Btt for summer. First spin of the summer yesterday, after almost having to swim her in on the first try, lol. Full tune up and she's right as the mail. Marina wanted $180 for plug wire set. Got a set for a Ford tractor at blains for $18.50, runs perfect... Smh
not a whole boat but a vintage motor. this is my great grandads 1937 1-3/4 hp johnson motor, given to me by my uncle, he and aunt were moving to small house in Arizona and didnt have room for it. the casting reel belonged to my grandad and the pic on the wall is of my grandfather-great grandfather-uncle(who gave me the engine) and my father with a huge string of walleye. this pic was taken around 1951 in minn. i display it with a repop of a johnson dealer sign and a couple vintage lures.
Making some progress on the Gar Wood. Don't think it's going to make it in the water this summer though.
Great craftsmanship, to me the structure is more impressive then the outer appearance. Every time I walk in an old barn and see all the structure it makes me think of boats. When I was a kid my dad had a pennyon fishing boat great riding boat. In the winter months he hung it in the garage to the open rafters. I can still see it hanging upside down what a great boat.
Just curious, did you ever find out why your boat wouldn't get up on plane? Every time I run through this thread, I think I should ask so, today is the day.
350 Chevy, 72C Borg Warner transmission. It came complete except for the engine, so no idea what it was built with.
I did! It was multiple issues. First, ignition needed all redone, so I did a full tune up, fiddled with the timing, and that got the horses pumping again. Next it was taking on water thru the driveshaft strut, and holding it in the back where I couldn't see it, and as soon as the boat sat level it'd bilge it out, but it bulges out the port side, so I didn't see it. So every time I hit the gas and the bow went up, about 500 pounds of water went right to the back of the boat! Lol. Thats what really had me scratching my head. So I pulled out the driveshaft and removed the strut and redid that, a d now she flies like she has wings. Last trip out did a full lap around the lake near full throttle. Was awesome. Took mom and one of her buddies around the lake, because after all, I may own it now, but it's still mom and dad's boat...
Man, a big ol double cockpit like that could have had a few really awesome engines originally. I don't know for sure either, but I bet there's guys out there that could tell you what was likely in it. Maybe a big Packard! Gars were top of the line! Could've been any of these, I think anyway... Lol. Wood boat knowledge is even more rare than car knowledge. Not a ton of guys left that are walking encyclopedias of this stuff. My dad was one...
What a great thread, so nice to see that a lot of HAMBER'S, totally dig the classic wooden boats and the exotic power plants. Just a heads up to you all, check out Nautical Quarterly #14, there is a great write up about John L. Hacker and his incredible boats.
Hey I dig the feathercraft boats as well, but that was the only page that turned up on a web search. A friend of mine owned a beautiful Feathercraft that was all polished, that aluminum gleamed like a jewel in the sunlight !
There's a beautiful polished fc on eBay right now with an old merc on the back. I think they want like 4500? A lot of vintage cool for that kind of money. There's a wagemaker gentlemen's racer on my local cl that I want, but I haven't made enough excuses to spend the money yet....
Just figured out how to spray Epifanes after a few rounds of trial and error. Looks pretty good for amateur
Okay, I figured I would save everybody the hassle of trying to find Nautical Quarterly #14, since its not easy to find, so I dug out my copy of it and took the time to photo the pages and edit them down so that you all can read the information on John L. Hacker. I think you will see, that this man set the standard for everybody else to aspire to, when it came to building kick ass quality boats, that have stood the test of time. Thanks from Dennis.
Gar Wood used a lot of Scripps engines, not sure about the Packard or Rolls though. This one is only 22 feet long and being a tripple cockpit all of the compartments are somewhat small. We had to juggle things around a little to make some more room behind the steering wheel, it was pretty tight. Gar used a lot of Chrysler and Gray Marine engines in their smaller boats, I have a feeling that's probably what was in this one. Those are cool engines! Ever seen one of the Chris Craft A120s? It was the only engine designed and built by Chris Craft, it was designed by one of Chris Smiths sons. A V8, something like 825 cubic inches, suposedly a good engine but with some unfortunate carburation problems that had a nasty tendency to cause fires...
Spraying varnish isn't easy, even most professional spray painters won't mess with it. I don't do spray work but have had varnish sprayed on a couple things I have built, had a hell of a time finding someone to do it. Yours looks very nice, good work! Looks like a 25' Sportsman, cool boat! Was that built with a single engine or twins?
A twin sportsman or Lyman would definitely be in my bucket list. Those huge Lyman boats are really cool cruisers. Seen um st boat shows. A dude in Toledo has an incredible one. Monstrous big.
There was one at Hessel one year, not in a boat but on a stand. I think the boat works up there was displaying it? This isn't it, just a random Pic of one.
My boat has been to the show there a few times. That's one amazing wood boat show. Delicious pasties in the little joint in town too. Classic Northern Michigan food.
Hessel was kind of like the Lake Tahoe show of the mid west. Haven't been up there in a long time, wonder if it's still as good as it used to be. I built this boat in 2000 and took it up there in 01 or 02, can't remember, good times!
The Jalopy Journal
