Theft is such a rare occurrence in this community that when it happens it kinda is shocking. Like crazy shocking. But yesterday at the Nautical Flea market, an extremely rare, glass globe and pole was stolen from our pals at Classic Boat hardware. This no ordanary glass light. Its amazing, and very hard to find,
On the road at 5AM and headed back, wow, that went by fast. And a true reminder of the magic of this community. And I mean real magic. It was a great pleasure seeing many of you, and catching up, even the folks that just rambled on. HA, WARNING, I am brain dead and don’t
Yesterday was spent at the tent, and meeting folks again after a year and some even longer. One thing is for sure, no one has starved over the covid years. MYSELF INCLUDED. We all just kinda sit and stare at, at, well anything that moves. Okay, maybe it’s just me. Ya, it’s just me. An
Oh the Ignominy of it all. And as usual, Paul’s use of the English language is perfect, emotive, and yes. So So True. Let me splain. So yesterday we enjoyed meeting everyone. And decided that a boat ride was warranted to release some steam. Okay, I wasn’t steamy, but it was hot! Yes like mid
The Boatress from the back of the truck, HEY! It’s a FeatherCraft? What? 16 Years of this may have rubbed off. What a wonderful way to arrive in FLA. And it just got better and better. The Dora HQ is all set and we are ready to report. The first report is that Mfine brought
Well, I got another one of Syd’s train videos, and to be honest, it’s so dumb its funny. I mean these guys are married.. have kids, maybe even Grandkids. REAL JOBS! Maybe a Star Trek convention or tww? Larping? And it’s okay if you don’t know what Larping is. Anyway, actually this was charming? Funny?
Yesterday we did the final water test for WHOOPS, the restomod 1961 17 Chris – Craft Ski Boat that Wayne Bomb is bring to Dora. Now, she ain’t perfect, as you may recall from last year, we had to kinda spruce her up. But she was built like a tank, and her Engine could move
A huge standing ovation to Bob Kays for capturing the red and black Cobras up on Lake Hopatcong and getting all our juices going. OH HELL TO THE YA! Wow, Bob captured some pure gold…and red while the black cobra was getting water tested for Lake Dora. Dang! Enjoy.
If you are still on the fence about going to Lake Dora, this may just push you over. The Jim Street Black Cobra will be at this years Lake Dora event. She has been prepped in the Katzs way, perfect, and test run, and re test run. Why? Because the plan is to plop her
Well, on the good news front, all the cups are here along with the new T Shirts. One the ugh News WHOOPS is causing headaches, but thats normal for this time of year I suppose. WHOOPS is the Restomod we are bringing to create awarness of the New ACBS Category. She will be hang’n near
Today we celebrate GREEN! It’s really that simple, do drama, no jokes, not twists and turns, milking, teasing, click baiting, photoshoping, anything other than green. Just the color green. The blend of yellow and blue. Yes, green is actually a secondary color, and has deep emotional meanings. Whats a secondary color? Well the Primary colors
If you are getting a little cabin fever, there is a cure. LAKE DORA in 7 Days! Yes, and if you left now, you could kinda fake it. trust me, folks are having fun there, some cool vintage boat races, and those Jalapeño Poppers are always in the fryer in Florida. Of course Syd Marsden
Okay, ya I made a joke. But with love, and a certain type of rebound of love with the lil Racer. And for those of you, all 42 who came up with over 100 names. I do have some faves and a couple new ones inspired by your ideas. STAY TUNED. Anyway, today in respect
If your boat was owned in Laconia, or Lake Winnipesaukee, these images may be a gold mine for you, and for us a a fun peek into what it was like to be a transport guy back in the day. This is a series of photos found on ebay by Bob Kays and features Tefft
It’s officially the big countdown 10 Days. 10 Days til sunshine, summer, and boating with friends. Towing in, being towed in, over eating, over everything..ing. Of course its all hands on deck getting ready, but man oh man it’s all worth it. Some Jersey Skiffs were spotted on I (5 a couple days ago, which
This past week as you are already aware from yesterdays story, Wayne Bomb and I got the little race boat out from beside the barn. And boy oh boy, her story just kept getting better and better. She is a 1958-1960 Rich-Line 12 ft Speedster. She is rated for a 25 max engine, but ohhhh
Thats the quote from the guy that runs the dump in our area. And maybe his way of thinking is right. But then again, none of us here think right anyway. But man oh man it cracked me up. Wayne Bomb and I were able to extract the lil Racer from beside the barn this
Okay, back to 6th grade humor. The best kind by the way, and nothing, and I mean nothing in the Classic Boat hobby is more tempting to make jokes about than the endless universe of Johnson jokes. But ya gotta admit, you never saw this one coming….. Gloves! Special Johnson gloves. Now, I am trying
Many of you who are regular readers no doubt know about the Old Club on Harsens Island near Algonac. This club has very deep roots in the Chris Craft universe, and there are countless stories of the Smith’s and other industrial giants of the day playing cards and taking time off there. The Firestones, Thomas
Yesterday our reporter Phil From New Zealand sent us a ton, yes a ton of images from the show. For the record, none of the James Bond Boat with an outboard. And buried in the pile, which we will milk some more are a better idea of the size of this show. It’s not small.
A huge thanks to our fellow Woody Boaters from New Zealand for sharing todays worldwide adventure. And another thanks for allowing me to make up the captions. The James Bond boat driven by actor Roger Moore in the film ‘Moonraker’ won the Jens Hansen Cup for Best Vessel Overall at the annual NZ Antique &
Around here on the Northern Neck, the guys back in the days used to race in a certain area known as Glebe Point. They raced everything and anything. And sadly many of the everything and anything of the day, have all gone the way of such things, but every now and then, a little magic
All this technology, design time, months of digital quagmires, 8.0 Php, digital this and that. Web hosting, learning new platforms, and all this, so we can all try and figure out what these two unrelated things are. A WHAT IZ IT STORY? We are back and as promised, we may have visually fixed stuff, but
Sure it may be a tad brisk out there, but not on Lake Dora. GO! It’s warm and the boating is amazing. Go on the canals. Thats the magic of Lake Dora. Ripping around on the lake is fine and all. But the canals are the ticket. This year the ACBS has created a new
It’s gonna be warm soon, and do we have a deal for you. A wonderful 1947 Chris Craft 25′ Sportsman for just $9,500, thats right, this baby ran when she was backed into the barn, and just needs a little TLC. Okay, maybe a tad more TLC.. Like a stalker would do. But she is
As usual the Lake Dora thing just happens sooner and sooner each year. It’s like Christmas, one moment its summer, and the next you are watching holiday sales, and every year we all say the same thing. It’s horrible, they start these sales earlier. Nope. I know, cause we all work on calendars, and are
Today, we thought it would be fun to share some of the behind the scenes action of the New Day HQ video. We also have some fun out takes from the shoot, and a little about how we pulled this off. First and foremost we would like to thank Orpheus for helping us with the
Yesterday around 4 PM the new WoodyBoater went live, and in no time 35 comments. WOW, it’s wonderful to know you all are still here. I know Greg needed some shock therapy to stay alive. It’s okay Greg, it was just a long nightmare, Plug away. And Art is still trying to figure out how
We are thrilled to bring you all, the New WoodyBoater. We had some of our more famous Woody Boaters introduce you all to the new world. If you look around, poke around and try stuff out. Things may break, or not, over the next week, we will be tweaking, refining and ditching over 40 gigs
I am sitting here in internet purgatory. Not live yet, and yet, one more day has gone by while we wait for IT people in some universe flicking switches. All should be running smoothly, but the movers dropped some stuff and are all pointing at each other, so here we sit. broken hearted, wanted a
After fifteen years of doing this EVERYDAY, its a very strange feeling not doing a story today. After all we are all in the dark, while the new WoodyBoater home is being saved from needing to be put in a home. On top of all that, I have realized that I miss all the banter
If you want to set a world record, at 25 MPH, do not name your boat SECRET, and then make a post card out of it, and if you are going to claim you built it, maybe you tell the world who you are? But then again, it’s a Secret. I am so confused, but
This past week, I have been obsessed with a new trend in photo software. Of course AI as its referred to is not all that new, the ease of its use is new. The big question is always with new technology, is how far can it go, and is it right to use it? I
Here in Virginia, it’s going to be 80 tomorrow. And in some sort of cruel joke, I have to be in the office earning a living. WHAT? Hey, gotta make the doughnuts. And sometimes the weather and my real job don’t get along. With all that said, and yes, I am happy to have a
A fellow Woody Boater, emailed us to help with his Miami Flyer. I will let his note tell what he knows. Any Miami Flyer Fans Out there? I now am. I did not know about these, and the style is amazing, along with that V8 WOW, Just Wow o Wow! My father recently passed and
Yesterday this wonderful sign popped up on the same auction site that the Wallace Chris Craft sign sold. This is wonderful news for many of us that love these works of art. I will warn you though, this Facebook auction set up is not for the faint of heart. These are dead serious collectors, and
Woody Boater and U22-1460 Thayer IV – October 2010 This story is one of the most important stories in Woody Boater history. And marked the moment Woody Boater became a real thing in the wood boat hobby. Okay, not a thing. But a goofy website that from time to time was interesting. Kinda. Enjoy! The
Last week we featured a wonderful story that was done over 10 years ago, and it still holds up. Many commented that they had not seen it, and who are some of the folks in the story. In the next week, the new Woody Boater site will go live. Bill Basler has done an amazing
Are your scrolling muscles tired from scrolling down over 240 comments from yesterday? Ya don’t worry, today will be afar better. And, well, the next series of stories are somewhat disposable, since the New Woody Boater web site should be ready next week. 3rd times the charm.. They say. Anyway, today you get some lips
For many of us, Lake Dora is the event that starts the boating season. Ya Ya, there are the guys in FLA that go all year, but as a community, it marks some sort of ritual beginning, and everyone is there. We all come in from all over the world, yes, world. Its three Days
Today is the big day in Woodyboaterville. Today is the day you remind the one you love, and this is the most important part, the one that loves you back, share some time together. I say this because, let’s be honest, does your boat really love you back? I mean, ya, sure she can take
Today we have some updates on all sorts of stuff. First off, Troy has left Maine and is in route to Mt Dora. And of course we are talking only about 30 days til the big year stating event. Dang, is it me or does time just fly these days. Forget global warming, global speeding
For over 15 years, Woody Boater has provided as a public service, Valentines cards for you to grab and print, and make your own. So, here we go again. To the new folks here, you just click on the card image, and now it should blow up.. Not that kinda blow up? It enlarges. Jesus,
Fellow Woody Boater Tim Whitcomb sent us a special request the other day to try and vintagize his new Suzuki 25 into something a little vintage to match the original 1959 Mercury he had on his very cool 1959 Larson Thunderhawk Junior So I did some sketches for him, okay for a story. Jeeeezzz, It’s
Today we can vote, and comment on this years new design options for T shirts and coffee cups to be sold at Lake Dora in around 40 days. Yikes! I need to hustle. The big news is we are going to do a best of reprint of SPEEDBOAT OUTLAWS. I am toying with a small
For years, I always seem to find outboard oil cans here and there. But sadly never really buy them, I think its an outboard thing, Oh, I have the collector gene for sure, but as time marches on, I have been very keen on curating the habit. But, recently I have been opening up my
As Wayne Bomb just texted me, “It’s always a toss up. Who died; Matt or the WB website.”my response, We are both on life support. HA, Anyway, the sad truth is, I Binge watched 1883, and 1923 last night. Ya, kinda ripped through those decades in a couple nights. Ugh. Like sitting and scrolling through
Meet the Whipp’s, and their Chris Craft on the Indian River. Bob Whipp was a lawyer in Lansing Michigan and loved his summer place on Indian lake. So much so, he had gotten a very stylish Chris Craft that could accommodate family and friends. On this special trip Bob, and Marge Whipp, took a young
