Rehutai (the steamer)

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REHUTAI (the steamer)
 story & photo ex Russell Ward
Here is a ship with some class.
The steamer Rehutai built for and owned (and I guess engineered) by Seagars. Who built her and when she was launched, I will leave for Harold to advise. There were several Rehutais. Scroll down to the previous post to view another.
I would imagine that she had the old faithful tandem/steeple compound that was Seagars’ stock in trade and they would have been quite capable of doing the boiler too, so I guess they did.
The first of the two pictures show her embarking and taking Lord Plunket for a jolly on the harbor. He was Governor in 1905 so that is as good a date as any. The next shows the container ship Iris moored in the harbour. You can see the craneship Mahua and some good ships around the Iris.
BUT what is this on the foreshore? A steamboat funnel? Is it the Rehutai of my dreams?
A chance glance at one of the pictures in the Matakohe museum revealed that the Rehutai was burned out at Whangaruru and lost. The records show that there was a Rehutai that was diseaslied with 50hp engines in 1934 –not sure if it is the same ship.
Bear in mind that there was an other Rehutai that became the Hauraki –looked a little like the steamer in passing. Again, I will leave to Harold to unravel.
Harold Kidd Update:
There were 3 Seagar Bros-owned REHUTAI steamers. The first was a 36 footer built for them by Bailey & Lowe in 1905. The second was a 45 footer built in April 1905 by Chas. Bailey Jr. (the one in the images above) which was sold the Government in 1910 for work at Thames and the Piako River. She had a 30hp steam engine designed and built by Seagars. The third REHUTAI was a 50 footer built by Chas Bailey Jr in December 1909 with a 35hp compound tandem engine. She was dieselised in 1926. The image on the Devonport foreshore is REHUTAI (II) with the Logan launch KARORO in front of her.

Of course it was this launch (REHUTAI II) that became HAURAKI in the ownership of the Government Lands Dept. and got dieselised in 1934.
Update from Chris Leech:
The floating crane picture looks more like the Auckland Harbour Boards floating crane – Hapai. Seen below uplifting the Devonport Ferry Co.’s Ticket office before relocating it to its new home as the Devonport yacht Club , clubrooms. C.1927. photo ex DYC centennial year book
Pages from DYC Cent Club PDF

Rehutai (Wellington)

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Rehutai (Wellington)

REHUTAI (Wellington)

story & photo ex Russell Ward

Rehutai (this one) was (according to Harold) built in 1926 by Sam Ford at St. Mary’s Bay for C.C. Ross of Wellington and had a 50/75 Stearns engine.
Ross owned her at least until 1933. In 1957 she was owned by R.N. Barton of Featherston.
I would have sworn she was a Lanes boat. Just shows you.

Harold Kidd Update:

ALL ROADS LEAD TO LANES! Actually Garth Lane personally built every launch constructed in Auckland from 1905 onwards and licensed/franchised boatbuilders to put their nameplates on them. But seriously, you can tell an Auckland-built launch at a mile; there was an Auckland “look”. Compare images of contemporary Dunedin/Australian/ US/British/French/Italian/wherever launches and there are strong family resemblances within Auckland launches. It’s not hard to figure out; it’s a cultural and fashion thing. So, when Logan Bros went out of business in 1911, lots of builders started building Logan-style double-enders of class. They all built what their owners wanted them to build. I defy anyone to get the provenance of an Auckland launch right just by looking at an image of it, particularly when, like this Sam Ford REHUTAI it has been changed time and time again over the years.

PS Recently I did a count of the “Oliver & Gilpin” launches then currently on TradeMe. There were 9 of which only 4 were built by Oliver & Gilpin, the rest were knock-offs. With the other 5, that distinctive O&G style had been copied so well that their owners were convinced and had no hesitation in claiming O&G provenance (with potentially dire commercial consequences for misrepresentation).

A trip to the beauty parlor

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I poked my nose into the Salthouse yard today to see what David Cooke was up to with Trinidad & you would think you were visiting an old ladies beauty spa.  Two beautiful old girls sit side by side having a yarn about the old days as the beauticians busily grind away the years and reapply a younger, fresher look so the old girls can show off their wares at the coming summer parties.
Finding a boat yard with a railway slip now days is a rarity, the two at the Salthouse yard must have cradled hundreds of classics over the years.
I glanced at the black board & there are still a few vacant spots so if you are going to give your own lady some TLC this winter, best to get your ‘A into G’

 

Rongo II

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Rongo (II ?)b Rongo (II ?)a

RONGO II
photo ex Simon Manning
Pictured here around 1970-71 at what was then Simons family’s place at Curious Cove near Picton
Harold Kidd Update:
Great images! That’s the 1919 Bailey & Lowe RONGO II (ex-GLADYS II) during her period in the Sounds all right.

Lady Karita

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LADY KARITA
story & photos ex Russell Ward
Lady Karita. One of Sam Fords finest.Used to be on the marina off AMYC and Menai was nearby. Both fine ships.
The b/w photo was at a AMYC picnic. Off to the left you can see Monterey. Astern is Lady Faye or her sister ship  (is it –the one without the turtle deck?) Nearby, I think it is Apache before the aft dodger changed her svelte lines. Would have been when Harold Parkinson had her and she was petrol.
Not sure of the boat astern of Karita, but Barney Soljacks Southern Belle is astern of her. Can’t make out who it is astern of her.
The colour photos are at Havelock Marina  and Lady Karita is looking pretty chipper.
Alan H comment –  I was once told that the Slipmaster at Westhaven said that Lady Karita was the best boat Sam Ford made – because the man who commissioned her stood over him while he built her. Those that know about Sam Ford boats will know that this is probably true 🙂
Updated again: Someone also said that having a Sam Ford boat in your marina was ecologically very good as they filtered the water thru their hull everyday – I’m bad, I know 🙂

Ngarimu

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Ngarimu

NGARIMU

story & photo ex Russell Ward
In the centre is Muir Chilwell’s Ngarimu, Russell is sailing past to see if he can ‘catch the eye of’ his eldest daughter 🙂

To the right is Peter Anderson’ boat but before he bought her, name?, she was owned by an old friend of the Wards –Ray Ball who bought her from McMillans who built her. (I think they owned or ran the motor camp at Stillwater or Sandspit). Sadly Ray died in ’62 – they treated cardio-vascular diseases very poorly in those days. Flagpole in the foreground is on Ngakiwa.

Harold Kidd Update:

NGARIMU was built by Fred Goldsboro in 1945, named after Lt. Ngarimu VC. Peter Anderson’s boat was JAN MARIE/MORREE I think?

More details on Ngarimu would be appreciated.

UPDATE 02-08-2025 – hauled out at Thames for some annual TLC

Lady Margaret (Dick Lang)

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LADY MARGARET

I post this as pure eye candy on a wet & windy day. Lady Margaret has to be one of the prettiest vessel’s in the CYA fleet, no matter what angle you approach her from she is dam near perfect to the eye. Her owner cares for her like a 73 year old lady should be.
Designed by Dick Lang in 1940. Powered by twin Fodens.

Ngakiwa

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Ngakiwa

NGAKIWA
Story & photo from Russell Ward

The name was a made-up Maori concoction of two syllables and is meaningless (sort of).
She was built in 1956 by P Vos and Co and was really classy. Heavy as hell –a Cook Straiter as you would expect from Percy. Teak coamings and was really nice. For example, she had a curved transom –expensive stuff. A bit scruffy when the old man took over but he usually sorted that out pretty sharpish.
She had an abdominal Ford 60hp which was a rough installation. The previous owner was a farmer and this engine was a chuckout from one of the tractors by the looks. It was replaced by a Perkins which was much more agreeable.
She was built because the guy bought a boat unsurveyed and took her to Vos to repair. Percy said it would be cheaper to make him a new boat than deal with all the problems of that boat. At the time there was a little sedan top in the yard, Juilet with a tuck stern and pretty straight stem, she had a sedan top and a windscreen fwd on top of the cabin for the helmsman. So the Vos crew took the lines off her and Ngakiwa was built to them with addition of that curvaceous sheer line. Can you see the tumble home aft? She was / is real classy as I said before.
The Russell’s father sold her when he bought Naiad in ’66.

Updated photo (27.08/14) ex Nathan Herbert ex classicboatsnz

Ngakiwa

Kotanui

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KOTANUI

Story & photos from Nathan Herbert

Named after the original owner’s farm and adjacent island, was designed by Bob Salthouse for J.N (Jack) Hobbs of Hobbs bay Whangaparaoa and built at the Salthouse Greenhithe yard in 1964. She is 44 feet in length and was powered by twin Lister 60hp diesels cruising at 10 knots and pushing her to around 12 knots with mechanical gearboxes, later replaced by twin Fords on hydraulic gearboxes but retaining the original gear levers. She is a motorsailer with main and headsail of almost equal dimensions.

Her design is modelled from Jack’s previous launch the Pacific, which his father had built by Joe Slattery. Layout is practical with galley in the aft dodger area, long settee berths in the saloon coming up to a flat- floored wheelhouse with engines beneath (a bonus of the bridgedeck layout) and master accommodation and head for’d.

Before the Gulf harbour marina was built she would be hauled up at the eastern end of Hobbs Bay on a purpose- built slipway, operated by a winch driven from a Fordson Major tractor. Pacific had the same setup alongside her. Kotanui was the first boat to enter and berth in the new Gulf Harbour marina, followed by the Pacific.

A fixture of the Auckland cruising fleet from her launch until Jack’s death in 1991 at age 84, Bob Salthouse notes that her presence “opened a few eyes” leading to further commissions of fine, large launches.

Kotanui is now berthed on the marina in Milford, with very few alterations (refer 2012 photo ex Alan Houghton)

Scroll down to view 2 home movies of Kotanui