South Haven MI.
(what's wrong w/picture?)
- 1950's promotional film for Chris-Craft Kit Boats
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWS_2_A00os
- During the 50's Chris-Craft offered DIY Kit Boats in many different sizes, from the 8' Pram for $49 to the 21' Cruiser for $650."No Wake" was modified to include a deck and center cable steering for 1955 5 1/2 Johnson Outboard. Restored in 2002 she has been featured in WoodenBoat magazine issue #183 also given a chapter (#5) in Restore Your Wooden Boat by Stan Grayson, Devereux Books.
In 2005 Stan Grayson of Devereux Books called us after seeing our Chris-Craft Kit Boat "NO WAKE" in WoodenBoat magazine (issue #183) He ask if I would write a chapter for his upcoming book "Restore Your Wooden Boat" www.devereuxbooks.com After publication as I read the book I was surprised to learn how similar each of the 8 restoration projects were. The many different ways each guy found to solve the same problems was very enlightening. What a great help it would have been had this book been available before starting my project. If you have ever considered "saving" a wooden boat this book is great. It's about "keeping it simple" and includes lots of instruction and encouragement.
E-mail me at [email protected] if you have any questions and I will try to answer. I would really like is to hear from others who have also done restorations and we can place their stories on the site. Expanding the site to list boats headed for the burn pile and getting them into the hands of people who will rescue and restore them is our mission.
"It's all about saving wooden boats"
Chris Craft Kit Boat & 1953 Thompson Sea Skiff
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The Chris-Craft Kit Boat was my first restoration. The yellow Thompson was next, it was given to me by a gentleman who had seen our Chris-Craft Kit Boat at boat show at the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven, Michigan. He wondered if I might want the 1953 Thompson which was setting on his burnpile in Hell,Mi.
www.MichiganMaritimeMuseum.org
With the "big boys" www.wwcacbs.com
Grand Rapids, MI Boat Show 2006
This Chris-Craft Kit Boat was built by John VanderVeen of Delton MI and his father in the 1950's Now, 50 years later it is back in John's hands for a new restoration.