Thanks to the Water Wonderland chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society for inviting us to share our Chris-Craft Land Cruiser as part of their display at the Grand Rapids boat show.
Henry, the youngest member of our crew at The Wooden Runabout Co., also enjoyed participating in a boat building event sponsored by the Water Wonderland chapter. Look out for this Aristocraft Jr. at Boats on the Boardwalk in Traverse City.
We’ve been busy working in the shop and haven’t taken much time to keep our project gallery up to date lately. We just added an album for a 1962 Chris-Craft 18′ Sea Skiff that is in the shop for extensive bottom work along with a new transom.
We also have a custom 32′ sedan in the shop for varnish work. This magnificent boat was built by Bruce Hutchinson of Gull Lake, Michigan. It it inspired by a John Hacker design, is powered by twin Yanmar diesels, and reaches speeds approaching 45 mph.
As you may have read in a previous post, we were fortunate enough to find a rare 1954 Chris-Craft Land Cruiser available for sale in the fall of 2010. Chris-Craft offered these trailers as kits for one year only. The kit included everything needed for the shell of the camper with suggestions on interior layouts that could be designed and installed by the purchaser.
With the exception of the plywood floor, which we replaced, everything pictured in the photo above is still original to this trailer.
We completed the restoration on the trailer in time for the ACBS international boat show at Lake Geneva in September. After the show Texx from Woodyboater was kind enough to run a feature story on the camper. I’ve included a few photos that Texx took of the camper as well as a link to the full story.
Once again the Century Boat Club hosted another great show in Manistee on September 10. We had the privilege of bringing a freshly restored 1966 Century Coronado to the show for a customer and were honored to receive the Best Coronado award.
Goose, a 1957 Chris-Craft 23′ Continental, was awarded two awards at the Hessel Boat show this past weekend. She received not only Best in Class, but also was recognized as Third Best in Show.
You can read more about the unique history of Goose in a recent story from our friends at Woody Boater.
Congratulations are again in order to Mark and Deb Leonard whose 1959 Century Coronado was awarded Best in Show at the Boats at the Barns event hosted by the Gilmore Car Museum on August 6. To see more photos of this Coronado and other restorations completed by The Wooden Runabout Co., please visit our Project Gallery.
This past weekend we attended the Bay Harbor vintage car and boat festival with the owners of the 1957 23′ Chris-Craft Continental that we recently restored. Goose was recognized as the Best Utility at the show. You can see more photos of the restoration in our project gallery.
Earlier this month we took this beautiful 23′ Continental out for a water test before delivering the boat to its owner. The boat received a complete restoration in our shop, yet it remains a very original boat. It has been owned by the same family since the 1960′s. The boat was well-taken care of for her entire life and very little wood replacement was necessary during the restoration. We installed a new bottom, but all hull side planks, all ceiling planks, and virtually all decking remain original wood.
We recently finished the replacement of the cover boards on a rare 1939 Chris-Craft 19′ custom, also known as a 19′ barrel back. This process involves starting with square 2″ thick pieces of lumber and transforming them into the flowing curves that make this boat one of the most recognizable and sought after Chris-Crafts. The photos below show the fitting and shaping process.
At The Wooden Runabout Co., our interest in Chris-Craft is not strictly limited to objects that are designed to float. We were recently fortunate enough to aquire a rare 1954 Chris-Craft Land Cruiser. Chris-Craft built these kit travel trailers for only one year and the production numbers are thought to be quite low. In fact, by the summer of 1954 the kits were already being offered at closeout prices.
We are only the third owners of this particular trailer and it is in remarkably original condition. Below you will find some scans from Chris-Craft sales literature as well as a few pictures of the trailer as it sat when we picked it up.
