bad to worse, and its time to abandon the current one…..
If anyone knows of someone who would consider selling one, or something similar. Email WW at waitematawoodys@gmail.com
In the mine time I’ll chase Barrie for a photo of the gauge. Photo below of boat.

Eclipse – A Peek Down Below

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ECLIPSE – A Peek Down Below
Back in Sept 2016 John Sankey was mooching around Nelson and sent in a selection of woody photos, amongst them were several of the launch – Eclipse. At the time she was looking a little sad and was for sale.

WW link here to that story.   https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/09/22/woody-nelson-trip/

Now thanks to a tme listing we get to have a peek down below, she has also had a lick of paint.Some details – 37’ in length with a 9’ beam and drawing 3’4” , powered by a 70hp Nissan SD25 diesel engine, giving her a cruising speed of 8 knots.

Her tme listing states she was built in 1907, but in the 2016 story Harold Kidd advised that she was built in November 1922 by James McPherson at Dunedin for W. Webber of Ravensbourne.

04-06-2021 Update ex Keith Murphy – photo below of Eclipse at Ravensbourne

RSVP to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Julie Anne 15321

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JULIE ANNE 15321
Todays photo of the launch Julie Ann comes to us from the camera of Bay of Islands photographer Dean Wright who snapped the photo while mooching around the Te Puna and Kerikeri Inlet area. Dated Dec 17th 2020.

Given the reg #, she must have been in commercial use at some stage – do we know anymore about her?

Esperanza II

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Esperanza II
The above photo of the Chris Craft, pictured above in the Bay of Islands, come to us via Len Redwood’s fb.There is a great story at the link below as to how the boat came to be in NZ.
https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/04/08/esperanza-ii/

Make you check out  WW tomorrow, we have a feature on New Zealand’s best Lidgard woody and she is looking for a new custodian 😉

RSVP TO waitematawoodys@gmail.com – numbers are limited

Woodys Riverhead Tavern – Winter Cruise 

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Te Hauraki
Dancer
Ngarimu
My Girl

Woodys Riverhead Tavern – Winter Cruise 
Yesterday was one of those days where the weather forecasters got it wrong -big time. Took the dog for an early morning waterfront walk between the showers and the ferries on the harbour were sounding their fog horns – fast forward 2 hours and the suns out, water glassy flat and we are going boating. Quick side trip to collect our quests – Margo & Jamie (MV Lady Crossley) from Westhaven and we are off.

A great turn out for mid-winter, saw 60+ woodys gathering at the historic waterside Riverhead Tavern for lunch – special thanks to those that came by car and helped with berthing the boats at the wharf. As always – click on photos to enlarge 😉

Nice to meet some new faces and if there was an award for most travelled attendee, woody Bruce Rowe on board – Ngarimu would be the winner. Bruce and his ‘decky’ mate – travelled from Thames to attend.  The boys left Thames on Friday, stayed at bottom end of Waiheke, then off Stanly Point / Bayswater on Saturday night and  will be heading home today. Talking to Bruce,  Saturday night sounded heaven – tucked up in their warm bunks, rain on the cabin top, listening to the Auckland Blues rugby game, then the NZ v India cricket test – not a lot of sleep was had 🙂

We were also graced with the company of John and Diana Olsen on their steam boat – Dancer, The Olsen’s towed Dancer from Cambridge and launched her at the old Salthouse yard to make the trip up the creek.

Check out the Woodys Classic Weekends Event Calendar at the link below, for upcoming outings – our next one is an overnight BBQ cruise up the Clevedon River on the weekend of 14 > 15th August – a heads up – numbers will be restricted due to berthing / anchoring limits -so RSVP early.

https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/06/15/woodys-classic-boating-calendar/


The poster below greeted us at the door to the tavern – has a nice ring to it………….  maybe someone is sending me a message 🙂

Pandora

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PANDORA
After all the shinny paint yesterday probably best to have a work-boat story today. The 48’ fishing boat – Pandora was built in the late 1960’s at the Alex Baxter Yard in Whangarei.. Her original owners were Brook and Winston Richards of Kaitaia, who had her built for commercial crawfishing. But she was set up so she could be converted to trawling within a few hours.The photo taken on launch day is dated Feb 1970 and is ex Photo News,  and comes to us via Lew Redwood’s fb. A comment there stated that Pandora was the best looking fishing boat built- big call, but she is a looker.

The news paper headline read – ‘$40,000 Boat Launched’ so she must have been out there in her day.

Do we know what became of Pandora?


Remember the Riverhead Tavern Woodys cruise today – lots arriving by car, so if you are put off by the weather – take the car for a spin 🙂 details below

What Happened to Galatea

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What Happened to Galatea
Galatea, the 1926, 36’ tram-top woody last appeared on WW back in March 2017 – Photo below + link to that storyhttps://waitematawoodys.com/2017/03/11/galatea/


Over the weekend one of my spotters, sent in the photos above of Galatea hauled out at Te Atatu Boating Club – the answer to ‘what happened to Galatea’ – is – not much happened to her. Fingers crossed she gets a break and is returned to her 2017 condition.
In the 2017 WW story we did not uncover much about the vessel – can anyone enlighten us more?


Explanation – if you wondered why you received two email today – the first one, the ‘Woodys Classic Events’ calendar was just a posting to allow me to get the calendar into the WW system, so I can link to it. Make a note of the dates in your diary, I’ll be sending out invites closer to the actual dates. If you haven’t been receiving notifications about Woody events – drop me an email with – your name, boat name + mob # (some comms we do via txt – send to waitematawoodys@gmailcom.

https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/10/17/buying-or-selling-a-classic-boat/

WOODYS CLASSIC BOATING CALENDAR

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WOODYS CLASSIC BOATING CALENDAR

2021

May 23rd – Moon Engines – Diesel Maintenance Workshop DONE

June 20th – Riverhead Tavern Lunch Cruise DONE

August 14th > 15th – Clevedon River Dockside BBQ (overnight) DONE

October 23rd > 25th – Woodys Long Weekend Cruise to Kawau Island (Labour Weekend) – Saturday morning Dinghy Cruise up Matakana River to Markets. Sunday evening dinner / gathering at Kawau Boating Club. POSTPONED – NEW DATE TBA

November 28th – Sunday – Riverhead  Tavern Lunch cruise

2022

February 26th – Stillwater Dockside Afternoon Picnic


The above gatherings are put on to encourage classic boat owners to use and enjoy their boats more, and meet like minded people. 
We point out that the get togethers are not Classic Yacht Association (CYA) organised events. They have a cruising focus and the locations point to participation by launches but we welcome all classic vessels.Invitation to the events is via email and the waitematawoodys.com website. If you would to be sent invites, simply send an email with your name, boat name & mobile # to waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Closer to the actual dates, we send more details to attendees.

PIRATE – A Peek Down Below

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Photo below ex Greg Philpott, of Pirate next to the Deeming’s boat shed at Tapu Point across the water from Opua. 

PIRATE – A Peek Down Below

Unless you are a Warkworth river rat, mooching around the upper reaches of the Mahurangi Harbour you wouldn’t have seen much of the stunning 1939 46’ launch – Pirate. Launched in 1939 at Matauwhi Bay in Russell, Bay of Islands, designed and built by Leon Warne. She has spent a large chunk of the last 18 years berthed alongside the old Cement Works. She always makes an appearance over the Mahurangi Regatta weekend and is one of those boats that just look right from any angle.

Pirate is constructed in full length kauri carvel plank and has twin Ford 6 cylinder 100HP diesel engines.

Pirate has an interesting provenance having been built for a German wool buyer (Otto Sommer), commissioned by the NZ Navy in World War II and used in degaussing operations, and subsequently in 1944, became Auckland’s second Police launch, replacing Tirimoana. Later she was a well known big-game fishing boat in the North, hosting among others Lord Mountbatten, who signed the Log Book. 


She is a fine example of a classic launch restored and cared for by passionate owners (18 yrs), these owners have just made the hard decision that it is time to pass Pirate onto her next custodian – so woodys, this is a unique opportunity to own a classic wooden boat of the caliber of Pirate.
Expressions of interest should be directed to waitematawoodys@gmail.com BUT – do not hang back, boats of Pirates size, presentation and provenance find new owners very quickly

 RSVP TODAY – Boat name & appox. # attending waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Marinus – In the 1950>60 Period

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MARINUS – In the 1950>60 Period
Back in December 2020 we featured a great insight into the launch Marinus and how she was ‘rescued’ from Great Barrier Island and became the mule for an avant-garde refit.

At the time Harold Kidd commented that Marinus was owned for many years by Keith Lackey of Wellington. She was built by Barr-Brown, Owen and Stewart and launched in 1947. Her first engines were twin 6 cyl Gray petrol. According to Lloyds she was designed by A.M. Deeming.

Now thanks to Mark Erskine, who came across the above photos on the www, we get to sre her in the 1950’s > 1960’s period. Mark commented that bearing in mind her launching after W.W II, “for commercial work in Cook Strait” it’s hard to know if these photos show Marinus as she was built / launched, because her design looks to to be more a large, spacious pleasure craft, rather than a commercial / work boat of some description.


View the previous WW story here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/12/12/marinus-where-is-she/

RSVP TODAY – Boat name & approc # attending waitematawoodys@gmail.com