by Tom Watson member of ACBS “Southern Nights,” the mistress my wife approves, is close to coming back out to play for the warm weather. I had another Chris Craft, smaller, which needed a new bottom. I was referred to Tom Neff, a wonderful chap, on a lake, just outside Milledgeville, Georgia. Milledgeville is a…
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by Tom Kranz member of the Chesapeake Bay chapter The 37’ Egg Harbor Sportfisherman that would later be named “The Classic Egg” (she needed a few years on her yet), was delivered to its original owner in 1962 when its current owner, me, was 5 years old, in Northern Ohio for use on Lake Erie.…
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By Jason Dunovant, Laker Weekly Don Smith loves being around old boats. He has made a hobby of it ever since retiring to Smith Mountain Lake in 1978. With the help of others, he has grown that passion into a local club and eventually a popular annual lake event. “The smell of them and the…
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By Hank Why member of New England Chapter Three Antique Boat Groups in the New Hampshire Lakes Region have collaborated to provide opportunities for interested young wood workers to further their passion and boat building skills with scholarships to the Wooden Boat School in Brooklin, Maine. Selection is based on: 1) A demonstrated passion for…
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by Howard Johnson member of Chesapeake Bay chapter www.oldtimeworld.com My parents grew up in Baltimore City, Dad, (Howard), went to Baltimore Polytechnic, and Mother, (Micky), Forrest Park High School. Due to the depression, their families were not well off. Somehow in 1932, they were able to ride the WB&A train down to Camp Linstead, in…
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by Craig Brooks, Son of Bill & Suzanne Brooks members of Inland Empire chapter Boats have been a part of my family for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of being on the lake in Montana at Gates of the Mountains. My brothers and I grew up on boats,…
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The 38th Annual Sunnyland Antique Boat Festival had four days of beautiful Florida weather and a record crowd. This year, “The Festival of Speed Event” joined forces with the Sunnyland Chapter and featured beautiful exotic cars along with stunning mahogany boats. The City of Tavares provided a new floating dock system that accommodated over 70…
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By Mark and Ellen Zobrist members of Mississippi Valley chapter In 1970 my parents bought a small cabin at Lake Lotawana, Missouri. The property included a boat house and a 1957 Chris Craft Sportsman. During the summers of my high school years I helped my dad refinish the boat and our family had many memorable…
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. By Eric Torkelson member of Bob Speltz Land-O-Lakes chapter My 1958 Thompson Sea Coaster is special to me because my father, who has now passed on, purchased the boat new from the Grueben Brothers boat dealership in Waverly Iowa in 1959. He had friends that boated on the Cedar River that travels through the…
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By John Lawrence member of No. California/ Lake Tahoe chapter Three point Hydroplane racing began back in the 1940’s. Three notable builders emerged as the experts in hydroplane construction. All three builders became a father and son businesses. Henry Lauterbach and his son Larry. Ted Jones and his son Ron, and Les Staudacher and his…
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By Graeme Hoatson Beattie member of the Toronto chapter Recently I saw a post on the Facebook page “Vintage Toronto” that caught my attention. It was a picture of an antique launch used by the then Toronto Life Saving and Police Patrol Service, a department of the Toronto Harbour Commissioners established in 1921. I was…
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November of 1945 and the war is over. The United States Navy decides it no longer wants the molded plywood glider airplanes, being made on the assembly line at Allied Aviation, in Dundalk, MD. The management and workers stand, looking at the five finished and tested ones they had made and the fifteen more along…
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