Category Archives: Working Boats

Auckland Woody Fishing Fleet

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Auckland Woody Fishing Fleet

Woody Simon Smith sent in the above b/w photos, showcasing some of Auckland’s fishing fleet – registration numbers that I can ID are – 1696 , AK1789 ,  AK29 , & Emerald ?
What do we think the date is? Interesting that there is so many in port at one time.
An Other Block of Flats Contender
My post a few weeks ago on this topic created a lot of chat, the boat below isn’t a woody but it really is closer to an apartment than a boat. You would have to assume that it wasn’t designed by a boatie.
I would be a little bit worried about the boats ratio of above & below the water 😦
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Stella Maris

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STELLA MARIS

Subject to it passing a good survey this ex work (fishing) boat would have to great value for someone looking for a live aboard. Reviewing her trademe listing (thanks Ian McDonald), the conversion to pleasure use looks very well done.

Stella Maris was built in 1971 & measures 48’6”, with a 10’8’ beam. The power comes from a 320hp MAN diesel, that is governed to 185hp. Her carvel haul is spotted gum & Oregon pine.

She comes with an impressive list of fittings.

Anyone know who built her & who did the conversion?

OAR MAKER?

I have had a request from a woody looking for an oar maker, there are lots of  ‘commercial’ ones out there e.g. Gull, but my man is looking for a more custom made oars.  Can anyone recommend a boatbuilder or good DIY’er that could produce a pair?

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Pacific Gets the X-foul-e-8 Treatment

As Pacific gets close to splashing, woody Nathan Herbert has treated her to a serious bottom clean 😉 Another stunning job, ready for another 100 years of woody boating.

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The Workboat – Hauraki

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Work boat Hauraki

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HAURAKI

The above photos show the work boat – Hauraki, in the top photo dated 1947, she is tied up at the ‘Auckland Wharves’ & sandwiched between two other work boats – challenge to Baden Pascoe – name the other vessels?
This photo come to us from Lew Redwood’s fb page, where David Balderston commented that Hauraki was Captain Day’s first ferry & he ran her to the bottom end of Waiheke Island, before he purchased the Baroona.
In the 2nd photo, I suspect she is anchored somewhere around Waiheke Island. The photo comes to us from Sally Churchs family album via fb, it is captioned ‘O.L. Hauraki’ &  written on the back of the photo are the words – Hauraki, 40hp Johnston diesel. 8 knot. Licensed 25’
Do we know what became of her post her ‘ferry’ days?

Input from David Balderston

I am very much afraid those pictures of the HAURAKI are two different boats. The stern on the first is square and the other one is counter. The sheer on the first is non existent while that on the lower certainly is. 
I believe the bottom one is the real Waiheke ferry launch HAURAKI. 
The thing is with research, as I have found, its like looking through a key hole and then you see something. Like the above launch HAURAKI, I thought, at last! there she is as a fishing boat… Anyway a positive outcome is that it moved Sally Church to look through her family album to produce the second photo – this time the real boat. 
Input from Harold Kidd – There were several HAURAKIs. The pic below is of an old HAURAKI fishing boat being relaunched in 1932 as AK119. There was another fishing boat HAURAKI AK46 owned by Waitemata Fisheries in 1942, considered for war work, possibly the same boat as the AK numbers were re-shuffled during the 1930s for some reason. Another (or the same) HAURAKI was reckoned by Andy Turnwald to have been built by Merv Strongman. Then you’ve got the ex REHUTAI steamer and another on the Kaipara owned by G. Constable!
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Input from Dave Stanaway –  The photo below is Chris Rabey’s photo of Miss Hauraki c1980 at the Hokianga. Looks to me as if O L Hauraki in your second photo is the same vessel. I think Ray Morey will agree. I sailed on the vessel 1963.
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The Rudder Cup – A Celebration of Classic Launch Racing Dec 14>15 2018

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The Rudder Cup – A Celebration of Classic Launch Racing Dec 14>15 2018

Now woodys, if I had $10 for everything woody launch owner that has told me they are entering the 2018 Rudder Cup launch race, I would be a wealthy man.
But guys, we are very fast approaching the stump up or shut up stage – entries close on 23 November, so if your going to be on the start line, we need to hear from you.
Remember entry is by invitation, so send an email off to Jason Prew at     2018ruddercup@classicyacht.org.nz
& he will send you an invitation, entry forms, notice of race etc etc.
Numbers are looking good & the standard of entrant is very broad – its not just the zoom zoomers that are entering, & in case you forgot its a handicapped race, so everyone has an fair chance of taking out the #1 prize.
If you would like to read more on the history of the Rudder Cup,  click the WW link below. Also Harold Kidd has just published an article on the 2018 race in the November edition of Boating NZ magazine – it is titled ‘Old donks, young hearts’ & is a great read – its out now in good bookshops & supermarkets.

Thanks for all the kind words & emails yesterday – I couldn’t do it with out your help 🙂
CYA Rudder Cup 2018 flyer

Waitemata Woodys hits 4,000,000 views and celebrates with a gallery of over 100 classic wooden boat photos

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If you think being passionate about wooden boats is niche – think again, there are a lot of us out there. Waitemata Woodys has just passed 4 MILLION views and we celebrate with over 100 classic wooden boating photos

Never in a blue moon when I started this site could I have seen it becoming as popular as it has. Along the way the site has morphed to also become an awesome information source for just about anything connected to wooden boating. Some facts:
4,000,000 views
370,000 people have visited the site, most of them come back – some daily, some weekly, some just when they need to know something
2,469 stories
20,000+ photos published
A 50,000+ photo library
It wouldn’t have happened without in the early days a few fireside chats from people way more worldly in the wooden boating community than myself. The list of people that have shared their family photo albums, stories and knowledge with us is huge and  the site just wouldn’t be what it is today without these people.
I’ve made so many friends, and been fortunate to rub shoulders with a lot of you in person.
So where to from here?, I would be a lier if I said I had not considered pulling the pin a few times, its a big ask publishing a wooden boating story 365 days of the year, but for every one dark day when I’m questioning why I do it – I have 100 days where someone tells me that the first thing they do every every morning is check out Waitemata Woodys, or that they print the stories and once a week when they visit grandad they read them to him, because he is nearly blind, or when we uncover the provenance of someones boat, or when we find someones long lost family boat etc etc
Aside from thanking you all for your support and asking you to keep following Waitemata Woodys – I only have one request – please keep sending us your stories & photos – you may be thinking they won’t mean much to us, but at some stage, someone will send in something and SNAP, they match & we have the makings of a great story. Email them to   waitematawoodys@gmail.com
The following link takes you to a Waitemata Woodys story that epitomises all that’s good about the site – you wouldn’t find content like this anywhere else – it’s gold
And in answer to all the emails re when I will be doing another Waitemata Woodys t-shirt run – the answer is before Christmas, so start saving your pennies. I’ll do another post soon re taking orders 🙂
Again many thanks to everyone. I hope you all still enjoy the site as much as I do pulling it all together. Shortly I will be sharing with you some exciting news on how WW will become even more relevant to wooden boat owners, but for now I have pulled together a random selection of 101 woody photos that have appeared on the site – enjoy 🙂
Alan Houghton – founder
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Woody on tour at Opua, BOI

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Christina

Leilani

Donna Maree

Woody On Tour at Opua, Bay of Islands 

Woody Ian McDonald was recently in the winterless north & popped down to the boatyard at Opua, in the Bay of Islands & snapped the 3 woodys above.
The first photo is Christina, a big heavy woody – obviously a workboat in her previous life, & set up for game /tuna/charter.
Then we have the very pretty Leilani, out for a spruce up. WW link here
Last up is Donna Maree, featured on WW as Donna “Marie” with a Dean Wright photo & an article entitled “Some days are just made for a wheelhouse” (link below). She has a very beautiful hull.

Nevada

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NEVADA

Nevada was built in 1942, measures 32’ & is built with split strip kauri planking. Her first role was as a cargo boat for Tauranga Ports, later on she was converted for commercial long line fishing, before being retired for pleasure fishing.
Her zoom zoom is a 135hp Ford Lees diesel.
Home these days is Helensville on the Kaipara & her owner according to the trademe listing (thnx Ian McDonald) was also born in 1942 & the up keep on Nevada is just too much, thence the sale.
Her interior is crying out for some love – for the right price this has the bones of a goof project.
Had a stunning Labour weekend cruise around Waiheke Island, very few woodys out & about, I suspect with the greta forecast, a lot would have headed further north e.g. Kawau Island.
Had the misfortune to get rammed by a rather large vessel that drifted anchor in Man O War Bay on Saturday afternoon – observers say he had very little chain out. A few bumps & scratches, he did come over later on & supplied contact details. Not major damage, just a pain-in-the-ass to have to fix.
Unbelievably I did not take the camera out of its bag the whole weekend. Enjoyed some great hospitality, afloat & ashore. Sunday nights dinners (at the family of good boating friends waterfront island house, was to die for – multiple bbq’s + a smoker = slow cooked beef, chicken & smoked beef spare-rib brisket. Carnivore heaven 🙂
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Champion / Iona

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CHAMPION / Iona

This Wellington woody, is a little the worse for wear – 2 options – bite the bullet & bring her back to life, there is a pretty workboat hull there & she looks like she wouldn’t be afraid of the open sea. 2nd option – as a donor for someone looking for 40hp Gardner L3W to restore. 
 
She started life helping to build flood gates in Taupo for a power station.  
I have had 4 people bring her trademe list to my attention, so there is some interest already. Asking price is $2k.
Her 32’8” hull is kauri & its claimed she is around 100 years old. Not 100% sure her name is Champion, anyone able to confirm?
 
So woodys – project or donor ?

Input ex Tony Brown – I bought the boat as a wreck in 1985 and re-ribbed it and replaced about a third of the planks. Also fitted the 3LW engine. I shifted to Kapiti on 2003 and sold the boat to John Luke. Before Taupo, the boat was at Napier and got stranded on the flats in the 1929 earthquake (where the airport is now) and then got taken to Taupo. There is info in both Napier and Taupo museums. 

John, the present owner has all the historic info as I gave it to him.
I have a spare 3LW and 2UC g/box if any one is interested.. never used in the boat as the installed one was too reliable.
Input from Paul Drake – Built as IONA by Bailey and Lowe for J A McFarlane of Napier (year not known). Named after the island off the West Coast of Scotland where his family came from. Relocated to Taupo after the 1931 Napier earthquake. Name changed to CHAMPION in 1944 when bought by Jack Taylor and put into survey. Left Taupo in late 1950’s. At Porirua harbour in 1970’s and re modeled over a long period of time to her current configuration. Located at Even’s Bay Wellington for some time. Re-named but pleased to see she has reverted to CHAMPION. Unrecognizable now from early days.
Update2 from Paul Drake – photos below of CHAMPION ex IONA. The1st one (b/w) shows her as a charter boat at Taupo under Jack Taylor’s ownership. She was of course built as a flush decker, Paul thinks about 1912, when the raised focsle was becoming the thing. Jack raised the cabin. Later, a wheelhouse was added.
The 2 colour photos show her at the early stage of her long 1980’s transformation when owned by Tony Brown.
Paul also commented that the Taupo Museum has a great photo of IONA being launched at Taupo c.1935, as evidenced by the steamer shed on he Government Wharf in the background of the photo. This shed was replaced by the present wharf offices in 1937. IONA sported the large letter ‘I’ on each side of the bow and a quirky and distinctive gable roofed ‘conning tower’ for the helmsman, which could have passed for a fish safe.
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Harold Kidd Input –  Macfarlane bought her from H H Tocker of Napier and had her trucked to Taupo in April 1935. He changed her name to IONA. The photo below is of IONA on the truck from the NZ Herald on 16/4/1935. She certainly looks very Bailey & Lowe of the period 1912. They built a couple of launches for Napier around this time, one for Davis & Boyd of Hastings in April 1911 and a 30 footer for an unknown owner which was in frame in July 1912.
Most of the Hawkes Bay newspapers’ archives perished in the 1931 earthquake so you have to rely on secondary sources for the period before that. Makes it hard.
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Alert

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Alert HDML

Alert
Yesterday as part of the story on the HDML – Kuparu, I ran a link to Zaps Zander’s impressive blog on Navy vessels. Zaps has asked for some help from the WW readers, in the above photo we see a large white vessel rafted alongside the ferries, now some people think it is an ML (Alert Q1189) and some say not? The question of the day is – is it Alert? Zaps is pretty sure she would have been in Dunedin around the time of this photo, as the road construction behind is before 1959 when the Auckland Harbour Bridge opened.
Any one able to help out, & if its not Alert, who is it?
The photo also is a sad reminder of the fleet of awesome harbour ferries we lost, just imagine the tourist attraction if they were around these days…………….

Update from John Bullivant – below is a selection of photos of ‘Alert’. The colour photo with the ferries looks to have been  taken from a similar spot as the one you put up. Think they buried them in the early 1970’s, they were mostly cut up when I rescued some Kauri off them for wood turning.

Input from Russell Ward – more photos below, Russell believes she was used by the sea scouts in Dunedin. Later owned by Ernie Davis Mayor of Auckland. Chiseled out of him on some deal and there was a memorable photo of her on a rock in the Gulf at an impossible angle – Russell will try & find it. Russell thinks she has been updated and sold for a pittance in Dunedin and was also heard of up in Auckland (confirmed by Cameron Pollard) on offer for a lot more. Two Isuzu diesels for the zoom zoom.

 

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Input from Linus Flemin – the current skipper of the ML Alert. (Q1189)
The research I have done would also suggest that this is Alert alongside the ferries and at this time belonged to Sir Ernie Davis. Alert was one of the first HDMLs to be sold by the Navy post war 1947. Alec Black of Dunedin was the first owner who converted her for charter work.( I think Ernie purchased her around 1959) We Know she went south again around 1980 for deer recovery in Fiordland owned by Jim Kane, and has been in Bluff and Fiordland for the past 30 years. Anymore history would be greatly appreciated.
Alert is currently receiving much needed love at Kopu Marine. Photo below.
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07-10-2018 Update from owner Linus Fleming – the new photos below, in his eyes confirm that the vessel is Alert.
Alert at baileys 1961
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Interested in reading more on all things Motor Launch, be they serving in the Navy or in civvy hands. (over 250 photo’s and 50+ stories and tech data / links to other ML pages) Check out the link below
 

http://rednaz1958.blogspot.com/2016/03/composite-list-of-hdmls-still-active.html

 
And if you are looking for eye candy – check out the link below to the 2018 Victoria Classic Boat Festival in British Columbia – stunning.
 
DON’T FORGET THE NZ SAILING DINGHY EXHIBITION IS ON THIS WEEKEND – I WENT YESTERDAY, VERY IMPRESSIVE – DETAILS BELOW
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HMNZS Kuparu HDML

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HMNZS KUPARU HDML
I received an email the other day from Ken Ricketts which served to remind me I was overdue on a wee story on the ex ex Naval 22m patrol boat HDML Kuparu P3565. Her owner Scott Perry has been keeping me updated on the refit of this icon NZ Navy vessel. A fitting project as Scott is ex Navy.
Scott was at a T intersection in this life having recently lost his wife to cancer & thankfully a combination of Kuparu & his young family were the glue he needed to get thru a very traumatic period.
  
In Scott’s own words “Kuparu was a very big ugly mess of a job” but he rolled up the sleeves & with the help of some good friends (old & new) he re-launched her late last year.
Now the navy purists may not all agree on some of the mods but Scott is now the proud owner of a very large, comfortable woody cruiser. The ideal platform for the family to get out & about on the Waitemata Harbour & Outer Gulf & believe me they do, I have spotted them everywhere.
 
If you see Kuparu, give them a wave or if in a bay, row over for a chat & to admire the scale of the project Scott took on. Like all woodys, it never ends, so occasionally Scott posts on facebook looking for anyone keen on helping out with some maintenance – she is a rather large craft to do anything to e.g. clean, sand, paint etc.
 
Kuparu was very lucky to find an owner like Scott but the flip side is Scott was equally lucky with Kupara. Well done Scott.
 
(note below is a gallery of images that Ken Ricketts uplifted from a video on Lew Redwood’s fb page, I apologise for the quality – most often video > still photos = out of focus, I have tried to digitally enhance them but they are low quality, but from them you get a peek into the project  
 
 
As I was writing this story I received an email from a gent named Zaps Zander, who for the past 3 years has been running, compiling and administering a blog on  anything ML related i.e. from day 1 in 1943 to this month (the recent Black Watch sinking). Check out his weblog below – there are over 150 photos

Details below from the RNZN Communicators Association via Ken Ricketts.

LOA:  76′ Beam: 16′, LWL: 72′, Draft: 5′
Design or Class: W J Holt Admiralty World War II anti-submarine patrol craft
Former Name: HMNZS Pegasus P3563 > HMNZS Kuparu P3563  Q1348 WW2 number
Home Port: Auckland
Designer: W J Holt Admiralty
Boat Type: HDML, Gross Displacement: 54-ton
Number of Engines: 2, Engine Model: Mark 6 two-stroke Fodens, Total Engine Horsepower:  180-hp (each)
Builder Name: Ackerman Boat Company, Location Built: Lido Island, California, Year Built: 1943
Hull or Design No.: Q1348
Owner Name: Scott Perry, Owner Country: New Zealand
07-10-2018 Input from John Bullivant – just dug out a photo (below) of Kuparu I took probably about 15yrs ago when she was out the back of the Devonport navy base, by the Ngataringa Bay sports field. I was being watched closely as I was taking the photo by a couple of WRENS who probably thought I was after secret HDML information.
HDML P2563 KUPARU NAVY BASE