Arnold (Bill) Couldrey had some light relief doing private design work during his wartime service with the Marine Department. As he had done before hostilities, he designed at night in a study he built under his house at 24 Richmond Ave., Northcote.
In 1943 he designed two M Class 18-footers. The first was for Horie Hewson, the General Manager of John Burns Ltd but was never built because Horie was overwhelmed with work after the John Burns fire of August 1941 and the subsequent demands on his company to produce vital supplies for the boatbuilding industry. The design probably later appeared as Mandalene (M24) launched in 1947 by N. McIndoe
The second design was (M25) for Keith Liddle who had just sold (M8). Snow Telford, a fine Chas. Bailey alumnus, built her beautifully in his house at Westmere, launching her in November 1946. She proved to be fast, especially when Bill