Tag Archives: Lane Motor Boat Co.

Susanne

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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

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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

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The Sinking of Lady Sandra

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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

 

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As Built

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Richard ownership

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McGoram ownership

Ma Cherie

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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.

Lady Pat

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LADY PAT

Built by the Lane Motor Boat Co. – Lady Pat measures 30’9”  x 9’ x 2’9”. Older photos & more details can be viewed here: https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/06/27/lady-pat-2/

Her owner Philip Simpson has just finished giving her some TLC at the Mana Marina, Philip had the help  of boat builder Maurice Dickie with the specialist.
Still to be added is the spray dodger.

09-12-2018 Input from – past owner Peter King (Motueka)

“These few words just to add my pennyworth to your historical records of dear old Lady Pat.  I”m 84 now and  miss her terribly still. Her photo along with mine will be on my funeral program.

I Peter King purchased Lady Pat from Tim Reilly in 9/95 and spent many very happy years cruising, fishing and overnight on moorings in Queen Charlott but  mainly  in Pelorous until the boat was sold in 7/2008 because I had lost my crew and also could not afford the overall cost any longer.    I never recorded those 13 years in a log.  However I do have a v ery interesting one written by a man called A.J. Bradshaw who purchased Lady Pat in Whangarei in November 1970 and sailed her down to  Tuna Bay with Abbie King-Turner as crew.  The boat  was later sold when Bradshaw died  in January 1980 .. In 2000  I had a meeting at sea with a man in a small boat who recognised Lady Pat and he turned out to be Bradshaw”s son.  After some later correspondence between us the son sent me his late fathers remaining. boat records but including  only 3/4 photos

Best of luck putting all the historical pieces  together  I would dearly like to see the end result some day…. Kind regards Peter King”

Lady Sandra

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LADY SANDRA
Built by the Lane Motor Company for Len Peckham in 1947, powered with 2 x 6 cyl Scripps petrol engines. One of the glamour boats in her day but misfortune followed her around – she once picked up a tow line from a boat being towed, off Devonport wharf & got the tow rope around both propellers & pulled the propeller struts out of the hull & sank, just as they got her to the nearby beach. Later on in life  she went to Fiji where she was wrecked in a storm in the 1980’s. In the photos above the photo of the boys & man on the wharf, – the man is Alan Horsefall who owned Mansion House at that time.

The photos of her tied to the right hand side of the Mansion  House wharf have the Nancibel & Korora inside her. The bridgedecker, we can see a little of the dodger of in one photo, is most likely Royal Falcon. Also the boat in the Alan Horsefall photo is almost certainly Valsan.
Today’s photos are from Ken Jones & were emailed to me along with comments by Ken Ricketts. You can read more of Ken’s recollection of Lady Sandra here https://wordpress.com/post/waitematawoodys.com/1166

I’m loving the A.M.Y.C. life buoy in the bottom photo 🙂

Sobrine

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SOBRINE c1959

c.1959

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Sobrine and Luana

SOBRINE c1989 ex Carol Stewart

C.1989

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SOBRINE
photos ex Harold Kidd, Brian Mace & Carol Stewart. info ex Ken Ricketts, edited by Alan H

Following on from yesterdays post on Manuroa (Lady Doreen), Gordon Mac replaced her with Sobrine after selling Lady Doreen to Len Swan of Orakei in 1951, Swan immediately changed her name to Manuroa.

Sobrine’s hull was built by Jack Taylor in Onehunga & moved, after some disagreement with Taylor, to the Lane Motor Boat Co in Panmure, to be finished & she was launched in November 1956.

When launched she was 38′ but had her bow extended by approx 4′ by Shipbuilders Ltd., 1 > 2yrs later. When lengthened Mace moved her original stern exhaust to a short stack on one side of the rear of the bridgedeck cabin top, which had to be on one side because of her internal layout. In the interests of aesthetic balance he put a non active ‘look alike’ on the other side.

She originally had a Graymarine petrol engine when launched, which was replaced with a Gardner 6LW diesel, when she was very new. Gordon Mace’s son Brian advised she needed to have the bridgedeck cabin top cut off, in order to lower the Gardner in place.

In c.1962 the Mace’s had moved to Coromandel, along with Sobrine to live.

Mace sold her to a friend, Jeff Innes of Coromandel. The story goes that Jeff Innes had fallen in love with her Sobrine at first sight & had pestered Mace for some time to buy her. One day Mace on the spur of the moment accepted an offer from Innes & the boat was sold, much to the families disapproval.

Innes sold her to Bruce Stewart, of Thames in c.1980’s.

Stewart sold her in July 1992 to Roy Ladd of Auckland, who still owns her.

Note: The name Sobrine came about by one of lifes little oops moments – Gordon Mace’s eldest daughter, Aileen, when christening the boat mixed up the intended name ‘Sabrene’ (pronounced Sabreeny) with Sobrine & with her being very young at the time, the family decided to stay with Sobrine 🙂

Manuroa (Doreen)

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MANUROA WHAKATAKATAKA BAY c1963

Whakatakataka Bay c1963

Sail Rock 1959
C1952>1960
Whitianga c1968
Half Moon Bay c1999
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MANUROA MILFORD MARINA 2015

Milford Marina 2015

Manuroa (Lady Doreen)
photos ex Rob Alloway, Brian Worthington, Rob Swan. research ex Ken Ricketts (edited by Alan H)

Manuroa started out in life as Lady Doreen & was the last of 3 identical sister ships ( Wanda II – 1948, for Fred Porter, then Connie V for Valentines of Hamilton, refer previous ww stories). Then Manuroa (Lady Doreen) in 1949 & built by Lane Motor Boat Company for Gordon Mace of Panmure. Mace lived 5 minutes up the road from Lane Motor Boat’s premises on the waters edge of the Tamaki River. She was named after his wife Doreen & was the first of 2 boats that were associated with Lanes for him, the other being the Sobrine which was built partly by Lanes, in 1956.
Mace sold Lady Doreen to Len Swan of Orakei on 12th June 1951, who immediately changed her name to Manuroa, which it has been ever since (65 yrs).

Swan sold her in c.1962 to Harold Alloway, a Waikato (Rotorangi) farmer. He kept her in Whakatakataka Bay & slipped her in the green sheds in the bay, whilst at Rotorangi & also when he later moved to Auckland. She stayed there until c1966/67 when according to his son Francis, Harold moved to Whitianga & took Manuroa with him. While at Whitianga, he fitted her with game fishing poles & used her for game fishing in the later part of his ownership.
Alloway sold her on 30th Sept. 1970 to a John Quinn of Ponsonby, Auckland & she was reportedly seen moored in Westhaven not long after. It was possibly Quinn that sold the vessel to Dick & Paula Hillary of Auckland.

The next record of her sees her popping up in Sept. 1996 owned by the Hillary’s, they owned her for many years, just how many years is unclear but research by KR  indicates they may well have owned her from some time in the 1970’s, until when they sold her in Sept. 1996 to Fred & Flo Presland of Kawau Island. During the Hillary ownership they replaced the Gardner 4LW diesel (imported direct from England by Gordon Mace & installed in Nov 1950) with the 6LW that she still has today.

The Preslands sold her c.2000 to Bernie Wood, a Auckland boat broker of Half Moon Bay. When Wood passed away his estate sold her in Sept. 2005 to her present owner Bruce Johnston of Milford. Bruce supplied the two pages below from the 1951 log book.

MANUROA Log 1951

Log Book Page 1 – 1951

MANUROA LOG - 1951- 1

Log 1 1951

 

MANUROA SHIPS LOG - 1951 - 2

Log 2 1951

Tangaroa (Seaway)

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TANGAROA @ GH 26.4.16-9

TANGAROA (Seaway)
details ex Bill Burrill, photos ex Ken Rickets

According to Bill Burrill, Seaway was built in 1953 for Fred Brake, of Riverview Rd, Panmure, by the Lane Motor Boat Company, for whom, Fred, worked for about 8 years & which was right next door to his family home. Fred was also the harbour master for Panmure, in that era, & kept Seaway at the bottom of his garden on a pile mooring & slipped her on a railed electric slipway that he built on his property.
Fred B sold her to a Mr Gray who owned the station at Man o war bay Waiheke (which he later sold to the Spencers) in approx. 1955. He died in 1959 & Max Burrill bought her through the Guardian Trust, off the estate in 1959. He changed her name to from Seaway to Tangaroa upon purchase. Max Burrill died in 1984 &  Bill Burrill, his son, bought her off his mother. Bill sold her this year (2016) to Allen Heatley.
She was moored at Pine Harbour but is now berthed at Fairway Bay, Gulf Harbour. The Heatleys intend to live aboard for the next 12 months whilst they build a property in the area.

She was originally powered by a P6 Perkins diesel when built which was replaced around 1960 with a 6-305 6 cyl. Perkins diesel & 5 years later this was also replaced with a horizontal 6-354 Perkins diesel, to fit under the floor, thereby giving more cabin room. The 6-354 died in 2000 & Bill  replaced it with a 100hp 4 cyl. Yanmar turbo diesel, which she still has today.

05-09-2018 Update – Interior photos below ex trademe via Ian MacDonald

Update 21-09-2021 Photos added

Nor West

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Nor West
photos & details ex Peter Crane

Peter has just taken possession of ‘Nor West’ & is a little frustrated with the lack of known info on. Obviously from the builders plate she is a Lane, designed & built in 1951 by the Lane Motor Boat Co. in Panmure, Auckland.
There is lots of data on ww about the other ‘Nor West’ built by Lanes https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/27/nor-west/  but zip on this one.

Can anyone help Peter out?

Update from Don Rae via Ken Ricketts, edited by Alan H. photos ex KR

Don Rae bought her  in July 2007 off  Cam Wilson. She was at Milford at that time. He in turn, had bought her from Peter Anderson, in July 2001 according to Don.

She has been everywhere from the top of North island right down to Tauranga and everywhere in between for the Raes.  They spent a lot of time in the Mahurangi area Don said.

Unfortunately Don didn’t have time to use her, at a time in his life when he feels he should be able to, hence she he put her up for sale.

Don had a love of launches from an early age as his father (Monty) had a Roy Parris boat built in 1954, the 33′ Pleasure Lady, which he is happy to say, is back in his family and fully restored & in beautiful condition. She is owned by his nephew Tony Rae. Previously featured on ww.

Nor West is a  wonderfully well built boat according to Don, and must have been very expensive in her day he says.

Powered by a petrol engine early on and now has a 6 cylinder 120hp Ford.

She was described as 32ft in sales jargon, when he bought her, but he measured her at 33′, with a beam of 10′ drawing 3’6″ .

Don feels the fly bridge was added  probably about the seventies, when they were all the go. She is built of heart kauri.

 20-03-2016
Below a two early days photos of Nor West sent in by owner Peter Crane, who received them from Warren Fleming.

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09-04-2016 – photos below (ex Ken Ricketts) of Nor West hauled out  at Gulf Harbour Nov 2015

30-05-2017 Additional photos