Category Archives: Yachts

The Bristol Pilot Cutter – Cornubia – Sailing Sunday

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The Bristol Pilot Cutter – Cornubia – Sailing Sunday

Today’s post is a 8 minute film on the 1911 66′ bristol pilot cutter Cornubia. Built by J. Slade & Son, Polruan, in the UK, she was restored by current owner Tony Winter in 2009. She is carvel constructed, larch planking on oak frames. The film is wonderfully narrated by Tony Winter.
She is a thing of beauty both on the water & down below.

Anyone know the status of the bristol pilot boat that Peter Brooke is building at his yard in Waimauku?

Now if you have ever seen me mooching around in a bay in the dinghy collecting drift wood, if its a tree branch its for the garden. If its a piece of timber its for an old mate, Simon Yates who makes these rather cool signs. He bought an old metal stencil set in the USA (on ebay) & now knocks up the below – they look great at the bach – not for sale, its a labour of love 😉 All the wood on this one I collected last xmas around the gulf.

Si Signs

 

The Mighty P Class – Sailing Sunday

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THE MIGHTY P CLASS – Sailing Sunday
ex Yachting NZ

A pictorial history of New Zealand’s mighty P Class yacht

Whilst trolling around the Wellington Classic Yacht Trust facebook page I uncovered the above gem that utilizes the two formats of a slide show and video clips to showcase the history New Zealand’s mighty P-Class featuring images and footage from the 1920s to 2013.
The clip has been assembled by P Class expert and historian Gun Caundle, from photos collected while researching for his book ‘Our Secret Weapon’, a history and stories about the P Class. While 15 minutes long its great viewing & I’m sure most woodys will bothe relate to it & probably recognize some of the people featured. Enjoy 🙂

IDA – Sailing Sunday & more

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Ida 1

Ida 2

Ida

Careened early 1900’s

IDA – Sailing Sunday
photos ex Gregor McQuaters

In February Gregor sent me the above photos, with the promise that family members had more & he would track them down, so todays a little bit of name & shame – where are the photos Gregor? 🙂
In the back of my mind Harold Kidd posted a comment on ww a while ago about Ida but I have had no joy tracking it dowm. I can tell you she was built by Bailey’s in 1895, measures 65′ LOA & 45′ LWL. Home is Sydney, Australia & has been for a very long time. HDK – can you help out (again) 😉

23-07-2016 Input from Robin Elliott

Here’s a bunch of owners for Ida. Jim Platt was part of a syndicate that registered her in 1962.

W. Hicks 1919/21+? L.(& O.) Jenkinson 1922/32 A.A. Angell 1932/39+? A. Angell 1946?/49+? E.S. Green & Others 1950+? J. M. Pinkerton & L.H. Mirams 1951?/53+? J.M. Pinkerton 1952/60+? R. Price, J. Platt, O.C. de Bruin 1962+? J. Tenbroeke 1969+? G. Broeke, T. Guthrie & C. Taylor (RNZAF Hamilton) 1970+? E. Tansell (Pt Chevalier) 1976+? (Still Registered Owner NZYF 1980) R.B. Cornell (Pakuranga) 1982+? (Still shows as owner in 1984 NZYF).

In 1968 she was reported as being owned by several members of RNZAF Hobsonville and in 1969 was reported as being on moorings near the Hobsonville slipway.

Cornell of Pakuranga appears to be her last registered NZ owner. By 1992 her sail number (11) has been re-issued to Francis

23-07-2016 Input from Harold Kidd

IDA was built by C. & W. Bailey for the Jagger brothers and Frater and launched on 21 December 1895. She was a contemporary and competitor to the other 5 rater of that season, the Logan Bros’ MOANA which had the measure of her from the start. However, when C.P. Murdoch of Devonport bought her in 1900 her performance improved radically. The hauled-out pic above is during his ownership and she’s seem on the beach in front of Garden Terrace Devonport where Murdoch lived. His house, with a turret, still stands. Murdoch was Commodore of the Squadron at this time.
Harold Nathan bought her in 1907, N A Nathan in 1908, J. & W. Smaill in 1911, W. Hicks 1919 and then L & O Jenkinson in 1920. Robin has provided the rest.
She was badly knocked around in the gale of March 1918 on the Devonport foreshore where she had been laid up by the Smaills with her keel removed for several years since the start of the War.
In the 1940s she was seen as very old-fashioned and survived both wars because of the incredible rise in yachting as a sport post-war and the shortage of good yachts to satisfy the demand.

Details of Classic Boat Construction – 25th Anniversary Edition
Larry Pardey Book
Larry Pardey is/has just relaunched a 25th edition of his world famous book. The link below takes you to Larry & Lin’s very cool website where you can see a great collection of photos of the construction of his ex yacht ‘Taleisin’. I understand that more photos will be added next week, so make sure you check back in 😉 http://www.landlpardey.com/details

Looking for a bargain buy woody project?

Rakino salvaged 017

The Woollacott (Marco Polo) ketch ‘Rakino’, was recently salvaged by the Wellington Harbour Ranger after its mooring
failed and it sank against the Evans Bay Marina breakwater on the night of
22/23 April 2016.
Rakino is a sister ship to Ebb Tide & Maia II both owned by Jeff Cook. See the Woollacott Association website re the Marco Polo design & the exploits of Tony Armit. http://www.woollacott.org.nz/

Since salvaging on the 24th April, the Volvo Penta engine (about 700 hours)
has been professionally flushed and the starter motor and alternator removed
and flushed. The single skin timber hull appears to have relatively minor
damage consisting of one hole and other apparently cosmetic damage.

Most loose interior items and the sails have been removed (and stored) to
enable better access for viewing and drying.

The Greater Wellington Regional Council wishes to dispose of the yacht by way of a closed tender process and
invites firm expressions of interest.
The tender conditions are below. Note the close of date id May 30th so if you are interested , place a tender, historically some real bargains can be had in these circumstances.

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Tender Conditions

Looking For A Wooden Boat Project?

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Looking For A Wooden Boat Project?

The photos of the above skiff were sent to me by Baden Pascoe. Baden reports that it is a genuine Orkney Island fishing skiff bought back from the Orkney Islands by Baden’s friend Lyle Woods of Whitianga. The skiff was built in Lerwick c.1960/70’s as a training sailing rowing boat for a group similar to Sea Scouts. Her overall length is approx. 16’. The design is closely related to the St Alyes or Fair Isles fishing skiff now used by the NZ Coastal Rowing Association. The boat if restored would make an excellent two person raiding boat. Baden has know doubts she would sail well with a balanced lug rig & Baden told me that the NZ Coastal Rowing group would welcome this lovely boat to our fleet.
Her owner, Lyle, is looking to move the project on to a new owner & is asking a very fair price of $1,000. The not a lot of money for a boat this size & design. In fact on face value its a steal 😉
Baden commented that the NZ Coastal Rowing group would be able to assist with technical details on setting her up for rowing and sailing.

Interested parties can contact Lyle Woods at    lylemandcal@xtra.co.nz

From Timber To Tide – Sailing Sunday

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From Timber to Tide – Sailing Sunday

I discovered the video ‘From Timber to Tide’ while mooching around wooden boating websites, it features a traditional Cornish boat builder Ben Harris. In a beautifully shot video, Ben talks about his work and what inspires him. Featured is ‘Alva’, a Paul Gartside – designed 30′ gaff-rigged cutter that Ben built. Her lines inspired by the quay punts of Falmouth. Construction is larch on laminated pitch pine and steamed oak frames. Cedar decks, cabin-sides and capping rail in iroko, teak cockpit and trim, pitch pine interior and bronze and copper fastened throughout.

Enjoy, you’ll feel good after watching it 🙂

Looking For A Great Read

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I mostly plug nautical books here on ww but friend Richard Loseby has just published his 3rd book titled ‘A Boy Of China – In Search of Mao’s Lost Son’ & as expected its a cracker read. Pick up a copy at Paper Plus, Whitcoulls, Unity Books – pretty much everywhere + Ebook version on Amazon, iTunes etc etc

Richard used to own a beautiful Townson but has temporally drifted over to the low(er) maintenance side with a rather nice f/g ketch. I’m sure he will return to wood one day 🙂

Richard’s two previous books ‘Blue is the Colour of Heaven’ & ‘Looking for the Afghan’ are on my all time great reads list. Both available on iBooks, Kindle, Kobo etc so fork out a few dollars, you won’t be disappointed. Start with ‘Blue…….Heaven’ 😉

ps when I went to look at my copies of the above two books, I discovered (again…..) that one of my books ‘out-on-loan’ has not found its way home. These days I keep a digital record of who has books of mine on-loan. A quick visit to trademe & I picked up a copy of ‘Blue is the Colour of Heaven’ for $4 😉

Classic Raft-Up at Salthouse Boatbuilders

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Wairiki & Kotuku
Venture
Wairiki & Kotuku
Trinidad
Wairiki & Kotuku
Gleam
Kotuku
Lucille & Kotuku
Trinidad
Trinidad & Arohanui
Leanda
Venture
Venture
Arohanui
Arohanui
P1230409

Lucille

CYA SALTHOUSE 30.4.16

Rod Marler, Greg Salthouse, Bruce Marler, Bruce Tantrum, Mrs. B Marler, George & Dan Renall

 

Shalom
Shalom
P1230414

Wairiki

Classic Raft Up at Salthouse Boatbuilders
photos from Alan H & 2 from Ken Ricketts

Saturday saw the CYA host a visit to Greg Salthouse’s Greenhite boat yard, members had the choice of arriving by water or road. Given the deep water anchorage at the wharf it was ideal for some of the yachting members to join in. Fiona Driver & Rod Marler buddied up with Barb & David Cooke to provide a BBQ lunch that disappeared very quickly 🙂
Greg S gave the attendees an intro to the yard & the work that was being undertaken & then thru the yard open to members to explore at their leisure.
Salthouse is one of the few remaining classic wooden boat friendly ‘railway’ haul-out slips in the Auckland area, so folks to quote that old saying – use it or lose it 😉

And on Sunday, while most of you rested I spent the day picking olives at a friends Ti Point property. Bumper crop this year made the day fly by, helped by a longish yum lunch featuring local produce & wines. If we got bored the view was pretty wow.

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Drone photo looking back at property

152 Years Ago – Sailing Sunday

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152 Years Ago – Sailing Sunday
photo by Daniel Manders Beere ex A. Turnbull Library.

Hard to believe sometimes that we are such a young country & as proof look at the above photo from January 1864, which shows the Queen Street Wharf. The view today is very different, the angle is from Smales Point at the foot of Hobson St. The occasion was the Auckland Anniversary Regatta, you can see Fort Britomart at the extreme right.

Personally I was doing a double take looking over at Devonport & the ‘humps’ of Mt Victoria & ‘North Head’ did not look right, with a 3rd hump visible in the middle. Then I remember that what today is called Mt.Cambria reserve was once in the middle & was quarried for scoria & thus disappeared 😦

Electro-Chemical Damage In Wooden Boats Update

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rudder electrochemical damage


ELECTRO-CHEMICAL DAMAGE IN WOODEN BOATS UPDATE
A Special Post By Chris McMullen

Recently I received a note from Chris where he questioned if the story we posted last year on ww about electro-chemical damage to wood  was a little too long & were people reading it. Well I can tell you that the post is the single most visited story on ww, ever, & gets read by people all over the world. Its frequently referred to on the hugely popular WoodenBoat Forum in the USA. The link below takes you to the original story.

Electrochemical Damage To Wood – the marine version of ‘leaky homes’

For the impatient ones out there 🙂 Chris has done a ‘Readers Digest’ version & refers to a vessel that recently featured on ww.
I encourage all of you to read today’s story & if you own a classic wooden boat – read both versions – the problem is the biggest risk to the life of our classic boats.

In Chris’s words:
“I received the above disturbing images of another woody being destroyed by an owner who I believe is unintentionally loving his boat to death.

The use of anodes and bonding on a wooden boat is fatal. The cathode or protected metal makes hydrogen gas and this combined with saltwater makes Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda). This chemical is used to pulp wood in the paper making industry. Not on my boat thank you! I say again, there is no reason to use anodes and bonding on any boat. The only exception, steel hulls require anodes. If copper or bronze are being corroded it is due to a positive DC leak and Zinc anodes will not help. Find the electrical leak is the cure. If there is brass or manganese bronze underwater it will corrode due to the
zinc in the alloy. Anodes will possibly stop the corrosion but at the expense of wood damage. A better plan is to replace the brass with proper marine bronze.

Bronze and copper should last indefinitely in the sea. To prove that statement, I ask you to look at the Roman coins and artifacts salvaged from ships wrecked in the fourteenth century. There was no anodic protection and the metal is well preserved. So what is the difference to the copper and bronze on your boat? There is absolutely no difference so why waste your money buying anodes that will in time destroy
your wooden boat.

Three or four bottles of wine will cost the same as anodes and will make you and your boat happier.”

Note: ww is read all around the world, if there is water & boats, there are people reading ww. So a little about the man for non kiwi’s  – Chris is one of NZ’s most respected boat builders (retired) and at one time was the Lloyds (Honorary) Wood Boat Surveyor in Auckland. Chris’s (the original company) ‘McMullen & Wing’ built and repaired wood, steel and marine aluminium vessels. They built the first welded aluminum vessels in NZ. Chris is the current holder of the Classic Yacht Association of New Zealand ‘Outstanding Achievement Trophy’ for services to classic boating.

14-05-2016 Photo Update
Gavin Gault sent in the below photos of a Nova skeg floor that he believes were probably damaged due to engine – anode bonding failure. Pretty graphic !!

10-07-2016 Reply from Chris McMullen

“Wow. Thank you Gavin Gault for sharing your very graphic images. Very sad, small consolation but yours will not be the only wooden boat affected by this scourge.
Maybe, at last some of the Flat Earth Society will start to believe what I have been saying. The worst detractors are some in the Marine Industry who have been preaching the Anode, Bonding party line for years.  Now there is no where to run for cover,  they continue to conjure up excuses and it seems, refuse to accept a simple scientific fact.
“If you have a positive and negative electrode in salt water, the negative cathode or protected metal makes hydrogen gas and this combined with salt water makes Sodium hydroxide.”
This chemical is also known as caustic soda and removes paint and destroys wood.  There is no doubt about this fact. You do require a power source and bonded dissimilar metals ( zinc and copper) provide sufficient current to do the damage, but slowly.
If there is a negative DC leak (to the sea)on a bonded boat the process is accelerated. If there is a positive leak any metal becomes an anode and will waste away. It is important to isolate the DC power from contact with the sea. Again bonding is just asking for trouble. Please remove Anodes and Bonding from your wooden boat now!
Chris McMullen”

06-09-2106 In case you were not to sure what to look out for – the below photo should be a wake-up call to a few woodys 😉

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Belle Heather (Heather Belle) – Sailing Sunday

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Bella Heather (Heather Belle) – Sailing Sunday
photos & details ex Tim Evill

On Waiheke Island these is a lovely 100 year old yacht that has just been rescued from a beehive restoration (a box of matches).
Belle Heather  was reportedly built by a Norwegian boat builder around 1915 and he built two other of a similar ilk. It fell into disrepair and it was taken on by the RSA who were going to renovate her and had made a start but then had to move her off the Causeway on Waiheke as all boats are being cleared now. No one seemed keen to take her on so she was due to be burned. Luckily Michael Raymond, a Waiheke builder fell in love with her super lines and put his hand up. He now has her outside his house and has already made a start on her. She is double skin kauri and needs an engine and full rigging.

So the question today is – do any woodys have more info one her, as Michael would love to find out more on her past. Also I imagine if you have an (smallish) engine in the shed that is  looking for a home…………

25-04-2016 Update & photo below from Jason Prew

Built by Neilson from Kawhia….. its not heather belle….it’s Belle Heather (amended. AH)

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Mystery Yacht
photo  ex Mac Taylor collection

I’m sure the classic yachties that follow ww will find this one easy to ID.
Make sure you check out ww tomorrow, there will be a great post on the ex Auckland pilot boat – Waitemata, wonderful photos from construction to present day.

MysteryYacht S:S 24:04

 

Mooching Around Whangaroa

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Mapu

Leah/Leaf?
Leah/Leaf?
Leilani
Sea Mite? & Leilani
?
Lady Jade
Tainui
Mapu

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Mooching Around Whangaroa
photos ex Nathan Herbert

Last weekend Nathan took a break (based on the weather forecast) from working on Lucinda & headed north to Whangaroa for some R&R. He reports the fishing was good.
This collection of photos show some of the woodys Nathan spied in the harbour (Totara North) while aboard Korara.