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…
Boat owner: John and Julie Stax Boat: 1959 Lyman Sleeper 23-feet Boat name: Moon Cusser Mooncusser is our summer oasis, taking us on multi-day adventures from New Haven to Martha’s Vinyard, usually with Jessie, our Golden Retriever. Mooncusser is best described as a “Resto-Mod”, as we have upgraded every aspect of it from the original design…
by Casey DeHollander member of the Water Wonderland chapter My first memory of wooden boats goes back to my uncle’s Chris-Craft U-22 on Lake Charlevoix. She was a real head turner. Another uncle owned a cottage on Big Star Lake. I spent a lot of time there in the summers watching the fastest boat on…
by Mark Woolsey member of the Water Wonderland chapter As a kid, our “summer” next-door neighbors on Lake Leelanau had a beautiful wooden boat, a Garwood, that I later found out belonged to Mr. Gar Wood which he used as a tender. The Meeker’s used to take us out on the “BO-BO” for evening cruises.…
by John Calhoun member of the Water Wonderland chapter I purchased a basket case hull of a 1940 Chris-Craft Deluxe Runabout (barrelback) in 2006 after searching for a respectable project where I could utilize a Chris- Craft KBL131 hp triple carb engine that I owned. I was alerted to a gray boat that was in…
by Dave and Amy Drew members of the Water Wonderland chapter Our venture into the world of classic boating may be different than most. We had never owned a boat, we have never lived on the water, and in fact we always looked at owning a boat similarly to owning a swimming pool. We would…
By Casey DeHollander member of the Water Wonderland chapter My first memory of wooden boats goes back to my uncle’s Chris-Craft U-22 on Lake Charlevoix. She was a real head turner. Another uncle owned a cottage on Big Star Lake. I spent a lot of summers there watching the fastest boat on the lake, a…
by David Arscott member of the Water Wonderland Chapter Why and How does my Dad, starting in 1948, a 45-year-old full-time employed mechanical engineer at GM ‘Pontiac Division’, married and father of three young children (JAmes 6, PAtrica 14 & DAvid 11) start to build a ‘speedboat’ from ‘scratch’? Having not asked my Dad ‘the…
By Wright family members of the Michigan and Water Wonderland chapters By Norma Wright member of the Michigan and Water Wonderland chapters Chrissy is a 1948 Chris Craft custom deluxe runabout with the original triple carburetor motor. When she joined the family in 1974, she was covered with fiberglass and painted brown and white. She…
by Doug & Ann Van Meter member of the Water Wonderland & Sunnyland chapters After our two kids were out of college, married and on their own we started thinking about a wooden boat. With a cottage on the lake, we had a pontoon boat but the memories of the wooden boats on the lake…
by David & Claire De Horn members of the Water Wonderland & Blackhawk Chapters I spent several years looking for a pre-war barrelback, and finally found our boat in Lake Tahoe. I was able to squeeze in a ride, inspection, and even an invitation to dinner during a business trip out to California from the…
By John Young member of the Water Wonderland chapter As far back as I can remember I have known the 1958 Lyman I own. Our neighbor on Douglas Lake, Michigan, who originally owned the boat, would use it as the committee boat for our local sailboat fleet races. Sometimes Mom and I would go along…