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Mahogany Icon: Wimur II

This custom designed, hand crafted 38-foot John Hacker design Minett-Shield pleasure craft was built in 1929 and constructed of solid mahogany. It was the pride of the builder and a signature craft featured in many of the companies’ promotional material throughout the 1930s. This vessel features a 2-step planing hull capable of attain speeds in excess of 50 MPH. Stepped hull design is considered the fore-running design technology to that of present day racing hydroplanes. Wimur II’s innovative design has been imitated in days since but never duplicated, mass produced, nor has it been improved upon to this day. Wimur II is truly a unique one of a kind boat embodying not only stability, speed and comfort, but also embodies the elegance and style of a bygone era.

Wimur II Specifications

Builder: Minett-Shields

Steering: Bow cockpit drive

Condition: Structurally and mechanically sound, modified power plant and gauges. Boat has been in the water and running every season since it’s restoration in 1979. Wimur II has again undergone a total restoration in the winter of 2009/2010. Engine was rebuilt in 2003 and has no more than 25 hour on the rebuilt engine.

For additional, professional photos of Wimur II please follow this link
http://www.duvernetphotography.com/portfolio201116.html

Biography of Wimur II

Wimur II was originally custom built for James Y. Murdoch. As a young lawyer, J.Y. Murdoch not only drafted the incorporation of Noranda Mines Ltd. but also served as its president from 1923-1956. Called Noranda Minerals today, the multinational, multi-product company owes a great deal of its huge international success to this visionary mining executive born in Toronto in 1890. When he died in 1962, Mr. Murdoch was a director of more than 30 companies, many within the Noranda Group, still others in banking, insurance, paper, oil, railways and other industries.

As an early Muskoka seasonal resident Mr. Murdoch had a keen interest in motorboats. He commissioned Minett-Shields to custom build a 39' foot solid mahogany luxury launch that was unlike any other pleasure boats of the period. A two-step planing hull was incorporated into the design that at the time could only be found on racing boats of the period. This enabled Wimur II the ability of attaining speeds far in excess of the other pleasure boats with conventional displacement hulls. This John Hacker design Minett-Shields launch embodies a combination of not only speed and comfort but of style and elegance. Wimur II was originally powered by a 6 cylinder Hall-Scott engine that was later replaced by a World War II era cast iron Scripts V-12 which was destroyed as a result of a sinking, and finally by a 454 cubic inch 350 HP Cadillac Crusader in the late 1970's. Due to the high cost of building a vessel of this size and unique design it never became a production model nor was any comparable duplicates ever built. Wimur II is truly one of a kind! Wimur II was considered one of Minett-Shields crowning achievements and was featured in many of the company's promotional materials throughout the 1930's. It was also featured as recently as February 1995 in an issue of Wooden Boat Magazine.

The boat's second owner was Nelson Davis of the Argus Corporation. Mr. Davis changed the name of the boat from Wimur II to Daddy War Bucks until it was again sold weeks prior to his death in 1979 to J.A.D. Gray.

Mr. Gray was President and Chairman of the Board of St. Lawrence Starch Company Ltd. As a lifetime seasonal resident of Muskoka Mr. Gray was a classic boat enthusiast from an early age. In keeping with maritime tradition Mr. Gray changed the boat's name back to its original, Wimur II. At this point in its history Wimur II had fallen into disrepair and was totally restored to its former glory in 1979. Upon Mr. Gray's Death in 1988 the ownership of Wimur II passed to his son and current owner, D.A. Gray. Wimur II has again undergone a total restoration completed in 2010.

Originally the company was called Minett Boats and was founded in 1912 by Bert Minett. The Shields name was add upon the arrival of Bryson Shields in 1923. This dashing entrepreneur breathed new life into a company struggling under the weight of missed deadlines and customer dissatisfaction due to Bert Minett's persistent perfectionism and attention to detail. Missed deliveries resulted in penalties and loss of business, which were breaking the back of the company. Together Bert Minett and Bryson Shields brought the business back from the brink and revolutionised the pleasure boat industry by introducing "The Gentleman's Racer" as well as many other innovative designs. Minett-Shields became the foremost boat builder in the region and in North America. Undaunted by innovation and with a willingness to utilize outside designers the business boomed throughout the 1920s until approximately 1935. The market for handcrafted custom designed pleasure craft was waning due to the depression, demand for affordable mass production boats, competitive pressures from the USA, and the increasing inevitability of war. After World War II mahogany was replaced with other more affordable materials such as, cedar strip, plywood and later fibreglass. The era of the custom Muskoka boat builder had passed into history. All that remain are a relative few boats like Wimur II that are testament to this period. It was a time where craftsmanship, developing technology, and elegance intertwined to become legendary not only in Canada but worldwide. Minett-Shields is considered by collectors to be the premier boat builder of the 1920s and 1930s and who are credited with producing the most prestigious pleasure crafts of the era.