Tainui – The old days

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TAINUI - c1940s

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TAINUI – the old days

Photos & details ex Fraser Chapman via Ken Ricketts. edited by Alan H

The above photos show Tainui in the 1940’s & 1970’s.
There have been several posts on Tainui on ww (link below) but these photos deserved their own post, rather than be added to the existing. I’m a little confused because the top b/w photo Ken emailed to me is tagged 1940’s but else where on ww it has been stated that she was built in 1967 for the Auckland Harbour Board.

Tainui is currently at the Whangateau boat yard undergoing an extended restoration which includes a full rebuild on the Gardner engine. Her Kiwi owner lives/works overseas so will be very keen to view these photos, equally we look forward to following her progress at the yard.

Fraser Chapman has told Ken R that he recalls he bought Tainui in the 1980’s off the widow of a Helensville gentleman, who had owner her for approx. 10 years. Tainui was moored at a jetty, on a private property, opposite Herald Island, (probably Beachaven), when he inspected & bought her. He took her to Thames, where he has lived for a great many years. He owned her for approximately 7 years & sold her to the proprietor of a Boatel in the Sounds, who sailed her directly down the East Coast, to the Sounds from Thames, without stopping. This ties in with the existing details in one of the previous posts on herr which states she was on-sold, (presumably by the Boatellier) in Plimmerton in 1994.

When Fraser C., bought her she had a 3 LW Gardner, but whilst on a trip to the Bay of Islands, not long after he bought her, Fraser called on the people at Opua who had replaced her original engine, which was a 3 cyl Kelvin, with the Gardner & actually saw the old engine, which was painted green, still there, under a tree, on the property. Fraser believes it was replaced because the Gardner was more economical & she went faster. Fraser said she cruised at 9 knots all day.

Fraser believes she was built by Coulthard possibly around 1953/55 & the kauri for her milled in Thames at the Twentymans Mill. Fraser was good friend with the Gt. Barrier Island radio operator at that time also, during the early days of her Govternment ownership era. They both spoke often, about her trips to service the lighthouses in the area during that period.

Fraser advises that her new owner John Sloane, rang him in an effort to try to find her, some time back, as John Sloane’s father, along with John as a young lad, had cruised on Tainui with Fraser frequently & John had such happy memories of that era, he contacted Fraser & told him he would like to buy her. Fraser told him that she belonged to the Christiansens, of Gt. Barrier Island, who he thought had had her there for about 10 years. John tracked the boat down & now owns her.

Can anyone confirm the builder / year?

Link to past ww stories on Tainui

Tainui On The Move

Typee

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TYPEE
photos & details ex Brian Cuthbert

Typee is a 33′ Baxter boat built in Whangarei in 1968. Alex Baxter moved to Whangarei about 1958 from Picton where he had worked for Roger Carey for many years.
After Typee he built Pandora (his biggest at 48ft for Brookie Richards) then Valiant (photo below) a sister to Typee which is still line fishing in Northland.
After a brief time trawling in Whangarei Typee ended up in Auckland seine fishing and owned by Ivan Guard. Brian bought  her from Ivans estate in 1993 and has owned her since. For the last 12 years Brian has worked her as a charter fishing boat out of Gulf Harbour.
She is powered by a Gardner 5LW and cruises at a comfortable 7 1/2 knots.

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Update 09-04-2020 – photo below at Gulf Harbor, ex Baden Pascoe

Typee Gulf Harb early2020

Classics at the Sandspit Yacht Club

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Rotomahana & Tuna 1

Rotomahana & Tuna

Rotomahana & Tuna
Tuna
Ngatira
Ngatira
Erinor
Erinor
Erinor
Erinor
Karros

Karros

Classics at the Sandspit Yacht Club
photos ex John Pryor

John sent in the collection of photos above of woodys currently hauled out at the Sandspit Yacht Club & asked the question is SYC the new ‘Traditional Boat Yard’ ? I think I would have to agree with him, a grand line-up & with their impressive haul out set-up + the legendary Greg Lees Boat Builders alongside, you would struggle to find a more woody friendly facility.

All the woodys above have featured on ww before, so to read more on them, use the ww search box.

A true woodys smoke-0

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Kauri Clinker

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The Bloody Boat 011

The Bloody Boat 070

16′ Kauri Clinker Work Boat
photos & details ex Arthur Neely

Arthur contacted ww as he has recently started the restoration of the beautiful little clinker work boat featured above and is trying to get some ideas as to her heritage, age, designer, builder etc. He is also keen learn if there is she any historical significance associated to the vessel.

What we know is that she is kauri clinker, 16′ long with a 5’6″ beam and Arthur reports in excellent condition, given her age. She has been in a shed in Hamilton for the past 45 yrs owned by 3 generations of the one extended family. However as is often the case Arthur hasn’t been able to get much of an idea of her lineage before that.

She had a Sea-Mite 4cylinder 20hp petrol engine in her with a shaft drive to a 3 blade fixed prop. Arthur doesn’t think it was the original engine as there are 2 sets of engine mounts visible.
She also had wheel steering installed at some stage, made up of what looks like old tractor parts, but appears to originally had inboard tiller steering.
From old photos Arthur has seen she looks very similar to designs by Logan Bros or Lanes, but he doesn’t know enough to know.
The canvas cover that you see in the photos, Arthur thinks is original.

The only real damage is she doesn’t have a rudder and from what Arthur gleaned from the previous owners, the rudder was damaged and the boat was put in the Hamilton shed for repairs, and that is where she stayed for the past 45 years. The boat is currently in a shed at Dairy Flat, Auckland.

If there are woodys that might be able to help Arthur understand this project better, he would appreciated hearing from you.

Harold Kidd Input

For a start, forget Logan Bros. The last dinghy they built was in 1911 and this boat is 40 years later than that at least. However Arch Logan’s son, Jack Logan, did build many similar launches post WW2 at Stanley Bay. But then, she could have been built by a dozen other very good boatbuilders at that time. Most put their plates on them unless they were retailed by Wisemans for example, when they were usually anonymous.
I think you can forget Lanes too. They had bigger boats to build.

Update from Arthur Neely
The boat was bought by Jock and Edith Graham in 1950 and homed on their property at Graham Rd Puketaha, I understand that is near Hamilton. When Jock died he left the boat to his son John and he has recently gifted the boat to his daughter Vanessa.
The boat was mainly used as a pleasure boat and for fishing on both Lake Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti. Jock bought the boat as he believed that she had been “professional built”. There is some suggestion that the boat had been built in Tauranga but I think this might just be speculation.
To my eye though, there is no doubt that she was built by skilled craftsmen.
I am trying to find out who Jock bought the boat off in 1950 but I think this might be a long-shot, everyone who would know has since died.
There is no evidence of the boat having a name, feedback from the family shows a consistent view that the boat was always called “the bloody boat”.

Mystery Launch 03-05-2016

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mystery launch 03-05-2016

Mystery Launch 03-05-2016
photo ex Nathan Herbert, via Keith Hay Ltd, Whangarei office (taken with permission)

Details on the above launch are zero but given the model / year of the truck, the Keith Hay name on the truck & the present day location of the photo (KH Whangarei office) – maybe just maybe someone can ID the vessel or even the blokes in the photo. There is an extremely interested woody keen on covering details on this vessel.

So woodys – anyone able to help?

ps When I typed above ’05’ for the month I did a backward flip – where has the year gone…………………..

 

pps raw photo below.

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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
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Lucille

CYA SALTHOUSE 30.4.16

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

 

Shalom
Shalom
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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 😦

Valhalla

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Valhalla 2016

Launch day – May 1964
Launch day – May 1964

VALHALLA - 1

VALHALLA
details & photos from Kazik Jascia, Sea Spray magazine (Aug 1964) Ken Ricketts & B Worthington. edited by Alan H

Valhalla was designed & built by John Gladden of Milford & launched in May 1964 for Tony Bullock, as a sport game fishing boat.

She is 40 ft x 12ft. 6 x 3 ft. 6 draft, could sleep up to 7 people, & at date of launching was powered by a John Andrew converted, 100 hp, naturally aspirated, 6 cyl Ford diesel. She also had a 9 hp Lister auxiliary, for trolling, on the port side,  at the time of launching. Currently she s powered by a 130hp Ford Dover engine.

Her original cruising speed was 9.5 knots (now 8.5) at 1950rpm through & “Snow-Nabsted” hydraulic gearbox fitted with Morse controls, with a 2 to 1 reduction to a 3 bladed Henley 24 x 16 propeller

Her hull is single skin kauri carvel construction, with varnished solid teak coamings & decks & hardwood timbers.

Given that she spent time in charter there must be some photos & stories out there so if you can contribute to details on her past, email to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Mystery Launch Quiz – 29/04

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Mystery Launch 29-04

Mystery Launch Quiz – 29/04
Win a copy of Robert Brooke’s book – ‘Beautiful Boats’

Quiz / Win cool stuff time again 🙂

I have another copy of Roberts book up for grabs, so the first woody that can supply the boat name, designer, builder, year & photo location for the above launch will win a copy of Robert’s just released book ‘ Beautiful Boats’. The first reply in the ww comments section with all 5 answers correct – wins. This will be the 3rd of the four copies of the book I have to give away. Previous winners were  – Bruce Tantrum & Martin Howson.

Some Background On The Book

Robert has been collecting classic yacht designs for over 50 years, amongst his collection is work from our most talented & recognized designers – Arch Logan, Chas Bailey, Charlie & Alex Collings, Colin Wild, Bert Woolacott, Bob Stewart, Des Townson, Alan Wright & Robert’s father – John Brooke.
From his collection Robert has chosen 50 & redrawn each design, tracing off the original drawings to present them in a similar format. To add to the wow factor, Robert used the drawing equipment & ships curves that were once used by either Arch Logan, Charlie & Alex Collings or his father.

The 105 page, A4 size book allocates 2 pages to each vessel with specs & photo/s on the left & the drawings – hull lines, profile, half breadths, sections, diagonals & sail plan on the right hand page (refer Rainbow drawing example below). Its a must have in all serious woodys library.

Robert has very generously donated 4 copies of the book to waitematawoodys so over the next few weeks I will be giving them away as prizes. In addition I also have a framed 380 x 300 rendered copy of one of the Beautiful Boats. I have not decided yet how this will be ‘won’, details soon.

There are thousands of ww followers out there so do not get your hopes up on winning a copy 🙂 I would suggest you visit Boat Books at 22 Westhaven Drive, Westhaven, Auckland & grab a copy for yourself, cost is $60. For out of towners or those who refer the web – copies are available on line at https://www.boatbooks.co.nz/
Its a very limited print run & Boat Books are the sole outlet. Boat Books also have framed copies of the prints for sale.

ps I have also held back posting this on ww until 6.30am to give those woodys that enjoy 8hrs sleep a night a chance to win 🙂

Cover
Rainbow

 A little bonus today – if you can put up with the corny accent – this video of the Lake Tahoe Concours D’Elegance 2015 show features some amazing classic powerboats – the favorite for me being Henry Ford’s 1923 33′ Hacker Craft that was named ‘Evangeline’ after his girlfriend 😉 She is powered by a WW1 V12 Liberty aircraft engine.

 

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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