Of Lightning and ChrisCrafts

Howling cold wind outside but nice and warm in the boatshop this morning! Nice to see Grant, Chris, Peter, Jim, Ray (briefly) and Scott braving the weather to mess about in boats (on boats more accurately).

The Lightning mast now has about 6 coats of varnish and will harden for a week before sanding. Scott sanded out the motor well and applied a final coat of buff paint. Chris made up a shim so the centerboard winch could be mounted - which it now is! We set the coamings in place to check fit as the whole deck structure is new - a hidden shim strip will be needed at the rear of the cockpit to make it all fit using the original parts.

motor well - fascinating eh?

Chris fitting centerboard winch.









Scott and Chris dryfitting coamings

coamings all fit nicely again













Once the centerboard is in, we can paint the decks and "dry fit with screws", the coamings. As all the interior bright bits have been mostly varnished for along time, I think this boat is suddenly going to look finished! (That will be a missleading impression)

Grant was fashioning a new mahogany cornerpost for our 31' ChrisCraft Cavalier which is kept in Picton. The cabin side windows leaked no matter what we did so new ones are being made but first the underlying structure is being renewed to get rid of soft wood and bad joints!



Grant planes the curved surface into the new port corner post

Meanwhile the theme for the ACBS Gravenhurst Show this year is raceboats and we are shooting to have GasHopper in running condition by then. Peter has the engine ready to come out and that will happen shortly. This is getting pretty interesting - the engine is reportedly a Ford flathead 6, hot rodded - the ignition is off a 12 cylinder engine, head is alloy, triple Stromberg carbs...lots of fun!

GasHopper - a 225 cu in Hydroplane from 1945. Raced by the late Dave Norton 1955 - 60

The K&C Cruiser fleet will have two nice ChrisCraft Cruisers based in Picton this summer. They are part of our Gatsby fundraising programme - if you would be interested in spending a week on "your own cruiser" stay tuned or let us know, we are developing this programme now...

picture yourself here..on this boat

or on this boat...

Look for at least a couple of our boats in the ACBS booth at the Toronto International Boat Show which opens Jan 12 and runs through Jan 19th. If you wish to assist in telling our story there please let Malcolm know so he can schedule you in. Full details about the show are available on-line.


Lots more happening! Our first Shore Leave Night last week was well attended and lots of fun. Open to all, it will be the second Thursday evening of the month, every month, in the boatshop, nibbles and nips - bring something and someone!