It’s time to convey those stories to a wider audience.įinding a one-piece molded hull material was a long-sought goal, unfulfilled by animal skins, papyrus, and even wood timbers. These waypoints along the passage, like neglected buoys, are old and weathered, some sunk. Americans took to the water in unprecedented numbers, effecting a fundamental change in recreation and leisure-time activities. Gradually, boat buyers overcame their skepticism of ‘plastic’ and accepted the risk-first on dinghies, then on runabouts and daysailers.
Repair, they claimed, was as easy as pie. Their makers shot at them with revolvers and rifles to prove the strength of fiberglass. Those first boats were crude by today’s standards, but they had no seams and did not leak. These are the men who as children made leaky boats from materials found on the beach and who, as their sophistication grew, blew up their mother’s mixing bowls trying to catalyze a new resin. Discounting the elaborate jigs and machinery behind Chris-Craft’s enormous success, wooden boats were not series-produced in great numbers.įrom the introduction to my book Heart of Glass : Fiberglass boats and the men who made them: “The timeline of fiberglass boatbuilding is a long passage of many legs on which the waypoints are the names of those who dared to buck convention, who dared to risk their careers and reputations. In the 1970s there were more than 30,000 Snipes worldwide. The first boat in my name was a fiberglass Snipe, at one time the most popular one-design sailboat in the world (probably eclipsed since then by the Optimist, Sunfish, and Laser). The boat was super simple and required virtually no maintenance other than removing the rigging each fall and covering the hull. Then one year, Dad announced that the club would make a group purchase of the new fiberglass 12.5′ (3.8m) Tech Dinghy, designed by George Owen, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge), and he’d agreed to buy one. I remember well the rites of spring: caulking, painting, and letting her soak up. When I was a teenager my father bought a wood daysailer so he could race other members of the small club near where we lived outside Ann Arbor, Michigan. Like most people of my generation, I grew up with fiberglass boats-not that I haven’t owned and loved wood boats, too. Why? Because properly engineered composites are stiff, strong, and abrasion resistant, and never rot or rust. Composites are replacing wood and metal in hundreds of applications: telephone poles, bridges, people movers, wind turbines, car parts, airplane fuselages and wings, to name a few. It might not rank with the invention of electricity or the automobile, but fiberglass-and what we today call “composites”-revolutionized not only boating but many other industries as well.
#Resin impregnated wood runabout boats professional#
Professional BoatBuilder, in partnership with several museums, announces an exhibition of pioneering designers and builders of fiberglass boats.įiberglass changed the world. We work closely with our customers, and keep you updated through every step of the restoration.The biggest changes in modern boatbuilding occurred between the years 19. We offer over 40 years of professional restoration experience, and strive to make our customers’ wants and needs our #1 priority. We pride ourselves on being a small, privately owned shop. Personalized Attention: Kirk Wingard, 1959 Century Coronado Mike Teusink, 1936 Chris-Craft Special Race In the offseason we can take care of any maintenance issues, including our show-quality varnish work. We offer complete winter storage with winterization services in the fall and summerization/commissioning in the spring. We can help you keep your classic boat in pristine condition. Or a new design, The Wooden Runabout Company can build it for you. Is there a rare boat that you’ve longed to find for years? Or do you desire a custom wooden boat designed around your needs and desires? Whether you seek a replica
If, however, you desire a boat that is stunning, structurally sound, and safe, we can do a restoration for you that exceeds all expectations! New Construction: If you are looking for a restorer who can use smoke and mirrors along with a little varnish to make your boat appear as if it has received a restoration, we suggest you find another “restoration” company. At The Wooden Runabout Company we have strong feelings about restoring wooden boats.
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