by Steve & Kathy Flood members of the Bob Speltz Land-O-Lakes chapter Kathy and I bought our 1st boat – a yellow and white 14’ Crestliner with a 50 Evinrude – from Schwann’s Marine on Long Lake in Sarona, Wisconsin. For the maiden voyage, Bill Schwann, Jack Kunz the mechanic and I launched the boat…
Above is a Circa 1995 “Buffalo Mini Boat” actually manufactured in Buffalo, New York. It was advertised in Motor Boat Magazine with two adult women and was said to easily navigate the “Ice Bergs” in Buffalo. Owned by Ed Dominiak of the Niagara Frontier Chapter, she is powered by a 2hp Evinrude and is said…
By John Hart member of BSLOL Chapter It was a few encounters with a Thompson boat around 1965 that launched my interest in wooden runabouts. Whether as a passenger watching the water rush by during a tight turn, as a spotter monitoring the status of a skier, or as a person on the end of…
Double D’s, pictured above, is a 1959 22-foot Shepard Runabout 110 owned by David and Dolores Little, Norfolk, VA. She is powered by a 440 Chrysler. She lives on Glaston Lake (North Carolina) during the summer months. Buttercup is a 1957 18-foot Lyman outboard runabout. She was purchased from the second owner in 2017 who…
Andreas Jordahl Rhude owns many Thompson boats. Valhalla is one of them (pictured above). She is a 1957 Thompson 17-foot Sea Lancer with 1957 Johnson RDEL-19 outboards. Andreas Rhude is a member of the Bob Speltz Land-o-Lakes and Glacier Lakes Chapters. Here is a Classic 1962 Dorsett 17-foot Catalina with a 1989 Yamaha 90 hp…
By Anthony Montabon, Land O’ Lakes Classic Boat Club Dancing Queen is a 1964 IMP (Iola Molded Plastics) Apache. It sports the original Mercury 65hp four cylinder two-stroke engine, original controls, and gas tanks. The horn is the original two-tone air horn powered by an air pump that sounds better than anything produced in the…
By Chuck and Diane Thornton, Land O’ Lakes Classic Boat Club During the winter of 1956-57, Gene Bartachek saw a Taft Marine Woodcraft kit boat ad in one of his favorite mechanics magazine. He requested their brochure and shortly afterwards ordered the Model 950, 18 ft. Offshore Cruiser. The price was $399 including shipping, minus…
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 Ken Powell member of the Bob Spletz Land-O-Lakes chapter For the last 28 years, at noon on Sunday of the August long weekend, a collection of antique wooden boats assemble a half mile from the town harbour in the little town of Kenora,Ontario, Canada. It is known as the HarbourFest Annual Wooden Boat Parade.…
by Denny Trooien member of the Bob Speltz Land-O-Lakes chapter The year was 1982. My wife Sue Ahlcrona and I had a 22’, 1948 Chris-Craft utility that we used on White Bear Lake, Minnesota. We also had a six-month-old son, who was our first child. As a young lawyer I did not have much extra…
by Dwain & Ginny Schuette members of the Bob Speltz Land-O-Lakes In September of 2003, while looking for a classic wood boat to purchase, I came across a farmer that had an old boat sitting behind his barn. During our conversation, he asked if I would like to see his boat collection. The next day,…
by Joe Oliver member of the Penn NE/Harveys Lake chapter I grew up at Lake Winola, a 185-acre lake in Northeast Pennsylvania where I still live today, in the late 1950’s. I didn’t consider our family boats antique. There was our old Penn Yan with an Evinrude outboard, a plywood sailfish, an Old Town canoe,…