DryDock Newsletter

In this issue…

Presidents message

Upcoming events

We are in the Rudder

Summer Memories -Bruce Wilson

I think I’ve found my next Classic Boat -Kelly Williamson

Projects -Steve Leslie

From the Board

OACBS President’s Message – February 2021



Message from El Presidente,

Just finished a day of what I could call spring skiing prior to writing this message; the sun was out, temperatures in the pluses, and a wind that could be described as temperate. That can only mean that boating season is close at hand. That being said…holy crap…I`ve got a lot of work to do! My goal this year is to have my boat in use by the May long weekend. That means not only summerizing Vamanos, but getting the dock in, repairing the boat lift, and prepping my yard for my daughter`s wedding to be held in it on June 5! Well, one more month of skiing and then I`ll think about it.

After a year of boat show and event cancellations due to Covid, it appears that we may have one more summer of uncertainty. Although we`ve had some recent positive news resulting in hopes of a more “normal” summer, we will not know for some time if travel and social restrictions might be relaxed. With this in mind; the Board of the OACBS has not planned a Boat Show for 2021. Instead, we are hoping to hold at least 2 regional boating days, casual and informal in nature. We will be announcing dates and locations soon.

Your board has done its last couple virtual meetings via Zoom. We are getting better at it with practice. The potential exists with this format to bring social events to the membership as well, for example a virtual shop tour or seminar or even just a coffee and BS session. We plan to invite all the members to attend the next Board meeting scheduled for April 15. A link will be emailed to members the week prior.

Jim Cooper

Upcoming Events…

We are still watching and waiting to see how things unfold. We will share information as we learn it. It seems as though a lot of events in the USA are going ahead however for us Canadians its not clear when the borders will open.

ACBS Annual Meeting & Boat Show
The Inland Empire Chapter and the City of Coeur d’Alene will host this year's ACBS Annual Meeting and International Boat Show September 16-18, 2021. Chapter hosted events will be offered September 12-17.

Event information and the registration form are available on the ACBS Website using this link ACBS Annual Meeting & Boat Show.

You may register online using this link Register Online

Questions? Call 315-686-6004 or email dan@acbs.org

PNW Chapter

Renton River Days Sat, July 24, 2021 Gene Coulon Park-Renton, WA - Cancelled

Mahogany & Merlot Fri, October 01-03, 2021 Lake Chelan, WA - Still planned and scheduled

OACBS Chapter

We hope to arrange two informal boating days this summer.

Kelly Willamson is working on a get together in the Shuswap.

Steve Leslie is working on a get together in the Lower Mainland.

These events will be an informal boating day and will follow all current Covid 19 protocols/guidelines .

If you are interested in attending, or have any suggestions, comments, or ideas please contact us. We would LOVE to hear from you!

 Special thanks to Amy Scanlin, ACBS Rudder Editor for featuring our virtual boat show in the Fall issue.

This is great coverage for our Chapter!

And a Big Congratulations goes out to Ian Devlin for his story on the Inlet Belle! Nice work!

And to our friends BK Powell and Leon as well!

And if you haven’t received your Winter issue of the Rudder, here’s Jim Cooper’s Vamonos. Congratulations Jim!

Again, Special thanks goes out to Amy Scanlin and the staff who do an amazing job publishing the Rudder. This is great promotion for our Chapter!

Submitted by Bruce Wilson

 It seems appropriate that the first photo should be of the SS Sicamous as she sits by the frozen Okanagan Lake. This was taken just as our deep freeze weather was starting to warm up. Maybe this means we can launch again soon? The Sicamous is a beautiful restoration of an old stern driven paddle wheeler and she has the honor of being the largest boat in the ACBS membership. You may have seen her in the Fall 2020 issue of the Rudder.

I decided that I would go through some of my memories of past shows as it is hard to look ahead and try to imagine when we may all be on the water again as a group to celebrate our hobby together. I have found some that I hope remind you of the time when the bottom of our boats were wet.

The last show we were at was in October, 2019 at the Mahogany & Merlot show at Lake Chelan. The following photos show some of the boats that our members brought down. It was a great show with super weather and lots of thundering noise from the hydroplanes.

We really did have shows before Covid-19 and they were FUN!

These following photos were taken at the 2015 ACBS annual meeting at Bar Harbour on Gull Lake, MN. It was one of the finest collection of boats that I had seen at one time. I will show just two of them, a real antique and an unusual classic glass.

My last photo is of “Route 66” as she was lifted from one part of the Severn River and lowered to the Gloucester Pool side. This was taken in approximately 1976 and shows the original marine railway car that was needed if you wanted to head to Georgian Bay. The longest boat it could handle in those days was about 30’. There is a very fancy railway now that can handle much bigger boats and is designed in such a way that you don’t have to tie your boat to prevent it from sliding of the slippery deck as it went down a 60’ drop. Note the bow line attached to the rail of the car.

Let us all hope that we can get back to enjoying the fun we all have when we get on the water together. We are all missing it,

Cheers and stay healthy.

Bruce Wilson

Note: Story and photos submitted by Kelly Williamson, a director of the Okanagan ACBS Chapter.

An article about a Glastron boat popped up on my Facebook newsfeed about a month ago. I was immediately struck by the lines of this spectacular boat. I have been thinking about it ever since.  I was compelled to do some research on it.  It is wintertime now and I think we are all dreaming of getting out on the water and doing some classic boating. In this article, I will share some of that research and what I have been dreaming about. I think I have found my next classic boat. I must have a thing with Sedans and other automotive-style boats. The Facebook article was about a 1981 Glastron Scimitar CXT 23. Scimitar is pronounced si·muh·tr. I had to look it up because I was saying skim·i·tar and Jenni said that sounded weird. Haha.

In 1969, Art Carlson partnered with Glastron.  Art Carlson is arguably one of the most gifted and influential boat designers of all time.  The Glastron Scimitar is probably one of the most memorable of the Art Carlson designs.  Glastron built 500 Scimitar boats in the four years from 1980 and 1983.  This automotive-inspired design with the glass “T-top” is reminiscent of the Corvette or a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am of the time.  A 1980 Corvette is my absolute favorite classic car.  I am probably dating myself in saying that but it’s true.  Hardtop boats like this were very rarely built and are few and far between even today.  It is the hardtop that makes you think sports car when you first look at it

A scimitar is a sabre style sword that originated in the orient.  It is very lightweight, with a fine sharp blade.  It is designed similar to a sickle.  The scimitar was used for military applications from the 9th through the 17th century and dominated warfare for a very long time.  The scimitar was in use up into the golden age of pirates.  This Glastron boat does bear some resemblance to the sleek curves and sharp point of the sword.

The Scimitars came with a 260HP Mercruiser (chev 350) and was capable of doing a whopping 70 mile per hour. I think with a modern chev 350 and a more aggressive prop, it would be frighteningly fast.  A spectacular metal flake gel coat was standard. This boat only came in one size at 23 ½ feet long. In addition to the tinted glass removable T-top, some other interesting features of this boat include:

·        Automotive type safety glass wrap-around windshield

·        Electric windshield wipers

·        Front bucket seats

·        4-way adjustable helm seat and port side swivel seat

·        Overhead accessory switch control with lights

·        Cockpit courtesy lights

·        Digital electric clock

·        AM-FM radio with a cassette tape

Metal flake coatings came out in the 1960s.  In the 1980s they were still very popular in the boating world, as they are today. I don’t think there is anything more eye-catching than a whole bunch of “Man Glitter”. In 1980 the color options were metallic emerald mist with a green interior or metallic Persian orange with a buff interior.  In 1981 the options were metallic blue (above top) with a blue interior or metallic Persian orange with a buff interior (above lower left). In 1982 the choices were metallic amber with a buff interior (above lower right) or metallic blue with a blue interior.  In 1983 it appears there was only one option, metallic amber with cream interior. 

More brochure scans of a 1980 metallic emerald mist with a green interior

I also found some photos of some Scimitars with custom gel coats.  The best photo I found is below.

I found a Youtube video of a guy in Juneau, Alaska with a Scimitar racing a jet ski.  It was all the jet ski could do to catch him.  This boat goes like stink. Please enjoy the video.

I also found a video of a Scimitar in action at a Glastron rally.  Please check it out.  These boats are just way too cool.  It is like going back in time to when I was 17 and just discovering the 1980’s aesthetic.

I hope you enjoyed my fantasy boat for the winter of 2021.  I have been thinking a lot about getting out in the sunshine of summer again and heading across the lake.  I was showing this to Jenni and saying I want to go look for one.  I got the side-eye and a kindly reminder about maybe selling one of my other boats first.  I think I am going to do that.  This looks like too much fun. 

I hope to get a chance to see some of you out on the water this summer.  With Covid-19 shutting down most of the organized events again this year, it would be really nice to meet up with some of you for some appropriately social-distanced classic boat fun. I hope to get down to the lower mainland. It is only a four hour drive from my Shuswap house.  We will be doing another Okanagan Lake cruise day this year. I am still working at trying to line up a poker rally at the Shuswap Lake.  Any feedback or comments about participating in some classic boating would be greatly appreciated. 

kelly.williamson@shaw.ca

It is -15C with some fresh snow here in Cochrane.  Hope you are all keeping warm.  We have spent too much time in the house this winter with the draconian pandemic rules. We are eagerly awaiting a chance to get out with a boat.

Cheers,

Kelly and Jenni too

 It seems like its been a real long winter this year. For me, its always good to have projects to pass the time. Although my passion for vintage boats is strong, I’m pretty much addicted anything old and mechanical. I think a lot of our club members are the same way.

A few of our chapter members have sent in photos of the projects that have helped them get through this winter. Their passion, skills, and abilities are amazing. Although they are not all boats its some pretty cool stuff. Enjoy…

click on images to enlarge

Sean Longhi is knee deep in fixing his 1967 Porsche working on front end fitment.

This is what he started out with…

Leagh Gerllays wrote….

In response to your request for boat projects this winter, I have done some trailer maintenance, and a swing away hitch on the Woody trailer , and in a few months when the weather gets warmer in the shop I have some varnish maintenance to do on our 1964 20-1/2 ft Grew , the “ Woody”.
I’m always building large scale boat models , ( a house full ), and since the summer I completed a plank on frame ( as all of my boats are), a 3 ft Reva Aqurama, and I’m just starting to do the rigging on a 4 ft (1894) Herreshof , the “Gloriana”.

Prior to these I built a 5 ft long WW2 , Elco 80ft, PT boat from a set of plans, two 4ft r/c barrel back speedboats , three 3 ft Gloriana sailboats, and a 5ft , 1930 yacht similar to my grandfather’s, (with Christmas lights in the picture ), and whole bunch more boats.
All of these are built as if they were full sized , plank on frame , and in the case of the PT boat triple planked as were the originals .

It’s easy for me to keep busy with my spare time, along with car projects, and soon enough we can get the Woody out for our cruises at Crescent Beach. Hopefully everybody is staying healthy and getting ready for another cruising season .

Thanks Leagh & Lynn

Marty Brown has been busy with a 1958 Chevrolet 1/2 ton. Marty has updated the original six cylinder to a more powerful, period correct 1958 Corvette 283 as well as going though this truck front to back to make it a cool patina-ed driver.

My project is a 1949 25’ Spartan Manor travel trailer. These are an all aluminum riveted bodied trailer made by an aircraft company that was owned by J. Paul Getty in Tulsa Oklahoma.

Louise and I are inspired and have always envied Bruce and Reta Wilson who often take off in their Airstream for months at a time. I have always loved the styling of these old Spartans.

We started this just before Covid hit and after a lot of work gutting the rotten, dead rodent infested interior, replacing panels and pounding out dents we are working on the interior. Louise and I have both learned the process of bucking rivets together. One person uses an air hammer on the rivet head while the “bucker” holds a bar against the rivet on the inside of the trailer. A true marriage test! I haven’t yelled at her but more importantly she hasn’t yelled at me!

Hopefully we can go camping this summer.

From the Board of Directors….

The OACBS Board of Directors meets every six weeks or so via Zoom.

At our last meeting we discussed the progress of our name change. We are in this process however have to make the change with the BC Government as we are a registered Society. Once that happens we will then have to make the name change with the ACBS, and then our website. Hopefully by the summer we will be Western Canadian Antique and Classic Boat Society. We feel this name change will better reflect our membership.

We are also planning a club Zoom meeting and YOU are invited! This will be a great opportunity for you to meet your board of directors and fellow chapter members to talk boats. This will be informal and we want you to virtually come and hang out.

We will send you an email soon with the date and a zoom link.

Hope you can come and we look forward to seeing you!