Browse news articles, stories and media for the the Antique & Classic Boat Society; including photographs and stories related to ACBS International and it’s chapters.
Currently there are 42 States that require boater safety certificates in the US and 8 that do not, and Canada requires a Pleasure Craft Operator Card in all Canadian provinces and territories. Now some of those 42 States have exceptions for age of the operator or the type of vessel being driven. But more and…
How did we get the reputation of being a “welcoming and fun” interest group with few strings attached? It started in the early 1990s when a few boaters in Oklahoma were drawn together by the magnetism of wooden boats. Strange that wooden boats would have that force, but they were becoming the minority, yet easily…
You may remember the summer 2009 article in the ACBS Rudder by New England Chapter’s Mark Mason subtitled Mahogany Time Machines. You don’t have to stand on the dock with Mark for long to know that few people have his depth of understanding of all things Gold Cup. A lifetime of collecting, restoring, and recreating legendary…
The New England Chapter war born at the 1976 Boston Boat Show when a group of wooden boat enthusiasts gathered in admiration around a couple of show winning woodies: Ted Larter’s “Scotty Too” Goldcup Racer and Ray Hawe’s prized possession, 18-foot Garwood “Norma Jean”. Behind the scenes of this Boston gathering were Jim Irwin and…
The North Carolina Coastal & Piedmont Chapter of ACBS is fortunate to have a chapter member, John Olsen, who is an instructor in the boatbuilding program at Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) in Wilmington, one of six boatbuilding schools supported by ACBS scholarships*. In addition to ACBS International support, the North Carolina Coastal & Piedmont…
Here’s a great story of a Starcraft restoration – and a bit of history of it’s predecessor, Star Tank – straight from the ACBS Rudder archives. Vintage metal boats don’t get much attention in the Rudder. I wonder if many ACBS members know there are metal boats made by Starcraft much, much older than…
“Back to the Beginning” was the 1995 theme for the 20th Anniversary ACBS Show and meeting 30 years ago. Although the Adirondack Chapter (ADK) was the third to form a chapter under the newly incorporated ACBS, the Adirondacks are the actual ACBS birthplace. Lake George was summer home to a group of wooden boat owners…
ACBS was inaugurated on January 25, 1975. Happy anniversary! By the spring of 1975, though newly formed, ACBS was already an active club with representation at major boat shows and new chapters forming. Read all about it in the very first ACBS publication, the Rusty Rudder!
(Or, for Immediate Relief, Just Get Out on the Water) Whenever I want to feel better, fast, I head straight for the water. The simple act of motoring across the bay or just floating around, especially aboard a vintage boat, is the finest therapy for anything that ails you. Whether you’re aboard a vintage runabout,…
By Anders Johnsen, ACBS Nordic Chapter (All pictures by the author) Historical background With the world’s second longest coastline it´s quite natural that boats have been a central part of our history all the way from the Vikings to modern times. As in many other countries, motorized boats used for pleasure started to appear in…
In the early 1980s, a group of vintage boat owners living on one of Michigan’s many pristine bodies of water in the Grand Traverse region organized the Long Lake Wooden Boat Club. Gradually, they became aware of an international organization called The Antique and Classic Boat Society; from this awareness would come the Water Wonderland…
Join the Lake Champlain Chapter for a video workshop on how to tune up a Flat Head Marine Engine. In this five-part video series, you’ll get a primer on checking engine compression, the distrubutor and water pumps for proper function and setting the timing. And, you’ll learn how to torque head bolts, about the fuel…