Boating is in my blood. I have been on the water since I was eight years old, when dad bought our first family boat and a tent. Boat number two, our 18 ½-foot Weymouth cruiser, (yes, a cruiser, and Mom, Dad and three kids slept aboard), meant that every summer we’d spend family vacation time…
The Manotick Classic Boat Club came about in the mid 1970s mostly from young professionals and small businesspersons who bought wood boats because they were cheap and floated, (sort of), and you could turn the ignition key and they would go (sometimes). The need to exchange information to keep them going evolved into a local…
By Graeme Hoatson Beattie, Manotick Chapter William L. Ralph was the adopted son of Michael Ralph. Little is known about Michael, yet he did have the financial means and wherewithal to acquire a 99-year lease from the Canadian Crown to establish Ralph Island in 1889. Ralph Island is a mile away from Portland near the…
By Chris and Katie Grant, Manotick Chapter The Manotick Chapter held its 2023 boat show in Westport, Ontario, last Saturday, August 12th. It was a spectacular day, and all our members were happy to be back at a boat show. Our show location is unique as some boats had to pass through the Narrows lock…
By Graeme Beattie, Manotick Chapter Photo credits: Graeme Hoatson Beattie, Mike Corrigan, Chris Grant, Kevin Hayes & Randy McKendry The late April showers certainly did not dampen the spirits of Manotick Chapter club members and friends who spent the day traversing a good portion of Eastern Ontario’s back roads on Saturday April 29th, 2023 for…
By John Loucks, Manotick Chapter Laura Grace is a 1951 Shepherd Utility built at Niagara On The Lake, Ontario. Her license, 4D3, is original indicating that she was the third boat to be licensed at Coaticook, Quebec. She still carries these original numbers. I have had no success in finding the original owners. However, I…
This Week’s Tuesday Tour of Classic Boats begins with Sassy, a 1978 Chris Craft Tournament Fisherman owned by Ron and Mary Konyndyk. It was photographed by Ewelina Konyndyk in the channel between Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake. Its home port is Muskegon. Betty Jane is a 1955 Chris Craft Corsair. 45 feet. Twin 350’s replacing…
Leading the Tuesday Tour of Classic Boats this week is a 1966 Larson 166 All American with 110hp Mercruiser. Her name is Ei8ht Again! because my parents bought it new when I was 8 years old in Independence, Missouri. We’ve owned the boat its entire life. The boat is all original and we relaunched her…
Cruising into summer! Above is a 1956 Chris Craft Express Cruiser named Take Two. She is 25-feet and powered with a Hercules K engine. Take Two is owned by Thomas and Heidi Frye, members of the Water Wonderland Chapter. The Fryes also own a Lyman, a Boston Whaler, and this 19-foot 1936 Chris Craft Double Cockpit…
Mark and Karen Whitehead are seen cruising on Table Rock Lake, Missouri in their 1948 Chris Craft 19′ Racing Runabout named The Torpedo. The Torpedo is powered with a Hercules MBL with 158 hp. The Whiteheads are members of the Dixieland Chapter and Heartland Classics Chapter of ACBS. An ACBS member from Alabama,…
This week’s Tuesday Tour of Classic Boats is led by a 1969 Lyman 22-foot hardtop purchased in 2013 from the estate of the original owner on Lake St Claire, Michigan. Wood Stock was restored by Chris Cushman of Androscoggin boat Co. in Maine. Her main port is Halls Boat Co. on Lake George, NY. She…
Robert Bondy is the owner of PUDGIE (pictured above) and a member of the Michigan Chapter. She is 35-feet in lenght with a 12-foot beam and powered by a single engine. Her original power was a straight eight Packard. She was repowered in 1962 with a 383 Chrysler Marine engine. I have had her since…