Dianne Shelly member of the Adirondack chapter
We Three has been an original item on Long Lake in the Adirondacks since she was delivered to the original owner, WA Raney in April 1946. After the passing of Mr. Raney, his daughter sold the GarWood to Dr. and Mrs. Shelly in April 1996 and she remains on Long Lake to this day. She has won numerous boat shows from South Carolina and North Carolina. The Clayton Boat show, is where she has won Best preserved, Best GarWood and a few more including “Best of show”.
Mrs. Shelly’s GarWood is about as original as any boat one can find other than some of the upholstery which was really beginning to show some wear and tear. All the wood on her, including her bottom, is original. One might wonder when looking at her due to the lighter “sapwood” which is found on her forward port side, but that is exactly how she came from the factory. She was built to go to the 1946 New York Boat Show, but that show, due to the war, never became a reality and she was then taken to Hearn’s Dept. Store as a boat to use for sales. Mr. Raney purchased the boat right off the floor from the Dept. Store in January of 1946.
Please consider bringing “We Three” to the Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Boat Show on August 10 in Hessel, Michigan. We are featuring Gar Wood boats this year. Bring your boat back to its home state. This is our 42nd Annual Show. More info is available at http://www.lciboatshow.com.
She’s a lucky boat and beautiful. Thank you for being such caring stweards and sharing the story.
Huzzah
Kent and Audrey
Same boat my Grandfather bought at the 1947 NY Boat Show. Still in the water under a new owner. The 19′ 6″ was the prettiest Garwood runabout built! Woody Boater wrote up the Moms Mink story.
Come to the Lake Winnipesaukee show 7/24 in Wolfeboro I have BUNCO, 1930 triple #3000. bought it from the Gallup family, owners for twenty five years, also owners of “Sea Robin” now known as “Wampum”, a 33 foot
formerly owned by Ted Valpey. What a collection!!
50 years with the same boat and I still love her. I cannot think of anything else that I would want to replace her with. If you are lucky enough to have a copy of the CD ” Listening to the Classics”, BUNCO’s motor is on the cover. Listen first and set the volume, I blew a pair of speakers just starting out without first checking the volume.
All the young people are into speed, but BUNCO at 1200 RPM is AWSOME. Quiet, smooth and you won’t chip you’re teeth on the glass!!
You have a beautiful Gar Wood, and so do I! I own Gargeous, a 1946 Commodore that looks exactly (well, close) like yours. I bought mine in Tahoe in 2013 from the widow of the owner who had passed. I’ve always loved Gar Wood boats and learned to drive my father’s 1948 Ensign when I was about 14. I also skied behind that boat until my dad sold it in 1958. My Commodore has a 230HP Crusader and will go about 45 MPH. I am in the Inland Empire ACBS chapter and keep my boat almost exclusively on Priest Lake in N. Idaho. If you want some pictures I have a bunch, some of them very interesting as I had to get her rebuilt when the storage building it was stored in collapsed from too much snow in 2016.
Tim Murphy