Author archive: Kent

When seeing the foreboding forecast for later in the week – slushy sloppy measurable accumulations – my WoodyBoater friend Steve Upham suggested that we go for a “last hurrah.”  After all, his 1939 Chris Craft 21’Deluxe Utility was still in the water.  The only problem might be today’s forecast – highs in the low 40s…

Last Saturday, the Adirondack Chapter had a picnic outing on Long Lake.  Nestled in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, the fourteen mile long body of water is actually a glacial widening of the Raquette River which flows from the Fulton Chain to the St Lawrence River. For those familiar with the Adirondacks, the weather…

Check out the unique Chris Craft triple currently for sale!

Ask anyone who works on their wooden boat about varnish and you are likely to receive an opinionated dissertation on their technique for varnishing.  Getting a good varnish job is challenging, frustrating and rewarding all at the same time.  I like to say that varnishing is one part prep, one part technique and one part…

One of my long time boating friends is a true collector of old boats.  At one point, he had over thirty boats, most of them Gar Wood, Shepherd and Century.  These days he feels less is more so he’s slowly been selling of a good portion of the collection. Over the years, I’ve worked on…

Photography has been a big hobby for me over the years.  I naturally enjoy shooting wooden boats, but I also like many other types of photography including landscape, night, nature and other different specialties.  Last fall, I had the opportunity to do some product photography for one of my varnish and paint suppliers, Pettit Paint….

Now that the Hemi runs well, it’s time to paint and detail it.  At the customer’s request, we painted it purple like the larger displacement Hemi often found in Shepherd boats. We used a two part automotive paint, disassembling the motor enough to paint the important parts.  The black for the starter, generator, distributor and…

The weather finally rose about the freezing for the better part of the day here un upstate New York, which gave us the opportunity to test run a classic. This is a nice 331 Hemi that is going to be painted, detailed, and installed in a Chris Craft Custom.  

Out with the old, in with the new…when it comes to wooden boats, sometimes people just want something different. Flooring in traditional antique or classic runabouts was predominantly more functional rather than attractive.  Rubber or linoleum in black, gray or white was fairly standard.  Some Chris Crafts in the 50s had a marbleized linoleum look. …