In This Issue…

 -President’s message

- Mahogany & Merlot … there’s still time!

-From the Editor

-World of wheels 2023

-Our own Penticton Show

-Our members out and about

-The ACBS advantage

-A Restoration Saga

OACBS President’s Message – October, 2023



Another boating season has has come and pretty much gone here in Western Canada. It seems that things have returned to a little bit of normalcy after the last 3 Covid years thankfully. That said, BC, Alberta, and the western US were hit with a series of devastating wildfires with many folks suffering terrible loses to their homes and property; collectively we hope that they can get on their feet again as expeditiously as possible.

Our club managed to host a boat show for the second year in a row at in Penticton in June. The weather cooperated for the most part and a good time was had by all. I want to send special thanks to our friends from south of the border who showed up in greater numbers than we’ve experienced in many years. We look forward to seeing you again in 2024!

Personally, circumstances did not allow me to get out in my antique this summer; I did manage to do some boating though as I was fortunate to spend 2 weeks on a 60 footer in Desolation Sound in July; and, I was on a lot of Ferry boats in Croatia as well as a 1976 Russian build hydrofoil travelling from Albania to Corfu, Greece in September. I think that one should count as a classic!

I hope everyone has problem free winterizations, gets a little shop time in during the colder months (and/or) some time away in a warmer climate, and we look forward to next Spring!!

Mahogany & Merlot 2023, in Lake Chelan, WA.

Be sure to join us in Lake Chelan October 6-8. Even if you leave your boat at home there’s so much to see and do!

https://www.mahoganyandmerlot.com/

Another summer has past us and the cool days of fall are fast approaching. It went by so fast yet there never seems to have been enough boating time. It does make me appreciate all the time that we did get out. We are getting ready to head down to Lake Chelan where we will enjoy some fall boating but more importantly some really great people! If you’ve never been to Mahogany & Merlot I strongly suggest you hook up the boat and get going!

Thank you to all the members that contributed to this edition. We really need your support for the newsletter. We have to find a way to get our members out and attending events so everyone can enjoy the fellowship that our club has to offer. I would also like to encourage everyone to attend our monthly zoom meetings in the virtual comfort of your own home. Everyone is always welcome! Look for the email from Jim Cooper with a zoom link.

Hope to see you soon,

Steve Leslie

On the long weekend of May I started my summer off the same way as I have for the past few years. Its become a bit of a tradition for me. You see, I don’t like travelling on long weekends because of the crowds and traffic yet I sit at home and wish I was doing something. Because of the Monday being a holiday, there is virtually no traffic on the Sunday, especially at 5:30am. A great chance to travel on the long weekend but not have to endure the traffic! Its a relaxing, 3 hour drive from my house to bring a boat up for the one day show. I was super fortunate to have our good buddy Tyson Konecny come with me for the drive. A three hour drive goes by fast when you have good company!

Bruce Wilson came with “Route 66” and Bruce & Glenda Middleton brought a couple boats from the shop. And Andrew Middleton showed his recently finished Austin Healey. (His is the blue one with the hard top). This is a great one day show that the people of Peachland put on each year. There is entertainment, lots of vendors, and some over the top cars! Although the docks were not full of our club’s boats, they were full of people admiring the three boats that we did have in the water. I spent my day visiting, talking wood boats, enjoying all the cars, and going for a few short boat rides. The weather was a mixed bag with a few showers but it didn’t dampen any spirits!

I really encourage you to come out next year for this short but sweet event!

 Last June 16th-18th we had our annual boat show. Again it was held at the Penticton Yacht club who were perfect hosts! The docks were clean and secure and the food at Rusty’s was delicious! This is such a good setting with the boat launch, fuel dock, trailer parking, Rusty’s pub, all right there! They will even let you camp in their parking lot! All the amenities you need for a great weekend with fellow vintage boat enthusiasts. If you weren’t there then you missed a fantastic weekend!

Our Saturday evening dinner was served on board the SS Sicamous after cocktails and a short tour of the ship. Ian Devlin worked tirelessly on Saturday collecting the ballots for our Peoples Choice Award that went to Dev and Wendy Fraser for their 1954, 27’ Shepherd. Congratulations!

Scott Mason of PNW ACBS fell in love with Dev’s boat. He included some stories of Dev & Wendy’s boat in their September newsletter. You can read about the wonderful history of the Shepherd here. https://www.acbs-pnw.org/resources/Documents/Newsletters/2023%20Wet%20Edge%20Newsletters/September%20Wet%20Edge%20(1)_compressed.pdf

Sunday was a run up to Summerland to enjoy a brunch at Shaughnessy’s Cove restaurant. The day started off cloudy but soon cleared and we were able to do a little exploring!

Our show was a lot of fun with some wonderful people! We had a very small showing the previous year and we were all a little nervous about attendance. Luckily, Ike Kielgass, Warren Olson, and Bob Nelson went back to their chapters and talked us up. I cannot thank the PNW Chapter and CWC enough for their support and friendship! This is just another example that the ACBS is about more than old boats!

Click on photos to enlarge……Special thanks to Corrine Lucas & Wendy Nelson for photos.

The geographical challenges that our club faces make it hard for all of our members to get together. There are a lot of members that don’t know each other. In fact, there are members who I and the other directors have yet to meet. In an effort to get to know one another better, I thought it would be good for everyone to send some photos of their boating summer and or their summer project!

Our President, Jim Cooper was in Europe… He sent a photo of the ugliest pontoon boat he’s ever seen and then this really cool project boat in Greece! It doesn’t matter where you go, a vintage boat guy is always on the look out!

Looks like Richard Daley has a Pair of Glastron-Carlsons, 16 footers…One with an Inboard with 3 litre and one with 150 black max Outboard!

This was sent in by Denis Gonclaves…

(Jason and I are co-owners) picked up the boat from my family lake house in spring 2022. It was in bad shape!

 - in fall we were able to refurbish the entire interior (replace main frame and engine rails, rewire everything, clean & refinish belly & motor, reupholster seats)

 - winter we ski - no time for boat!

 - Summer is short - little time for boat though we began some of the repairs on the outside.

Denis

The beer tastes better in a boat… even if its on the driveway!

Mr. Chips enjoying a ride on Stirling, a 1958 Chris Craft Continental, on Kawkawa Lake, B.C.

Brad and Renee Stafford

Dave Cook’s 1985 Century Coronado got a top end refresh this spring. He’s been enjoying it all summer! Dave says that’s the last 440, discontinued in 1978.   When Century boats heard of this, they ordered several hundred.

Here’s Dev Fraser enjoying the trip to the Penticton Boat Show from Lake Country, with his 97 year old father and brother. Passing by Rattlesnake Island. (about a 90km journey)

From Leagh Gerllays…

I’m refreshing some interior varnish in the “ Woody”, which is a ongoing chore over the past four years and the large scale model boat building never stops .
This falls project is a 4 ft , 1930 planked tug boat that I am thinking of installing a steam engine in it, frames and jig are started but it will be a fall weather job for the shop.

Ian and Barb Fraser spent lots of their summer on Shawigan lake…

Piper will go to the dock and jump into one of our boats and just sit.  Without doubt its her way of asking for a boat ride.  I often oblige!
She will also bark at the skipper (me) if we go too slow for too long.  
She hates having a bath but will jump into the lake 40 or 50 times and retrieve a ball.  Climbs the ladder herself to get back onto the dock.

I’m thinking of changing her name to Sea Dog!

Josh Pickens came to the show to pick up his freshly restored Peterborough runabout. This rare Monarch model was purchased brand new by Josh’s father and towed out west years ago when the family relocated from the Peterborough area of Ontario. After sitting in storage for years, Josh had the Middletons and their skilled crew bring her back to life! Josh and his two sisters came to our June show to see it for the first time! They were blown away and flooded with memories of their childhood. During the restoration process Bruce found some old racing and hockey jackets of Josh’s Dad’s in the bow of the hull of which were proudly on display.

Of special note…. Bruce Middleton told me, “It is absolutely the nicest mahogany OB boat we have ever done on top of the fact that it is the rare Monarch model which I have not found another.  Christine has had it under her wing and protects it like it’s her own!! "

Who brings a boat to a car show? The Langley Good Times Cruise In, Sept.9th. It was a fun day with over 1200 cars and I had the only boat in the show! It was a great opportunity to talk to a lot of people about vintage wooden boats. I answered lots of questions and gave away flyers to promote our club and the ACBS!

Ian Devlin came to the Penticton show and although he wasn’t able bring his boat he still hauled up two antique motors which made a great display! Ian was a great help at the show and we are glad he came up!

Thanks to everyone who sent something in.

One of the many advantages of belonging to the ACBS is that you have access to over 54 chapters and thousands of members who have the same passion for antique and vintage boats just like you. By going to https://acbs.org and logging on to the members only section you can access all kinds of informative articles and videos as well as other members, or search out boat models just like yours.

I recently reached out to Ed Andrews of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter in New Jearsy. You see Ed owns an early Chris Craft Holiday like mine. I have wrestled with installing a Bimini top on my boat but was having a hard time deciding on design, colour, price, and function. I had noticed that Ed’s boat, Liquid Asset had a red top but the only photos of his that I saw, were in the closed position.

I will admit, I didn’t want to bother anyone but Ed said “No problem! That’s what the ACBS is all about!” Ed went out of his way sending me photos and design elements. He even sent a stock photo of what a top would have looked back in the day! He also included Mike McBride from Indiana, on our email. Mike has a very accurate restoration of a rare factory top.

I ended up choosing price and function over form and modified one that I purchased from Amazon. I did shorten the height but can still stand up under it. This makes boating so much nicer having a place to get out of the sun! It sounds silly but I really didn’t know how it would look and work so being able to see before I committed was awesome! Its great belonging to a community where help is just an e-mail away!

Saga of a restoration journey….By Ken Biss

I graduated from high school in 1967 and envied a school mate who piloted his family’s new 1967 Century Coronado out of Fisherman’s Cove, West Vancouver. I pledged to myself “whenever “.

Several years later, distracted by career and life, I and a friend had my ocean boat moored at Seattle Yacht Club on Lake Washington for July 4th. There was a fenced compound of pristine antique and classic runabouts as part of their marina, all fine specimens. Guess what: a Coronado of about the same vintage advertised for sale on a bulletin board, located at a different location.

On that trip I sought the owner who is / was a world-wide supplier of unique products to superyachts everywhere. I think he was bored by the Century and daunted by the prospect of its restoration.

Well along came a potential victim: I paid full asking and arranged for the transaction and pickup in Bellingham, and organized all the import stuff. (I had disassembled and shipped what I could in advance but was thwarted by a customs agent that didn’t know diddly, and valued it as complete at some mystery value he invented.) Somewhat optimistically I had all the chrome done before leaving the Lower Mainland.

My friend was towing and I led but noticed somewhere on the Connector that he was lagging and out of sight; I returned and found him stranded roadside out of gas (nice planning). Stuck in the middle of nowhere, no cell service, no assistance. I found an oil can in the gutter and drew off gas of unknown quality from Blitzen into the Exploder and we continued home safely.

My vender recommended that I try the Coronado for a while before beginning restoration but I saw two complications: she had a wet bottom on a trailer where the vender had drained the bilge to facilitate my drive. I had not arranged any moorage to maintain the bottom on return, so that meant dry storage. Secondarily, she was sound but too tatty for me to be proud of on the lake. We tried a “sea trial” on Kal but she would have sunk except for the trailer.

So plunge in. Out came out all the upholstery, sole boards, engine and associated assemblies and now a crane to turn her over. Off came all the planking (I was surprised by how loose all the planking screws were; board and batten is not the best for rigidity.) I trued all the frame pieces individually, planned for new battens and now a new one-piece keel, transom bow, stem and gripe, courtesy of my corporate millwork shop, all epoxied and pre-painted before assembly. Some of the bottom planks were pretty sad so I decided on a plywood bottom, and routed back the frames to allow sheeting the topsides with 3mm, not changing the plank gaps. No more leaks guaranteed, and probably ten times the torsional rigidity.

I used several hundred silicon bronze screws, cut bungs from old material, and installed the planks, fairing, bleaching, staining and varnish per usual. Once the bottom was painted the crane was back to flip and place on the trailer. Fruit flies had an affinity for my fresh varnish despite my poly “paint booth” so one of our members did final prep and sprayed the finish to a very high standard.

In the mean-time the engine had a serious overhaul and all other mechanical components (steering box and linkage, gearbox, shifters etc.) were disassembled and checked. Upholstery was redone (apparently by the same old gal who had probably done it first at age 15 apprenticing in Manatee). The deck and most hardware was installed.

So that’s where Blitzen has stood about four years.

Ken is suffering some health issues now and needs some help! . Ideally, Ken needs someone with skills and modest compensation objectives to work together to get this done; He can organize parts, provide photos, manuals and advice, but do little physical work. The heavy lifting is done and the rest is clean assembly. Ken is in the Vernon area. If anybody would like to help Ken, you can contact him at kenwithboat@telus.net

That’s it for this edition! Please feel free to share the link with friends! Happy boating!