Tommy Holmes Takes Us On One Last Tour Of Michigan’s Finest Classic Boat Shops!

, ,

2 gar woodWoody Boater Tommy Holmes finishes up his amazing e part report from Michigan today from Maritime Classics! Take it away Mr Holmes.

Woody Boater cub reporter reporting in on the 2015 boat shop world tour of Northern Michigan Part 3 from Cedar, MI, home of cheap wine and not of U.P. fame.
Third stop on the world tour is the Maritime Classics new facility captained by Mike Green. Not only does Mike have good Smith DNA in him, his knowledge belies his years. “2014 Boat Restorer of the Year” Mike can tell you a lot in a few words.  I could write a book about my visit but I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

1 gar wood
Oh my, another Gar Wood being saved by another Northern Michigan boat restorer, this 1936 Gar Wood Model 631 is a 25 foot triple cockpit and it is humungous.

4 1 gar wood
Wiring circa 1936 will be restored exactly. Just one of the many challenges that boat restorers face every day.

5 gar wood
Mike and his crew plan on using this pile of African Mahogany to restore the 1936 Gar Wood back to factory fresh.

7 gar wood
One of the many reasons that Mike really likes this particular boat is the extremely gorgeous tumble to the narrow transom.

8 gar wood boat
Upon completion, the boat will look similar to this Wood family boat. Photo by Bill Wood, GarWood Boats by A. Mollica, Jr.

10 cc
Another boat under restoration is a rare 1936 Chris Craft Standard Utility 18’. A rather “Plain Jane” Chris Craft model is so unique you gotta’ love it.
16 cc
Simply irresistible.
17 cc
Mike in motion.
20 mc
A 1948 Chris Craft Special Runabout 17’ in for some deck repair.
22 mc
A wonderfully restored 1941 Chris Craft Custom is for a re-freshening in preparation for the forthcoming 2016 boat show season.
30 glasses
And then there they were again, the Gar Wood champagne glasses, calling out “cocktail hour”

Professional boat restorers have the Good Life. I hope this world wind tour of three boat restorers illustrates the many, varied tasks and challenges that they take on in their daily line of work.
Full speed ahead!
World Tour 2015
The End.

18 replies
  1. Troy in ANE
    Troy in ANE says:

    Tommy thanks again for this wonderful tour of Northern Michigan shops.

    Sure beats paying for the plane ticket to go there.

  2. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    Great series! I think you should send Tommy around to each of the 50 states, then Canadian provinces, maybe Europe and down under as well. He could be the expert reporter for restoration shops.

  3. Jon Peele
    Jon Peele says:

    Love the tour. Your three shops just scratch the surface of boat restorers in Mich. Hope you will have Parts 4, 5, 6, etc some day.

    Jon

  4. Wylie
    Wylie says:

    Thanks Thomas for your reports. Great to see there are some fantastic boats in the pipe. More Century’s are needed. Here is an award winner from the shop of Maritime Classics.

    • don vogt
      don vogt says:

      Neat century triple. I believe there are not that many around. I thought dick werner had one of the few left. Worthy of an article all by itself on the century triples.

    • Mike
      Mike says:

      Thank you, that was a challenging to restore because it was in such bad shape and there is only one other to go off of. I help restore the only other Century Triple of Dick Werner’s but the 2 boats are really not the same. You will be able to see this boat in Florida for the March boat show.

  5. Brian Robinson
    Brian Robinson says:

    I have had the pleasure of working with Mike on several projects. He is about the nicest, most humble guy you will ever meet. He just wants it right.

  6. MikeM
    MikeM says:

    Great story. Great boats. Great guy. But is it true that you have to Let Tommy play footsie with your wife to have your shop featured?

  7. Don Danenberg
    Don Danenberg says:

    WOW, Mike,
    I hadn’t seen your new shop.., NICE.

    I can only wistfully recall when my latest shop was that clean and new.., the clutter will come, you’ll see.

    I didn’t realize that Gar Wood triple was in your new shop, and hands, congratulations.

Comments are closed.