Tag Archives: Lane Motor Boat Co.

Rosemary M

Posted on by
2

P1190145

Screen Shot 2019-09-06 at 9.38.27 AM

Rosemary M – 4 Sale

Rosemary M is a 1915 Lanes built launch, constructed of carval planked kauri hull and top sides. Powered by a 1986 Yanmar, 80 horse power, 4-cylinder, diesel inboard engine, that gets her along at a top speed of 14 knots.
She was appeared numerous times on WW and has just come on the market after being overhauled / repaired by the Pollard Brothers after a wee marina oops, where a piece of floating plastic mistook his throttles for his gearshift and clipped the side of Rosemary M with his duckboard.
Like most Pollard boats 🙂 she is structurally and mechanically very good, just needs a steady hand with a paint brush to get her ready for summer.
Rosemary M would make a great entry level woody for someone wanting to join the wooden boat movement + the Yanmar is a bonus i.e. 14 knots !!
MAYBE WE MIGHT SEE HER MAKING AN APPEARANCE AT TOMORROWS WOODY CLASSICS WEEKEND – RIVERHEAD TAVERN CRUISE ????????
Links below to view her previous story on WW + recent video of her underway

WOW

Screen Shot 2019-09-06 at 8.11.47 PM

Rosemary M – Insurance Salvage

Posted on by
3

Screen Shot 2019-05-06 at 9.35.53 PM

Rosemary M – Insurance Salvage

Rosemary M is a 1915 Lanes built launch, constructed of carval planked kauri hull and top sides. Powered by a 1986 Yanmar, 80 horse power, 4-cylinder, diesel inboard engine,
She was appeared numerous times on WW and features today due to her suffering an impact (from another vessel) on the starboard side near the midships area, while berthed.
Given its an insurance sale – the boat will sell and from dockside chat I have had, the damage is easily repairable eg “a couple of broken ribs and a few planks” – someone could get a very low cost entry into the classic wooden boating scene.
Ps I’m told she did not sink or suffer any water damage.

Don’t normally included tme listing links but will this time

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=2047671539&tm=email&et=47&mt=845C75FD-6402-4775-8D92-61B560DF1E26rosemarym

05-07-2019 Update –  Photo below ex Cameron Pollard of Rosemary M going back in the water 🙂

Rosemary M July2019

22-07-2019 Update ex Cameron Pollard – Rosemary M relaunched and underway

Fritha

Posted on by
13

Screen Shot 2019-02-23 at 5.08.01 PM

Screen Shot 2019-02-23 at 5.12.32 PM

FRITHA

Chatting with Chris McMullen and he mentioned that he had been recently contacted by Morgan Dawicki, the captain of the 74’ Brigantine – Fritha that Chris built back in 1986 for Jack R Butland. Chris commented that Jack Butland came to him with a modern design of what some one imagined a old time sailing vessel should look like. Chris was horrified and found him a nice design depicted in a 1940’s Rudder Magazine he had. They tracked down the designers son and bought the plans. The result  was ‘The Fritha’ and a very happy owner. Chris said he owed a great deal to the Butland family. McMullen and Wing built them three significant wooden boats. The first order placed was when Chris was under thirty years old.

These days Fritha is owned by the Northeast Maritime Institute, USA, who have recently dedicated a room to Jack Butland at the Institute, check out the opening here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5L13LucfDQ

Her captain – Morgan told Chris that they are doing their best to share the lovely lady with our Kiwi friends and to share in her memories. His words were “She truly is the most beautiful boat on the water (in my opinion!) The craftsmanship is impeccable and it is nice to make the acquaintance of one of her builders”.

As of late, she has been spending the winters in North Carolina and summers in Buzzards Bay as a sail training ship for local high school age students. We mostly sail around Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

The Butland’s are a very old New Zealand boating family and their name has been alongside some of our best  examples of NZ boat building e.g.

J R Butland • an H28 then a Sailar 40 then the Fritha.

Ken Butland • Triton then Sirdar.

J M Butland • Thetis built by Lane Motor Boat Co. Panmure.

• Dufesne built by Max Carter.

• Durville built by Steel Yachts and Launches (McMullen and Wing)

• Inverness built by McMullen and Wing

Pleasant Surprise – while mooching around Mahurangi during the recent regatta weekend, a gent by the name of Tony McNeight unbeknown to me did a sketch of my Raindance, and it popped up on facebook. If you ever want a sketch / drawing of your boat, give Tony a call  021 925 031

IMG_0641

Valerie – A Peek Down Below

Posted on by
2

Screen Shot 2018-12-12 at 10.09.12 PM

Screen Shot 2018-12-12 at 10.07.51 PM

Screen Shot 2018-12-12 at 10.07.51 PM

VALERIE – A Peek Down Below
Thanks to her trademe listing, we get to have a look down below on Valerie, the 1933 Lane Motor Boat Co. launch. Valerie measures approx. 40’ & is powered by a 65hp Ford diesel.
Valerie has been fastidiously maintained, her 2nd owner kept her in a boat shed for 70 years. I have seen Valerie ‘in-the-flesh’ at Whangaroa Marina – she is a very salty woody.
You can read / see more on her at the WW link below.

https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/07/31/valerie/

Blue Fin + An Old Sailor Dies

Posted on by
3

bluefin

BLUE FIN
A few months ago Bay of Islands based woody Dean Wright, sent me the above photo of the 1948 Lane Motor Boat Co. launch Blue Fin, not sure when it happened but Harold Kidd comments on a previous WW story (link below) that originally she was 38’ but lengthened by 4’.
Dean found the photo on the wall of his neighbours garage – quite a stunning shot with BF in front of Percy Island, BOI.
OLD SAILOR DIES
Keith Dawson has ‘appeared’ numerous times on WW, along with his old yacht – Roxone – you can see & read more at the WW link below.
I was contacted yesterday by Keith’s brother Ross Dawson, who informed me that Keith had passed away. Ross also sent me the tale below

https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/05/13/roxane-a-105th-birthday-party/

“Keith died in Port Macquarie, NSW, yesterday (Friday 7 Dec 2018) aged 105,…which must be something of a record for longevity for an Auckland yachtie?

Keith started boating (admittedly in a tin canoe bashed out of old corrugated roofing) circa 1920, graduating to a P class, and later Zeddie, sailed off Takapuna beach at the foot of Hauraki Road where his family lived.

I understand he was a foundation pupil of Takapuna Grammar School…albeit reluctantly….his sister says he was known to step through one door of the old steam tram, but dismount the other side to spend the day more productively at the beach! His first job was with John Burns, marine section.

He was a keen member of the RNZN volunteer reserve enjoying voyages on the cruisers HMS Dunedin & Diomede, based in NZ. He & mates often sailed the well known ketch “Seaward” on behalf of an absentee owner.

Together with his friend Dick Wellington, they purchased the Tercel yacht “Roxane” (ref. WW.) & sailed her across to Sydney, via Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands, and landfall at Newcastle At this time the Roxane at 26 foot overall was the smallest craft to complete the crossing…all this in the winter of 1937.

On his first night ashore at Sydney he met,…”a very attractive red head,  Betty”. The result, he later married her, Roxane was sold, and Keith spent the next 81 years “in” Australia, but remaining, emphatically, a “Kiwi”! For many years he worked among the Sydney yachting scene, mainly as a rigger.

In 1987, on his 74th birthday his family arranged a surprise visit to Cairns, where to his delight he went for a sail on old Roxane. He later lost touch with her various owners, but this sturdy Tercel built kauri vessels quite possibly remains in some Aussie anchorage?

“Home is the sailor, home from the sea” (R L Stevenson) Voyage on brother…”

LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT XMAS PRESENT FOR A WOODY?
I’m assuming that you / they already have a waitematawoodys t-shirt, so the next best thing has to be a pair of woody jandels.
Marketed / sold in NZ by a company named Moana Road – these are great, 100% rubber, ultra comfortable & only $24.95 (that is cheap for rubber jandels). They have a non-slip sole so great on the boat. I bought mine in Devonport, but if you go to moanaroad.co.nz you will find a stockist near you. Just remember – I’m only here to make you look good 🙂
IMG_0230

RainDance Back In The Water

Posted on by
13

Version 2

RainDance Back In The Water

I have had RD hauled out at Geoff Bagnall’s Milford yard for some winter maintenance & TCL. I always rock up with a list, the content of which makes Geoff chuckle & say “are you serious?”.
This year there were a few jobs that to most people would seem frivolous e.g. can you reduce the height of the bow rail. It was completely out of proportion for the size of RD.

I come back the next day & Geoff has done a template of the height (less than I wanted) & new shape – as always he was spot on & the finished job, to me, is perfect (not to Jason Prew – who has been telling me for years to remove it).

Thats the thing with Geoff Bagnall, he has a great eye for what is appropriate & more importantly what looks right.
It will be a sad day when he closes the shed doors for the last time & heads North. The wooden boating scene will be the poorer, great wooden boat craftsman & railway haul outs are few & far between these days. So woodys – while he is still around – use him 09 486 1445
Lots of other stuff on the list, including re-caulking an area of the garboard seam to fix a persistent wee leak, but the #1 – happy wife = happy life project was a completely new toilet set up. These days the size of a 12v electric head has reduced greatly, so we ripped the (not that old) unit out along with way too much piping / fittings & installed a new electric number + a monster electric pump to empty the holding tank (used to be a manual pump).
Still needs some shiny paint in / around the new head area, but very happy, there will have to be a ribbon cutting ceremony 🙂
Slashed some paint & Uroxsys on & in my eyes – she’s looking very smart. Still got a long To-Do list but thats 1/2 the fun of owning a woody, if you don’t like the process, buy a plastic boat 😉
RD Aug2018
RD was in good company at Milford, Nathan Herbert’s new woody – Pacific, is getting some major love & Jason Prew’s – My Girl, is very close to splashing, even sitting on the trailer, she looks very quick.
Screen Shot 2018-08-15 at 6.34.32 PM
IMG_0052
18-08-2018 Update

As requested by Jason Prew – photos below of my latest piece of bling – a Cattroll Collapsible Pennant Mast, made 25+ years ago by an Auckland company named R. Geo Cattroll. They were based a 1114 New North Rd, Auckland. The box it came in stated “Can be fitted to cabin top or deck mounting. Precision engineered from solid brass, chrome plated. Unique locking devise. Height of mast 889mm

I found it for sale on trademe, bid & won the auction – now he’s the twist. The seller was woody Nick Voerman, who owns the classic launch – Maria (ww link below). Nick bought a ‘job lot’ of old marine accessories / fittings for someone contacted to the long closed Cottroll business.
Fast forward several months & I was having 2nd thoughts fitting it to Raindance when snap – I spy the exact same fitting gracing the foredeck of Jason Prew’s launch – My Girl. Chatting to Jason, seems several CYA launch owners have acquired one from Nick. In fact the trademe listing is still live so he must still have a few. Be quick 😉
Excuse the square-drive screw, I’m doing my best to convert Geoff B 🙂 they will be replace .
MARIA
IMG_0093
IMG_0094

You will note in the above photos the deck was a little worn so as part of the 90th birthday treat, the decks, toe-rails, tram-top & dog-house got a lick of paint.

IMG_0143

IMG_0148

Susanne

Posted on by
5

Unknown-1

Unknown

SUSANNE

Woody Nathan Herbert snapped the above photo of Susanne, recently will mooching around Havelock.

The B/W photo is from Brian Worthington’s site – NZ Classic Game Boats & states that she was built by the Lane Motor Boat Company.

Can we flush out more details on her past?

Harold Kidd Input – She was registered with Lloyds’ Yacht Register in 1964 when owned by E S Nichol of Bluff. Her builder was given as Lane Motor Boat Co in 1956 and designer as Frederick R Parker. Dimensions were 35’x33’6×11/2’8″ and power twin 125hp 6 cylinder petrol Chryslers.
Who was Parker?

 

Woody Winter Weekend

Posted on by
14

Screen Shot 2017-07-17 at 7.26.52 am

Version 2

P1250206

P1250224

P1250237

Woody Winter Weekend

Given the weather in Auckland last Friday you would struggle to believe the above photos were taken over the weekend. I escaped the Principality of Devonport early Saturday morning & headed down to Waikehe Island. Did not even stop on-route to the marina for supplies. The forecast said variable so I was planning on dining ashore.

Well for once all the forecasters got it right – Saturday was a stunner. After a few months of cleaning oil out of the bilge several times & numerous repairs I was very much in the “bugger this old boat gig” mode. We are a shallow lot – one good day / night & I had the bug again J

If you do not like crowds – winter cruising is the way to go.

Coming back on Sunday afternoon I rubbed shoulders with the magnificent ship Felicitare & the 1927, Colin Wild built, Lady Margaret – both looking stunning & doing the same as me i.e. slopping off for some R&R. I was sure Felicitare had featured on ww before but my search showed nothing – what do we know about her?

Great Workmanship

I own several dinghy’s from classic clinkers to what Harold Kidd once called a ‘Baby Riviera’ – he was referring to my American built Walker Bay dinghy. I bought her 2nd hand & have owned her for 10 years – towed behind a woody, she is pig ugly but without a doubt the most stable tender I have come across.

She was looking very sad & the inflatable tube patches were out numbering the good areas. So had to make the big decision – take the tubes off & just have a normal dinghy or order replacement tubes from the USA (US$850). Enter Terminator Boats (Kevin Tomlin) in Albany. They said they could manufacture a new set of replacement tubes, I was a little hesitant about the final look, but went with it & as you’ll see in the photos below, they have done a brilliant job, in fact better than new. I highly recommend them https://www.terminatorboats.co.nz

Screen Shot 2017-07-17 at 4.51.17 pm

 

The Sinking of Lady Sandra

Posted on by
Reply

lady-sandra-sinking-2

The Sinking of Lady Sandra

Lady Sandra was built by the Lane Motor Boat Co in 1947, details on her past can be viewed at the link below. In previous ww posts Ken Ricketts was of the belief that Lady Sandra sank off Devonport but recent photos ex Ken Jones that have surfaced have revealed that the location was in fact Birkenhead, c.1948-49.

Lady Sandra

The tale goes something like this –  Lady Sandra had stopped to tow a grounded yacht on Auckland Anniversary Day & in the process managed to get the tow line around both of her propellers & pull them towards each other, thus pulling the propeller struts out of the bottom of the boat. They quickly managed to beach her, as the above photos show.

Interested to hear more details on the yacht rescue & subsequent sinking of LS, as there is still uncertainly around what happened.

Post the sinking & refit (mid 1950s) she was sold to Ken Woodhead, an Auckland businessman, who sold her late 1950’s > early 1960’s, to a Eddie McGoram, now aged 88 & living in Vancouver. In discussions with Ken Ricketts, McGoram confirmed that when he  purchased her, the original 2 Scripps flathead 6’s had been replaced with 2 x 120 hp Hercules 6 cyl flathead petrol engines.  Most likely the Scripps were replaced post sinking after she sank. McGoram only kept her for approx. a year & during this time replaced the Hercules engines with 2 x 4 cyl Ford diesels. He sold her to Owen & Margaret Cleave in the early 1960s & they kept her until well into the 1960’s.

The Cleaves did substantial remodelling of her coamings c.1966 & interior layout. At some stage she was lengthened & her engines were moved back to the new tuck position.  During the Cleaves ownership c.1964,  LS ended up on the rocks at Pakatoa Island & had to wait for the tide to re-float, other than bruised egos, there was no major damage.

Lady Sandra was  sold to a friend of KR’s (John Richards) c.1966-67. Richards also modified the previously modified coamings. According to Richards son, Ian,  John sold her to an overseas (Vanuatu) owner in the late 1960’s. Sadly she was wrecked on a reef in a storm – some would say that given her past dices with death, it was a only a matter of time 😦

Below are a selection of Lady Sandra photos that show various moderations undertaken by her owners.

lady-sandra-4-ex-ken-jones

Peckham ownership

 

ls-pre-1966-ex-margaret-cleave

As Built

lady-sandra-john-richards-gt-barrier-is-c1972

Richard ownership

lady-sandra-eddie-mcgoram-era-c1955-1

McGoram ownership

Ma Cherie

Posted on by
8

2016-04-06-18-25-45

2016-04-06-18-30-31

Ma Cherie (Adi Cherie)

Ma Cherie was built by the Lane Motor Boat Co in 1962 for L.G. Foster of 4 Awatere Road, Hamilton. She measured 50’/14’6″/4′ and was powered with twin Ford 6 cylinder diesels. Her name was changed to Adi Kuila but owner Markham Thomson has done the right thing & gone back to the original.
You can find more details & photos on her past here   https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/08/22/adi-kuila/

Ma Cherie has just seen a major re-fit that included fiberglassed topsides, rot removed / rebuilt, rewired, starting/charging system upgraded, new interior, engines head jobs & new water tanks. She is looking very smart, in fact she even gets away with the hothouse up top, just the right height.
Details ex Harold Kidd.