Boating New Zealand - May 2018

uilt in 1949 by the legendary Lüders

Marine Corporation in Connecticut,

Laughing Lady was recently relaunched

at Omaha after years of neglect and a

glorious restoration by the Whangateau

Boat Yard.

Her gleaming brightwork is ofset by period ittings and

ixtures – and though she boasts a few modern accessories

such as a chartplotter, these are discreetly-mounted, hidden

and out of sight until needed. So she looks pretty much as

she did when irst launched.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of her restoration is the

research that went into the project. Her owners – brothers

James and Michael Dreyer, together with George Emtage

and Pam Cundy at the boatyard – had very little to work with

by way of original plans or photos. Finding this information

took sleuth work, quite a bit of intuition, and a lot of luck.

I’ll get to the restoration in a minute, but irst some

background.

A 33-foot sports ishing boat, Laughing Lady was built for

a Mrs Winthrop Bailey – a wealthy American socialite who

hob-nobbed with British royalty. he boat was associated

with the glamour set from the get-go – and it’s easy to sense

that her name was eminently appropriate.

She was built for speed – her double-planked cedar and

mahogany hull, wrapped around oak framing, was powered

by twin, straight-eight 150hp Packard engines giving her a

speed of nearly 30 knots.

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LAUGHS AGAIN