No, I'm sorry about your 1-1-09 edit;

I am nowhere near 90!

Well Done Bill,

Thanks,

Happy new year!

Here is Forrie, in 1947 'hull-dresser' mode.

That gleam in his eye might just well be his son, Rick.

Man, that's a different version!

Tell me they didn't make many models from few hulls!

This one is 121 of 149, varnished ceiling planks (statuary bronze screws), and the red, two blacks, and white interior, as shown on the hull card.

From the hull card:

Well said Bill, Why don't you just tell him what you expect to pay for your "bottom-job" (where the heck did you get that phrase?) for your 17? You actually do 'get what you pay for', CAVEAT EMPTOR, etc. Final value depends on it! The '59-'60 (U-24-001 to U-24-149) Sportsman (see below) is somewhat ...

Tony Dugan worked at the Cadillac plant. It might be somewhat romantic to envision such attention to detail; As to delineating the factories with hull number permutations (there are even guys who think that every assembly station had the identical set of stamps?), but..., Here is one example of Chri...

Bear in mind that beyond mere decades, or centuries; milleneia of marine hulls have fared better with White or Gloss-Varnish hulls to reflect harmfull UV radiation. The amount of this harmful, finish-coat killer, is doubled on the water, reflecting off the water as well. Dark hulls are nice to look ...

The next time you have to remove a plank like that, and you know you are going to destroy it anyway, screw a batten to it (four actually, one for top, bottom, and each end) and use a small laminate trimmer router to cleanly remove the edges (and plank batten surface) from the surrounding planks. Uni...

We know about "the accident", and the two repair planks on the port side where he hit the piling. The entire story came with the boat. The repair planks were so well done that I will keep them when I do the 'Preservation'. I even hope to research a possible Coast Guard Report on the incident in 1941...

You know, I do NOT doubt that walnut overstained dashboards ever happened. I just cannot believe that it was the norm for entire years and models. Chris-Craft was well known for taking 9 hull shapes and advertising 50 models. When I saw that dash for 71828 I thought; Oh Man! This is what Don Ayers h...

Mark, When John brought the boat here to see if I could fit it in this winter, I took many photos, including that dashboard. That boat had been refinished completely without stain at one point, he called it 'Canadian style', before he had Scott MacKercher refasten and restore it to its current finis...

That is the weirdest thing I have seen.

It simply must be delaminating plywood. Poke it with a pin to see, through the decal?

That 'light-blue' "Sawz-all" is not even a Makita, is it? The second photo shows the upper transom bow laminations, at fault; As well as their lower transom bows, doesn't it? Please take more photos, en route. Getting good construction info, here. Don't worry, some special right-wing god takes care ...

Admittedly, those are undesireable, thus unsaveable, Chris-Craft's.
The Lyman is for the brave, and reminescant!

Those Century's, however, are collectables!

Great work Matt, and you are right, everything bad happens under pressure. I've been getting a lot of individual e-mails asking about that photo I posted of the gear coupler and how to fix the seal and shim. The following are pages from my second book showing the photos and text, but don't ask me, I...

Yes, I too heard some unbelievable scuttlebutt about such a multi-generic union... The easiest building technique, plus the most complicated Chris-Craft runabout ever! I heard some yesterday at the Century Boat Club show, and dinner; Lou brought the '01 Fish Brothers barrel. I discussed that this mo...

So thats it? Neither one of you can spare time from shows or hurricane, anchor-set to put some (even-paper) towels down? Where is this leak???? Mark fixed on it, I'll Bet! He found the same in B*#$@+V's boat, here, some years back. The dang gear coupler's KEYWAY! That's my bet! Get in there and look...

Thanks Phil, As I said; You Da Man! I picked up 37 pipes for my crowd, the straight ones annealed for future bending, six different bends, all perfect. They have a tank that they dip the aircraft-grade Stainless Steel, Vanadium, etc. pipes in, but apologetically said that our Copper would disintegra...

Photograph everything for 'original' details?

No questions will be dismissed because I can find a factory directive that applies. I've had pages of questions for Forrie Kanipe for years now. Tonight, Russ and his wife will be gleaning the questions from this forum for their list, so ask away, they will be e-mailed to Forrie in the morning. We h...

I'd cut the shaft and replace it. We're a working shop so a few hours of trying costs the customer about as much as a new shaft. I replace the coupler as well and have that fitted to the shaft. I left a shaft and coupler ('39-Custom) clamped in the vise for two weeks, soaking in PB Laster, WD-40, et...

As to 'pass or fail' by darkness, that so didn't matter in a production atmosphere... The color and density of the wood in that particular hull effected color more intensly. The stain suppliers, based on unit cost, could have been: Boydell Boycraft Dolphin Paint and Chemical SC Johnson Interlux Vals...

"Jack Shaft"..., heh? Chris-Craft did make up funny names for marine nomenclature (Monkey-Rail, keelsons not related to the keel, etc.). I wonder why they wanted those painted to 'prevent rust'? Bill, I will certainly ask him about the "touch-up" items that, such as the Chris-Craft logo, come at the...

Clean the entire engine and bilge beneath it, vacuum dry. Lay out, completely under the entire engine, a layer of white towels. Paper towels will work, oil diapers are best. Then check, check, check. Run 10-seconds, go look at everything. Do that over and over until you determine where its starting ...

I've seen this happen to a couple guys who couldn't figure the source of raw oil in their bilge. I hope its not the case with your boat... If its not the rear shaft seal, it could be a keel/frame bolt that wasn't trimmed flush or countersunk when the bottom was redone? Get a flashlight and trouble m...

Will you be spending big bucks (X 3) to restore the shaft, coupler (now bent by 2-point puller, farther than .002" coupling tolerance?), shaft keys, etc.?

If you're going to invest the necessary time and equipment to do that correctly, you must be prepared to give up the QUICK option.

The following are from Russ's files, from the History Archives of the 'Cadillac Evening News', Cadillac, MI. There are more, especially for the 60's boats, but these are about the beginning. Hopefully, all of the last few posts will inspire you all to posit a question for this interview. I've been a...

Bill, Perhaps these will help you understand the pool of dedicated craftsmen available from Algonac, just a couple years before tooling the Cadillac plant. The Cadillac plant opened early in 1941, and by June, 1942, had apparently completed some 2,000, 36-FOOT, landing craft for the war effort. I do...

Brian, This should help answer your questions about "touch-up" and metal parts painting. I think it was rust-preventative, only cosmetic for the life of the 6-month warrenty. Check with Wilson Wright, this is one of some 240-pages of memos I donated to the club in 1999. and..., what the heck is a "j...

I'm sure that the show is listed in Classic Boating and Brass Bell calenders. A great many of the show participants attend the Traverse City show the weekend before, then go rent a cottage in Hessel and spend the entire week there. It is a resort destination. www.lescheneaux.net/ www.lescheneaux.org...