Tag Archives: Robertson Boatbuilders

Ngaro Gets A Trip To The Beauty Parlour

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Ngaro Gets A Trip To The Beauty Parlour

Woody Olaf Wiig resides off shore these days but as the owner of the rather imposing 1953,Lidgard built 48′ woody – Ngaro as often as he can he hops on the big silver bird and returns home. Then slips the lines and heads out to enjoy the Hauraki Gulf and beyond.

Over winter Ngaro spent a couple of months in the shed at Robertsons yard having her cabin tops and varnish redone. It wasn’t all lipstick – a new water tank was installed + a major engine service and a full new suit of canvas.As I have commented before Bgaio is one of th few woodys that no matter what angel you approach her from, she looks perfect. Well done Olaf and Emma for the custodianship of Ngaro.

See / read more on Ngaro here https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/06/25/ngaro-a-sneak-peek-before-she-sells/

Waitematawoodys Burgee Poll Results

Short, clear message here – 92% Say Yes I need to get production underway. More details soon 😉

Another One Destined For The Land Fill – Potiki II Saved

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Another One Destined For The Land Fill – Saved

A slightly worrying trend that is occurring on trademe is the number of wooden craft that are being offered up in ‘as-is-where-is’ condition with a short time window before they are disposed of. Probably a sign of the times in terms of storage costs and rebuild costs.

Todays wooody was saved, sold for less than $1,000 – lets hope the new owner has plans to restore her and not harvesting for parts / fittings.

Potiki II is 28’ in length, built by JH Young – thats all her tme listing told us. Thanks to Lan McDonald for the heads up.

Just a reminder we have the 38’ Robertson built classic – Katherine at Westhaven this weekend for viewing – 100% turn-key purchase – you’ll be boating this Christmas / NY. + W/haven marina also for sale. Email below for a viewing time.

waitematawoodys@gmail.com

The Legacy of Bill Orchard

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The Legacy of Bill Orchard

Today we share a great kiwi boating story from your woody friends at WoodenBoat magazine in the USA. Penned by kiwi journalist John Eichelsheim. 

Click this link to view > read. https://www.woodenboat.com/legacy-bill-orchard

Enjoy 🙂

INPUT ex Mark McLaughlin – SABRE is now Auckland based and is well kept at the OBC Marina. GLENMORE was one of the Pelorus Sound mail boats throughout the 1980’s to mid 1990’s, operated by Ken and Dianne Gullery. She was sold to an Australian owner and is now moored at Pittwater up Sydney’s north coast. She did the Tasman Sea crossing under her own steam from Picton, which is no mean feat for that type of boat.

The photos below of Glenmore in her orange hull livery during the mail boat years are from the Old Marlborough fb group page, and the photo of Glenmore on her mooring at Pittwater is from Lew Redwood’s fb page.

11-11-2022 Input ex Eric Sanderson – I believe the vessel below is one of Bill Orchards, was on the Kaipara when photo was taken

KATHERINE  4SALE & ON DISPLAY @ WESTHAVEN MARINA – THIS WEEKEND – BY INVITATION

Considering an upgrade or a boat for summer – the 38’ Conrad Robertson designed classic – KATHERINE, has been relocated to Westhaven Marina for one weekend only – inspection by invitation.

More details on this immaculately presented, ready for immediate delivery craft – click here https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/06/13/katherine-a-peek-down-below/

To book a viewing time email waitematawoodys@waitematawoodys

Woodys Classic Beach Picnic Review + Open Boat

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Woodys Classic Beach Picnic Review

On Sunday we held a woodys gathering ashore on Motuihe Island – trip down was commonly described as ‘lumpy’, except for the large woodys skippers who just smiled.

The bonus of a lumpy passage was almost zero trailer craft or pwc’s, so had the beach to ourselves. Very sheltered and sunny afternoon – always good to catch up with other woody owners and swap tales. Trip home was perfect with wind and tide assisting.

Nice to see both Lady Crossley and Pirate after there winter hibernation / haul outs.

My boat of the day was John Wright’s latest project the uber cool double-ender – Kiwa. That man has a wonderful eye for bringing the best out of any classic craft. Photo below when she was at Te Atatu Boating Club + links to previous WW stories on her 

2014  https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/09/30/boat-on-the-move-kiwa/

2021 https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/09/10/what-happened-to-kiwa/

KATHERINE  ON DISPLAY @ WESTHAVEN – THIS WEEKEND – INVITATION ONLY

Considering an upgrade or a boat for summer – the 38’ Conrad Robertson designed classic – KATHERINE, has been relocated to Westhaven Marina for one weekend only – inspection by invitation.

More details on this immaculately presented, ready for immediate delivery craft – click here https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/06/13/katherine-a-peek-down-below/

To book a viewing time email waitematawoodys@waitematawoodys

Katherine – A Peek Down Below

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KATHERINE – A Peek Down Below

Back in Feb 2020 I wrote on WW that launches like Katherine would be the future of classic / spirit of tradition boating – in a nutshell – stunning looks, voluminous interior and low maintenance.  Katherine was built is 2013 by Robertson Boats, her design lead by Conrad Robertson. But her roots go back much longer than that – back to the Hokianga Harbour where a workboat played its trade, the hull of which ended up in a farm shed. The hull was moved to Robertson’s yard in Warkworth, where a mould was taken off the old hull, as an aside – the old hull was refurbished and repurposed as a charter steamboat.

When you view Katherine, her lower hull is glass and from the green section up she is wood – the best of both worlds in terms of water ingress and maintenance. Katherine was purchased in Jan 2018 by accomplished professional boat builder Allan Hooper who immediately started reviewing and enhancing the launch, this included designing and adding the rig and a lot more mods. I challenge anyone to show me a sub 40’ launch with more internal volume, with the same standard of fit out, there is even sound proofing built in 🙂

Some specs – 38’ in length, 9’6” beam and draws just 3’. Forward motion is via a Lombardini 60hp diesel engine, new in 2013, this gives Katherine a comfortable cruising speed of 8 knots. A consideration in these days of raising fuel prices, Katherine only sips 3.5L an hour. Fuel capacity is 330L and water 750L. An added bonus is the 6’6” headroom.
WW has good readership amongst the serious woodys on the USA WoodenBoat Forum, one of the WBF guru’s once commented on Katherine –  ‘Like that, vertical stem, raised deck, spoon stern. What else would you want’.

The Wooden Boat Bureau is looking for a new owner for Katherine, interested parties seeking more information – contact waitematawoodys@waitematawoodys

26-01-2023 SOLD

The Endless Summer

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Tasman
Tasman & Viveen
Viveen
Waiari
Juanita
Pacific

Peter Loughlin Photos Below

Lady Margaret

The Endless Summer 

I know I’m tempting fate with the headline, but who can remember when it last rained? Todays gallery of woodys comes to us from the camera of Nathan Herbert (Pacific) as he mooched around the Hauraki Gulf last week. The last 5, are from Peter Loughlin (Lady Margaret -CW) doing the same thing.

We see Tasman, Viveen, Pacific, Arihi, Escape, Chandos, Zoe, Motunau, Waiari, Juanita, Pacific, Lady Margaret (CW), Rehia, Ngaro and a few that I can’t put a name to.

A question – did Colin Wild ever design / build an ugly boat? 

It was a pretty wild and woolly weekend in some parts of the north and reviewing the news and photos, Tutukaka took the brunt of it – sad to see the carnage. Angus Rogers sent in the photo below from Russell last night – tagged ‘After the Wind’ showing the Russell ferry and the launch Miss Brett, bottom right closer in.

Katherine

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KATHERINE
 
Today woodys you are looking at what the future of classic boating could look like. Allan Hooper’s Katherine was built / launched in 2013 by Conrad Robertson at the Robertson yard in Warkworth. Her hull is glass, with a wooden top (from the green section up). The mould was taken from an old hull that was found in a shed on a farm on the Hokianga Harbour. It is apparently an old tug that worked on the Hokianga a long time ago.
The original hull was refurbished at Robertson’s and a mould taken off and is now lying in the basin at Warkworth. It was fitted out with a steam engine and run as a charter boat until the boiler failed, unfortunately Allan reports it is looking a bit sad.
The designer is unknown but Conrad designed the rest of what is Katherine. Since purchasing her Allan has designed and added the rig and quite a few more mods and improvements.
 
I went aboard several years ago at Mahurangi and she is a very cool boat. Huge volume below, powered by a 60hp Lombardini and sound proofed like a Airbus 340. She measures 38’ loa, with a beam of 9’6” and draws 3’. The Lombardini pushes Katherine along at a comfortable cruising speed of 7.5kts. 
The construction of Katherine is several steps up from the earlier Logan 33 f/glass replicas.
 
In the hauled out photo, taken Dec 2019, she was getting a lick of paint. In the last few months I have spotted her at Patio Bay, Waiheke Island and at the Mahurangi Regatta. On my WW story re the Mahurangi Regatta, Kartherine received some very favourable reviews from the woodys on the WoodenBoat Forum in the USA. “Like that, vertical stem, raised deck, spoon stern. What else would you want.”
 
The very smart tender, is a Townson design, built by Allan at the NZ Traditional Wooden Boat Building School. More on the dinghy soon – you may be able to build one yourself at the School, fingers crossed 🙂
(photos ex Colin Pawson, Allan Hooper & myself)
 
THE WAITANGI DAY WOODY PICNIC IS SHAPING UP TO BE A GOODY – 18 BOATS CONFIRMED ALREADY
If you have not RSVP’ed – time to get off the couch and do it 🙂 email to address below. The venue is – Waikalabubu Bay, Motutapu Island.
waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Woody Waitangi Picnic
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