THE RESTORATION OF 46’ WOODEN LAUNCH – LIBERTY

Back in 2014 WW ran a story on the classic wooden 46′ launch LIBERTY, at the time a recent import from the USA and for sale.

Unsure to whom and when she sold but she has popped up over the years in yards and bays.

Fast forward to mid 2026 and Trudy and Paul Thorowgood acquired LIBERY after several years of admiring her from afar.Trudy contacted WW advising they had just commenced an extensive restoration on LIBERTY – I’ll let Trudy tell the story (edited)WW will follow this project with regular updates.

“We love Waitemata Woodys and the wonderful collection of wooden boats and stories you’ve documented over the years, so we thought you might be interested in what we’ve just taken on – the restoration of a 1969 Stephens Bros boat named Liberty.

You’ve actually featured Liberty on Waitemata Woodys before, back in 2014, so you may remember her: https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/03/10/liberty/

We first fell in love with Liberty when we saw her down at the Viaduct back in 2018. There was just something about her – the lines, the character and that unmistakable Stephens look. So when the opportunity eventually came up to buy her, we knew we probably couldn’t let it pass.

The only problem was that, by the time we bought her in May this year, Liberty was in pretty poor shape. In fact, we were advised to walk away from the purchase unless we had very deep pockets. We definitely don’t have deep pockets, but we decided to take the risk anyway!

My husband is a carpenter and builder by trade and has built smaller boats from scratch before, so we knew we had some of the skills and experience needed to take on a project of this size. We’re also very fortunate to have some great local contacts through Milford Marina – people with years of experience working on and around wooden boats – who have been generous with their advice, knowledge and help along the way. It’s quickly becoming a bit of a team effort, which is exactly what we hoped for with a project like this.

More than anything, though, we couldn’t bear the thought of such a beautiful old Stephens being allowed to deteriorate beyond saving.

Our plan is to restore her properly and make Liberty our forever boat. We see ourselves less as her owners and more as custodians of this classic beauty – with the responsibility of bringing her back to life and preserving her for the next generation.

She is a 1969 Stephens Bros Sports Cruiser/Fisher, built in Stockton, California, and is hull number M-156. Stephens Bros were building some of America’s most beautiful wooden boats from the early 1900s through to the late 20th century, and Liberty is a wonderful example of that heritage.

We’ve also discovered that the original Stephens plans and correspondence relating to Liberty are now held by the Haggin Museum in Stockton, which makes the boat’s history even more special to us. We’re hoping to dig further into her story as the restoration progresses.

For now, however, we have a rather large job on our hands.

We had Liberty transported from Gulf Harbour to our property, where she is now sitting on the driveway under a purpose-built shrink-wrap shelter. We built a timber frame around her and have started stripping her back to see exactly what we have.

She is carvel-built, and we have now taken the hull back to the bare planks so that the timber can dry out properly. We’ve also removed several hundred kilos of old equipment from inside her – water tanks, fuel tanks, generator and other machinery – much of which was in very poor and corroded condition. The plan is to spline and glass the hull once the timber has dried sufficiently.

The existing Detroit diesels – the famous “Screaming Jimmys” – will also be coming out, and we’re planning to re-power her with a new pair of FPT 280hp engines (these motors also meet the new IMO Tier 2 Regs).

There will be plenty of other work along the way. We’re planning some changes to the interior layout while retaining as much of Liberty’s original character and heritage as possible. We’ll share more of that as we get further into the project.

For now, she is staying under wraps while she dries out, which we expect will take the next few months. Hopefully, in the new year, we’ll be able to start the major hull work.

It is definitely a labour of love – and probably a little bit crazy. But there is something pretty special about taking an old wooden boat that has reached this point and giving her another chance.“