The Continental Era 1955-1961 By Craig Magnusson, Pacific Northwest Chapter 1955 was the biggest year ever for Chris-Craft in terms of new models. The Capri and the Cobra runabouts were new, a number of new cruisers were introduced, and an entirely new line of utilities were introduced ranging in size from 18- through 25-feet. This…
By Craig Magnusson, Pacific Northwest Chapter In March 1922, Baby Gar won the Wood-Fisher contest at the Miami Regatta with Gar Wood at the helm. Today, Baby Gars are thought of as exemplifying the beauty and speed of Gar Wood boats. But in the beginning, they weren’t intended to be production boats. This fascinating article,…
Ron Stevenson, Seattle Boat Show Chair In November, ACBS headquarters held a roundtable discussion about boat shows, hosted by ACBS Membership Committee members Kathy Rhodes, Judy Hills and Austin Berndlmaier. Five people from our chapter participated in the zoom meeting as our BIG! Seattle Boat Show was coming up at the end of January for nine…
By Joe Frauenheim, PNW Chapter Member I grew up in Buffalo, New York, in a family deeply involved in the marine business. In 1977, fellow boaters had started the Niagara Frontier Chapter of the fledging Antique and Classic Boat Society. But, shortly thereafter, in June of 1979, I moved with my family to Bellevue, Washington,…
By Rob Wilkinson, Pacific Northwest Chapter Photos by Colleen Chartier Several decades ago, while sitting on the banks of the Montlake Cut near the University of Washington where the Boys in the Boat practiced and raced in the 1930s, my friend Elizabeth and I spotted a beautiful mahogany speedboat cruising through the canal. We swooned.…
As we mentioned the other week, its is now Boat Show Season – Indoor, that is! We have have a couple of reports from the Western Canadian Chapter and Pacific Northwest Chapter…so go visit them in Vancouver and Seattle this weekend to check out the vintage (and new) boats on display! Vancouver Boat Show by…
By Ann Reinhart on behalf of Tim Mehrer, member of Pacific Northwest Chapter The Bellingham, Washington based Schooner Zodiac, designed by William Hand, was built in 1924 in East Boothbay, Maine for the Johnson & Johnson family. 127’ on deck,160’ overall, she spent most of her life as a San Francisco Bay Bar Pilot boat…
By Captain Mark Manes, NorCal/Lake Tahoe Chapter I remember very vividly as a kid, the day that my Dad crushed his hand with the boat trailer. He was trying to hitch up my older brother’s boat and somehow managed to get his hand between the ball and the trailer hitch. As you can imagine, that…
by Larry Schnetzky member of the Pacific Northwest chapter We found the 1961 17-foot Tollycraft in Eastern Oregon and moved it to Victoria, British Columbia Canada, for the restoration project. We had the two year project done at Canoe Cove Marina and shipyard. The project started out with removal of the original Y-block 292 CID…
by Tom Carlin, Pacific Northwest chapter One of the original fleet of recreation boats at the Malibu Club in British Columbia, this boat was used in the salt water of the Princess Louisa Inlet from 1941 until 1950 when the club was abandoned. In 1953 the club was sold to the Young Life Christian Ministry…
By Ken Muscatel, Pacific Northwest Chapter It remains one of the most popular unlimited hydroplanes ever built. To this day, the deck-to-deck duels between “The Pak” and “The Bud” remain legendary. Dave Heerensberger’s Pay’n Pak was as revolutionary in its design and construction techniques as it was popular for the futuristic wing on the back…
Jennie Dahlby, Pacific Northwest Chapter I purchased a 1958 Larson Thunderhawk last year from ACBS member Maren Finzer. The story of the boat in the PNW begins with Maren, in her words: It was the Corvette tail fins that caught my attention on the shiny red and white 1958 Larson Thunderhawk. I had just moved…