by Alan Dowsett member of the Rocky Mountain Classics chapter I found out about this 17’ SS Chris Craft in 2012 as it was for sale by owner who lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We live in northern Colorado, 2 hours from Colorado Springs. I was marginally interested in looking at it, but I had…
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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…
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by Dawn Merrill Edwards member of the Blue Ridge chapter Sixty-six years ago, our boat began our family story. In 1954, A.H. Merrill Company, our family run general store in Norwich, Vermont, purchased the 13’6’ Clinker-Built built in Old Town, Maine. My grandfather, Leon Merrill purchased the boat for my parents, Arthur and Dorothy Merrill.…
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by Paul Mason member of the Glacier Lakes chapter I found this boat on Mother’s Day 2005 while taking my wife out to breakfast. The boat was sitting on a dilapidated trailer next to the restaurant. My wife went to the restaurant to hold a table and I knocked on the door of the house…
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by Neal & Jean Ganser members of the Big Sky chapter My son Quentin Ganser was doing well in mechanical engineering. However, being an active young man with a gift for working with his hands, he was not enthusiastic about life in front of a computer. Discovering the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in…
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by Michael J Munson member of the Lake Champlain chapter The tale of a free boat project boat for which I paid too much. In the summer of 2014 some friends forwarded to me a local on-line ad for free canoes. I had just finished a yearlong restoration of a 1938 Old Town HW, a…
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by Harold Atkins member of ACBS In 1991, we moved to our home on the St. Joseph River in Elkhart, Indiana. Since we had been enjoying our Century Coronado at our condo on Lake Wawasee, we wanted a boat for the river, so we purchased an I/O deck boat from a local dealer. After having…
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by Ed Becker member of the Adirondack chapter Shooting Star, a 1930 Hacker 26 foot Runabout that I am honored to own has a long history of owners and repairs. She was purchased new by the Vanzandt family. They kept her at their summer home on Lake George. My interest in these historical wooden boats…
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by Don Peting member of the Columbia Willamette chapter In 2005, my late wife and I bought the 1958, 22′, Century Raven, which we appropriately named Reminisce, remembering the same model boat my parents owned back in the 50’s when I was in my late teens. From Chicago, my folks traveled the Great Lakes, and…
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by Brian and Lisa Kramer members of the Glacier Lakes chapter My 1948 Century Sea Maid is Nineteen-foot six inch Century Sea Maid with a Nordberg 6 cylinder 339 ci / 155hp flathead engine. 1 of 65 made with 6 known to exist. I noticed the Sea Maid stored in an outdoor boatyard in 1990.…
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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…
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by Rich & Linda Hughes members of the Toronto/Manotick Chapters The Clarion project was one of the most challenging yet interesting builds to date. Clarion boats already have the reputation for building high-end quality craft that perform as well as they look. So to take a new stock GR21 racer hull and transform it into…
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