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.
As promised yesterday, today we get a close look, ex the camera of John Burland, at Lady Karita – the 1934, Sam Ford designed and built 43′ launch.
Lady K has been the lucky recipient of a rolling restoration over the last few years, and reviewing John’s photos, all the hard work and $$ has really paid off. She needs to home to the Waitemata ………………..
Back in February 2020 a friend was cruising the streets on Auckland’s North Shore (he is allowed to – drives a car with a strip of lights on the roof) when he spotted the woody launch – Avalon, resting on a residential properties lawn. Turns out the 80+ year old owner has owned Avalon all her life – you can read and see more at the link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/02/17/mystery-sam-ford-launch/
Fast forward nearly two years and it turns out that the launches owner , Marjorie Mumme is Tobias Forsyth’s grandmother. Tobias owns MV Callisto and his Dad, Iain Forsyth has MV Meola. Tobias being a good grandson has stepped up to the mark and taken on the restoration of Avalon. To quote Tobias – no rush, first step = put her in a shed, the fear was she would end up as a garden sleep-out. Avalon was designed and built in 1954 by Sam Ford and is a one owner boat (Lloyd and Marjorie Mumme) , in fact still has the original Morris Navigator petrol engine. When launch she was 24’ but has 2’ added to the stern soon after.These days health & safety would lock you up for transporting a boat like we see on the truck above. The video was filmed by Tobias.
30-11-2021 INPUT FROM Carol Forsyth (nee Mumme) From birth to bikinis and boyfriends, my sisters and I grew up on Avalon. Motuihe, Browns Island, Islington Bay, Waiheke, Coromandel and Kawau was our playground and oh the stories that boat could tell! Dad loved Avalon as much as we did and when he passed on Mum took over Dad’s loving care. Now that Mum has finally handed over Avalon to my son Tobias and his family we look forward to seeing her in the water again.The black and white image of Avalon under sail was taken off Kauri Point and I would assume Dad had the Morris Navigator ticking over, but maybe she was under sail only.
HELP NEEDED – Tobias would like to find out more about the petrol Morris Navigator in Avalon. He is looking for any one that may have spares or have had a lot to do with them in the past but any info or spare parts would be greatly appreciated as he would love to keep the original engine but it must be reliable. Mainly if there are some Morris car guys that know if this engine is just a marinised version of a car engine of some vintage possibly? I can email better copies of the above photos if that would help.
I like the sail set-up – very salty, if I put that on Raindance, I might qualify to be one of the chosen ones to berth at Chad Thompson’s yacht only, new 40 berth Heritage Basin at the Viaduct 🙂
12-11-2024 UPDATE – photo ex John Dawson. Sames owner Tobias is doing some soul searching re what the replacement cabin top could / will look like – older below, and considerations below that.
No name on this old girl but her tme listing (thanks Ian McDonald) tells us she was built by Sam Ford in 1950, measures 36’ x 9’10” x 2’9”.
Built of kauri and powered by a Ford D360 diesel engine, that gets her along at 10 knots max. Other than calling Nelson home, that is about all we know about her. Can anyone put a name to her and tell us about her past?
SNOOZER The 1947, 33’, Sam Ford built bridge-decker – Snoozer has just popped up on tme (thank you Ian McDonald),. We do not know much about her other that she is kauri carvel planked and powered by a 85hp Isuzu diesel that has her cruising at 8 knots. Whangarei is her home town. Might be wrong, but I would suspect a name change at some time.
Can anyone enlighten us on Snoozer’s past life ?
06-05-2025. UPDATE– for sale again , current owner credits her designer/ builder as Sam Ford 1947. And says previously named JUANITA – Would be nice to confirm.
Input from Bruce Pullan – bellow is a picture of Awa Manu, it looks like Snoozer.
Yesterdays Quiz Winner To Name The Launch Alongside The Wharf – was K. Sutherland, who was the first to correctly ID the boat as Lady Helen – WW cap on its way 🙂
MAKA MILE – A Peek Down Below In a previous WW story we uncovered that the 40’ Maka Maile was built in 1937 by Sam Ford, but rumoured to be not designed by him.Maka Maile is rather unique in that she has only had 3 owners in her 84 year life. During this period she was laid up for approx. 25 of those years.
Her current owner bought her as a shell only and under took a 10 year refit that included re-powering her with twin 120hp Nissan 4 cyl diesels. The engines give Maka Maile an impressive turn of speed – 20 knots max, but she cruises very nicely at 10 knots.
These days she sports a very spacious interior that closely reflects her build year but incorporates modern fittings to make life aboard more comfortable. A surprise feature is the main saloons sliding roof. Previous WW stories below
WHAKARI Mooching around Gulf Harbour marina yesterday and spotted the 1925 Sam Ford launch – Whakari looking very regal. Would have to be best presented Sam Ford a float and a credit to owner Gordon Cashmore.
In 2014 she had a wee oops and was hauled out for some serious TLC. The shine we see the above photos looks very new-ish, so the TLC appears to be a regular occurrence – we like that 🙂
Buying or Selling a Classic Boat Without sounding too much like the late Jacinda Ardern (“be kind”) – when people ask me about classic wooden boat ownership, I normally say that owning a woody has a positive effect on your life i.e. you end up forging a life you don’t need to escape from.
So woodys in the interest of your mental well being listed below a sample of some of the boats that are currently berthed at the virtual Wooden Boat Bureau Sales Marina. There are others for sale, some owners request privacy. To read more about the Wooden Boat Bureau – click https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/12/01/wooden-boat-bureau-advice-for-buyers-and-sellers/ The Wooden Boat Bureau is uniquely placed to offer impartial, up-to-date market information and objective advice to both sellers and buyers. So if you are looking for a wooden boat or considering selling – email us at waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Sunday night I was scratching the head thinking what Tuesday’s WW story would be and ping – I get an email from Sally Verbiest inquiring about her grandfather’s, Roy Barton, Sam Ford built launch – Rehutai. Roy lived in the Wairarapa when he owned the boat, unfortunately Sally doesn’t know the dates, but Roy dies in 1968, in his early eighties.
The photo above is from an old family album and Sally thinks it was taken in Queen Charlotte Sound. The rather lovely cartoon, was drawn by a friend of Sally’s father – a depiction of Roy, whose main retirement hobbies were boating and polo. He must have been a great guy 🙂
Sally has asked that if current owner Tony Whyman? or anyone that knows him, could contact WW (via the comments section) as Sally would like to see these items reunited with the the boat. You can see and read a lot more on Rehutai here https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/04/12/the-restoration-of-rehutai/
WOODY BOAT YARD BOOT SALE
Lets be honest, we all collect / hoard boat bits. Could be a good time to gain some more space and earn a few dollars.
Waitematawoodys and The Slipway, Milford are hosting a boat boot sale on Sunday 18th October at their boat yard in Milford, Auckland. Details below.
So woodys, be brave and get together anything boat related that you think needs a new home and bring it along on Sunday 18th (10.00>11.30am) – to stop some ponker turning up with an alloy mast – there is only one rule – items must fit in a car boot 🙂 But we will make an exception for grandad’s kauri clinker dinghy.
Its a big shed but space will be limited so drop me an email to reserve some space waitematawoodys@gmail.com As its the day after the General Election – I’ll either be in a good mood or very grumpy. AND IT IS CASH ONLY.
Over the last week I have had numerous woodys asking if I had seen the YouTube video on one of the UK’s stunning new motor boats – the Spirit P70. My answer was yes I had, so today I thought I had better share it with you. Built by Spirit Yachts to a very simple owner brief – it must be able to cover (non-stop) 1000nm at an average speed of 18 knots, she tops out at 23.5 knots. And budget? – somewhere between 4 and 5 million pounds. That woodys gets you are very swanky vessel, every single item is bespoke – check it out.
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