Barn Find, Time Capsule Rocket, Rocks Our Little Universe.
100% Original time capsule plaid interior. ONE CUSHION!
Remember Plaidtastic? back in 2017, trying to figure out her original interior? Or questioning Rockets yellow bottoms? Well. Seth Katz’s, the Rocket Master has found a time capsule plaid interior Rocket. Yes. As in varnished once. And still some original interior material. And has her original yellow bottom, and runs. And floats.
Picking her up – Note the incorrect location of the CC decal. Which was added at some point in the wrong place. The only flaw.
Taking delivery
The Rocket had one coat of varnish in all her years. ORIGINAL NEVER TOUCHED YELLOW BOTTOM
The Katzs team put some refresh varnish over it all to preserve it. This boat is NOT going to be touched.
6 volt, green bilge 3 carbs.. AHHHH
After some varnish a short soak. She soaked up in no time
Yellow wheel! Its faded. Note the shaft and strap
The Katzs team is 100% preserving it in 100% original condition for future generations. This is a museum boat for sure. And settles any debate about yellow bottoms vs Gold, or the material. Which Seth says has been a huge trial and error job. With NOS Plaid being almost impossible to to identify and then locate, and then possibly have to make.
I made a colorized sample back in 2017 – wait for it
But the plaid is the cool part of this series of Rockets history. And with that said, we also were able to obtain some original images from another plaid Rocket fellow Woody Boater Kurt Petry and his family boat. All this has come together and answered so many questions.
An original family slide from fellow Woody Boater Kurt Petry
One more time
This one is for me! This is the sketch from the BW photos I made to replicate what I thought the interior would look like over 5 years ago!!!!!. BAM! Oh hell ya. I am dancing around the room. OH YA! Who’s da man? I Am.. Okay, I need to stop now and be humble. SIKE!
You can see one of the original stories from 2017 The plaid Rocket #0004 HERE
One of the best preserved barn finds I have seen in a long time. It must be a fast boat with that KBL. Not a big fan of the yellow bottom and plaid, but my first mate always says I’m too conservative. Cool story!
Just took a closer look at the header. I’m impressed with grandpa’s black cotton gloves. Don’t want to damage that varnish!
Only fresh varnish?????? I see that the CC logo has already been moved.
I also question the “barn Find” aspect as it looks like it was last registered only two years ago.
Plaid find……………YES!!!!
Still very nice find.
I am floored to see this boat and these pictures! This looks exactly like my Grandfather’s boat with a minor exception – note the fire engine siren in place front and center in front of the windshield in the header picture. That was a gag that was installed by Grandpa Petry as an attention getter. It was really loud!
Interesting that Greg would notice the gloves! Grandpa Petry had bad rheumatoid arthritis. He felt that wearing those gloves improved his ability to grip the steering wheel. Back in the mid 60s, when this picture was taken, cotton jersey gloves were the best thing he could find to help.
Also…….after a second look, AND fresh bottom paint.
WAS a very nice BARN find, but now nowhere near a BARN find. JMHO.
Wow nice observation about the siren Kurt.
Another thing about this “barn” find interesting is that it has/had no waterline…………….I think CC put a waterline on every model. JMHO
Amazing, what’s the year model?
What a great find! I too would like to know the year? So Kurt that is your Grandma and Grandpa in the header photo. Is that the barn fond boat? Fill me in.
That is not my Grandparents boat. This boat is hull #33. Hull #11 was ours, built in 1953. I believe the first 48 hulls had the rare plaid interior.
Rocket or Custom? All the Rockets I’m aware of are 16’ with the motor directly behind the forward seat. I’m also curious about the missing boot stripe. That said, it’s a cool boat and nice find, properly topcoated for preservation. 😊👍🏻
❤️🙏
Dick Dow – It is definitely a Rocket! The attached photo shows the original Equipment Record for my Grandparent’s boat, hull #11. Note the 17′ length and the Rocket name in the top left corner.
The earlier Rocket model is what I’m familiar with, as well as the 40’s Custom models, which were 17’ and same layout as today’s boat, right down to the streamline cover over the carbs. I learned something today! 😊👍🏻