A Pickwick Tradition

by Spencer Lee member of ACBS

In the mid 70’s, a boat dealer here, brought six Streblow Runabouts to Pickwick Lake from the factory near Wisconsin’s Lake Geneva. Pickwick is a 55 mile long lake formed on the Tennessee River that runs along Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. I bought my ‘76 Streblow in 1990 from a gentleman from Memphis who had taken it from Pickwick to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

I brought it back to Pickwick where a friend and I refinished it with twenty two coats of Epifanes varnish. It has not needed a touch up since. The original interior was replaced, changing it from green to blue. The 440 Chrysler inboard engine is original with about 600 hours on it today. To my knowledge, it is the only Streblow left on Pickwick. It is stored at my home on Pickwick in a land boathouse with a rail system and is only in the water when we are boating. It has been a really fun boat to ride in and skiing my grandchildren. We enjoy it for pleasure and get regular “high fives” from other boaters when out on the lake.

Streblow Custom Boats have been produced since Larry built his first runabout in 1947 by the Streblow family. Larry, along with his children, Randy, and Kris Streblow all worked there. Randy took over from his father and ran Streblow for years before passing away in 2011, just after I got to visit with him at the ACBS Annual Meeting on Lake Geneva. A few years later, I also had the opportunity to visit with Steve Horton, long time employee, who is now the owner. He said there are over 300 Streblows today used on Lake Geneva. Steve said they build about 3-4 custom boats a year with about a two year wait. They also restore the older boats around the lake.