Dad’s Boat

by Tom Dunn member of the Blue Ridge chapter The new fiberglass 1968 19′ Penn Yan was bought by my father after a barn burnt down along with our 1960 wooden Thompson. Penn Yan had only started making fiberglass boats a few years before that and they looked almost exactly like their wood boats. It…

The Fins Have To Go!

By Dick Caradori member of ACBS July 5, 1958 it was a Saturday and my dad Leno (an industrial arts teacher) said he wanted to buy a boat and would I like to go along. Me being fourteen and the oldest of seven children, said of course and jumped at the chance to go on…

Lauren

By Jack Gifford, Finger Lakes Chapter One a sunny spring day in 2001 I decided to look at a large cruiser I had seen advertised in the paper.  Since the inside dimensions were roughly the size of a small apartment, I felt that it would combine my love of boating with a summer place on…

Wine Time

by Michael Wetzel member of the Finger Lakes chapter In the summer of 2015 we finished our new boat house on Skaneateles Lake, complete with 2 boat bays; one the standard 10’ wide for modern boats and one 8’ wide for a wooden boat. The problem was we didn’t own a wooden boat. In fact,…

Bo-Peep II

by Ronald Lane member of the Pacific Northwest chapter Hacker-Fermann Naval Architects Co. of Detroit Michigan advertised plans for a “New 55-foot Bridge Deck Cruiser” which allowed customers options of equipment and furnishings. On December 11, 1925 Mr. Ivan Kirlin signed a contract with the Defoe Boat and Motor Works Co. of Bay City Michigan…

Vanquish

by Gregory McLean member of the Thousand Islands chapter The Vanquish caught my eye at first glance – as a classic inboard river boat and that was enough to spark my initial interest. My lap-strake Lyman needed work and without a boathouse I thought fiberglass might be a more durable way to go. I had…