Shemara

Little rot pocket

2012-01-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

Made an accidental hole in the deck a couple of days ago between the transom and the mainsheet traveller, revealing some rot.

The deck is Douglas fir ply. Imported cars years ago used to come in big containers made of the stuff, and many decks in Wellington as well as ply-built boats are made from the stuff.

The transom is two inches thick and still in perfect condition.
Photos here show the hole, and where me and my mate Ben cut it back to clean wood.

From the RPNYC archive

2011-07-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd just pop this one in. I found it yesterday in the club archive. No date, but would guess the 60s some time.

Click the photo to get a larger version.

Island Bay Race 2011

2011-07-07T20:53:00.001-07:00

There's a few more little bits and pieces to do on the lovely Shemara: new sails, take out the old engine. Poke about a bit, but she done now. So here's some photos taken in the Cook St a few weeks ago.

More from the slow boats regatta

2010-05-17T02:31:00.000-07:00

These were taken on board Shemara. Really must do something about that jib halyard tension!

The yellow and white kite is an asymmetrical spinnaker. It works OK but really needs a spar two or three feet longer (to work with the regular jib still up). We tried the other symmetrical kkite which is great, but didn't get any pics of it up. You can see it drying out a the bottom.

Also here is Sean in action with his funny way of rowing backwards.

Slow boat regatta

2010-05-15T15:19:00.001-07:00

Organised by the crew of Tracer, about six yachts joined in a race for the slow boats, followed by a barbie. These photos were taken by one of their crew. We followed up with a barbie at Milan's shed.

Photos: Milan getting his new spinnaker pole sorted for Charlie ; Mike trying to thread a masthead jib halyard for Galatea ; milling around the start line are Charlie (giving Shemara a tow out) and Galatea ; Thelma in full flight ; Charlie ; Shemara and Thelma ; on board Tracer ; 3 pics of Shemara at Somes Island ; BBQ scenes (plus Mike and Craig looking like they're coming to trade for muskets).

I'll put my pics up when I find the cable for my camera!

Sister ship

2010-04-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

Left is Shemara's sister ship Gazelle. She was built shortly after Shemara, though from what I've heard, she's been misdated to the 1970s. She is planked in cedar, and sold to Australia around ten years ago. This photo is from a for sale ad in Australia in 2002.

Where is she now? I see a lot of Norfolk Pine in the background - could it be Qld?

Paint

2010-04-06T14:09:00.001-07:00

Easter was spent waterblasting, scraping, sanding, priming, undercoating and painting. Topsides and hull. It's a bit rough in patches but we ran out of time, so had to be practical. However - a vast improvement! Mike helped me sail her back to the mooring and she really likes a bit of extra wind (20 kt gusts) ; and a smooth hull made a huge difference!

The picture here shows the antifouling job just about done.

Let there be light

2010-03-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

I've got some nav lights now, all wired up and they go!

I got the LED ones, which are super bright, and they run off a twelve volt rechargeable battery. I knocked up a little box for the battery from marine ply, which is hidden well forward; and I put in a bakelite light switch, which is the sum of my electronics board. Wiring works, but I'll not bother to get it tidy till I've decided how to fit out the interior.

I also made the rather simple but snazzy mount for the stern light out of mahogany.

Interior lights will be battery run LEDs when I get around to it.

little jobs

2010-02-09T23:52:00.000-08:00

The great thing about bronze is that you can bury it in the ground, leave it at the bottom of the sea, or in the open air, come back after 3000 years and it is as good as new. Museums are full of it.

Anyway, here is an old rod of bronze (of course not that old!) that I made a thread on. It will hold the spinnaker pole cup to the mast.

Also -

There are the headsail tracks and jarrah handrails cleaned of paint and on their way to being cleaned up.

I made a solid mahogany outboard bracket, nicely capped much in the same way as our doghouse doors.

I've also started scraping away paint that needs to be redone.

Moki

2010-02-03T01:59:00.000-08:00

I just bought a doer upper to put in the garage when the sponsor and I move to the coast next month. At 50 bucks including the trailer, I couldn't in all conscience let it go for scrap.

It was purchased by the vendor's father in 1978, and was told then that she was built in 1893, which is possible, but after a bit of discussion with some very knowledgeable types on the CYA forum, she's more likely built during the first 20 or 30 years of of the 20th century. Anyway, I'm writing around the local clubs to try and find something out.

The lovely Phillipa is keeping it in front of her house, gamely fending off the local kids for a month till we get her up the coast; and Mike has already donated a lovely oregon mast. I'm fast stacking up the favours!

We did a rough and ready measurement, and she's about 20 feet by 6 feet, with about 2 feet max draft. All Kauri, and all but one of the plank lines are full length. Does this boat hold a record for the most sistered frames? I think it must do!

(I'm loving the 1930s bling at the bow).

Reasons to be cheerful Part 5

2010-01-30T00:36:00.000-08:00

Friday evening on the water. We had a little breeze, which was forecast to fill in to nice 10 knots. It didn't.

A bucket of toerail

2010-01-27T00:20:00.000-08:00

At left is all that is left of the old toerail starboard side. Below is the new one in the shed ready to put on, and at bottom is the boat with it all done.

The sponsor and I got this side on, but we had a bit of a drama when it started to split. So we graved in a new piece and it looks good.

This evening we had a lovely time varnishing and drinking beer in the sunshine.

The external part of the boat is almost done!

An engine

2010-01-19T00:26:00.000-08:00

I'm now the proud owner of a Seagull outboard - the Vespa for boats; Stylish, reliable, and a bit heavier than their modern counterparts.

This one's a Silver Century long shaft. At 6HP, it should do for Shemara

toerail

2010-01-04T01:32:00.001-08:00

Finally got a toe rail on! In August the sponsor and I got some kauri stock and cut and bevelled it. I'd chipped off the old toerail on the port side because there was some rot there in spots.

I'd scarfed up two pieces as you can see in the pictures, but once the first bit was on, decided not to join themup, as the three quarter length toerail makes it look a bit more sporty I reckon.

Anyway, the same will happen to the starboard side before long (even though there's nothing wrong with it), as she looks a bit imbalanced now.

Mike gave me a hand. In these pics he's using a punch to finish driving the square shank copper nails I'd banged in. The sponsor turned up again a bit later and she can be seen trimming the bungs after I've got them glued. We managed to get one coat of varnish on before the encroaching dark and beer slowed us down.

The wind turned quickly to the South in the evening, bringing a lot of cloud and a great big rainbow. So took some pics of that too.

Faffing

2009-12-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

The sponsor having a bit of a faff. I think we forgot to tie of the connecting line for the fore and aft mooring lines.

Reasons to be cheerful. Part 3 (part 2)

2009-11-23T17:08:00.000-08:00

These are pics from when we took Belgian Ben out. He didn't like it that the spinnaker looks like a Dutch flag!

Rum Race

2009-11-07T00:18:00.001-08:00

The sponsor and I took Ben out last night. The course was to take us into the channel where strangely there was no wind so, rather than bobbing aroung in the dark with neither motor nor nav lights waiting for a ferry to bump into us we stayed with the breeze inshore and came home early.

Mikey's Galatea won the rum though so all was well.

We're getting good at the old sailing off and on our mooring in the marina now. Respect in the clubhouse!

gfdkjgn

Fireworks

2009-11-06T22:47:00.000-08:00

Guy Fawkes night at the sheds Thursday night. It's a video.
When did crowds lose yay and start going whoop?

reasons to be cheerful, part 4

2009-11-06T22:26:00.000-08:00

Went out last Saturday with the sponsor and Mike but didnt take any pics. So here's some taken in June on Mike's boat Galatea, built 1910 by the Le Huquets.

I'm the scruffy hairy one, and Mike's the other scruffy hairy one.

Reasons to be cheerful. Part 3

2009-10-26T19:10:00.001-07:00

Some pics from the weekend sailing with the Sponsor and Ben the Belgian. As you can see there was bugger all wind and at times we had to start the auxiliary engine (see bottom pic)

Blow it up man

2009-10-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

A story about Roydon Thomas from NZ Skipper magazine 2007.
http://www.skipper.co.nz/S59%20WEB/S59%20Hautapu%20Sinking%20p25.pdf

I might say that his participation has been common knowledge for some time, though it's nice to have details.

HAUTAPU SINKING MAY BE SOLVED

BY LYNTON DIGGLE
September/October 2007 Professional Skipper p25

It was one of the most frustrating
maritime mysteries of 1966. Who
blew up and sank the fishing trawler
Hautapu at a wharf in Wellington?

The 41m fishing trawler sank at her
mooring at the Royal New Zealand Air
Force base in Shelly Bay on June 2,
1966, when explosives were laid in the
engineroom and a hole was blasted in
the steel hull early in the morning.

The wreckage lay on the bottom for
several years while police hunted the
bomber, and authorities argued over who
would pay for its removal. No-one was
arrested and Royal New Zealand Navy
divers finally cut up the wreckage.

Now Shirley Thomas says her brotherin-
law, the late Roydon Thomas, was
one of the people who sank the Hautapu
in Shelly Bay in 1966. For 40 years she
has stayed silent on the part her roguish
relative played in one of Wellington’s
biggest naval mysteries.

Shirley was at home with husband
Norman when his brother, Roydon,
arrived early on June 2, 1966, in an
agitated state. Hours earlier, the trawler,
a former minesweeper, had sunk after
an explosion tore a hole in her hull as
she sat alongside Shelly Bay wharf.
Explosives had been packed on the
ship to help the RNZAF sink it in Cook
Strait, but police and naval officials
were unsure why they detonated early, or who was to blame.
Now, after reading a Dominion Post story in June on the
sinking, Shirley Thomas has revealed a family secret. She
understands the explosion was the result of a plan hatched by
Roydon with some friends to remove brass fittings from the
ship before it was sunk. The group had gathered at Roydon’s
boatshed in Evans Bay, where he was living after separating
from his wife.

Roydon was well known in Wellington maritime circles and
was working as first mate on a fishing boat at the time. “They
were around there drinking one night and they decided it was a
crying shame that all the brass was going to waste,” Mrs Thomas
said.

They used small charges to blow portholes off their mounts,
and apparently unaware that explosives had already been packed
on the ship, they set off the main explosives, ripping a hole in the
Hautapu’s hull and sinking the vessel.

“Roy said they were standing on the wharf nearly crying that
she was going down.”

After lying low at his brother’s house, Roydon eventually
returned to Evans Bay. “I think he was scared somebody would
find out and make them pay.” He drowned five years later, aged
39, after falling into the sea from a wharf on the Wellington
waterfront. Mrs Thomas said Roydon
was a rogue who loved life at sea, and
would have meant no harm with his
plan to salvage brass off the Hautapu.
Roydon had recounted the events to
Norman who then told her and, with
both men now dead, she decided to tell
the family. “I sort of pursue a policy
of keeping my mouth closed on these
things.”

A maritime historian, Bob McDougall,
said it was possible Roydon Thomas
and others had sunk the ship, as it was
still an unexplained crime. “It’s one
of those mysteries that has been left
to lie.”

The Hautapu, a Castle class
minesweeper, was built in Port Chalmers
for the Navy during the Second World
War, and had been moored at Shelly
Bay for two years after her crew had
run her aground at Long Point, on the
eastern entrance to Cook Strait, late in
1963.

The 272 tonne trawler was pounded
by the sea for several months and badly
damaged before the Peranos’ whaling
tender Tuatea salvaged her and towed
her to Wellington.

She was found to be damaged beyond
repair and laid up until 1966, when she
was given to the air force, and was to
have been towed to a point 20 miles
off Cape Palliser, the southernmost point of the North Island, for
bombing practice.

The minesweeper HMNZS Inverell had been organised to tow
her out, but was diverted to Cape Reinga to search for a missing
coal ship, the Kaitawa.

For several years the Hautapu sank deeper into the mud while
the Navy, the Air Force, the registered owners and the Wellington
Harbour Board argued over who should pay for her removal.
Lynton Diggle, and his co-authors, his wife Edith, and Keith
Gordon, who are preparing the eighth edition of The New
Zealand Shipwreck Book, due to be released in November, said
the wrangle was finally settled, and the Hautapu was cut up by
Navy divers and removed in 1973.

One popular rumour in 1966 was that senior government and
Navy officials having a heavy drinking session at the Shelly
Bay base decided to blow it up for their own entertainment.
However, Lynton Diggle said that that theory was highly
unlikely. “It was a wonderful story, but I don’t believe a bit
of it.”

Forty years on, the controversy of the Hautapu may have
been solved before the next edition of the Shipwreck Book is
published.
Contact diggle@words-worth.co.nz

Engine

2009-10-02T00:16:00.000-07:00

Time to start thinking about this engine thing. It's a Stuart Turner, and I think, from looking around the web, that it is a P55M model. I can't be sure though, as the plate which should be there no longer is. Here are some pics. Can anybody confirm it for me? It starts with a hand crank - no starter motor from what I can tell. The magneto is labelled "Lucas".

The engine has a forward and reverse gear, and a little knob to control revs.

Luckily, the thing isn't seized, I can turn it quite easily, and the moving bits look well lubricated and free from rust.
My knowledge of petrol engines is remedial at best. I don't know the process for starting it, as the knobs are all unlabelled. There is also a dipstick, which surprised me, as I thought petrol engines had the oil mixed in with the fuel. Maybe that's just outboards. The oil on the stick looks pretty clean but I'll drain it anyway, once I find the plug (any suggestions where that might be? And where do I pour in the new stuff?).

I want to begin by cleaning it up a bit, replacing the oil and fuel, and giving it a new spark plug. I daresay the water intake pipes might need looking at too - the valves look all rusted up. If I'm lucky, that might be enough to get something happening.

Where the handcrank shaft meets the magneto, it rattles around a bit. Any info on how to tighten that up? You can see where it enters in the fourth picture below.

Manly mast

2009-09-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

Mast is back up finally!

Below are pics of her tied up at the overseas terminal, and my mixings for making up some red lead paint to line the mast step. You can still buy the stuff ready mixed for a lot of money from chandleries, but it is way cheaper to make up yourself: It's just a mixture of powdered lead tetroxide, boiled linseed oil and a drying agent. You can sometimes get the lead powder from potters' supplies as it is used in glazeware. You're not allowed to deal in it any more but most suppliers have some out the back somewhere left over from when the ban came in, and are glad to get something for it. I think I've just about cleaned all the locals out though now! It's rather silly, considering that epoxies are just as, if not more, poisonous.

Anyway, now she looks a little more like a boat. Trouble with the starboard backstay though: The pin that attaches is to the mast cap is stiff, and I have to go up and bang it back into alignment. What a pain. Still, the rigging fits very well. Croft carriers who I hired the hiab from are great. Quickly and effiently done, and they only charged $40.

I quite like the view of the boat from above - you can get a good idea of how strong she is in the hips.

Slippery when wet

2009-08-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Launch day went well. Here are some of the photos taken from my camera. Of course, I'm not in them so if anyone can send me a picture or two with me and Keryn actually rowing the thing around, please send it to me!

She scoots along quite nicely by the way.

Big thanks to Janet for providing some bunting and flowers, and Jo for getting the food out and about.

Done like a dinghy

2009-08-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

Finished now. Building it was the easy bit! Painting and varnishing took ages because of the drying times between coats but all's well.

I spliced Shemara's old spinnaker halyard to act as a painter. The sponsor's old man is a rigger at Port of Napier and taught me how to splice three strand rope this year.

The little bronze fitting on the stem that looks like a bottle opener came among the random bits of bronze that Andy the marina caretaker gave to me when he cleared out his shed. It's holding a little snubbing line which hopefully will act to keep her riding over the waves when in tow.

The little copper tube I used to line the painter's hole at the stem head came from Milan, who found it in front of his house and sat it on his work bench until a use was found for it.

I haven't attached the oarlocks yet, but that will happen this evening.

Launch party this Saturday at the shed. From 2pm for a 4pm launch.

BIG thanks to Nigel for the loan of the battens, table saw and the band saw; and Mikey for the million clamps.

Time now to twiddle thumbs.

Topcoats

2009-08-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of quick pics taken last night. Inside: first coat on; Outside: getting the first coat on.

Prime

2009-08-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Mikey points a screwdriver at one of his Vespas.

Good to see the designer is now a follower! I hope my workmanship isn't too disappointing for him.

Well we've got the primers on over the weekend, two coats outside and in, on top of the Everdure I put on last week. The strakes nearest the keel on the outside are a different colour because I used up the two-pot primer left over from my work on the mast. If the two-pot topcoat is too different a colour from the single pot, I guess I'll just have to either live with it (likely) or redo it (unlikely!). I like to think I'm building this in the real traditional manner (ie, not with stuff used in the old days, but with stuff I have handy so nothing goes to waste, like in the old days).

We're working on the topcoats this week, and then comes the varnishing! You can see in some of the pictures here all the shavings we swept out of the shed on Saturday. Quite a bit.

Another half model

2009-07-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

How many posts is this today? Anyway, it's been a busy couple of weeks. I went to Vancouver last weekend to go to my friend Sean's wedding. While he was living in NZ he bought an awesome boat called Rogue, built 1892 by Chas Bailey Jr in Auckland. He had to let it go, but did a great thing by stopping it sinking on its mooring, as no-one was willing to buy it at the time. We had some great adventures on that boat. There's some photos on my Facebook page. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, so didn't really get the finish I needed. The varnish just kept soaking right into the wood! It needs another coat or two. Anyway, It's made of Kahikitea, varnished with Goldspar original, and the backboard is Rimu, which I rubbed with boiled linseed oil. Down the bottom are two photos. One is of Rogue in her prime, the other taken a few years ago in Wellington harbour just to the West of Somes Island.

Sanding makes you thirsty

2009-07-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

We started sanding on Sunday. It was a lovely sunny day. As an aside, there was a very strange tidal surge: the tide was just beginning to ebb - maybe about 15 minutes into it, when two or three surges came though - about 3 inches each. It was enough to put the boardwalk under water. There's been a few earthquakes lately so am putting it down to that. No shipping was around at the time and it was a dead calm day. It was kind of spooky.

Seats for the tender

2009-07-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

We did this last week. We tried a few tricks for this I learned at the Woodenboat school in Maine a couple of years ago but ended up just measuring across with a tape measure and shaving the bevels to fit. The seats are more of the marine ply and the risers and knees are solid mahogany. We got a bit creative with the clamping; using some heavy hardware from Shemara's mast to get downward pressure, and clamping bits of wood here and there on finished bits and giving the end a bang with a mallet so it budged up tight against the bit getting glued and screwed horizontally. You can see that in the pictures where we clamped a bit of Fiji Kauri to the centre seat, and banged the end of the wood so it put some pressure on the end seats against the planking. This helped get a tight fit

Mast finishing finished

2009-07-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well that's done. A week over schedule in Dave's shed but he didn't mind which is good. Milan and Mike gave me a hand on the weekend getting it on the boat. Just waiting for Duffy now to get his stuff on the wiring done and she'll be back up. The brightwork is two coats of thinned Everdure and then 12 coats of Goldspar original. The white paint is two-pot epoxy. The other two pictures are of my shed taken from the water. I took them whilst rowing back because it looked rather choice.

...and another tender post

2009-06-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

With all my concentration being on Shemara lately, the sponsor had rightly got after me about the tender project being a little stalled.

Last Friday the external filleting of the seams had been completed, so we flipped her over. We have since attached the rubrails, inwhales, quarter knees and breasthook. Now I think all we need do is get the seats in and we can begin sanding and ten varnish and paint. Fun!

More on the Mast

2009-06-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well it took almost 3 full days' work to get the mast scraped and sanded but it is done and I"m on the fourth coat of varnish. Trev and and apprentice from Duffy's helped me carry it around to the shed, I measured up all the rigging and all labelled, took it back to Duffy's to give me a quote on the replacement. Andy the caretaker then helped me get it into Vice Commodore Dave's long shed, as my mast won't get into mine. Cheers Dave - I don't think it'll be in there too long.

The first picture here is of the original (made of Douglas Fir) and my replacement (Mahogany) support for the mainsail track as it feeds up the mast. The glue had failed, and as the original had a bit of green growth on it I thought it would be best to attach a new one. Then follow:

Spreader ends (spreaders are of Jarrah and look great)
Mast head (galvanised steel)
Scraping
Everdure on
All priming done.

The thing is looking really shiny now, so when the finish is done I'll post up the pic.

Fairing

2009-06-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

Two posts today!

Here are two pics of the tender's hull. I tried to put fibreglass tape around the keel for a bit of abrasion protection and strength but it was a bit of a disaster so I pulled it off again before it cured. I've stuck some capping on instead, made of Kwila. The hull is just about fair now, and the sponsor and I will do a bit more sanding tonight and then flip her over to get started on fitting out.

Thank goodness for mates

2009-06-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

All tied up in the evening.

Yesterday I finally got the mast out of Shemara. A few days ago Ben took his lunch break to come down and help me paddle her to the wharf for the crane. The Northerly was a bit too strong so it didn't happen. A few days later Mike steered her while I dragged her out with the tender. I spent the night on her to guard against yahoos, removed all the rigging, and booked the crane for that morning.

Trev (who can be seen here in the white jumper on launch day) lent a hand at the time of the hoist out and towed me back with his lovely little launch "Cygnet". Crofts, the crane company, were great. It only cost 80 bucks. In the final picture you can see the penny which has stuck to the foot of the mast. Lucky it's there because modern coins are made of rubbish metal.

Planking on

2009-06-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well another week has passed and we have all the planking done. We've got quite a few fans around the waterfront at the moment and gazillions of advice. But we know what we are doing (I think).

Lots of people are telling me how their tenders are falling apart, so there might be a little fleet of Romneys in Wellington before long.

Now it's time to fill the outside seams with thickened epoxy before flipping her over.

Welcome to the new blog follower from Brazil.

Planking on the weekend

2009-06-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

We're now ready to get planks number 4 on. So that means we're half way through the planking. If we're lucky and consistent, that means we should be ready to turn her over by the weekend!

I quite like these pics, with Shemara in the background at her mooring. Very nice!

Planking last week

2009-06-07T15:36:00.001-07:00

We started planking. It takes about a day to get each pair on, as you have to wait for glue to dry - even then we're kind of pushing it. Fitting I guess only takes about an hour.Top picture shows the garboards, then the process continues...

The jig's up

2009-06-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

The sponsor and I are attempting to build a new tender. It's a Romney 2.2.

Top Picture: Shaping the top curve of the keel. I used the Spokeshave for this. You can see the planks already cut out on the floor, and the stem on the table on the right.

In the next picture, I'm using a piece of scrap as a guide to plane the angle at the aft end of the keel.
The next two pictures show the sponsor making sure all is square (ish) and straight.

The final pictures show it all glued and clamped up. We'll get on to the fitting of the planks when the epoxy dries. It's very cold here at the moment and doesn't seem to want to cure at all.

1/2 model

2009-05-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

Woodworking in the lounge is a messy affair

It's been raining a hell of a lot recently so stayed indoors and made a half model of Shemara, taken from the original blue-line drawing. It's only my second go at a half model; it's a complex shape and I have no power tools, so it's a bit rough - particularly at the sheerline. Nevertheless, it's not too bad I think. It's made of Fiji Kauri and finished with boiled linseed oil.

Fiji Kauri is easy to work but is pretty ugly I've found!

Reasons to be cheerful, part 2

2009-04-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

The sponsor takes the helm

Reasons to be cheerful, part 1

2009-04-27T20:26:00.001-07:00

A nice evening for a sail

I thought I'd better get the sponsor out before we lost too much evening light, so, on a fine evening (could have used a bit more breeze but played it safe) we went out with a couple of sailing chums, Ben and Milan.

The weather was a little too light really, but in the few gusts that came along she dug in and stiffened up quite nicely. I have since managed to loosen the leech chords on the sails, and after these pics were taken we noticed the wayward lug on the mainsail which is causing the crease seen in the pics here. When fixed, it set well better!

Milan loved my doghouse doors.

Doghouse Doors

2009-04-16T21:53:00.001-07:00

The original doors were a bit rubbish so I have built new ones. The ones that were on were ply covered with that laminex fake wood veneer stuff that you see on cheap furniture and stereos built a generation ago. It was frayed, delaminating and faded in the weather. Still, they were pretty good for 50 years old at that. I've kept them for posterity's sake.

I've built the new ones out of solid 1 inch thick mahogany. The laps and edges are capped, also with mahogany, glued with International Epiglue and nailed in place with small bronze ring nails. Varnish is the Goldspar Original. That should last I reckon!

I think they look quite nice. I tapered the capping on the top edges a little to increase the impression of the slight curve that that edge has. You only see it though if you look so that's why I mention it.

I guess one day I'll get around to polishing the bronze hinges (and other fittings) but at the moment life is too short for that.

Making things

2009-04-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here are the rests I made for the kite pole. They're made from teak and finished with boiled linseed oil. I drilled little hole to hold bits of twine but then changed my mind and came up with the bright idea of resting them on leather so I got some dog collars and cut them to fit. Unfortunately, the cheap metal corroded almost immediately so, rather than having to check that the person on the foredeck has had their tetanus shot, I've cut the leather back to simply sit in the rest and gone back to the twine.

Almost all teak spinnaker pole rests I have seen end up broken easily as feet and heavy things smack into them, leaving you with a useless small piece of wood screwed to the deck. My design protects against that and looks better anyway. I only had a file and a craft knife to do the shaping so they're a bit rustificated.

Rustification

2009-04-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

My neighbour in Clyde Quay used this term when he saw me making teak cheeks for a Ronstan block I plan to use in slab reefing the mainsail.

Here is some REAL rustification! They are the fore and backstays. They were once galvanised. Now replaced with very expensive stainless ones, seen in the final picture in place attached to the forestay.

Varnish

2009-04-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Left: the Boom

The pictures here show the jobs I started in June last year when I was back in Wellington on holiday.I’m not sure how many coats there are on them, as I started getting fuzzy around the time I got to 9 coats: so I added a few more and called it done. They were left for 6 months then I gave each one another coat for good measure on my return to NZ. I now have by far the brightest spars in the marina. When I point out my boat from the shore to people, they invariably say, “Is it that one with the shiny boom?” Perhaps they’re being polite because the rest of her still looks a bit rough.

I started by scraping the drab brown paint they were covered in and sanded. I used International Goldspar (Original). Lots of people suggested additives, etc, to prime the timber but I figured it must already have something as the mast and spars were all clear finished when built. Anyway, I don’t know enough about these things to go my own way so following the manufacturer’s instructions made the most sense and I’m quite happy with the result. The ends are primed and painted with off white International polyurethane.

Left: Spinnaker Pole
There are a few bumps and stains in the timber, which some people like to try to swell and or bleach out of their old boats. I think they look better with their small age-induced imperfections: I don’t want a boat that looks fresh out of an Ikea catalogue – I want a patina!Having said that, I don’t want the shrouds and stays to gouge away at the spars, so I’ve laid some twine around them where they are likely to come into contact from time to time. I’ve yet to paint it in these photos. I just used some white paint I found in the shed.

Left: Spinnaker Pole and Jockey Pole.
I’ve now got to do the mast and that leaves me in a bit of a quandary: The mast doesn’t leak, so I want to leave it alone; but I’m a bit afraid of the condition of the fittings at the top of the mast which may let me down (literally – and very quickly) should I try to go up on a halyard. Anyway, I’ll think of
something later on. It may require a big ladder, low tide and a calm day near a dock on a day when I’m not at work. Might take some time...
Bottom: Tiller scraped down and hung ready to varnish.

2009-03-31T21:46:00.001-07:00

Top: Launch Day 1958. Mum and daughter watch the boys get her in the water at Balaena Bay in Evans Bay.

Below: From left, Frank Ballinger, Roydon Thomas, Pete Prendeville. Date unknown. Pete was on board the Matuku when a whale knocked her keel off in the middle of the Tasman in 1968. They were afloat in a liferaft for 5 days before being spotted and picked up by a tanker. (I think it was Pete) said on his return that the worst thing was his balls being terribly cold in the bottom of the liferaft. One of the ladies knitted him a sock to guard against such future disasters.

Bottom: In the Cook Strait on a fine day in 1972. I still have the spinnaker - in fact all of the sails since built I think.

Introduction

2009-03-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

Shemara outside my shed at Clyde Quay, Wellington

I quite like this boat, because it was designed by a Wellingtonian for racing in Wellington, and I am proud to be the second owner, having purchased her from the builder.

Anyone who has been here knows that Wellington boats have special needs. Add the wind to the fact that the Cook Strait funnels Southern Ocean swells through a very narrow and steep gap, and that the Islands’ tides are close enough to alternately suck and pull at each other, and you begin to realise why Wellington sailors develop a rather crazed look in their eyes whenever they talk about taking the boat on holiday to the Sounds. The Cook Strait does not suffer fools, though I like to think she has a soft spot for people with just the right combination of lunacy and respect. See here for a recent account of some people who had just crossed the southern ocean and got a little surprise near their destination of Wellington.

To be frank, the sea doesn’t give a shit who you are, and that’s the main thing to remember, and really why I like it so much.

I sail and have sailed for many years with a local legend Phil Hartley, who has told me a little of the building of the boat and the characters of Roydon and Frank, who were neighbours. Roydon has a reputation of being a hard drinking troublemaker, though the younger Hartleys remember him fondly: Murray remembers a cheerful soul, smiling, red of face, with thumbs stuck in his braces. Phil, whose first keeler (Ondine – which he built) was a Thomas design, says that in many ways he was ahead of his time. I’m not sure what he was referring to, though she sits high on the water, is reasonably flat aft, and there is not much to her for’ard at the water line. He saw Shemara built and says will last forever (barring accidents).

Frank, who was a grumpy old bugger by all accounts, didn’t like going out in rough seas (though he was caught in a few), and Phil says she was never pushed much (except on launch day: She was built on Grafton Road and manhandled down to the water on a succession of greased planks via backyards, roads and steps).

Phil also tells me that Frank would never speak to him, and even if he did, he (Phil) wouldn't have answered.

At left is a photo of my original copy of James Cook's chart of Cook Strait (printed 1780) The crosses you can see along the Western Coast aren't actually rocks (crosses symbolise rocks in chartmaking), they are a mess of breaking water generated at the head of the Tory Channel (not charted here). These rips occur at several places around the Strait at different times.