![]() In addition to Chris Craft and Century, some of the other famous brands of wooden boats include Riva, GarWood, Hacker, Higgins, Greavette, Boesch, Shepherd, Dodge, Packard, Western Fairliner, FayBow and Thompson, featuring models with colorful names like Riviera, Arabian, Ensign, Capri, Super Aquarama, Tritone, Resorter, Sea Maid, Cavalier, Cobra, Cadet, Ariston, Raven, Super Sport, Rocket, Speedster, Watercar and Streamliner. White oak was used for the interior structural systems. The wooden boat industry used hard, beautiful and sometimes contrasting colors of mahogany from Africa, Honduras and the Philippines to create the masterpieces. This resulted in fewer numbers available today, an escalating price factor. One option then was a Chrysler Hemi engine.īack in the early “60s, when fiberglass boats took over the recreational boating market, wooden boats were often just scrapped and burned by the dealers. It sold originally for about $5,000, they said. The pair of later-in-life craftsmen estimate the boat will be worth about $25,000 when the engine is installed. He said the name will be “Miss Mayflower.” This Century was done for a friend of the two, Steve Carmack of Brighton, who will now install a 460-cubic-inch Ford V-8. It belongs to Thom Emrick, who sails and sells Wind Rider cats at the Frisco Bay Marina. The Spauldings even have a 14-foot wooden Chris Craft standing in the corner of their restaurant’s bar. This boat took four months of nights and days off for Spaulding, who, with wife Cindy, owns The Boatyard, a popular eatery on Frisco’s Main Street, and Tordoff, who lives in Water Dance after retiring (somewhat) from his Ohio foundry business. In a boat like the one they just finished, 3,000 bungs were required. “It’s as smooth as a baby’s behind,” Tordoff said in praising Spaulding’s hand-sanding effort.Īnother example of the painstaking effort required is the shear number of screws needed to fasten a wooden boat together: 10,000 in a boat this size.Īnd each screw on the exterior must be sunken and then covered with a “bung” – a wooden plug. “It took me two and a half hours just to do a foot – top to bottom – of the sanding required,” Spaulding said, noting that it must be done by hand – no electric sanders allowed. The painted side inserts, reminiscent of the “50s automotive styling, received six coats of thick white paint. The 21-foot speedboat now boasts bright red and white upholstery, shiny chrome hardware, a newly covered vinyl sliding targa-style roof, gauges polished to reflection, and its heavy mahogany planks are sanded smooth to make sure the 12 coats of varnish offer a deep look. Just out the door of the Spaulding’s reserve home garage is a 1957 Century Coronado, resplendent in its new almost everything.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |