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 Matt Foley & Susie Becker members of the Lake Champlain chapter We live a few minutes away from the New York side of Lake Champlain, big water. Summer is the work season for us, so late afternoon – evening getaways on the lake with food and drink, often with friends, are our main form…
by Kent Volmerding member of ACBS Our 1955 Century Arabian is haul number 5502. A friend of mine found it, stored under a lean-to on the side of a building, with the back of the boat unprotected. Needless to say, the boat was in bad shape. Most of the hardware was there, but the windshield…
by Lindy Robinson member of the Southwest chapter Like many of us, my love for boats started early with water skiing and fishing on my local lake. I have always had a boat of some kind but did not really fall in love with wooden boats until about 25 years ago. Seeing all the beautiful…
by Bob Besel member of the Bob Speltz Land-O-Lakes chapter When we arrived at Tulsa the boat had been dragged from the shed, where the rig hibernated for 30 years, into a very dusty warehouse, on flat tires. I brought new wheels and tires, ‘hoping’ that the trailer bearings were fit for the 730 mile…
by Carol Melius member of ACBS I was raised on the shores of Lake Orion in South East Michigan. In 1981 we purchased a home only 9 houses from the home that I was raised in. As riparian’s know, if you live on a lake, you must have a boat. My first boat at our…
by Jim Hering member of the Michigan chapter My current boat was shipped from Holland, MI. factory to Colony Chris-Craft in Algonac, MI. on June 26,1964 which happens to be my birthdate! She has always been docked on Lake St Clair. Interestingly I know the son of the 2nd owner, the 3rd owner, and the…
by Steve Richards member of the Jerry Dyhrkopp/Iowa Great Lakes chapter The ALWAYS “R”s was purchased new on Labor Day 1964 from the Gipner Boat Works on West Lake Okoboji, part of the Iowa Great Lakes, for $4600. I was 16 years old. We traded in a 16-foot Hafer Inboard, which was a boat manufactured…
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.…
The SML Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society participated in a fall cruise this past Saturday on Smith Mountain Lake. Eight boats and twenty members and their guests gathered at Christmas Tree Island for the cruise. The group proceeded to Magnum Marina for lunch after a leisurely cruise in the Blackwater section on…
by Mitch Berg member of ACBS In 1962 my brother and I were trying to talk our Dad into buying a used 61 Coronado Gull Wing. Dad said NO MORE USED BOATS! In the spring of 1963, much to our surprise, our Dad purchased a brand new 1963 Coronado Hardtop. We picked it up in…
by John Carapiet member of the Northern California/Lake Tahoe chapter Several years ago, I was visiting ACBS member Neal Gapoff’s car collection/workshop and saw in the back on a trailer, a Gar Wood Speedster. The name really got me, Hi, Yo, Silver and the hook was set. I said to Neal if you ever want…