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Website of the Month !!!

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Website of the Month !!!

A quick note to all the fellow waitemata woodys out there – you are not alone – Boating NZ magazine have featured the site in their May 2013 issue & pinned the title of ‘Website of the month’ on us. When the article went to press the site had enjoyed 11,000 views, as of today its now 24,000+.
Thanks for visiting the site & special thanks to those that post replies & send in content.

As always, if you have anything you feel should be featured on the site just email it to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Cheers Alan H

ps a little tip, make sure you always click on the ‘replies’ link to view all the comments & info others are posting on a particular item.

pps a big tip, to get the most from the site you really do need to be a ‘follower’ – I have posted details on how to do this previously on the site so scroll down or type ‘How to get the most out of waitematawoodys’ in the search box & hit enter.

Ruamano

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Ruamano

RUAMANO

Another of those very special parts of our history & heritage & part of the group that could perhaps include vessels such as LINDA, LADY GAY, WIRIHANA, RAIONA, etc., She was built for the Court family of John Courts Ltd major department store owners in Queen St Auck, in the late 1920 or early 1930s. was 46 ft long, & was sadly lost at sea, off the West Coast post 2000, by the owners of the day, who abandoned her at sea during a circumnavigation attempt around NZ, which she had previously completed once before, in her earlier days,. They left, in inappropriate conditions, struck high seas off the West Coast of the North Island, were taken off by a merchant vessel in the area, & they abandoned her with the engine running, & left her to founder ( she was seen a few days later by another merchant vessel still with the engine idling) — very sad ending for a very beautiful lady.

When built she had 2 Redwing Petrol engines which were replaced about 1947 with a single Graymarine 6-71 diesel, a 2 cycle diesel engine, — virtually a GM Detroit, marinised by Graymarine, which she had until her demise.

During the mid 40s she had her original dodger replaced with the beautiful stainless steel dodger which she has in the pic, which must have cost a fortune, but suited her very well. I only ever saw her once with her original dodger & have known her since 1946. I took the pic in Matiatia in 1949 She belonged to Jim Luke of the Claude Neon Lights Ltd family, of Glendowie whom I knew, in the later 40s & 50s.

Story & photo supplied by Ken Ricketts

NOTE: In a later posting of waitmatawoodys I will expand on the ill fated circumnavigation story. alan h

Zephyr

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Zephyr

ZEPHYR

Zephyr was designed by Dick Lang & almost certainly built by him circa early 1940s.

Photo as she was, in 1948/49, taken by me at Schoolhouse Bay Kawau — wonder where she is now? .Possibly had a converted truck engine at that time. Have no other history or info — Ken Ricketts just liked the look of her when he took the photo. If anyone can help with more info please post.

18-02-2020 Update ex Andrea Collings

Andrea has located a couple of photos, see below.  Reproduction is not the best but we roll with that.. The one on the skid, is from when Andrea’s grandfather first brought her.  Andrea commented it has her grandmother, uncle (and she thinks her aunt). Andrea  believes she was having her motor removed.  Her grandfather (Mac Kelly) thought she was to thirsty and put a smaller engine in. 
The 2nd photo is of her has Mac standing and one of his sons sunbathing on her roof.
Andrea is not sure of dates for these photos but believes it would have to be in the 1950’s.
Zephyr remained in their family until about 1985 when she was sold to a man from Auckland who Andrea was told was the gent who took her bridge off. After that Andrea didnt know what happened to Zephyr until she received an email WW and then read Logan’s post.
Andrea has promised to continue to track down any more information and photos, so it can be added to her story.

Robyn Gae (Connie V)

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Robin Gay (Connie V)

New Photo (Water Gipsy) ex Harold Kidd 16/04/2014

WATER GIPSY464

ROBIN GAE (CONNIE V)
CONNIE V was built by Lane Motor Boat Co in 1949 for Valentine of Hamilton and originally had 2 x Chrysler 75hp Ace engines, hopefully the article reproduces well enough to read. The photo shown in the article was taken in 1938 at the long demolished Mechanics Bay wharf.

Harold Kidd Update 16/04/2014

I’ve had a chance since posting the above to review all the above material and to compare images of WATER GIPSY and CONNIE V. Morrie relies heavily on the Register of British Ships and it leads him into a whole bunch of traps because, for various reasons, the information is frequently dodgy. I’ve discussed this with him before. He infers that CONNIE V was built new in 1935 for Valintine, and that’s exactly what I’ve always thought until now.
WATER GIPSY (another image attached) was launched in October 1934 for C. Miller by Cox & Filmer (Speedcraft Boat Co) with dimensions 32ft x 8ft 6in. She was a slightly extended version of a 30 footer built by Cox & Filmer for one Martin (haven’t identified her yet). Miller used WATER GIPSY for a while (eg Marjorie Miller visited yacht LITTLE JIM from her on 2/2/35) and then she “disappears”.
Now, if you compare my image of WATER GIPSY with the image of CONNIE V in Paul Titchener’s highly erroneous article above (I assume whoever posted it had PT’s copyright permission), which was based solely on family anecdote I imagine, as Paul married Valintine’s daughter, you will clearly observe that the two boats are identical back to the aft end of the clerestory.
It is obvious to me that the truth is in the cracks between the various versions.
I think this is what happened.

WATER GIPSY was obviously a bit of a problem, ergonomically. She had no cockpit, had a pair of davits across the counter, and would have been a pain to handle. Valintine bought her in 1937, renamed her CONNIE V after Mrs. V, had her lengthened to her final dimension of 38ft, with the provision of a cockpit, coaming and dodger over…..much more user friendly. The work was undoubtedly done by Lanes who also fitted her with a Chrysler Crown in September 1939. That was after the Kawau petrol fire in January 1939 when Valintine scuttled her by chopping a hole in her hull, saving the boat. It may also have been after he sold her to E.M. Henry (Lambourne bought her from Henry).
She remained in the Lambourne family until 1956 or so but Lambourne obligingly changed her name to ROBYN GAE on 14/11/49 at the time Lanes launched the second CONNIE V for Valintine.

There’s a whiff of assumption in the above which I detest in others………………….

How to – hints on removing bottom paint off a wooden hull

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How to - hints on removing bottom paint off a wooden hull

Hints on removing bottom paint off a wooden hull (ex Baden Pascoe – MV John Dory)

The best time to do a major paint job on the bottom of your boat is when you have it out for a major or minor refit. Just wait long enough and the timber will shrink from under the years of paint and become very easy to remove. Leave this job to the very last as the paint also holds a little moisture in the planking while you are doing the endless list of other jobs.

I started off by placing tarps under the boat to catch all the old paint and then three of us used Linbide (spelling?) scrapers. My friend Jim Mateer has put a long pipe handle on his with a plug in the end and as you scrape, most of the paint flakes run down the centre of the handle. Just empty it every 5 min or so. He sometimes attaches a vacuum cleaner via a soft vac tube, I tell ya, it works very well, I think with the three of us it took about 6 hours work.
I took 23 kg off John Dory and I am very proud to say none of it went into the sea, I disposed of it at Trans Pacific for about $50.00. Then I sanded the surface and gave it 3 coats of International Primercon, one very diluted coat so that it went into the timber, one medium dilution and them a fairly non
diluted coat. The bottom looked so smooth, not bad for an old fishing boat!!
Then I gave it two hard anti fouls in blue and covered it with two soft antifouls. So, when I go to repaint, I just scrub or wet sand off until I see the blue paint. That way I hope to never have to do this again.

JD and Jack Taylor

Photo shows  Jack Taylor now 92 (going on 60) & Jim Mateer, in his late 70’s working on John Dory.