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…
DetailsBy Maggi Cassell President of Southern California chapter Polished chrome, varnish, and gel-coat shone brightly in the spring sunshine last weekend, as the Southern California chapter put on a double-header of trailer shows. We displayed a dozen boats on Saturday in Dana Point, California, as part of the annual Festival of Whales along the waterfront.…
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Photo Credit: SML Chapter of ACBS Members of the Smith Mountain Lake Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society participated in the 2019 Roanoke Boat Show this past weekend. This year the chapter displayed two recently restored wooden boats. Chapter members Bill and Sue Garrecht proudly displayed their 1955 Chris-Craft Capri named “Water Lily”…
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By John & Amanda VanderWeele members of Water Wonderland & Michigan chapters Our Larson is a 15’ All American with a 60 horsepower 4-cylinder Renault and Mercruiser 0 outdrive. We acquired Larson in May of 2014 from the niece of the second owner. The boat was purchased new in 1966 from Lubbers in Hudsonville Michigan…
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By Matt Anstett & Brad Stanwick members of the Michigan chapter I found our second Sea Skiff for sale in September of 2014 at the Riverside Marina on Harsen’s Island across the channel from Algonac, Michigan where the original Chris-Craft company was founded. My first Sea Skiff, “Screws Loose”, never stopped leaking gas from a…
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By David B. Weiseth member of the Pacific Northwest chapter Perhaps most of us see in present day activities hints of those interests in early childhood. I often gaze upon our Chris Craft as it sits alongside a dock and think back to the days of a youngster playing in the bathtub with a wooden…
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