Do Your Part To Make America Beautiful. OK, Maybe Just The Comment Section.

Lake Hopatcong, photo Bob Kays

Lake Hopatcong, photo Bob Kays

It dawned on me the other day that one the more fun parts of owning and restoring a classic boat is that you are restoring more than just a  boat, you are restoring a soul, a work of art.  While you are out on the water you are using a wonderful piece of art. That’s right, when you are out on the water, your woody boat is framed in the setting that you are floating on. Heck, even in a boat house or at the dock, she is doing her best to beautify the area. Now I am not some sort of ego driven self absorbed pin head here. I have but ugly stuff that makes life ugly. Satellite dish, orange truck,  weeds, old crap around the house. But when it comes to bringing out one of the vintage woodys on the water. The world just looks better. maybe its just me. maybe not. I know from what folks say and wave that it makes them smile. I have yet to have anyone ever complain about the noise the un mufflered 431 Lincoln engine makes, or the when I block there view at a restaurant at the dock. No problem. BUT, park a brand new Clorox bottle or Jet Ski and people arnt as welcoming. When a Woody boat is out on the water it represents history, a time when people designed things from emotion…art.. It represents craftsmanship, passion. So, see, taking your woody boat out is not a selfish thing, its a public service, you are giving back, you are helping make your water way more beautiful, you my friend are a giver!  And if you can’t go out on the water yet, park it in your driveway and help beautify your block, Still in the garage? Help beautify your Garage! Still under the tarp?  Put a picture in the comment section and beautify the comment section! Do the math, and keep the shots under 1 mg

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84 Responses to “Do Your Part To Make America Beautiful. OK, Maybe Just The Comment Section.”

  2. Cliff

    Don’t have a picture of the boat BUT I now have windshild brackets. Jim Staib sent me an email that they were on ebay, (Thanks Jim) so the 26′ sea skiff will get an opening windshild. Woo-Hoo

  4. Sean

    And just as a landscape is beautiful, so is a single flower petal… Sometimes it’s the small things where we see beauty in depth…. micro landscapes!

  5. Troy

    I think I have posted this pic before, but I never get tired of it.

  7. Greg Lewandowski

    Sometimes the photo can represent great memories of WoodyBoating.

  8. Sean

    Of course, making a “splash” of beauty in nature is, well….. natural!

  9. Dave Clyne

    Lady Helen says I get as much pleasure out of seeing the boat at the dock as I do on the water. This “clorox bottle” is long gone but photo delivers every time I look. I am sustained by the vision of the current projects beside the new expanded dock. Same background though.

  11. John Baas

    Passengers on Amtrak’s Empire Builder get a great view of the Glacier Lake’s ACBS chapter’s Pewaukee Boat Show. My Chetek lapstrake in the foreground really makes the picture, tho!

    • Jack Schneiberg

      John – While working this show these past several years it never ceases to stop me in my tracks to take in that Amtrak passenger train as it thunders by. Just looking at your picture does not quite illustrate how closely that Empire Builder passes to our show grounds and the lake shore. It is almost as if some mysterious force stops time and allows a “ghost” train from the past to enter our time zone and emphasize the vintage boats, vintage cars, and the big wheel bikes rolling up and down main street. Yeah, gotta wonder what the souls riding in those passenger cars feel when they look out the window………………

  12. Rabbit

    Well said, Matt. To me it’s the view from the inside: The wake reflected in the late afternoon light, a vintage boathouse through seen through the chromed windshield and over the striped decks. As I’ve said before (and you’ve immortalized on more than a few headers): Every picture looks better framed in mahogany.

    (How could you misspell “butt?” That’s just wrong.)

  13. Randy Rush Captain Grumpy

    So its a public service, my civic duty to own and use my wood boats?

  16. Bob robertson

    Talk about loving the moment in a wood boat check out my
    Utube video ” Hackercraft fun”

  18. Lee Wangstad

    My favorite view. Both of my Thunderhawks. The black & white is still at the museum in Alex and the red & white is due for some tidying up this spring.

  21. ranger

    We even had the folks on those big old yachts cheering us as we motored by…

  22. Dick Dow

    No longer our boat, but one of my favorite shots and it renews great memories – Sort of defines boating in the NW.

  23. Redbeardsraven

    Sometimes just making bubbles in the water is beautiful !!!!

  25. brian t

    My oldest and I took the old girl out for a spin and my youngest was waiting at the dock to help tie her up…

  26. brian t

    Last August, Odell Lake in the Cascades, and that is the moon after sunset.

  27. Hamster

    Can’t wait to put her back in the water for another summer of fun!

  28. hamster

    Cant wait to get her back in the water for another fun summer !

  30. bryguy

    This is the best picture of my 61 Shepherd taken at Gravenhurst a couple of years ago. time flies !!!! Just get out there and use the darn things, it seems to make everybody happier.

  32. Dennis Mykols

    Getting close to launch day, Just got my new seats recovered from dark blue to tuck n rolled off white. Sure brings out the color in the varnish.
    Next step is to re do the bottom, touch up some splintered edges on some lapstrakes, and repaint in Old Salemcopper bronze.
    Now, only if the ice will go away. I refuse to put on a steel bow cutter…

    • Brian S

      Hey Dennis. Is this you doing some sort of elaborate flag washing ceremony on Spring Lake last year?

  34. M&M

    68 Resorter FG. New exhaust manifold and a tune up in Jan. Ready to go 2014! M&M

  35. Allen

    Cant wait to get back to 7 am coffee runs with my U-22 and Springer spaniel companion……..Northern Michigan Summers……

  38. floyd r turbo

    Courtesy of my daughter’s photographic skills Craig Miller’s 16′ Racing Runabout previously owned by a well known country singer.

    • matt

      I love this boat, one of my all time favorites., The name is beyond perfect. Cant find any pics anyplace.. What a beautiful day today is becoming, Lady Byrd would be proud.

  40. Bob Kays

    Mahogany, a boathouse and summer flowers. Summer beauty.

  43. Andy Riggs

    Just a little Clorox Bottle, a bright red, sexy Clorox Bottle.

  45. Mark Haines

    56′ Continental. A rare pic without the bilge pump running. A new 5200 bottom will debut next month.

    • floyd r turbo

      Omg, don’t tease me with partial Martinique pictures? Its like only looking at Rachel Welch’s face.

  48. Phil Ward

    48′ Century Resorter coming back from the old grey rotten days gone by. A couple more years till she hits water.

    • Alan

      FINALLY at Speed after several splashings with Over heating. Yeehaw!!

  50. Steve Thomas

    Looking forward to the season after a long rainy winter on the Washington Coast.

  52. Cliff

    Found a factory picture. What a great day. Good idea Matt.

  54. cutwaterguy

    This was our 1st boat, 1953 C-C Rivera, R-18-999. These were my boat babes in 1979. thanks 4 looking.

  55. Ryan

    “Talitha”, my 1956 22 foot Sea Skiff, is almost finished with the winter project. Looking to launch in May.

  58. John Baas

    Matt,

    Looks like the makings of a fabulous 2015 calendar. I’ll take 4!