1937 Swedish Flathead-Powered Runabout Finally Launched After 35 Years!

Off to a day on the lake

Fellow Woody Boater Håkan Pettersson from Sweden sent us all in these beautiful shots from photographer Kenneth Sandelin and videos of his long time project finally running. The part that is even more moving is how regardless of oceans, thousands of miles and from different cultures, we all speak the same language. That ford flat head is a universal vocabulary of “Oh ya that’s cool”  Its a small blue ball we all live on, ya might as well, go boating in style on it. Thanks again to Håkan letting us all share in your excitement.

Stunning

Hello Fellow Woody Boaters,  Here are some pics and YouTube videos from the day it got in the water, last week, after more than 35 years on dry land! The engine runs very smooth and without any vibrations though it’s mounted direct to the motor bed with no rubber dampers! We do have some issues with the carb and ignition…. it runs perfect on low idle but when you hit the throttle it wants to die…..hopefully well sort this out during the summer!

Beautiful Lake as well. Wow!

Here is a little on the boat.

The Swedish designer is Gideon Forslund and this particular boat, named “KURRE”, was built at Gideon own ship yard in Stockholm 1937.

He started this series of boats, called Essbåt, in 1929 and ended it in 1959 in a slightly different design.

Beautiful lines

Gideon was had great contacts with the Swedish reseller of Ford and therefore his boats often had Ford engine. Our boat “KURRE” was originally equipped with a 85 hp Ford V8.

We love the texture in the wood. She is proud of her age! Perfect

In Sweden we have a tradition of putting the name of the boat with chromed brass letters, often in the front. Regarding “KURRE” the case is however slightly different and the letters has always been mounted mid ship below the side windows, as you se in some of the pics. That’s rather unique in Sweden and at the same time very easy to recognize “KURRE” throughout the years!

Smiles are also a universal language

The boat runs extremely smooth in the water, amazing what the designer new about boating 1937….!

Here are some cool short videos!

CRANK IT UP!

Under way!

Stunning.