In the early 1950s there was a single guy who was I believe a mailman from Worcester Mass. He scrapped his dough together and bought a 21 foot Cobra new. One Saturday night his brother in law was out boozing and flying around Lake Quinsigamond with the boat and ran it into the Rt 9 bridge. For years the fiberglass tail fin section - all that was left - sat up in the attic of Billings Marine.
Well I just made the plunge into boat ownership too. I officially have too many toys. 64 Aristo Craft 17 funliner with the 110 merc (4cyl chevy). Its looks to be a pretty rare boat due to the color combination. This one has a black deck, black hardtop, and a black HULL! This hull color was only available as a custom order at an additional charge. The accent color is maroon. It needs a little work to be lake ready. But it will look real good behind my f100 Ill have pics soon.
I have no pictures here at work, but I owned back in the early 80's a 1963 Correct Craft 15 footer with a 50 Horse Johnson engine. The boat was named " Little Liz" when I bought it so I left the name .
1963 Avalon 15'9'' with a 115 merc......I think it's going on the chopping block cheap....nead to buy sme stuff for the "T"
That's a beatiful boat, Moriartity! I had heard a rumor on one of the other forums that the boat is for sale...is that true or just a BS rumor?
That's great, you've got an awesome boat. I sold my Nailhead powered '65 Stevens last year and now it looks like I'm going to have to find another flatbottom!!
Well now lookee here... boat thread Here are two of mine..... the little sailboat is a 1946 Williams Atkins dory ketch named Dove.. Vanora (gaelic for White Wave) is a 1964 36 foot Chris Craft Challenger... She has her original Chris Craft/Chev 283's... rebuilt with correct valve cover decals and paint. The 283's that Chris Craft used have forged cranks, and tach drive distributors, prestolite IBM 4115's with the crab caps. Carter AFB's that had a specific marine number ...3660s and paragon hydraulic transmissions. Vanora will still go 27 mph, factory was 28 mph. Not bad for a 16000 pound boat... and that's dry weight. She carries 185 gallons of fuel, and 50 gallons of water.... and at full throttle gets about a mile to the gallon or slightly less..
AND the reason I joined here... I bought this boat this summer... and she is undergoing pretty much a full restoration this winter... stripped out, motor out, new upholstery, flipped over, a couple of planks, full refinish... and the MOTOR will get some serious attention. This is a 1965 Chris Craft supersport 21 foot. The boats of this era were the last gasp of the woodenboat industry... at least in a average guy buyer productions sense. Fibreglass was making huge inroads on the market, resins were improving, and they were easier to maintain and much cheaper to build. The supersport series from Chris Craft were the full planing "speedboat" hulls in mahogany. They used mostly 283 and 327 motors, but in smaller quantities 427 and 430 Ford, and some 318 and 440 Chrysler powerplants when Chris Craft had problems with supply. This boat has a numbers matching 430 lincoln.. which Chris Craft called a 431. It was 275 horsepower AT THE SHAFT, and about 400 ft lbs of torque at 3600 rpm. It meant you could swing a fairly aggressive propeller... This boat was 45 mph in 1965. I bought her north of Chicago, and she has never been altered or @#$%& with, which happens a lot in wooden boats...everyone with a saw thinks they're smarter than the original builder sometimes To put the numbers in perspective.. the 21 foot supersport over a 3 year period ....125 hulls I think. Big blocks? maybe 30? ... so in my humble opinion, although the old boats from the 30's and 40's are often big money... the sixties Chris Craft boats like this one are an opportunity... much like the cars Hemmings asks you to watch.. Long term goal with this boat: without permanently altering ANYTHING, I want to put a 400 horse lincoln...3x2 intake, roller cam, big slugs. Some questions I need to investigate is transmission performance enhancements and propellers sizes.. I would not want to take this boat past 60 miles per hour unless it was ideal conditions.. the hull would not warrant it in terms of design I suspect. but there you go. Glad to be here. Here is a marine MEL 430... You can see the interior is all but stripped out here. Motor is ready to lift. Note the cast aluminum front leg/flywheel cover. The marine oil pan is 9 quart CAST aluminum, with a crank inspection plate. Way cool. Carter AFB. 4 inch wet exhaust, no mufflers. tach drive mallory dual point distributor. The boat... on the trailer on the way home from Cheee cago. original color plan except for the vinyl red stripe.. GLASS windshield. Dash interior shot... This was when Chris Craft was very influenced by the automotive industry.. colors and shapes of seats. You can see that someone burned the front seat (the plastic patch) and the vinyl is very brittle from years in the sun... it is all getting replaced A rear perspective... a bejesus big engine cover for the 430, and the turquoise on the rear seat and side panels. A lot of work to do... I can keep you guys posted if you like. Certainly I will looking for advice on engine stuff... looking forward to running this boat..
went back and looked, it's definately an odd design! what's the hull shaped like?? looks like a dual purpose hull, one way it's a planing hull and upside down it's a sailboat lol
<HR style="COLOR: #e5e5e5; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1> <!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> we literally dug this out of the river bottom this summer with the help of my brother. it was in the water for several years. great story. the p o clipped a rock with it several years ago. it knocked a small hole in the bottom. He jumps out grabs his hi-po outboard off the boat and down it goes. fast foward 4 years. Im out buzzing around on my old stand up jet ski (if ya have an old one I would like to buy it) and I see the boats nav light. thats all that was sticking outta the river bottom. so we return with shovels. the boat was under 3 feet of water. we dug out the stones and muck for an about an hour. I noticed that the boat was riseing. No shit. so as we dug the higer it went. before you know it we were floating. not well mind you but it was floating. I hooked it to the ski and towed it near shore. we finished digging it out and flipped it on its side to wash it out. Its now at my dads waiting. I gota do some paperwork so I can leagally claim it as an abandoned boat. I would love to put the old tube style drive in it.. anyone got one?
You might want to research Arenacraft/ Dan Arena builder for your boat. I have a 1962 Arenacraft direct drive inboard project and the hull looks VERY similar. Sorry no pics now maybe another time
Buddy of mine has a "56 MasterCraft with the original 35hp Evenrude on it I've been trying to talk him out of for years. He wont budge off it, probally sit there & rot.
Hot rod boats are super cool. I remember a buddies 72 sanger. It was awesome and If i had more space, I think I would try to get one! yikes. There is a Kurtis Kraft boat on craigslist near my home..........tempting.
my fins are in...started with a little Skimaster...now onto a finned Lone Star and a OMG - big finner - like a 59 Dodge...pics later...
I had originally bought the boat for the 354 hemi I pulled out of it. The boat was too nice to scrap like I had planned, so I did the hull over, built some interior for it and put one of my Nailheads in it. We were out on the lakes and ponds havin a ball with it every weekend, but it was getting tough to keep the locals happy with the noise if I went out early enough to catch smooth enough water. I picked up a '70 18' Donzi that I'm able to do a lot more with and the Stevens was history. I will build another flatbottom sometime, cause that was a blast!!
I've been at the opposite end of the speed spectrum from the boats in this post!. After 20 years of ownership and never-ending wood and varnish work, I reluctantly sold my 1935 25 ft. Crosby catboat to concentrate on finishing my hiboy and other stuff. She weighs 9,000 lb. and maxes out at 6 knots on a good breeze! She has a sweet running Gray Marine 4-banger, still 6 Volts. Gone to Vinalhaven Island, Maine to another wooden boat steward. She'll be missed here. http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm288/NailheadDeuce/TotheMooring2.jpg
i have an old "surfboard" dont know what else to call it made in the 50's...its about 6' long and 2.5'wide and rounded in the front kinda tombstone shape it was pulled or towed behind a motorboat and you stood on it. theres a hole in the front for a rope or something..im assuming you stood on it..anyone know what im describing or got an in-use picture? i can post a pic..its heavy and made of wood...its not homemade
watched an ox-2 in a restored seapalne the "america" this summer on keuka lake in hammondsport ny..home of???glen h curtiss...i got pics if anyone wants em..pm me
i've never heard of that, but were they towed behind the boat or how were they used? mine is shorter and wider than the one in the photo...maybe you just sat on it?? but its only about an inch thick...how did you stay afloat??
My dad has 2 vintage boats... 1952 Shepherd 22' utility. Boat is built real nice, double planked mahogany bottom, barrel back transom, etc... Classy boat but needs a FULL restoration(it's almost a pattern boat now)... It is for sale if someone is interested in it. Clear NJ title too 1965 Sportcraft 19' utility. Glass boat patterned off a wood boat & gelcoat is the color of a wood boat. 70hp Evinrude on it. He also has a nice collection of small vintage outboards...
The Jalopy Journal
