Merita – Launch Day

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MERITA – Launch Day
photo & details ex Murray Morrissey

Merita has featured in detail on ww before (blue link below to view the story) but when Murray sent me the above collection of photos from when she was built & launched back in 1965 they were just too good to add to the existing post. One photo shows her being towed through the Milford shops on-route to her launch off Milford Beach.
While there is some conflicting/confusing info on the original ww post, what I came tell you is that Murray has confirmed that Merita was built by his father in law – James (Jim) Dymock of Takapuna in his brothers (Bill Dymock) building yard behind the Waitemata Power Board in Taharoto Rd. The family are unsure of the hull design but the cabin top was designed by Brin Wilson. She was launched in 1965 in the Milford Creek where she spend her early days.

LINK >>>>   https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/08/24/merita/

Special thanks to Russell Ward for scanning the original photos.

Hinemoa – Sailing Sunday

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HINEMOA – Sailing Sunday
photos ex Ron Wattam

The top photo I think is of Hinemoa A1, any of the woods able to confirm & fill in the gaps on her design / built / age etc ?
The photo below shows ‘Little’ Thelma (K3), A17? & A8? – must have been a close race.

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I was sent the youtube link to the this very funny video of ex Australian PM Bob Hawke telling a joke at an America’s Cup lunch.

Ka-iwa

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KA- IWA

photos ex trademe

Not all classic woody owners are content with sub 10 knot cruising, well if that’s you & your looking for hassle free woody boating at the speed of light today’s post on Ka-iwa the 28′ Mason Clipper will appeal. Built in 1968 she is a true kiwi classic, with a great maritime history being originally owned by the Stevenson Family & possibly the first twin engine Mason. She has some serious off shore racing history, therefore was built very strong & in bad weather, leaves most boats in her wake. Post racing is was then returned to the Mason yard in Auckland & a custom hard top made. Then retired to Stevenson’s bach up north as their holiday launch.

Powered by twin 350hp, Chev’s Ka-iwa will do over 45 knots, but is happy to cruise at 25 knots at low revs. She underwent an extensive bare wood restoration approx 5 yrs ago & as you will see from the photos also received a total refit inside. The Mason Clippers are very family friendly kiwi classics & this one can sleep upwards of 8. At her length she is a perfect dry-stack boat, which helps solve the where do I keep her dilemma.

So woodys if you own an oil (petrol) well & are into retro classics that go like a cut cat – Ka-iwa could be for you

 

 

Mystery Launch at Opua

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Selwyn Deeming 3

Mystery Launch at Opua
photo ex Deeming family collection via Gavin Bedggood

The above photo was taken at the Deemings yard at Opua. We are not sure of the year or the ID of any of the boats. Any woods able to help out?

And a wee bonus – click the link below to view the latest (May>June 2016) issue of the USA on-line Classic Yacht magazine, lots of woody photos & stories in this issue 😉

http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/ClassicYacht/classic-yacht-may-june-2016/2016052501/

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04-06-2016 Photos of Arline ex B Worthington via Ken Ricketts

Miss Ponsonby

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MISS PONSONBY
photos ex Charlie North. details ex Harold Kidd

In early May, Charlie North commented on ww that he was currently rebuilding a replica of Miss Ponsonby after acquiring the original boat some years back. Harold chipped in with details on her (below) & I invited Charlie to share the project with us. If you have a good look at some of Charlie’s photos you will see he is a serious collector – I can spot a vintage car, classic motorbike & what a appears to be an E-Type Jag. Remember to click on the photos to enlarge.

Firstly some history – Miss Ponsonby was built by Sam Granros in late 1932 or early 1933. She took part in the Masport Cup races on the Tamaki River in 1933 nominated by Ponsonby Cruising Club. Her racing number was S21. Her inboard engine was a 100hp Hall-Scott. She had a long handicap and was more a fast runabout than a racer.

Sam Granros was a Finn who came to NZ in 1904. He built a lot of speedboats and launches in St. Mary’s Bay and at 12 Hackett Street, Ponsonby, for example,Hilma, Nurmi, Alma, Ramona, Ramona Jr. (1930), Cygnet I – II – III, Esther, & Miss Ponsonby, all go fast outfits.
Sam later moved to Oneroa and died in 1946.

I’m sure Charlie will add some more details re the engine etc.

 

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Sobrine

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SOBRINE c1959

c.1959

Sobrine & Luana

Sobrine and Luana

SOBRINE c1989 ex Carol Stewart

C.1989

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SOBRINE
photos ex Harold Kidd, Brian Mace & Carol Stewart. info ex Ken Ricketts, edited by Alan H

Following on from yesterdays post on Manuroa (Lady Doreen), Gordon Mac replaced her with Sobrine after selling Lady Doreen to Len Swan of Orakei in 1951, Swan immediately changed her name to Manuroa.

Sobrine’s hull was built by Jack Taylor in Onehunga & moved, after some disagreement with Taylor, to the Lane Motor Boat Co in Panmure, to be finished & she was launched in November 1956.

When launched she was 38′ but had her bow extended by approx 4′ by Shipbuilders Ltd., 1 > 2yrs later. When lengthened Mace moved her original stern exhaust to a short stack on one side of the rear of the bridgedeck cabin top, which had to be on one side because of her internal layout. In the interests of aesthetic balance he put a non active ‘look alike’ on the other side.

She originally had a Graymarine petrol engine when launched, which was replaced with a Gardner 6LW diesel, when she was very new. Gordon Mace’s son Brian advised she needed to have the bridgedeck cabin top cut off, in order to lower the Gardner in place.

In c.1962 the Mace’s had moved to Coromandel, along with Sobrine to live.

Mace sold her to a friend, Jeff Innes of Coromandel. The story goes that Jeff Innes had fallen in love with her Sobrine at first sight & had pestered Mace for some time to buy her. One day Mace on the spur of the moment accepted an offer from Innes & the boat was sold, much to the families disapproval.

Innes sold her to Bruce Stewart, of Thames in c.1980’s.

Stewart sold her in July 1992 to Roy Ladd of Auckland, who still owns her.

Note: The name Sobrine came about by one of lifes little oops moments – Gordon Mace’s eldest daughter, Aileen, when christening the boat mixed up the intended name ‘Sabrene’ (pronounced Sabreeny) with Sobrine & with her being very young at the time, the family decided to stay with Sobrine 🙂

Manuroa (Doreen)

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MANUROA WHAKATAKATAKA BAY c1963

Whakatakataka Bay c1963

Sail Rock 1959
C1952>1960
Whitianga c1968
Half Moon Bay c1999
c1999
c1999
c1999
c1999
c1999
c1999
MANUROA MILFORD MARINA 2015

Milford Marina 2015

Manuroa (Lady Doreen)
photos ex Rob Alloway, Brian Worthington, Rob Swan. research ex Ken Ricketts (edited by Alan H)

Manuroa started out in life as Lady Doreen & was the last of 3 identical sister ships ( Wanda II – 1948, for Fred Porter, then Connie V for Valentines of Hamilton, refer previous ww stories). Then Manuroa (Lady Doreen) in 1949 & built by Lane Motor Boat Company for Gordon Mace of Panmure. Mace lived 5 minutes up the road from Lane Motor Boat’s premises on the waters edge of the Tamaki River. She was named after his wife Doreen & was the first of 2 boats that were associated with Lanes for him, the other being the Sobrine which was built partly by Lanes, in 1956.
Mace sold Lady Doreen to Len Swan of Orakei on 12th June 1951, who immediately changed her name to Manuroa, which it has been ever since (65 yrs).

Swan sold her in c.1962 to Harold Alloway, a Waikato (Rotorangi) farmer. He kept her in Whakatakataka Bay & slipped her in the green sheds in the bay, whilst at Rotorangi & also when he later moved to Auckland. She stayed there until c1966/67 when according to his son Francis, Harold moved to Whitianga & took Manuroa with him. While at Whitianga, he fitted her with game fishing poles & used her for game fishing in the later part of his ownership.
Alloway sold her on 30th Sept. 1970 to a John Quinn of Ponsonby, Auckland & she was reportedly seen moored in Westhaven not long after. It was possibly Quinn that sold the vessel to Dick & Paula Hillary of Auckland.

The next record of her sees her popping up in Sept. 1996 owned by the Hillary’s, they owned her for many years, just how many years is unclear but research by KR  indicates they may well have owned her from some time in the 1970’s, until when they sold her in Sept. 1996 to Fred & Flo Presland of Kawau Island. During the Hillary ownership they replaced the Gardner 4LW diesel (imported direct from England by Gordon Mace & installed in Nov 1950) with the 6LW that she still has today.

The Preslands sold her c.2000 to Bernie Wood, a Auckland boat broker of Half Moon Bay. When Wood passed away his estate sold her in Sept. 2005 to her present owner Bruce Johnston of Milford. Bruce supplied the two pages below from the 1951 log book.

MANUROA Log 1951

Log Book Page 1 – 1951

MANUROA LOG - 1951- 1

Log 1 1951

 

MANUROA SHIPS LOG - 1951 - 2

Log 2 1951

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

 

Florence

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FLORENCE
Florence has appeared once before when I spied her tied up at Bayswater Marina, so when Tim Jackson tipped me off that she has just appeared on trademe, I took the opportunity to showcase her in more detail. I do not like losing classic’s to out of Auckland but boy this old girl has got lake boat written all over her + the ability to load her onto a flatbed Hiab truck must appeal to the lake based woodys.
She was originally built in Dunedin and has a history of being used as a workboat in and around Port Charmers. Her double-ender hull is heart kauri carvel planked & she measures 28’x7’8”x3’.
There was a major refit done in 2014/15. Now based in Auckland & used as a harbour cruiser.
The 2015 refit involved new cabin from the decks up, new interior, large double bunk up forward, single bunk port side and galley starboard side in saloon. New electrics, reconditioned 1992 45hp 3JH Yanmar from Moon Engines. Engine sits on a Vee drive and creates a cockpit table. There is a new 2205 s/steel shaft & the hull was fully stripped back and re-caulked.
Yellow cedar and Maranti marine ply construction of the cabin fully glassed over &12mm Mahogany veneer to cabin sides
For more older photos & details on Florence, click this link

Florence