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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By John Lawrence member of No Cal. /Lake Tahoe chapter My interest in owning a 3-point hydroplane began back in the 1950’s, when I attended the boat races at Lake Me,tjtt in Oakland, California. The thrill of these boats running around the two buoy course was enough to excite the young and old. The sounds…
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By Darrin Podskalny member of the Water Wonderland chapter The ownership of our 1959 Skipper-Craft started when a good friend of mine, Geoff Reynolds from Holland, Michigan had shown me his Skipper-Craft on a spring weekend in 2001. Geoff and I were heading to a swap meet for outboards and boats in lower Michigan. When…
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