Silver Lake 2010

Looking forward to the North East Meet in Silver Lake this year. We'll be there for the whole weekend this year. See www.nicklecityclassics.webs.com for more details. June 5th, Silver Lake State Park, Perry, NY.

in reference to: The North East Boater's - FYI 2010 (view on Google Sidewiki)

Road Trip

Went on a little road trip yesterday, seems there were some windshields that had been sitting in a barn for about 44 years.

A little history: I found some pretty rare new old stock Custom Craft and MFG windshields. I found out about them from a girl that was looking for a windshield for her Correct Craft. She heard about these windshields from a friend of a friend, and went to check them out. They weren't what she was looking for, but she kept searching. Somewhere in her searches, she ran across a website featuring Custom Craft boats. She figured that she would share the information that she had so that others could benefit from this rare find. After all, if they were bulldozed with the barn that they were in, it would do no one any good.

Shelly sent me a message about these windshields about a month ago on my website. She put me in touch with the guy that had them, and I started to make arrangements to pick them up. I got some help with some pre-orders from some FiberGlassics members, and arrangements were made. A friend of mine from Silver Lake decided that he would come along for the ride and we set it up for the 22nd of March. I made arrangements to borrow the truck from work, and set out on the road at 6:30 in the morning. I met up with my friend on the way and we headed out towards north western PA.

We get down there a few minutes early and decide to check out the lake. It's a beautiful lake. Bud from the Navigation Company meets us at ten, and we head over to the warehouse/ barn. The windshields are all there, up in the loft. It took us a little longer than I though because we had to lower each one down individually. There were a few more than I had thought, but at least they weren't in boxes. Turns out there were alot of MFG windshields too. Some of them even included the rubber gasket as well as the brackets. All in beautiful shape aside from about 44 years of accumulated dust. While we were loading we set one of the buyers off on his way with a new windshield and we met Shelly and her friend. After a couple hours of passing windshields back and forth we were finally loaded. We call Bud and let him know we were all set to go. He says, " we are going through some old stuff in the attic, you can stop over and check it out if you want". We head on over to the Marina, and check things out. He says, "I still have a box of old wiring harnesses I had forgotten about, you're welcome to take some if you would like". Well I had to think about it for a minute, but I said, OK sure thanks, I'll take some brand new 44 year old wiring harness with the factory tag still on them. So I've got a couple Sun Ray factory wiring harnesses, and one Tiger Ray harness.

We're ready to leave and we ask Bud if he knew anything about the old MFG factory. Turns out it was in Union City which is on our way back. He tells us that it closed in 1987, and we get directions. So we head for Union City, and when we get there we check in at a local store to see if they know were the factory was located. We ask the lady at the counter if she knows anything about the old MFG factory, and she says, " sure, I work there". You mean you used to work there we say. "No, I work there. it's right around the corner. They make truck hoods. They have some boats inside the lobby". We head over and take some pictures. "Too bad it's Sunday, and it's not open", we say. Might make another good road trip.

Get home after unloading all the windshield at 9:00, exhausted. Eat dinner and go to bed.

New Website Stuff

Been working on the website in just about all my free time(and even some that wasn't).

Lot's of new updates there.

There is an interactive events page for the boating events.

Tim's Paradise Boat Works page has been updated and now looks better than most of mine.

I just got some new Custom Craft Brochures and Bulletins, and posted a few in the galleries today.

Been working on a deal to get some Custom Craft windshields that have been hiding in a warehouse for 44 years. The deal is progressing, although it's going slower than I would like.

This website thing is kinda fun, and finding all this Custom Craft information is getting rather addicting. I may go into some other local boat manufacturers after I get this closer to where I want. I would definitely need help from the the local ACBS guys if that were to happen though. There are some other affiliations in the works.

Soon it will be time to get the boats out on the water. As I drove up along side the river today, I couldn't help but think, "the river is clear, I could pop the boat in right now"

Family Time

Well, been away from the blog for a while.

Family Time and Holiday Obligations.

Thought I'd post a few pictures here of the boys:

Here they are with a few of their favorite gifts.

I've also been busy with a new Website, Nickle City Classics.

This is my Local Classic Boating Group Website. I also have a Custom Craft Boat Group Page there. Please feel free to check it out and join the group. You don't even have to have a boat to join, all are invited.

Now that the holidays are over, I'll be getting back to posting here more often.

Frank Lloyd Wright Boathouse

Took these pictures at the ACBS workshop last winter. Really an interesting story on this building.

http://www.wrightsboathouse.org/

It was nice seeing it first hand. The quality of the workmanship was first rate.

My Boats

1963 Custom Craft Sun Ray 17'

So this is the one that started it all. Saw this thing in a Field in 1992 and knew right away that I had to have it. Just never saw anything like it before, so I made an offer and got the boat for $200. The trailer was another issue though. The guy just did not want to sell it. So after some haggling, I got the trailer for another $350. Still not a bad deal, especially considering I didn't have anything else to haul it away on.

So it sat in storage for awhile while great dreams were contemplated. In that time I managed to find this great website where I could learn all about the boat and how to fix it up. The website is called FiberGlassics.com. I found out there are other people like me who saw the great potential in these old boats. Other people who could see that this basket case sitting in a Field somewhere could be resurrected into it's once proud former self.

Time, life, and lack of funds all took their toll. In 2005, I finally managed to negotiate for a place to work on it out of the elements. The transom got done. The floor got started. Materials were purchased. Progress was being made. Then unfortunately the storage place was lost, but something else happened. Another boat was found. One that was smaller and therefore needed less work to finish.

1962 Custom Craft Sting Ray 14'

So this brings us to the next project. This one, also found in a field, was free. Although I was soon to find out that there is no such thing as a free boat. It seemed to me that this boat would take less work to get on the water. This was primarily because of it's size, but also because it did not need a full transom replacement. It did however have eight coats of paint on it. Since I already had all the fiberglass material from the other boat, it was not going to cost me alot to get on the water.

So after picking the boat up in the fall of 2006, I started immediately on the transom. I was able to do this mainly in my driveway. The transom went in and I got it all sealed up. Next was the floor. That was done in the spring of 2007, and was finished in time for the second annual Silver Lake Boat Meet put on by FiberGlassics North East Group. Even though the floor was not completely sealed, and there was nothing but plywood sheets for seats, it ran great and a good time was had by all. Later that summer the floor would be sealed with fiberglass, and sturdier plywood seats would be installed. It still had it's eight coats of paint. I had spray painted it for the meet, and that is how it stayed for the summer. Fun was had, and even though there were motor starting issues, it ran great. The family went water skiing. Some of the expense and time were justified.

The next year, 2008, the project of stripping the eight layers of paint and fixing the fiberglass shell was undertaken. All spring I worked on it at the warehouse space at work which was graciously donated by my boss. The new paint was applied, two part epoxy, with help from my brother in law. Seats were purchased and installed. The motor was gone through, new starter solenoid, carb kits, fuel pump kits. New lights and cleats were purchased and installed. It was ready in time for the third annual meet at Silver Lake. The boat ran flawlessly all summer. We used it for a week straight on our summer vacation at Rushford Lake.

1961 G-3 13'

The next project. This is a speed boat. It was purchased for $150 in the fall of 2008 from the same guy that gave me the Sting Ray. More to come on this one.