CAN WE HELP IDENTIFY THIS RUMPTY CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH
WW was contacted recently by Guilford Bonehill regard todays wooden launch. The vessel is owned by a friend of Guilford’s and has been resting in their yard for 10+ years.
The owner believes it previously came from the Cleveland area, and the Wairoa River. Although there is no name on the launch, they think it was named PRINCESS ALOHA and built a century ago.
The understatement in Guilford’s note was ‘the condition of the launch is not good’.
Any help in identifying the launch and her past would be most appreciated.
26-11-2025 INPUT EX GUILFORD BONEHILL -Laurie Webster (deceased) had the boat in Pukekohe and for the last 8 years up high n dry near a wool shed in Te Kohanga
CHAD THOMPSON TRIBUTE SPRING RALLY
Yesterday was the start of the CYA – CTT Spring Rally (year 3) Photos below of the start line – entrants were down 50% on last year………… Reminds me of the Albert Einstein quote: Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results.
Back in February 2020 a friend was cruising the streets on Auckland’s North Shore (he is allowed to – drives a car with a strip of lights on the roof) when he spotted the woody launch – Avalon, resting on a residential properties lawn. Turns out the 80+ year old owner has owned Avalon all her life – you can read and see more at the link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/02/17/mystery-sam-ford-launch/
Fast forward nearly two years and it turns out that the launches owner , Marjorie Mumme is Tobias Forsyth’s grandmother. Tobias owns MV Callisto and his Dad, Iain Forsyth has MV Meola. Tobias being a good grandson has stepped up to the mark and taken on the restoration of Avalon. To quote Tobias – no rush, first step = put her in a shed, the fear was she would end up as a garden sleep-out. Avalon was designed and built in 1954 by Sam Ford and is a one owner boat (Lloyd and Marjorie Mumme) , in fact still has the original Morris Navigator petrol engine. When launch she was 24’ but has 2’ added to the stern soon after.These days health & safety would lock you up for transporting a boat like we see on the truck above. The video was filmed by Tobias.
30-11-2021 INPUT FROM Carol Forsyth (nee Mumme) From birth to bikinis and boyfriends, my sisters and I grew up on Avalon. Motuihe, Browns Island, Islington Bay, Waiheke, Coromandel and Kawau was our playground and oh the stories that boat could tell! Dad loved Avalon as much as we did and when he passed on Mum took over Dad’s loving care. Now that Mum has finally handed over Avalon to my son Tobias and his family we look forward to seeing her in the water again.The black and white image of Avalon under sail was taken off Kauri Point and I would assume Dad had the Morris Navigator ticking over, but maybe she was under sail only.
HELP NEEDED – Tobias would like to find out more about the petrol Morris Navigator in Avalon. He is looking for any one that may have spares or have had a lot to do with them in the past but any info or spare parts would be greatly appreciated as he would love to keep the original engine but it must be reliable. Mainly if there are some Morris car guys that know if this engine is just a marinised version of a car engine of some vintage possibly? I can email better copies of the above photos if that would help.
I like the sail set-up – very salty, if I put that on Raindance, I might qualify to be one of the chosen ones to berth at Chad Thompson’s yacht only, new 40 berth Heritage Basin at the Viaduct 🙂
12-11-2024 UPDATE – photo ex John Dawson. Sames owner Tobias is doing some soul searching re what the replacement cabin top could / will look like – older below, and considerations below that.
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