Oh, the stories that go with old boats! This story is about a 14 foot Thompson Runabout built in 1934.
Now the boat, named Adkin, belongs to Doug Adams, a member of Finger Lakes Chapter and Adirondack Chapter. It is powered by a 1958 Evinrude Fastwin with 18 hp.
This is Adkin’s story filed with her picture in the ACBS membership files:
Boat was owned by the Kinney Boat Service Big Moose Lake, New York.
Mr. Kinney had to return to Utica to work as a draftsman after the war, but the lake and marina business fell off. He had moved to the Adirondack Mountains as he was consumptive. He died of Pneumonia.
The bank set to foreclose on the marina, and the day they arrived to take possession of all the items (boats, tools, etc.) the bankers found a totally empty marina boat house with nothing in it. Broom clean and even missing the electrical sockets! The Lake people had come at night and taken everything away, each of them holding on to some things. Over time they returned everything to Mrs. Kinney. Walter Dunn bought the marina operations from her, and to this day, it is named the Dunn’s Boat Service.
Mrs. Kinney sold us (the Adams family) our camp there on Big Moose Lake.
My father coveted the Thompson as a teenager. He bought this boat from Walt Dunn.
It was in the boat house from the late 40’s to the mid-60’s…..I remember riding in it every night before dark.
It was taken out and placed in a storage barn for over 30 years. The storage barn owner died and his wife asked us to remove the boat. It was taken to my basement and that began a five-year long project of rehabbing the boat.
When finished, we took it up to the lake and drove it round in circles in the moonlight and parked it at the fount of the dock. My father awoke, came down for breakfast to find the boat tied to the front of the dock in excellent condition….he drove it round for quite a while…..!
D. Adams
What is the story of your boat? Please share it. The story and picture(s) may be submitted here.
This is a great story! Thanks for sharing!