LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ON THE CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – TAUMANGI WW was contacted during the week by Peter Langley in regard to the classic wooden launch – TAUMANGI, once owned by his father.
Some history -TAUMANGI is a 36’ carvel planked bridge-decker. Originally in Auckland in the 1950- 1960’s then went to Tauranga and re-decked / modernised by boat builder Bill Visser. Peter’s father owned her from around 1960-1972 then the boat came back to Auckland and was moored up the Panmure basin for years.
Peter saw her for sale around 2013 through Busfield marine but he has not seen her since. Peter commented that she had a lot of varnish woodwork originally when his dad owned her but when last seen the cabins tops were painted light blue .
Can anyone help with what became of TAUMANGI, Peter’s thoughts were she is probably moored up a river somewhere. REMEMBER – GREAT FAMILY DAY OUT TOMORROW AT THE OBC OPEN DAY
THE RESTORATION OF THE CLASSIC WOODEN EX WORKBOAT – ARIANA (TE KAWAU) – PART TWO
Following on from last Mondays story on Sven Wiig’s classic wooden vessel – ARIANA, previously named GLENROWAN and TE KAWAU. Sven has just sent in Part Two.
Todays story takes us up to last week and we will run Part Three on Wednesday and then woodys we will have to wait for the final part for a little while, but rest assured there will be one 😉
And as highlighted in Part One Sven is looking for any intel on her past , and is very grateful for those that commented last week.
“Once the decks were fibreglassed the next mission was to get the coamings and cabin tops rebuilt. Cabin tops were given two layers of ply and clashed in solid.
The little doghouse extension got the same treatment.
I had hoped to find bronze portholes for the coamings but couldn’t find any in the right sizes and quantity. I decided to copy the detailing that existed in the wheelhouse windows.
Next were the doors which I repaired and modified.
The wheelhouse sides were repaired with new tongue and groove.
Once all this had been sanded and given a couple of coats of paint the cover could be removed and I could finally stand back and check out my work. I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t like my design choices once I could view them from a distance, but overall I was pretty happy with her.
Cover off after three years.
It had been more than three years now since she had come out of the water. Progress was frustratingly slow but with the cover now off it finally felt like I was getting there. Next up was to rebuild the Bulwarks. These had been cut away to gain access to the deck. I started cleaning off the old plywood getting ready to rebuild them. When I got around to the stern post I made a horrific discovery. I had always thought her stern wasn’t quite right I now discovered why. I dug out a large chunk of sikaflex and could see that her stem was cracked almost in two. All the screws holding her planks went straight into the crack. It appears that at some time in her past she suffered a trauma. Maybe she was crushed between another boat and a wharf, or hit from behind? Crikey what to do? All the others in the yard came and checked it out. There was lots of tut tuts and sucking through the teeth. A local boatbuilder suggested I cut the whole back off and put a transom on her. Humm… maybe not. It was not going to be an easy fix hence why it had never been fixed properly. Over the years more and more cotton had been jammed it there, more screws added then the sikaflex. This was why all the seams back there were large and the planks uneven, There was nothing for it in my mind I had to pull it all apart and repair it properly. I spent a good day just looking and trying to work out if I was biting off more than I could chew. Was there an easier way. Nope just had to go for it.
Dug out the putty and sikaflex to reveal the crack…
I cut off the outer stem which appeared to be a grown hardwood. Maybe pohutukawa? This revealed the full horror of the situation. Yep I was committed now.
I then carefully removed all the old screws from the planks, removed a knee on the inside and pulled the inner stem out. All that makes it sound easy. In reality it was several painful days where I questioned my life choices.
The inner stem removed from the boat. The crack when right though all the screws going into the cracked timber. To be continued in Part Three – on Wednesday.
Todays woody photo comes to us from the Far North District Library collection via Dean Wright. The photographer being Gary Strongman (Northern Advocate).
The location is Kerikeri and is dated March 1981 and is tagged ‘post Kerikeri Flood’.
In the photo we see ‘modernist’ launch coming to the aid of what appears to be a partially submerged boat. Both craft have reg numbers visible so probably workboats – the launch # could be ND 2524 and the submerged at a guess AK ?756 0r ?758.
Can we ID the boats.
INPUT EX GARY MATHESON– Hi, the vessels in the photo of the Keri Keri flood are the Chante and the Zita. Both were commercial fishing at the time. The Zita was a 28ft mullety and the Chante was owned by the Strongmans.
LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO DO NEXT SUNDAY (20-07-2025)
Come along to the OPEN DAY at OBC marina – details below.
Things to see, do, eat and drink:
Classic Boats – On berths and trailers, including visiting vessels from Waitemata Woodys.
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