John and Rebecca Allen, Bob Speltz Land-O-Lakes Chapter In the early days of the Chris Smith & Son’s Boat Co., before the design of the iconic Standard Runabout, Henry Ritter, president of H.G. Ritter Cigar Box Co., ordered a custom 26-foot, rear-drive runabout, contract #4. Produced alongside the high end Baby Gars in Smith’s workshop,…
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By Steve Tuzinowski Welcome to our 39th annual boat show at the Algonac Harbor Club, “Where it All Began”. This year we are featuring Gar Wood Boats over 100 years. This will be a judged show and we welcome all makes and models of antique and classic boats. Our pre-events kick off on Friday morning, June…
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By Peter Robinson, Allegheny Chapter In 1957 my uncle Skip purchased a 14-foot, 1957 Larson Falls Flyer for $800. As I understand it, 1955 was the first year Larson built this fiberglass boat. The bubble engine cover, like ours has, was an optional design. Today only three like it survive. Our family loved that boat…
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By Bjorn Bakken, Instructor, IYRS The curriculum for the first-year students at IYRS in Newport, Rhode Island is rebuilding Beetle Cat sail boats. More than 160 boats have been built over the last 25 years. The school year starts with traditional measuring and lofting of the existing hull and concludes with a new hand built…
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Dan Payne, ACBS Member Stephens Brothers hull #661 was the last boat delivered by the yard before the outbreak of World War II (launched June 24th, 1941). Built for a ranch owner outside of Stockton, California, her original price was $11,800.00 (equivalent to $245,000.00 today). She was named after the ranch and their brand, Circle…
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By Paul Miller, Blackhawk Chapter In March of 2015, my friend Peter Mueller sent me an email with a picture of a very unusual boat listed for sale with the suggestion that we buy and restore it. The listing had current pictures and a few original photos said to be from 1947 or 1948. Mention…
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By Tony Boudos, Blackhawk Chapter My grandfather owned a marina on the Calumet River in a suburb just south of Chicago and, of course, he had a boat, a 36-foot 1964 aluminum Chris-Craft Roamer called the Sta-Shu III. So, it’s no surprise that our family was into boating. We took many boat trips on Lake…
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The Boss 1921 Day Express Cruiser The Boss is a 42-foot Day Express Cruiser built in 1921 by the Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation built custom luxury wooden yachts in Milwaukee from 1916 until moving to the Chicago River in 1926 where it continued operations until…
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By David Kanally, Southwest Chapter Member, with Bill Mott, Southwest Chapter Member and Event Volunteer Bill Mott likes boats. Big cruisers and Chris-Craft runabouts are part of his family history. He can drive just about anything that floats. So, when it comes time for the sea trials of the boats we restore in the Wooden…
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Tips from a Recent North Carolina Coastal & Piedmont Chapter Workshop By Judy Hills, North Carolina & Coastal Piedmont Chapter When the North Carolina & Coastal Piedmont Chapter gathers in John Justice’s workshop, AKA The Piglet, you know it will be a good time. It was a rainy day when the Chapter recently got together…
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By Jeff and Renee Davey, Glacier Lakes Chapter This obsession began when we were restoring our 1947 19-foot Higgins known as Covergirl. We kept seeing a 23-foot Higgins named Foxy Lady winning numerous awards and knew that we had to have a boat like this! After a lengthy search, we found a 1949 23-foot Higgins named…
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By Seth Vore, Columbia Willamette Chapter Toward the end of the 2021 boating season, I was perusing the boat section of Craigslist when I came across an ad asking for a wooden boat to be used in the filming of a music video. As the weather was starting to turn cold and rainy in Portland…
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