World Record. 1966 Riva Aquarama. SOLD! $775,000

40 minutes late to the Mecum auction in Florida scheduled at 3:50 PM The Riva Aquarama we have been advertising is SOLD! In what apears to be high drama with bidders on the cell phones and batteries going dead. The deal is done. A record $750,000 smackaroos. And from what I have seen about this boat.. It's worth every penny. What an exciting day...

Herb Pocklington To Speak In February!

For the record, Herb speaks all the time. Especially when he is awake. But it's more fun when he is invited to speak and has a microphone and is talking about Antique & Classic boats. Herb Pocklington is a native of Algonac, Michigan and the oldest living senior executive of the Chris Craft Co. During the Golden Years. He is also one very nice and worldly gentleman so for gods sake don't bring your wife......he will just make you look like a guy who spends to much time in the barn working on his boat...... All kidding aside...Well worth the trip....You can hear him speak and possibly speak to him and the Antique Boat Centers Open House on February 13th.... So warm up the truck, feed the dog, and start your trip to Cincinnati..mmmmm chili..... When you see the Crisco plant....mmmmmm lard....... you are almost there...

How To Buy A Riva Aquarama For $70. Exclusive Offer To Woody Boater Readers.

This Saturday, one of the worlds finest Classic Boats is being Auctioned off in Florida. Actually on Saturday around 3:50 PM.. Click here if you want to know more... NOW! If you can't afford to go to FLA, that's OK, you still may be able to own a $700,000 boat... I figured it out... First turn on your TV... You know the new HD TV you have in your trailer...hey it was only $35 a month.... OK.. send Thelma out for a pack of smokes and some suds.. Now... Turn on the HD Theater Channel.. that's of course if you have paid your cable bill..... Now..... Last Month, Woody Boater had roughly 10,000 visit0rs... So. If each of you .. lets just say.... bids $70 bucks... The $70 times 10,000 is $700,000 And bingo.. We can all have a chunk... OK grain of a Killer Riva Aquarama. It's simple... I am sure the auction house won't mind processing 10,000 bids for $70. They loooove that sort of stuff. But just think... After 20 years of litigation... You will own a Riva... Just think how cool it would look next to your Iroc Z ...

Noosa Dreamboats.....Classic Boating Down Under

Fellow Woody Boaters Michael and Sandy Guthrie from the Land Down Under have a great business bringing the Dream of the Woody Boat life to the rest of the world. Noosa Dreamboats They commissioned one of the top companies in the US of A - Fletcher Boats in Washington State to build there dream boat and then have it delivered. Honestly this sounds like a nightmare of shipping and logistics. But it looks worth it and I am sure Fletcher Boats knows how to manage a project from a far. When you think of it, there is no difference in undertaking such a thing from Cleveland to Washington, or Australia to Washington. It's all a phone call and email photo anyway... Noosa Dream was delivered and now takes brides and grooms and other folks out for wonderful rides. I LOVE THIS! this is what it's all about... You can read more about how this all happened here... and if you plan on going to the magical world down under you might want to click here and get yourself ready. Yes it's a cliche... So!

Live-ish From Olympia Washington-Old Shcool Boat School Goes On The Road.

Several months ago 2 fellow Woody Boaters Bill Foley and John O'Brien planed to go to Maine from Washington State to take a course with Dean of Wood Pat Curtin and Instructor Kent Berry at the Old School Boat School. As the conversations went on about logistics it became clear that the best solution was for Pat to go on the road. Bill and John's workshop was perfectly set up so what better way to learn some old tricks of the trade than with your tools on your own boats... Both pat and I though.. Jesus, this is a brilliant way to go. More of a mobile school. Thus "The Old Boats Home Project " has been launched.. Assisted living for your old boat so to speak. Pat arrived in Olympia at the start of the week and has just sent us an update for all of us to join in... Here is the report...

The two boats at the school are a Chris Craft Rocket and a Gar Wood 16.
The Rocket being Turned OverThe shop... Ohhhhhh! Dang!
The Gar Wood with work started on the stem. The Gar Wood plan over the next 9 days is to true the hull, repair frames, reinstall the keel and chines, and start a new bottom. The Rocket will get some bottom and chine work and new decks.
The gar Wood utility is having a new bottom transome frame laminated of two plys of White Oak and one ply of Mahogany.
Frame being installed, The knee attached to the frames to bolt the chine to.. Now on to the Rocket...The Poor previous chine repair has been removed and the holes plugged... below faired, and new screw holes filled with Dolphinite.
Here is a section of the Rockets keel where the rudder stuffing box is located had spliced with sheet rock screws and brad... The old keel was step scarfed and a new piece fitted..
That's it for now. More to come... I am sure we will find more drywall screws and nails.. HA..... And other fun surprises.. I wish I was there.. this looks like a fun time. mmm I can smell the fumes already... dang!

A Heart Warming Story About Storage. Yes I Said Storage.

It's not often one gets to be emotional about storage. But thanks to Don Hardy from McCall Boat Works and his side business Shamrock Classic Boat Storage we can get about as close to an emotion as one can get...
The story starts the same way all these sort of stories start.. With a call from a pal... Here is the story in Dons words...

A friend called me to let me know that there was a boat inbetween two buildings..........in Boise, Idaho. This was before Boise got to be a big city. I slowed down and I found it.
There it was. I could see the tan boat cover and blue tarp flapping in the wind.
Then............the wood.
I went to the manager of the storage unit. He was kind enough to give me the owners' name and number. He was a rancher from Ketchum, Idaho. As I got closer to the boat I could not believe what I found; a 1947 CC 17' Deluxe with a tri-carb KBL!! Not only that but it was sitting in its' original shipping cradle!! Get that!!This boat was as original as original gets. All the way from the cradle to the varnish to the bottom paint......all original.I called the owner whom informed me she was "not for sale".
I told him i was a wood boat nut and I would go to Wal-Mart down the street and buy a new cover and tarp for it in order to protect it.
He did not understand why I would do that. I told him I did not want to see an all original perfect boat go grey from the elements. It would be a privelege to cover it. He then asked me if I had a better place to store the boat. Of course we do! We have an 18,000 square foot shop with dirt floors just waiting for boats just like his!! He said to hook her up and take her to her new home in McCall.
That was 8 years ago. He still pays monthly went. I still send him a friendly reminder that it sure would be nice to see his boat all cleaned up and floating on Payette Lake. However, the same thing for 8 years..........no response! One of these days she will be brought back to her prime! What a find!!

Enjoy more images

A Statue For Christopher Smith and Gar Wood... It's About Time.

This is a artist rough work in progress

Chris Craft celebrity Herb Pocklington was addressing a large boating symposium in Seattle in April and learned that their generation was extremely interested in preserving and honoring the life and work of Christopher Columbus Smith, and his friend, racing history's best remembered figure, Gar Wood. Herb got to thinking, do something monumental.. He imagined a statue like the one of Charlie Chaplin near his home in Switzerland. Imagine Christopher Smith and Gar Wood looking over their river near their homes in Algonac Michigan... Thus the dream was hatched. Letters have gone out, and some start up funds have been raised. We here at Woody Boater have signed on to help make this happen. We will be doing stories on the progress, and will be doing a live report from the unavailing in June up in Algonac. We are currently in the works on a simple web site and way for you to donate. Until then. You can send your tax free donation to:

Make your checks payable to
Legends of Algonac
Algonac/Historical Society
PO Box 228
1240 St Clair River Drive
Algonac, Michigan, 48001

Note on the check that this is for the Chris Smith gar Wood memorial... There is also a way to add your name on the Legends of Algonac Honor Roll in the Museum. More on that later.

Barbi's Dream Boat? Dang! Barbi Was Having More Fun Than I Thought.

Here I am cruising eBay for some innocent Classic Boat stuff, and I come across this listing.... As I looked through the listing it started just getting stranger and stranger... Is it just me and my sick mind? If you want to add some music to the story line.. click here

1948 Ventnor For Sale. It's Ready To Go... Kinda!

Here's your chance to get a cool 1948 Ventnor... You know it's a Ventnor because of her name... Well, you know...they look just like every other boat out there.. This one claims to have been restored and is ready to go....For the right price I suppose it doesn't matter how ready to go it is. Regardless - one thing is for sure, this is one cool boat..Dang.. You can buy it on eBay here. OR at the sellers web site Here... And if you want to take it home, click here....

You Can't Afford Not To Go To Lake Dora This Spring!

I just booked my room at the Mission Inn near Lake Dora for the big Sunnyland 2010 Annual Antique Boat Festival on Lake Dora... $99.... yup...ninety nine smackeroos... Greenbacks... dead presidents.... Or 1 dead president less than a Benjamen.. one C note minus a Georgy... Nine sawbucks one fin and four bucks...... OK that got out of hand...... But this show brings out a giddiness just thinking about it. It's the start of Spring and boating season for many of us... Those of you in warm places... It means the start of your mosquito infested humid swamp aired summers... So there!!!! as you all sit there smug about your 75 degree winter days while we are digging out from the coldest winter in decades... OK that got out of hand as well.... Anyway... This show is our chance to get outdoors and see each other again, show of our buff arms from all the sanding and varnishing and brag on our barn finds. The show is put on by one of the best Chapters of the ACBS.. They are very active and do an amazing job... I am just not saying this because they are all volunteers and that's the nice thing to say.. This group could make a profession out of this. It's very well put together and a blast.. We will be there at the Chris Craft Antique Boat Clubs tent mooching space and posting stories live from the show... So the countdown starts today.... Only 62 days left..... Wooohoooo....

As If A Truscott Boat Isn't Rare Enough....

Only on the web can such finds happen. I present to you a 24 foot Truscott boat located in...... Yes... Serbia! Not kidding here. Serbia... As if learning about Truscotts wasn't enough to test my high school history class prowess... Now I have to have payed attention in geography too? Dang.. Who would have thought I would need, English, History, and Geography learn'n to write a Journal on classic boats... Ya ya, enough about my school'n days.. Let's talk Serbian Truscotts
This great looking Truscott was saved from a warehouse in Germany were it had been delivered before the war. During the war all its records were burned. She then was shipped to Serbia after the war in very rough condition. Were it fell into the hands of fellow Woody Boater Aleksander Lakic of Novi Sad, Serbia he restored it and the rest is Woody Boater history.. OK my bad history. Because that's all I got... again.. These darn Truscotts are going to get the best of me...if they are lucky, cause they are getting the worst of me now...

They're Woody Boating In McCall Idaho...

This cool ice sculpture was done by Krahns Home Furnishings a family owned business in McCall.

Just because your Lake is frozen over is no excuse for not going out on a classic boat. It's The 2010 McCall Winter Carnival. Actually the 45th one... So they do this on a regular basis...Maybe it's something in potatoes? Actually to be worldly about this... It was started in 1924 with the arrival of the largest train ever to enter the town.. 248 folks were on board, including the Governor yada yada yada. you can read more here if you are so inclined.. It looks like a fun time, and a week long celebration of all that's great in a small town. I am liking this place more and more each day... The Date - January 29- February 7, 2010... BUT, the big day is Saturday The 29th at noon with the big Parade... Also fellow Woody Boaters Don and Molly Hardy from McCall Boat Works will be having an Open House thing at there shop, and a boat in the Parade.. So if you are close by... OR actually... You can buy the Riva Aquarama in Florida and go up to McCall with it.. You will miss the Parade though.. Ugh, life is all about tough choices.... Wait... You can do one of those phone in bidder type deals from the open house at McCall Boat Works... while watching it on the HD channel. It will be televised. You can have a cheering section... There. The perfect weekend.

Where In The World Can You Get A Deal On A Riva Aqurama?

Ya see, ya got your fancy Italian version, restored in Amsterdam and being auctioned off in Florida next week. That Aquarama is with out a doubt one of the nicest in the world. And it's here, in the US of A. All ready for you to get it wet.. But if the real thing ain't your cup of tea... OK lets be honest, if you don't have the mu la for the real thing, you can find a Riva Aquarama in Vietnam. Yup. Just like that. You might need to sacrifice some things.. Oh like 20 feet or so... OK , those duel V8's.. Replaced by a mess of AA batteries..And well, ya know that woody you get when you feel the boat going 60 mph... Well you might want to get a prescription of Viagra...BUT... You can show up at the club and say, ya I have a Riva, you will be the big man at the table... until that is someone asks you for a ride.. Then of course you will need to go out to the club pool and start tearing it up.. Oh then you will be the talk of the club for sure...

Live-ish From The Chris-Craft Collection At The Mariner's Museum.

Roving reporter John Rothert from Virgina reports in.

I finally got to visit the NEW home of the Chris Craft collection and what a great place and great folks!
Yesterday I went to Christopher Newport University in Newport News Va. where the Mariner's Museum now houses its entire book/rare book collection and our Chris Craft archives. What an improvement over the former boiler room location at the Museum!
Christopher Newport Univ. is a first rate up and coming major university and their new Tribble Library is just outstanding in every way. The reading room in the separate Mariners Museum section is very nice and features lots of interesting open shelf info and every conceivable nautical magazine. The reading room itself is brand new and luxurious by any library standards.
You may recall that one of my reasons for this visit, though I did not tell them that, was to see if the set of drawings for my cruiser that I ordered and was disappointed in the condition of....was in fact an accurate copy of the best they had/could do. IT WAS.
I held the original in my hand and if anything the copy came out BETTER.
Four year Volunteer Jim Hooker sat and talked with me for some time, I listed all our concerns and some ideas...he very much wants to help. He then took me on a behind the scenes tour of the Chris Craft Archives. There is a nice office just for CC business and I was allowed to see the stacks...all of the hull cards, thousands of yet uncatalogued photos,
Plans and drawings of every description...very impressive and all stored in state of the art cabinet systems and fire protected.
My thanks to librarian Patti Hinson for her help as well.
I hear Bill Basler is going to tour the collecton soon, I am sure he too will be impressed.
This is all not to say that we don't face challenges.
Jim is a retired navy guy that I can tell is gaining wide CC knowledge, but our club members are still the repository of most of the experienced insight. How can we help them preserve and disseminate? Let's sit down with them and figure that out. It is a great facility, in a wonderful academic setting, and part of ,and right next to, the leading maritime museum in the world. All great stuff!

on a side note, fellow Woody Boater Brian Robinson and I will be there on the 20th..