In the spring and summer of 1977, the man who would become the first president of the ACBS Niagara Frontier Chapter, Tom Frauenheim, began speaking with wooden boat owners he knew about their interest in forming a boat club. Inspired by the chartering of the Antique & Classic Boat Society in Lake George, New York…
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By Geoffrey D. Reynolds, Water Wonderland Chapter Charlevoix, Michigan, has been the home of many successful ship and pleasure boat builders since the middle of the nineteenth century. Though little known today, the Foster Boat Company made its mark on the pleasure craft industry, military establishment and growing recreational consumer base. Harry G. Foster was…
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Harveys Lake is in Northeastern Pennsylvania and is the home of an active ACBS chapter, Pennsylvania NE, Harveys Lake. Bill Nash, Russ Taylor and others formed the Harvey’s Lake Chapter in 1982 to serve Harvey’s Lake boaters, and boaters from all over Northeastern Pennsylvania. We now have 60 members. The chapter has bimonthly dinner get-togethers all…
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This is the story of the Phoenix, a 1958 55-foot Chris-Craft Constellation, and how a group of friends brought her from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Lake Cumberland, Kentucky by waterway. In 1996, Paul Cundiff a retired Engineer and now owner and operator of Woodies Restorations, purchased the Phoenix from Bill and Marian Coggin. The couple…
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The Indiana Chapter was the 21st ACBS chapter created in 1986 in Indianapolis by Mike Boone, Russ Smith, and Bruce Clark at the Indianapolis Yacht Club. Our three founding members have grown around 120 and each of us enjoy annual dinners, lake tours and a sense of philanthropy. The chapter hosts various boat shows around…
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The Former director of the ACBS Lake Hopatcong chapter, Edward J. Seugling, wrote a really informative article for the winter 2007 issue of ACBS Rudder on the 2005 law mandating methyl tertiary-butyl ether, as an additive in gasoline. Worth revisiting, particularly, if one is newer to the antique and classic boat hobby, Ed answered questions…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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