Some before, work-in-progress & ready for relaunching photos

Lady Allison (Lady Helen)

On Thursday we had a ‘Mystery Boat’ on ww that had a few speculating on its origins. If there was a 1st Prize it would go to Nathan Herbert who was spot on with his call of both the designer & builder i.e the Salthouse yard & ID’ing the actual boat – Lady Allison.
I was sent Thursday photo by CYA member Richard Farrar who resides in Nelson. Richard until recently owned the wonderful Lidgard motorsailer – Neptune, now back in Auckland & owned by CYA member Paul Burton (we like that).
At some stage Lady Allison has undergone a re-birth with the additional of a ‘second level’, now I like Richard & I like how he looks after his boats so I’ll stop now on that subject. Richard has relied re Thursdays post & sent me photos of her as today. I have posted his reply below.

“Interesting to see what surfaces in the comments about this boat.
Shotguns!, chainsaws!, sledgehammers!, Shame on you.!!!
This boat was designed by Bob Salthouse and built by Salthouse boats and launched in1965.
She would be a sister ship to Seafever and Kailua, so well done to Nathan Herbert and Simon Smith.
Now I have always been a great fan of classic wooden boats and this boat is the fourth that I have had the privilege to own.
The first was a boat built by Mc Phearson in Dunedin,( Lion 1916) the second, a motorsailer built by Mc Gruers in Scotland,( Yvalda 1936 ) and the third built by Fred Lidgard,( Neptune 1956) They  all remained pretty much as when they were first launched plus a few upgrades here and there.
I understand,  that the boat shown as the mystery boat was launched as Lady Helen but I’m not sure about this and someone might be able to confirm this. Soon after the Mystery Boat photo was taken, the new  owner was asked by his grand daughter if the boat was named after Helen Clark. He promptly gave the boat a new  name.
Anyway, after selling Neptune I began to search for a replacement boat.   I looked at many and always had it  in the back of my mind that I did not want a boat with a fly bridge or apartment on top and that is how I felt when I first saw Lady Allison.
It was love at first sight however and I went away thinking about how I was going to remove the apartment. Yes, the chainsaw did come to mind.
As time passed though, I began to get used to seeing the apartment on top. It is well built and is a great place to drive the boat from. Great view and not much engine noise.
Lady Allison as she is named now,  of course had a recent massive facelift both inside and out and she is, in spite of the fly bridge, a really lovely boat.  I don’t think Bob Salthouse would be disappointed with her if he could see her today.”

Now woodys the question of the day is what was the original (as launched) name? Has Harold has advised that neither the name Lady Helen or Lady Allison appear on the list of Salthouse builds. John & Judy Salthouse are ww followers so maybe they can help out.

Photo of Lady Beryl ex Harold Kidd for comparision