The Wooden Boat Association of North Texas is participating in the White Rock Lake Boat Show in Dallas, Texas on September 19, 2015. I’m planning to bring my 1950 Thompson 14′ TVT Deluxe Outboard to show as a trailer display. I say a trailer display, as opposed to a water display, inasmuch as this boat has not … More Bright and Shiny
For the last week I have been working on removing the plywood hull bottom from my 1948 Speed Liner. As with nearly all the tasks associated with restoring these old wooden boats, it has been an arduous task. There are literally thousands of screws that have to be found, dug out, and unscrewed. Of course, very few … More Gittin’ Nekkid!
Yesterday, Patrice and I got my 1948 Speed Liner flipped so I could remove the hull bottom. I had understood from the seller that his dad, who was the original owner of this boat, had fiberglassed both the hull bottom and the hull sides. Certainly, he did the hull sides. However, as I removed the … More Strip Search
My 1979 Johnson Stinger 75 outboard motor arrived a couple weeks ago, and has been sitting in a crate on my driveway ever since. Finally, having tired of this huge, 34″x61″x46″ wooden crate taking up one whole end of the driveway I decided to dig the motor out of the crate. Before I could do that though, I needed to build a … More Thinking Outside the Box
In preparation for flipping my 1948 Speed Liner I called on Mighty Mouse Mozelewski, aka my girlfriend “Patrice,” to help me lift the boat off its dolly and set it on the driveway. With the dolly thus freed of its burden, I set about modifying the dolly by adding two rows of 5’x2″x4″ boards running perpendicular to the … More Flip or Flop
When Patrice and I were in Algonac, MI for the Algonac Boat Show in June 2015, the CBS News Sunday Morning crew were there filming the boats and some of the historical locations around the town. Algonac is where Christopher Columbus Smith originated the company that ultimately became known as Chris-Craft. Algonac arguably could be regarded as the … More Sunday Morning
Removing all the deck planks from my 1948 Speed Liner left screw holes in the underlying frames and deck supports. So as to provide for fresh wood into which to insert the new screws when I mount the new deck boards, covering boards, and hull side planks I had to fill all the screw holes. I started … More Tedium ad Nauseum
I have now stripped all the hull sides and decks off my 1948 Speed Liner 14′ Deluxe Racing Runabout. She’s down to just the frames, transom, and hull bottom. She got the first bath she has had in 30 years today. The next step will be to flip her over and remove and replace the plywood bottom. … More Nekkid to the World…
Finally! I have found and purchased a 1979 Johnson Stinger 75 hp outboard motor! Yay for me! I have been looking for one of these for a very long time. These motors are highly coveted and hard to find. I bought this motor on eBay this week from a guy in North Carolina. He’s going to … More Float Like a Butterfly…
For the last two weeks I have spent many sleepless hours worrying about making the new seam battens for my 1948 Speed Liner. Seam battens provide a horizontal base into which to screw adjacent hull side planks. They are mounted onto the hull frames, which run vertically, and inset into dado notches. I’m not sure why this stressed … More Seam Batten Insomnia
Double Jack Texas Speedboats 