Great Job on the rehab, JB👍👍👍
Looks like she moves along nicely
Trev

Hi Peter, unfortunately doesn't get used a lot now, even though the water is just down the road. The boat ramp is on the wrong side of the bridge, so yachting is out of the question, unless i want to travel 12km out on the peninsula to the boat ramp by the Gulf Harbour marina. All the beaches round here are very shallow sloping sand, and the tide goes out for miles.

The only way I could launch it is to drop it off on the beach, and wait for an incoming tide. I used to take it out from the beach in the previous pic, which is 20 mins south, with better access, but since I've moved up here I've found it difficult to launch anything. The tide goes right out in the estuary, leaving rocks at the entrance, so is only useable from 1/4 tide incoming, and min 1/4 tide outgoing. Bit of a pain. The 12ft racing yacht is ok for beach launching though.

pic 1, I'm standing on a rock ledge in the middle of the estuary,- had to park my dinghy (on right) for a few hours, along with 2 bigger boats, (one went right over the rocks and smashed the prop on his 80hp outboard to bits) - estuary is only ankle deep with this very low tide. It's a shame, as it's a brilliant boating area right up the coast.

Last sail 8 months ago.

JB

Well done JB. You really have done a good Job with the renovations.
Peter.😃👍

Excellent workmanship. Ah the wooden boats speak volumes, the Tupperware boats just exist.
Thanks for sharing

The 15ft daysailer was bought as a project in 2007, and was in very rough condition. Took me a year to strip everything down, repair rot, f/glass the deck and re-paint and varnish everything. F/glassed the drop centerboard and rudder blade, and made a new mahogany rudder stock and re-stayed the mast. Also removed an outboard well and re decked it to original. It's a 1953 American design by Edson. I. Schock. and was built in Auckland in 1979. Has a rig equivalent to a 470 Olympic yacht. A few pics before and after.

JB

Nice sailboat, did you build them ?

Great Background on the Seagull, JB
A lot of the small sailboats had them as an auxiliary in my area.
Trev

These were some before pics of one of the Seagulls. Good thing is, they are so simple to work on, everything comes apart easily for cleaning. Last pic is a 2.5hp 40 plus I did up and sold about 12 yrs ago,- great little motor. We still have the longest Seagull 'race' in the world down the Waikato river, and other 'races' round the country.

https://boatingnz.co.nz/seagull-racing/

There are still hundreds of these outboards running in NZ and thousands round the world. There was a guy in Canada who was a Seagull fanatic, who did fantastic 'as new' restorations in a log cabin by a lake, and specialised in spares as well. There is also a 'round the Island' Seagull race in Bermuda every year. Not many entries this year by the looks of it, -used to be huge.




JB

Looks Like everything is Ship Shape JB
I envy your location!
Trev

Good job JB. Looks like new.😃

Nice work on the trailer JB,
Those old outboards look like they are museum pieces, nothing wrong with that like you said probably out last the Chinese outboard.

Cheers,
Stephen.

Finished painting everything, ready to go again. Have to give the Seagulls a run, but they always start (57 yrs old and still run perfectly) -simple is best. They will still outlast the 6yr old Chinese 15hp Yamaha copy by years. Noisy, oily. smoky but they go,

running up the estuary a few years ago.



JB

Assuming that this is not a scale model on your train layout? 😵‍💫

I am very lucky JB. My boats are in the river at the bottom of the garden for 8 months of the year ready to go.😃

Boats are nice to have Peter, but they do create a bit of work for something which just sits around as a lawn ornament most of the year. The 12ft racing dinghy doesn't require any work, as it hangs in the garage above the car, but the 15ft sailboat is a swine to clean,- so many frames etc to scrub round. I was thinking of doing a model of it, as I have a copy of the original plans and building instructions I bought from a guy in Pennsylvania, who used to reproduce old plans. I also bought the plans for a 12ft version.

JB

Just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit and then I have to anti-algae the small boat and fit a GPS with fish finder to the Wellcraft. Final job to change the oil in the V8 engine. Back in the water by April. Fresh water so not so much damage to trailer or boat. Just have to fully winterise both before the freezing weather. All done for this year.😃