The Two Extremes Of Classic Boating

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Romany
Romany
Judy H

The Two Extremes Of Classic Boating

While at the 2014 Classic & Wooden Boat Parade on Lake Rotoiti at the weekend I had the opportunity to experience the two extremes of classic wooden boating.

Firstly on Saturday morning I was a invited for a tour of the bays by Russell Ward, the skipper of the steam boat ‘Romany’. I have a bit of a thing for steam so this was very special.

The days activities had been postponed due to crap weather- it drizzled all day, so getting out on the lake was a bonus.

Late in the day the opportunity arose to take a ride in Shawn & Cathy Vennell’s ‘Judy H’, a replica 19’6″ Chris Craft runabout powered by a 5.7 V8. Doing 75kph across the lake at dusk with a V8 roaring in your ear is stunning – the acceleration was like a drag car & the ride was so smooth. Now this may not appeal to the yachtie ww readers but myself & Chris Miller were ‘moved’ 🙂

When I get time tonight I will do a full post on the weekend (event ran on Sunday)

Launching video ex Chris Miller

Idling & Underway ex Alan H

Juliana @ the 2014 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Weekend

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Juliana
Juliana

Juliana @ the 2014 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Weekend

Juliana was built in 1930 by Sam Ford & now resides on Lake Rotoiti, the pride flag ship of Lake Rotoiti commodore Fraser Wilson. Fraser bought her as a bare neglected hull, with no bulkheads, engine, underwater gear, mast or anything else & undertook a major 3 year restoration /rebuild at the hands of Lake Rotoiti boatbuilder Tony Mitchell. The attention to detail & standard of workmanship is second to none. I was fortunate to go on board & on Friday night & see her up close – stunning.

The are numerous posts on ww about Juliana & her past, so to read & see more, enter Juliana in the search box.

I will post more on the weekend on Monday, but yesterday I had two magic boating experiences that were VERY wow & made the trip even more special 🙂

Aotea

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AOTEA

photos & details from Paul Newell

Paul owned Aotea for approx. 5 years (2002-2007) & believes she was built in the South Island to an Alexander design. She was powered by a 300 Bedford Diesel.

The picture of her on the transporter was apparently her arriving in Auckland from Lake Taupo. Paul was told she was built for the N.Z. Government and taken to Taupo for the Queens Coronation NZ tour 1953-54 but he has never found anything to verify this. The other photos show her on Chris McMullen’s floating dock and on the marina at McMullen and Wings yard.

The last time Paul saw her she was on a mooring at Whitianga. Can anyone verify or add to her history?

Pacific

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PACIFIC

photos ex Shane Anderson 

My ‘eyes’ at Gulf Harbour marina sent me a few photos of one of my favorite launches, the 1917 Joe Slattery designed & built Pacific, undergoing a wee make over.

Each to their own but I have always liked the mint green topsides on Pacific, well as of yesterday thats all changed. Appears that the topsides have been taken back to bare timber & have been repainted with a wood tone paint, this used to be very common on launches. In fact if you enter Pacific in the ww search box & hit enter, you will see some old movie footage of her when she had this finish before. Photo add also from the mid 1980’s ex Nathan Herbert.

Will be very interested to see the finished job, in the flesh.

20-01-2016 Pacific hauled out at Gulf Harbour for some maintenance (photo ex Ken Ricketts)

08-02-2016 Ready for re-launching (photos ex Ken Ricketts)

10-09-2018 Update

Pacific is now in the ownership of Nathan Herbert & getting a major dose of TLC.

The photo below shows a change to her appearance – as you will see from the above gallery, she has sported several looks. The new ‘white on white’ makes her look a lot bigger.

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Haunui

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HAUNUI

photos ex Rod Marler

Built in 1948 by Colin Wild. For many years she was the Harry Julian family boat, now owned by O. Cashmore. The photos above show her hauled out at Orams yard in Westhaven last week. Given she was out at the same yard in October, I wonder whats being done.

Interesting to compare the lines of Haunui with her sister Lady Crossley & younger ‘cousin’ Trinidad.

Update from my Westhaven spies : She is getting new engines & some love from the hands of Paul Tingey.

Video footage of the varnishing of Trinidad with Awlwood MA (Uroxsys)

Video

Reply

How did Trinidad get that look?

If you have seen Trinidad in the last few months you would have gone………….. WoW……………… thats amazing. Well now thanks to the wonders of modern technology (a time lapse camera & Gareth Cooke’s photography & editing skills) you can watch how the team at Greg Lees Boatbuilders, working with Awlwood MA (Uroxsys) achieved that amazing finish on her topsides.

The process went like this –
1. Old coatings removed
2. Yellow primer applied
3. Two coats rolled / brushed on
4. Three days of heavy ‘wet on wet’ spray applications, with a good block sanding between coats
5. Final coat applied as a single coat to achieve best leveling

Now this is all stunning but do not think its a pro-only product, the results us amateurs can achieve with 6 > 8 coats using a hand brush is pretty wow.

Pirate

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Pirate @ Mahurangi 2014
Pirate @ Mahurangi 2014

PIRATE

photos ex Keith Munro

I do not know much about her other than she was designed (& built?) by Leon Warne in 1939.

Pirate is a CYA vessel so someone should be able to join the dots for us 🙂

The above photos were taken at the 2014 Mahurangi Regatta

Harold Kidd Update

Actually she was designed and built by Leon Warne for Otto Sommer in 1939 (corrected) . Billy Rogers used to tell the story that he towed her hull from the Bay of Islands to Auckland for her engine to be fitted with his KERERU, arriving the day war was declared in September. She was seized from Sommer as a German national and used as a tender by the RNZN until handed over to the Police in 1944. She was fitted with a 55hp pre-heat Kelvin diesel originally.

Adelaide V

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Adelaide V

This launch is currently berthed on Lake Taupo & one of the ww followers (Ron Wattam) is interested to ID the vessel.

Can anyone provide any info on her?

She has been ID’ed as Adelaide V

Photo below ex Baden Pascoe 11/07/2014

Lady Crossley

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LADY CROSSLEY

I had the good fortune last week to be aboard the newly restored 1947 Colin Wild launch Lady Crossley.

She had just returned to Auckland from Craig McInnes  Opua yard – via a xmas BOI cruise & the Mahurangi Regatta.

Craig did his apprenticeship with Jim Ashby of Ashby’s Boatyard in Opua.  But like all good people Craig had a great crew and painters helping him on the project. The end result a restoration to a standard that even the demanding Col Wild would have signed off on.

The attention to detail is amazing – check out the rope work on the control levels.

The Musket Cove Fiji, 1985 decals confirm that Lady Crossley has seen some blue water under her keel.

You will see more of the Lady in the upcoming 2014 issue of the CYA Classic Register.