Peerless

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Peerless, Panmure Basin
Milford Creek1
Pierless & Maryanna, Tiri, 1930’s
Peerless
Milford Creek2
Peerless, Westhaven
Peerless, North Shore Times 1982
Devonport News
History of Peerless

PEERLESS

Designed & built by Andrew Petersen in 1913, Andrew was assisted Sam Ford, who at the time was a young boatbuilding apprentice. Peerless has a wonderful history that has been well documented, thanks to previous owners, one of whom, Bert Tansley, owned her for 50 years. Today she is berthed in the Milford Creek Marina & has had a for sale sign on her for several years. A very pretty original boat that desires a new custodian.
Update from Russell Ward:
Peerless is a delightful little boat. I used to see her moored at Devonport when I took the ferry to work. 
I was speaking to an elderly lady from Bayswater. She regaled me with tales of how her father (I guess Ber Tansley) used to pull her ashore for the winter at Landsdown Road Bayswater. It was a whole day affair –the old boys used to do it by muscle power alone.
She went to Kawau at some stage and was offered for sale. That is when I took the pix.
The 1982 article was by Paul Tichener.
05-05-2020 Update – photo taken by Ken Ricketts at Kawau Island, 2002
Peerless 2002 Kawau Island

Robyn Gae (Connie V)

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Robin Gay (Connie V)

New Photo (Water Gipsy) ex Harold Kidd 16/04/2014

WATER GIPSY464

ROBIN GAE (CONNIE V)
CONNIE V was built by Lane Motor Boat Co in 1949 for Valentine of Hamilton and originally had 2 x Chrysler 75hp Ace engines, hopefully the article reproduces well enough to read. The photo shown in the article was taken in 1938 at the long demolished Mechanics Bay wharf.

Harold Kidd Update 16/04/2014

I’ve had a chance since posting the above to review all the above material and to compare images of WATER GIPSY and CONNIE V. Morrie relies heavily on the Register of British Ships and it leads him into a whole bunch of traps because, for various reasons, the information is frequently dodgy. I’ve discussed this with him before. He infers that CONNIE V was built new in 1935 for Valintine, and that’s exactly what I’ve always thought until now.
WATER GIPSY (another image attached) was launched in October 1934 for C. Miller by Cox & Filmer (Speedcraft Boat Co) with dimensions 32ft x 8ft 6in. She was a slightly extended version of a 30 footer built by Cox & Filmer for one Martin (haven’t identified her yet). Miller used WATER GIPSY for a while (eg Marjorie Miller visited yacht LITTLE JIM from her on 2/2/35) and then she “disappears”.
Now, if you compare my image of WATER GIPSY with the image of CONNIE V in Paul Titchener’s highly erroneous article above (I assume whoever posted it had PT’s copyright permission), which was based solely on family anecdote I imagine, as Paul married Valintine’s daughter, you will clearly observe that the two boats are identical back to the aft end of the clerestory.
It is obvious to me that the truth is in the cracks between the various versions.
I think this is what happened.

WATER GIPSY was obviously a bit of a problem, ergonomically. She had no cockpit, had a pair of davits across the counter, and would have been a pain to handle. Valintine bought her in 1937, renamed her CONNIE V after Mrs. V, had her lengthened to her final dimension of 38ft, with the provision of a cockpit, coaming and dodger over…..much more user friendly. The work was undoubtedly done by Lanes who also fitted her with a Chrysler Crown in September 1939. That was after the Kawau petrol fire in January 1939 when Valintine scuttled her by chopping a hole in her hull, saving the boat. It may also have been after he sold her to E.M. Henry (Lambourne bought her from Henry).
She remained in the Lambourne family until 1956 or so but Lambourne obligingly changed her name to ROBYN GAE on 14/11/49 at the time Lanes launched the second CONNIE V for Valintine.

There’s a whiff of assumption in the above which I detest in others………………….

The launch Caprice & Silver Bay, Waiheke Island

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The launch Caprice & Silver Bay, Waiheke Island

In the 1950’s the Guthrie family leased a beach house + 10 acres (the only house in the bay) at Silver Bay, Waiheke Island. According to Roger Guthrie it cost one pound a week on a 20 year lease. The house sat right on the foreshore & still stands there today (& still the only house in the bay). The family would haul their launch Caprice out on the beach, right in front of the house. In the photos above the starboard side is being cleaned in Silver Bay, then a few days later the port side is done in Arran Bay, Wirihana is seen in the background, its a great photo of both boats with Ruth Passage seen in the background.

Thanks to Roger Guthrie for the photos & background info.

Isle of Arran

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Isle of Arran

Now here is a question for you – how many boats did Colin Wild build twice?

Answer = one – the ‘Isle of Arran’.  Roger & Graham Guthrie’s uncle – Douglas, who had a house in Arran Bay, commissioned Wild to build him a launch but unfortunately Wild’s shed burnt down just before completion & Wild had to start again. Photos above show her (#2) on the slip in front of the remains of the shed before launching, c.1951/2. Also one of her c.1953 at Elephant Cove.
Thanks to Roger Guthrie for the photos & background info.
Updated 30/04/13
She is owned by Mike Guthrie (Graham’s cousin) and had a major rebuild about approx. 20 years ago. I think Salthouses did the job. New Volvo engine as well. The cabin was also sympathetically re-styled at the time. Mike still owns the property in Arran Bay and the boat can frequently be seen on the mooring in the bay.
Updated 25/05/13
Photo added of her c.1990 with rebuilt topsides.
Updated 08/01/2015
Copy of May 1989 Sea Spray magazine article on the Salthouse ‘rebirth’ project. Click blue link to view/read.
Isle of Arran

NOTE: If ww has broken any copyright or offended anyone by publishing the article, please advise & we will remove it 🙂

Lady Adelaide

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P1070615 Lady Adelaide

Lady Adelaide

1920’s Dick Lang designed & built. More info would be appreciated.

The original owner Charles Palmer was one of this country’s finest yachtsmen, founding the NZ Power Boat Association in 1905, the Motor Boat Patrol in 1914, the RNZNVR and being an able administrator with the APYMBA and the various yacht clubs until he died.

08-01-2016 photo at Kawau Island ex Tom Kane

Lady Adelaide Kawau2016

How to – hints on removing bottom paint off a wooden hull

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How to - hints on removing bottom paint off a wooden hull

Hints on removing bottom paint off a wooden hull (ex Baden Pascoe – MV John Dory)

The best time to do a major paint job on the bottom of your boat is when you have it out for a major or minor refit. Just wait long enough and the timber will shrink from under the years of paint and become very easy to remove. Leave this job to the very last as the paint also holds a little moisture in the planking while you are doing the endless list of other jobs.

I started off by placing tarps under the boat to catch all the old paint and then three of us used Linbide (spelling?) scrapers. My friend Jim Mateer has put a long pipe handle on his with a plug in the end and as you scrape, most of the paint flakes run down the centre of the handle. Just empty it every 5 min or so. He sometimes attaches a vacuum cleaner via a soft vac tube, I tell ya, it works very well, I think with the three of us it took about 6 hours work.
I took 23 kg off John Dory and I am very proud to say none of it went into the sea, I disposed of it at Trans Pacific for about $50.00. Then I sanded the surface and gave it 3 coats of International Primercon, one very diluted coat so that it went into the timber, one medium dilution and them a fairly non
diluted coat. The bottom looked so smooth, not bad for an old fishing boat!!
Then I gave it two hard anti fouls in blue and covered it with two soft antifouls. So, when I go to repaint, I just scrub or wet sand off until I see the blue paint. That way I hope to never have to do this again.

JD and Jack Taylor

Photo shows  Jack Taylor now 92 (going on 60) & Jim Mateer, in his late 70’s working on John Dory.