By Dallas Cooley, Blue Ridge Chapter Best I can recollect, my love for boats began as a kid hanging my head over the bow of my grandfather’s Lazy Days houseboat on Lake Lanier. Watching the V-hull slice through the water with the roar of twin V-8’s was euphoric. The tradition continued with my father’s houseboats.…
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By Jeff Hamilton, North Carolina Coastal & Piedmont Chapter The family history with Lyman Boats began when my Grandfather bought a 13-foot Lyman just after WW2. We used that Lyman (which my sister currently has) and our 1969 18-foot model up at our family cottage on the Upper French River in Ontario Canada. About 10…
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By Steven Horwood, ACBS Member Sitting on a 1965 Vance tandem axle trailer and repowered with a Ford 5.0L, MISSing AuTrain is a 1965 Correct Craft Barracuda. I purchased the boat in November of 2010 here in Michigan, after being assured by the previous owner of intact stringers, only to later find out that 70…
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By Steve Murphy, Heartland Classics Chapter My wife and I own and maintain a 1971, 31-foot sedan style Chris Craft Commander. It’s powered by twin 383Q’s (formerly 327Q’s) and has a flybridge. We’ve enjoyed Edelweiss for 9 years on Table Rock Lake in Southern MO. After months of searching for the “right” boat, we found…
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By Michael Stevens, Columbia Willamette Chapter She’s a Monson which was built in Seattle on Lake Union some time last century. I tried to research the origins of the company, Monson Boat Yard, Inc, owned by Marty Monson from the mid 30’s to 85′ when the company ceased to exist. The boatyard burned down sometime…
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By Jun Morris, Bellevue, WA (photo above – Jim (dark hat), Diane, and grandson Eric) Our very good friend James A. Holler of North Tonawanda, NY passed January 17, 2021. He was born March 8, 1928 in Lima, Ohio. Jim’s father was employed by the Indian Lake Boat Company of Lima. Jim had been around…
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By Anthony Montabon, Land O’ Lakes Classic Boat Club Dancing Queen is a 1964 IMP (Iola Molded Plastics) Apache. It sports the original Mercury 65hp four cylinder two-stroke engine, original controls, and gas tanks. The horn is the original two-tone air horn powered by an air pump that sounds better than anything produced in the…
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By Raymond Desrochers, ACBS Member Once you own a classic boat, life can never be the same— at least that is true for Captain Ray and First Mate Betty. Following our Garden Wedding in Moultonborough, NH in 1986, we had our boat hauled to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for our Honeymoon cruise to Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket,…
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By John and Kirsten Lents, Michigan Chapter Taurus is a 1940 Chris-Craft 18’ Deluxe Utility, Hull # 81169. One thing that makes it unique is that it was ordered with a straight windshield. In 1940 Chris-Craft started putting split windshields on their utility’s, so Taurus looks more like a 1938 or 1939 boat than a…
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Jennie Dahlby, Pacific Northwest Chapter I purchased a 1958 Larson Thunderhawk last year from ACBS member Maren Finzer. The story of the boat in the PNW begins with Maren, in her words: It was the Corvette tail fins that caught my attention on the shiny red and white 1958 Larson Thunderhawk. I had just moved…
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By Tom Rusert, Niagara Frontier Chapter My wife Peggy and I joined ACBS Niagara Frontier Chapter in 1978 and have been active members ever since. In 1981 we were looking for a boat bigger than our 16-foot Starcraft to accommodate our growing family. We found a 1963 Roamer Silver Comet that was sound but cosmetically…
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by Mike Czuprenski, Michigan Chapter Shortly after our first child was born in 1981, my wife and I decided it’d be a whole lot easier to go camping if we had a trailer to load up all our supplies. Mentioning that to one of my old college roommates, he remarked how his family used to…
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