Category Archives: Working Boats

Cruise To The Riverhead Hotel

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CRUISE TO THE RIVERHEAD HOTEL
If you have not visited the Riverhead Hotel by water, its time you did. The Classic Yacht Association (CYA) has an afternoon cruise to the pub next Sunday (18th). These events are a lot of fun – we head up the river / creek on mass & anchor / raft-up before going ashore for a drink & a catch-up. If you have concerns about the route, just follow the boat in front of you & anchor with the others. There will be plenty of ‘old-hands’ to show you the ropes.
High tide is 16:24pm & so we aim to be heading up the ‘creek’ 2hrs b4 HW, its a small tide at 2.8m so I would imagine we will be meeting up in the Herald Island / Lucus Creek area around 2.00pm, so leaving Westhaven area around 1pm. ETA at pub is 2.30pm & departure from the pub approx 5.30pm.
If you are not a CYA member (yet) come along & see what you have been missing out on.
The photo gallery above is a snap shot of past trips – enjoy.
Ps – Wear your WW shirt 🙂
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Pioneer – Work Boat Wednesday

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PIONEER – Work Boat Wednesday

Photo above ex Lew Redwood’s fb, is of Pioneer – the photo is dated 1941 & the venue is Akaroa, in the South Island.
Harold Kidd has commented that it was George Brasell’s boat.
Can any of the Work Boat group, tell us more about Pioneer.
Input from John Bullivant – Possibly designed by Joe Juke (Wellington ) as she looks very similar to Wild Duck (ex Wellington flying boat refueling vessel built by Juke Boat Builders (wellington 1937) and now restored and re modeled by the Tino Rawa Trust. Refer photo from Evans bay Wellington with Wild Duck and what looks like a sister ship along side. Quite a distinctive design. Wild Duck is 42ftx 12ft x 4ft 6″draught, Kauri carvel build.
Melbourne Cup Class Yacht Regatta – This Had To Be Ugly
The photo below was sent in by David Glen, who commented that the double-ender must have lost her rig & sustained serious damage in this incident. Anyone able to supply more details. Hopefully none of the listing kiwi contingent were aboard.
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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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