Tag Archives: Shipbuilders

Flyer

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FLYER

photos & details ex Darrin Kennedy

Flyer is a 1966 Shipbuilders 26′ launch. Darrin has owned her for approx. 2 years. Previously she was based in Tauranga, owned by Tommy Verran. Rumour has it Verran used to take her  out to White Island in some pretty challenging seas so she must be a good sea boat. Powered by 110 h.p. Ford with a dry stack. At 26′ with a 110 h.p. motor she must have a good turn of speed. Flyer is currently hauled out undergoing a makeover to bring her back to as launched condition. Can anyone provide more details on Flyer & her past?

Lady Eileen

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LADY EILEEN
photos & report ex Hylton Edmonds via Ken Ricketts. edited by Alan H

Ken reports that Hylton, who bought Lady Eileen the 1947 Shipbuilders/SupaCraft bridge-decker approx. a year ago & relocated her to his property at Tapu Point in the Bay of Islands, is now 8 months into an extensive refit/refurb. You will see from the above photos that Hylton has rather a nice ‘shed’ & has retained the services of some true craftsman to undertake the work.
ww followers may recall that after her previous live-a-board owner passed away, Lady Eileen was listed on trademe for a long time. Lady Eileen is a very lucky boat to now have Hylton as her custodian & based on the standard of the work completed to date, despite being 68 years old, she will be relaunched better than new.
We look forward to more update.

Search Lady Eileen in the ww search box to see early photos.

Update from Russell Ward who you will see is a fan 🙂

Oh sterling effort, Mr Edmonds. Ten points/five stars for your effort! And a most deserving ship to lavish all that effort on. A super SuperCraft job!
Tim Windsor was the in-house designer at Shipbuilders at the time and Lady Eileen and her half sisters Mahara, Rosemary and Rakanoa were all just right. Mahara (just the same cabin arrangement) being a much shorter boat still worked OK (and that was hard to do); but Eileen managed to draw it out much better with the extra length.
Have a squint and admire the details. Humour me…. That graceful sheer, little kick up aft, the rubbing strakes that set it off (get one of those wrong and it would spoil it); the curvaceous tops to the toe rail fwd (Mahara was the same) -almost a turtle deck effect. The cabin tops -just a little curve in them fore and aft. Look at the curved edges to the tops of the fwd wheelhouse screens. A lesser designer would have had them angular and would have put three in. He might have put an eyebrow atop them and again detracted from it. Admire the treatment of the alternate windows/portholes aft -all four had that. It is mimicked up fwd too. Yep, everything just right. The flying bridge -a later add on is not bad -works OK because she is a big boat.
I surmise that Shipbuilders still had the men that were there during WW2 doing Fairmiles and the like -the knowledge capital/ expertise. Tim had trained by correspondence from the USA, I heard once. Anyone got anything else on his history?
Oh, say again. Well done (doing?) Hylton!

Work Report from the owner – 23-05-2015

Sadly the cabin sides are well passed returning to varnish (which in any case would have been the old imitation graining system so popular back in that era through to the 60’s, ex Pilot Boat Waitemata was a classic example).

I feel though, with a combination of refurbished varnished pieces and all her refurbished chrome, she  will still look the (glamourous) Hunter’s  Lady Eileen, as follows;

1.    Hand rails (on refurbished stainless steel stanchions – added at time of flying bridge 20 years ago)
2.    Skylight (original)
3.    Dorade boxes (original complete with refurbished Chrome Bronze cowls)
4.    Mast
5.    New Teak Wheelhouse doors (sadly the old ones were full of gravings, repairs and freshwater rot and have been “retired”)
6.    Entire Flying Bridge . The internal panel is painted out now,  accentuating the shear and considered by all –  a great improvement on this “large” addition.
7.    Oregon Boat hooks (with chrome tips) on new Teak cradles
8.    Cockpit Coamings (attached is a photo with just 3 coats of Uroxsys on to protect in the interim before final 6 more coats)
9.    Foredeck Teak Hatch (original)
10.    Name Boards (with chrome letters)
11.    Ensign Mast
12.    And…..if one can procure the original Clinker Dinghy or suitable replacement……

Lady Clair (L) & Lady Eileen at Gulf Harbour May’14

Lady Clair (L) & Lady Eileen at Gulf Harbour May'14

28-04-2016 Work in progress photos ex Ken Ricketts (17 April)

 

Manuwai

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MANUWAI – a Wellingtonwoody
photos & details Paul Kerr-Hislop

Todays post is a Wellingtonwoody & her owner Paul Kerr-Hislop understands Manuwai was built in Porirua in 1960 by Paul Bradey for the Mexted family of Tawa to a Shipbuilders design.
LOA is 30’8” & beam 10’6”. She has a 1 1/4” kauri planked hull which has a hard chine and flat bottom towards the stern presumably to enable semi-planing. A 140hp 135T Perkins diesel engine linked to the prop shaft via a vee drive provides a cruising speed of 9-10 knots and a top speed of around 13 knots. The engine compartment is ventilated by a couple of rather beautiful solid copper vents to two cowls on the cabin roof.

The Mexteds kept the boat on Lake Taupo for around twenty years before it was returned to Porirua and the Mana Marina. There it was used for a few more years by the Mexted family before changing hands and moving to Picton. The boats log book mentions a few trips between Picton and Christchurch in the late 1980’s and subsequently, Paul understands the boat was used by the GP in Havelock (south) to do his rounds in Kenepuru and Pelorus Sounds.

Paul purchased Manuwai in Picton in 2009 and moved her to Mana Marina shortly after. The hull is still in pristine condition observed when they stripped back the paint to the bare wood. She is a very sturdy boat – ideal for Wellington and Cook Strait conditions. Manuwai is now in Picton on the “catwalk” jetty and is used in the commute to Pauls Sounds property in Resolution Bay.

Rosemary II

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Rosemary II

ROSEMARY II

In Mondays RNZYS post there was talk that the launch in the top right of photo 2 (above but small, click to enlarge) could be Rosemary II the 1946 Shipbuilders Supercraft – sister ship to Lady Eileen, Rakanoa & Mahara.

The great photo above of Rosemary II was sent to me by Nathan Herbert ex the National Library.
Whats says the collective brains trust? For whats its worth, I think not – not enough main cabin windows & no port holes between the aft cabin rectangular windows. I could be wrong, I often am 🙂

Todays post will have Russell Ward salivating 🙂

To read more on Rosemary II & see ‘recent’ photos check out this ww link

Rosemary II

Russell Ward input

Arrrgh! I’ll go blind! Styleeee!
Yep Rosemary ll in her prime in this and the upper part of the pic of the aerial view of the trot of boats in Westhaven. Ken, I can see Rakanoa in the window/ports arrangement aft and in a lot of the details. When I used to row past Rosemary in Westhaven in the early-mid ’60s she did not have those fashion pieces aft of the wheelhouse and the brightwork was rather severely dark. She was always there and never opened up, just waiting -Just like Crossley and even less used.
Comparing the earlier pix with my Whangarei series of pictures you can see how much style her original layout had. Those aft fashion pieces just softened the profile of what is really quite a high wheelhouse that looks a bit bluff.
OK here is a thought for you style hounds. Compare Rosie’s styling in this pic with Ranui in her original guise -take that aft shed off her present appearance and voila -some similarity. Never say that the local people were out of touch with the latest trends.
Well, I always jokingly say that I spring out of bed in the early morning and feel rosie all over -if she will let me. Yes, Rosemary ll does it for me and I hope she is alive and well and, I hope, not now fitted with a frying bridge aft.

Comment from Neil Manthel
(Neil – you posted this comment in the photo section so it does not appear in the comments section, posted it here Alan H.)

As the teenage son of the first owner,Noël Manthel I can probably fill in any queries about the Rosemary 11. The maiden cruise was to the Bay of Islands but spent its early years in wellington with some memorable crossing of Cook Straits. The twin American Redwing 90hp petrol motors needed to work hard to get to the cruising speed of 10 knots.Your photo could have been taken in the Marlborough Sounds.regards Neil Manthel

Romany II

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ROMANY II

photos & details ex trademe & Ken Ricketts

Romany II, a double skin kauri bridgedecker, designed by Roy Steadman &  built in 1964 by Shipbuilders.  A distinguishing feature of Steadman’s designs was the half circle foredeck, which resulted in a very pronounced flare (refer birds-eye photo below). Steadman’s own bridgedecker, the 28′ Nauty Girl (thats nauty as in nautical) , that he built for himself in the early1950s also had this feature & may well have been the first of this concept. Does anyone have any photos of Nauty Girl?

Romany II is 44’x14’6″x3′ & powered by twin Ford 150hp engines.

A WEE TIP
Keep an eye out on Saturday, I have a promotion with a very cool prize. Details on Friday 😉
ps anyone can enter but if you are a ww ‘Follower’, entry will be faster & for this promo – the first correct answer wins 🙂 so sign up now.
Screen Shot 2014-07-20 at 8.18.28 AM

Lady Eileen

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LADY EILEEN

Looking to get into the classic wooden boating scene ? Lady Eileen  is now offered for sale & offers outstanding value for money for a vessel of her size ( L=48.9′ / B=13.4′ / D=3.9′ / 18 tons) &  fit-out. refer trademe listing link below for full details.

A fine example of a Shipbuilders / SupaCraft triple skinned kauri launch. Lady Eileen was launched in 1947 & is a sister ship to Rakanoa, Mahara & Rosemary II.

Given her size & fit-out ‘live-aboard’ is an option.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=676584140

Shipbuilders Ltd by Harold Kidd

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Shipbuilders Ltd by Harold Kidd

SHIPBUILDERS LTD….a few notes.

By Harold Kidd

The advertisement is from the back of a 1946 Sea Spray magazine and shows Shipbuilders Ltd spreading its wings for the bright new post-war world.
Shipbuilders Ltd started in business in Poore Street, now Westhaven Drive, around the middle of 1922 when it was run by T.L. Sharp. It also had an office at 23 Shortland St. Its major work was in shipwrighting, heavy repair work on steamers, scows, barges and commercial craft of all types. Norman Matheson, who had built the Rudder Cup-winning launch Maroro, worked there for many years. The company dabbled in commercial vessel ownership, for example running the scow EXCELSIOR with J.J. Craig Ltd., bringing rusty scrap from the ship graveyard on Browns Island to town for export to Japan.
By 1939 the Manager was S.B. (Hookey) Williams, formerly of Chas. Bailey & Son Ltd, in Beaumont Street, nearby. It had 4 “electric slipways” and went into the war with a good reputation for shipwrighting and good gear.
During the war the company did a lot of work with Seagar Bros building minesweepers and at least one Fairmile. In 1943 it joined with Chas. Bailey & Son Ltd, W.G. Lowe & Son Ltd, Associated Boatbuilders Ltd., P. Vos Ltd and Roy Lidgard in forming United Ship and Boatbuilders Ltd to carry out an unprecedented amount of ship construction for the United States Army and Navy. As a little light relief, they built 5 M Class yachts for American flyers in the Pacific.
In November 1944 there was a race amongst the five 18 footers which were mainly crewed by Shipbuilders Ltd staff amongst whom were Roy Steadman, Tim Windsor, L. Pollard, W. Heerdegen, C. Freeman, H. Yates, Vince Hogan and Roy Parris…pretty important names amongst Auckland’s yachtsmen of the time.

To be continued

Rosemary II

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ROSEMARY II
Story & photos by Russell Ward
One of my childhood sweethearts. She lay on the piles just off the Squadron Marina.
She was one of the four Shipbuilders SuperCraft boats built in the ’50s: Lady Eileen, Rosemary 2, Rakanoa (yep I know she started off as a Couldry design) and Mahara. They were designed by Thomas (Tim) Windsor who obviously had a very good eye and was American trained. He was still alive when I last heard and I hope someone has taken a history from him.
Hunters owned her way back then and she was always there when I rowed / sailed / motored past.
I took the pictures a few years back when she was up at Whangarei and available. A little down on her uppers, but still great. The old petrol engines had been replaced by the ubiquitous six cylinder Lees marinised fords and the interior scruffy.
I hope she hasn’t sprouted a dodger aft and a fly (hic) bridge. She was beautiful as she was.

Rakanoa

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RAKANOA
Story & b/w photos from Ken Ricketts (colour photo ex Russell Ward)
She was built by Shipbuilders Ltd in 1946. A magnificent 56 ft example of artisans work, in both design & build.
She is 3 skins Kauri, is enourmously strong, will last forever, & had the very best of everything that money could buy used, when she was created. She is still kept in beautiful condition at Gulf Habour.
There is no doubt in my view, she is an important part of a real dynasty, & one of the very few boats that have been in the same family from new, for that huge length of time. She was “modernised, in the 60s, & there were moderate combings alterations done in the cockpit area. She is shown on launching day &  pic I took at North Harbour Ponui Labour weekend  in 1948
She was orignally powered by a 671 Gray marine diesel, for one year, then replaced it with a 250 hp Herecules Diesel in 1947, she had this until 1981, when her present Gardiner 6L3 diesel was fitted.
Indeed a vey important part of NZs maritime heritage

NOTE: This posting has been edited on the request of the owner (the late) R Parker, the information supplied by K Ricketts was obtained without the owners knowledge or approval that it would be published in the public domain.

09-04-2016 – photo taken at Gulf Harbour (April 2016) by Ken R.

RAKANOA at GH 3.4.15

Dec 2016 Hauled out at Gulf Harbour – photos ex Ken Ricketts

21-09-2019 Update
Photo below sent to me by John Parker, the ‘great nephew of Ross Parker. It was ex the estate of his late father Wallace Parker.
Rakanoa