Tag Archives: Colin Wild

Lake Boat Truckers

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El Alamein

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Lake Boat Truckers

Rotorua boat builder Alan Craig sent me the above selection of photos that he ‘uplifted’ from a book owned by Tony Mitchell, its called – Urewera Trucks and Truckers, by Gavin M. Abbot. The photos showcase some of the boats that the truckers used to cart around the lakes.

Now ID’ing the first one is easy, El Alamein, because its got a name plate on her bow, how many of the others can we ID? Remember you can enlarge photos by clicking on them 😉

Wairiki – Yes, No, Maybe?

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Wairiki – Yes, No, Maybe?

In early January Nathan Herbert was poking around the Te Atatu Boating Club haul out area & spotted the launch Wairiki. It sparked a wee moment of ‘could it be…………’ & Nathan dropped me a note with the 2 photos above – “I won’t put my life on it, but I doubt I’m wrong. Same flare, same forward sheer, same bridge location, same twin for’d portholes. Wairiki as original moved to Wellington I’m told, and I have seen a photo of the modified one in Wellington in say the 1960’s. Without dodger. Add to that the correct name, and far too many coincidences.”
So would what do you think – same boat?

Little Tasman Out Of The Shed & Re-launched

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Little Tasman Out Of The Shed – relaunched

Since last Thursday my mobile has been running hot with woodys letting me know that the 26′ 1925 Colin Wild built launch Little Tasman had left boat builder Colin Brown’s Omaha shed & was now on the hard at Sandspit, for her final touches. ww has been following Little Tasman since back in early 2012 when Mark Edmonds spotted her on a section in Pt. Wells.
There have been numerous ww posts recording her progress, links below. ww thanks Mark Edmonds, Harold Kidd, Jason Prew, Bruce Pullman, Ken Ricketts & Russell Ward for your input & photos.
The story started in April 2015 when Little Tasman was bought by a new owner, fast forward to July 2015 & she is safely ensconced in Colin Brown’s shed, under going a serious restoration.
Ken Ricketts was on hand last week to record the journey to Sandspit & take a few hardstand photos. Unfortunately the conditions were not perfect for photography, but I have tried to digitally enhance them – see below. The photos above were taken by Steve Horsley the next day when conditions were better, but only shot on an earlier model iPhone.

ww understands that Little Tasman’s owner is Wellington based so post sea trials Little Tasman will be heading south 😦

Tasman / Little Tasman

Little Tasman

Little Tasman Gets Some Serious TLC

Little Tasman

The photos below were taken on Saturday by Jason Prew – again dodgy conditions

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23-09-2016 Update – Re-launched. Photos below by Dave Walker, email to me by Ken Ricketts.

In the ‘tractor’ photo below, just look at that hull, Colin Wild knew how to build a pretty boat – whether it was 26′ or 46′ 🙂

 

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Clinkers

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CLINKERS
On Saturday the Picton Clinker Club held a run up the Opawa River in Blenheim to the Raupo Cafe for lunch, 11 boats made the trip. Richmond boatbuilder/ restorer, timber furniture maker & vintage car coach builder – Peter Murton, sent me the above photos.

Chatting with Peter on-line he has some very cool woody projects in his workshop – starting with a  Colin Wild built day launch, see photos below. The launch arrived at Peters’s workshop last December from Auckland. When finished she is off to Christchurch, where her owner has re-located to, he dropped her off on his way past Peter’s workshop. Nothing is known about her, her owner had her stashed in his shed for 5+ years, her cabin sides & side decks are teak – any input from the woodys would be much appreciated.

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Also below are some photos of Peter’s 1895 fantail oil launch which is getting a 1906 Gray marine engine fitted.

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And to finish todays clinker theme – when I went down to Raindance yesterday to do a few chores, I was pleasantly surprized to find the stern off a model clinker dinghy in my cockpit, along with a note from Robert Brooke – “Hi Alan, If it is no use to you, please cut up for firewood. Cheers Robert”. Now Robert knows I have a ‘thing’  for clinkers & while having a workshop clean out he found the stern off one of his model boats & thought it might appeal to me – it surely does – will be a perfect project & this will join my collection of things clinker related (photo below). The clinker cross section in the photo, I bought on trademe several years ago, now I might be mistaken but I think it was built by Peter Murton – if so, its a small world.

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And yes I do own a proper clinker – named Peg.

 

Manana

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MANANA

Now Manana has appeared before on ww but we have never seen ‘down-below’.

First some background – Manana is a Colin Wild sport fisher built in Auckland in 1953 by Collings and Bell. She spent many years serving as the Durville Island water taxi based in French Pass. She was then rebuilt and faithfully modernised into the vessel that you see above.
Construction: double diagonal kauri – LOA: 40’; beam: 13’; draft: 6’

She is powered by twin 120hp 6 Cyl Fords that allow her to cruise at 8 knts & top out at 11 knts

You can read more on her past & view as launched photos at this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/09/20/friday-quiz-can-id-this-launch/

UPDATE 13-04-2021 – now residing in Bayswater Marina

Huge interest yesterday in the Lucinda re-launch story – over 7,500 views in the first 24 hours. But interestingly ww still can not crack the UK scene, see below a list of the top 14 countries viewing ww yesterday, ranked by viewing numbers. Peru rated better than the UK 😦  Now if you are wondering about some of the countries, I have a theory – ww enjoys high readership among the super yacht crews, who have a high % of kiwis aboard, thence the ‘unusual’ countries popping up 😉

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Mystery Boats & Location – Win a ww t-shirt

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Mystery Boats & Location – Win a ww t-shirt

Today’s post could be interesting, the first woody that can ID any of the boats & the location will win a ww t-shirt. Rules are simple – first correct answer in the ww Comments section wins. If by 6.00pm no one has answered correctly, we will count backwards e.g. first woody with one of the two answers wins, if no one gets that, then the best (in my eyes) answer wins.
Only one other condition – the prize has to be either a size XL or 2XL shirt, that is all I have left until the next print run – p.s. they are smallish sizing.

Would have to question the effectiveness of those bilge stabilizers – a little like a pimple on a pumpkin 🙂

AND WHILE I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION – A SPECIAL REQUEST FOR HELP
Hi All
I am the project manager for Windhaven the Col Wilde ketch undergoing refit at Yachting Developments. Trying to find some original photos so we can look at restoring to as near as possible to her former glory. promise to be on the harbour this summer.
Any information would be greatly appreciated. pls send to garyatsea@gmail.com
Thx
Capt Gary

Alan H comment – a wee tip – if you keep spelling Wild with an E, you won’t get much help from  HDK 😉
Below are a couple of photos that I assume you have already seen?
Can any woodys help Gary out with more info / photos?

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 29-07-2016 – Photo below ex Mike Drummond from the John Salthouse collection showing Windhaven being ‘removed’ from Colin Wild’s Stanley Point yard. The view is looking north over the Bayswater Peninsular.

Col wild yard

 

 

Little Tasman

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LITTLE TASMAN
shed photos & info ex Ken Ricketts. Pt Wells photo ex Mark Edmonds. details ex Harold Kidd. edited a lot by Alan H

Back in early March Ken Ricketts dropped in to see artisan boat builder Colin Brown at his Omaha yard. Colin & side kick, Josh, have been restoring the rather pretty 26′ Colin Wild launch Little Tasman.  She was named Tasman when built in 1925 for Albert Spencer & changed her name to Little Tasman in 1927 when the bigger Tasman (photo included below) was launched by the same owner/builder. Its said she that LT was a prototype / test boat – Mr Spencer was not short of a few pennies 😉

It is such good news to see whats happening to Little Tasman as she sat on a front lawn at Pt. Wells for a number of years (photo below) & her future was at risk.

Little Tasman at Pt Wells

In Harold Kidd’s words Little Tasman is ‘pure class’ & whats happening in Colin’s shed is also pure class  – the man is one of the best classic friendly tradies out there.

You will see in the above photos that she now has a brand new 4 cyl Nanni 38 hp diesel in place, which should give her a top speed of around 10 knots, with a cruising speed, with her 2 to 1 reduction gear, of around 7 knots. Will be interesting to see her performance as the Nanni is a lot lighter than the old 6 cyl Ford diesel it is replacing.

Her restoration has seen most of her ribs replaced, a full recaulk (no splining), work on the forepeak & bow, a new dodger, very faithfully copied from the original & a full interior refit & partial redesign of the interior layout, for greater space use, & practicality.
Steering will be from the front of the tram top, as it was before, where there will be a large hatch fitted, to the newly replaced, as original, T & G cabin top. Check out the stern photo, classic Colin Wild on show there 🙂

Launch date is fast approaching so we will update on the event.

Read more on her past here      https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/04/20/little-tasman/

Below is a photo of Tasman that I took a few years ago in Sullivans Bay. She is stunner & on a lot of woodys bucket list.

Tasman @ Sullivans Bay

30-06-2016 – Another great photo update from Ken R of Little Tasman’s restoration at Colin Brown’s yard. Remember click on photos to enlarge 😉

Miss Helen

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MISS HELEN
details ex Harold Kidd

We headed out at lunch time Saturday for an overnight trip to Waiheke Island. While Oneroa was like Ponsonby Rd on a Friday night we had talked ourselves into a pizza for dinner from the beach front wood-fired pizza wagon in Little Oneroa, so Oneroa it was. When the fizz boat day trippers departed at days end things were not too bad, still had to use strong words to question the intention of a Bayliner that was about to anchor on top of me 🙂
Highlight (after the pizza) of the weekend was getting to see the recently restored Miss Helen up close, she is one very good looking classic. I will let Harold tell us about her past.

She was built in 1930 by COLIN WILD for L.E. McQueen of Wairiki Road, Mt. Eden as AUDREY M and had a 125hp Lycoming 8 cylinder engine. McQueen had her dodger raised to give 6ft 6in headroom in October 1931 and had fresh water cooling installed. He then sold her to A.L Davenport who renamed her MAHSEER. Davenport sold her to Whittaker in 1934 and he renamed her LADY HELEN. He sold her to L.A. Marquet who sold her to A.E. Fuller of Russell in August 1937. She was altered for gamefishing. In August 1942 she was severely damaged coming ashore in a gale at Russell and substantially rebuilt again. Again she was renamed, MISS HELEN to tie in with the rest of  the Fuller fleet, MISS IDA, MISS KNOXIE, MISS RUSSELL etc.
BTW the Register of British Ships says she was built in Russell, which is incorrect, although she was re-built there once or twice.
McQueen, of course, had WILD build WAIRIKI in October 1934.

The Register of British Ships says she was built in 1932, which is also incorrect. The RBS is a very dodgy resource, especially where the vessel was registered well after she was built, as here.

To read more on Lady Helen & view older photos + restoration photos click the link below.

Miss Helen

Dropped the anchor near Lady Margaret (Colin Wild) & enjoyed a cleansing ale aboard with Peter Loughlin & partner Nicola. LM is looking very smart these days, with Peter doing a rolling restoration.

Lady Margaret PL

Big Boys Toys

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Big Boys Toys

Auckland’s Anniversary Day Regatta attracts a huge fleet of vessels from sailing dinghies to tall ships & is one of the biggest one day sailing regattas in the world. One of the most popular events with the spectators is the Tug (work) Boat race. The race sees 20+ tugboats tearing around the  harbour in very close combat. The skippers are some of the best seaman on the harbour & they need to be with the almost ‘bumper-to-bumper’ racing.
This year was no different 🙂 in the photos above we see two of the Classic Yacht Association launch fleet, Ferro & Sterling almost dwarfed by modern day tugboats.

To view more of the tugboat action & more CYA classic boats competing – click this link  http://buggeritweareoff.com/

Now in the last photo above I bet the bloke on the helm of the yacht is asking himself – “what the hell am I doing here?” 🙂

Very Cool Video from the Race

Yesterdays Mahurangi Regatta post on WW broke all the records in terms of visitors & viewing numbers, over 14,000 in the first 24 hours. Thanks should go out to all the boat owners that make the effort to attend the event & spend all the time & effort prepping their pride & joy.

The classic of the regatta in my eyes would be Tasman, the 1927 Colin Wild launch. She is one of those boats that no matter what angle you look at her she is just perfect & a credit to owners D O’Callahan & A Tyler.

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Princess

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PRINCESS
photos & details ex Paul Drake

Paul has advised that the above launch has arrived at Lake Taupo within the last few weeks. Now if we believe the name plate she is a 1927 Colin Wild boat. Paul commented that its a nice touch having the build year and builder’s name being advertised, but it would be nice with they spelt the name correctly (Wild not Wilde) 😦

Paul believes that if her provenance stacks up, she is probably the only Col Wild on the lake.

The name plate states her home anchorage was Mahurangi, so what more do we know about Princess & how did she end up on the lake ?