Tag Archives: Lidgard

Wakatere

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WAKATERE

photos & details ex Ken Ricketts 

Built in 1939 by Roy Lidgard  & was based at Mercury Island as the Island managers boat, for a period in the later 1950’s – early 60’s.

The shed photos of Wakatere were taken by Ken when he recently inspected her on the owners property in Te Atatu. She is currently undergoing a protracted major refit, which started in the early 1990’s & it appears work has stalled on her.

She still has her 60hp 4 cyl Ford still in place, having been refitted after an overhaul, as part of her present restoration.

The hull has had a major work over, having been splined & sheathed in fibreglass 😦 . In addition a little rot around the deck lines has been removed & some fairly major refastening work, in respect of the ribs.

She was lengthened to 40 feet a good number of years ago, so she in fact now looks a little different to her sister ship Isa Lei (Taipari), search Isa Lei to view. She still has her special tuck lines.

Harold Kidd Update

WAKATERE was built by Lidgards for Ray Vincent, the well-known truck wrecker and repairer. She was in NAPS as Z27 between 1942 and 1943 with Ray as skipper. P.D. Simmonds of Tauranga owned her in the early 1960s when she had a 90hp Graymarine.

Valsan – an ageless classic

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Valsan - an ageless classic

Valsan – an ageless classic

details & photo ex Ken Ricketts, edited by Alan H

One of our really magnificent ageless classics of all time & so wonderfully original & unspoiled. Ken commented that if you look at her you can see Couldrey, Ford & Lidgard all in her, the bridgedeck is classic later Ford, refer Lady Karita, the flair is very Couldrey — refer Tiromoana, the sheer line in the sweep in the deck could be all 3 & there are also resemblances in the shear & flair to Awarua, which of course was part Lidgard along with Ted Cooper.

Ken took the above photo of her Christmas 1948 in Schoolhouse Bay. She was launched as VALSAN, after the original owners two children – Valerie & Sandy. She was later sold to a publican, those surname was Annan & he renamed her Lady Edith, after his wife. When Arnold Baldwin bought her he returned her to her original name.

Her original engines were either Graymarine or Kermath, but Ken’s memory is leaning towards 6 cyl flathead 90 hp Graymarine’s. He remembers the instrument clusters & they had a polished metal backplate with the name in the middle at the top. These were replaced by 2 x Falcon 4.1L marinised petrol car engines in the 1970s.
Her present engines are 4 cyl. (100hp?) Mitsubishi diesels. In Ken’s opinion not becoming to a vessel of her stature. She has deep under hull exhausts now, amidships & bubbles away at the sides, used to be out the tuck just above the waterline, about 10 inches in from each side, when the petrol engines were fitted.

Harold Kidd Update

Ken is right with the engine brand this time (after having a bob each way). (Alan H called James Mobberley at Moon Engines & asked what the motors were) VALSAN was built by Lidgards for Alex Harvey Jr as a 38 footer with twin 90hp Grays. She was lengthened (as were so many of these big bridgedeckers) to 45ft by the time she went into NAPS as Z10 in 1942-3, possibly during the time she was being repaired after going up on the Castor Bay reef in February 1940. Peter Annan bought her when she was demobbed in 1944 and renamed her LADY EDITH. Annan had been the long-term owner of the big Logan cutter THELMA. In 1948 Annan sold her to Arnold Baldwin who changed her name back to VALSAN.

BTW Bill COULDREY’s surname is spelt COULDREY. (fixed. thx)

I think it’s just empty blather to “see  Couldrey, Ford and Lidgard” in her. The greatest influences of all were the styling themes seen in the US yachting magazines of the time, like RUDDER and MOTOR BOAT & YACHTING which influenced all local designers and owners a thousand times more than the Auckland designers and constructors influenced one another.

PS Peter Annan died in 1951 aged 82. He was a Master Mariner but had retired to the hotel trade when he bought VALSAN.

Gay Dawn

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GAY DAWN

The 34′ Lidgard designed bridge decker, built by Bill Waters 1953. Very similar to Monterey & like Monterey started out with varnished coaming, have to say I think they suit her (& Monterey) better than the paint.

12-01-2016 Photos below from during the build & launching period c1947>1953.

Note refer comments section for more details on her past

(L>R) Bill & Bryan Waters c1947/48
Gay Dawn building
Gay Dawn building
Gay Dawn building
Gay Dawn building
Gay Dawn launch day
Gay Dawn just launched c1953 Okahu Bay

Kiwitea

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Kiwitea at Gulf Harbour 2013

KIWITEA

Story ex Nick Shea from the pen of his father Barry Shea who has owned Kiwitea for the last 24 years. (photo ex Ken Ricketts)

Kiwitea is a bridge decker. A solid old girl made of Kauri planks. I bought her in May 1989. After removing the rot I was left with only a hull and the cabin roof tops, what a job lay ahead!! After 9 months of work from 5pm until the early hours Kiwitea was ready for the water. I made the cabin sides out of Kahikatea clears laminated together giving a thickness of 40 mm. Thanks to Pete a next door neighbour who started to give me a hand and made it a lot easier. Next came the fridge, freezer, toilet and shower by brother inlaw Barry as he knew a bit about plumbing. At this time Cath (wife) would come down and clean while Anita  (7) would look after the new born Liz and Nick  (5) would be put on the job of cleaning the prop and rudder. (Just the right size to fit under there). The last thing was the calking which was rotten so out it came and week later the antifoul and relaunch with the bottle of bubbles.

On our travels people have come over and had a chat so I have picked up a bit of history which if anyone can add to this I would be greatful. Kiwitea was built about 1949 by Lidgard on Kawau Island for a person called Jack Algie. I think this would be the same family who named Algies Bay. At this time Kiwitea was a sedan not a bridge decker. We did a trip up to the bay of islands and stopped off at Tutakaka when someone came down and told us he used to go longlining on her and his Dad used to own her. I have also heard the navy had her but what for who would know.

In 1995 Kiwitea was showing signs of movement so time to refasten all the planks .After thousands of bronze screws I had to raise the waterline so decided at the same time to add and extend the boarding platform also including live bait tanks which have been filled many a time..She is a grand old lady and part of the family which we have owned for 24 years and is great to see all our children now take her out when they want.

Isa Lei (original name was Taiparu)

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ISA LEI (original name was Taiparu)

Details & photos from Ann Hood (owner of Avanti) & Ken Rickitts
Isa Lei was Ann’s parents boat & she was built in 1946/47 by Lidgards & was one of 2 identical boats — the other is ‘Wakatere’. The only visible difference is, that the Wakatere  had a dodger from new &  Isa Lei didn’t . They both had that unique shaped tuck, the streamlined bow porthole frames.
When she was built, she had the name on gold leaf in script, slanting up at an angle on the combings — (from the side deck line towards the cabin top if you like),  after of the last window between the window & where the combings curved down to the cockpit.
Isa Lei was owned for a period in the 80s  by a couple who lived in Wheturangi Rd Green Lane, called Jack & Isobel Lucas (the battery people, lived in Panmure) & Ken Rickitts first meet Jack in the early 1980’s, when he pulled in to Mansion House Bay, one day on his way to Auckland with the boat from Whangarei, where he has just bought & taken delivery of her, from the previous owners, Helen & Jim Somner, who had had her for a number of years.
Ann says the small photo has a date on the back of 09.01.64 and believes this is when the Somner family owned her.  The photos of her in blue were as her parents found her in Bowentown.  She was hauled out quickly at Opua on arrival and then at the BOI Yacht Club for the work. The man doing the recaulking is Keith Edwards

Ann thinks that her Mum and Dad “filled in” the flying bridge and remembers spending hours stripping and sanding the pilot light mast and vhf mast and also sanding the Kauri for her nameplate.

Photos are a montage over the last 70 years. Some pretty, some not…. 🙂

Harold Kidd Update

ISA LEI was built as TAIPARU (not TAUPARU) by Lidgard Bros at the Western Reclamation, Auckland for J. Carlton of Sunny Bay, Kawau and launched on 7th December 1939 with a 6 cylinder 90hp Graymarine petrol engine. In 1946 she was owned by C. Pryce Jones. I H McRae owned her in 1953 and it was he who changed her name to ISA LEI. Roughly 1954 to 1975 she was owned by Lloyd and Jim Somner etc etc.

I think her sistership was WAKATERE which spent a lot of her life in Tauranga.

Karewa

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KAREWA
The tugboat (Karewa) was built in 1951 by Lidgards for the Department of Works to push barges on the Piako river for the construction of bridges. From there she went to the Tauranga Harbour Board as pilot/survey vessel, finally coming to Warkworth in the early 1980s, where she has been working tirelessly since at Lees Boatbuilders Ltd. In the above photos she is seen assisting Steve Horsley’s yacht Ngatira.