25 Sportsman Barn Find – One Of A Kind Windshield!
EEEZY PEEZY RESTOREEZY – Just a piece of glass, some varnish. And you are..ready to go..kinda
Ya gotta hand it to Mitch LaPointe. He pulls out the most amazing boats from.. well.. the wood work! We were going to do another story today and then this sucker popped up and the emails started flying. So. Its the topic of the day. Amazing. As many of you know, or not. The 25 Sportsman is one of our top 10 drool boats. They have it all, cool runabout styling, with functional utility usability. God I think I actually spelled all those multi syllable words right! I think. Anyway.. This one has Alex Watson written all over it. Since Alex cant stop himself from owning not one but two.. Come on Alex. make it a trend. 3 is always a complete package!
Mahogany Sides? Come on Alex…use the wood you throw out as a closet!
This will no doubt wind up with a collector or someone that wants to win every show they go to. It must have an amazing history considering this would have been a healthy purchase right after the war. Man I love these boats. Dang, look at the lines on that windshield. Dammmm
Look at that swooping line. Dang dog double dang!
Dang again! Original rare one of three made
Note the rare Scripps engine. Very cool stuff.
Would make a killer photo boat for Woody Boater.You can drool all over your key board if you click here and go to the listing. We will find out more on the boat as the day progresses 1946 25′ Chris-Craft Sportsman Rare 25′ Sportsman in project condition. Factory installed wood windshield. Roomy 9-passenger layout with 3/4 middle seat. Original Scripps 208 engine. Call Mitch for information on restoration options.
And if you want to drool over some more 25 sportsman. There are some others out there at The Antique Boat Center,and Antique Boat America.
http://www.antiqueboat.com/boatdetails/smit25U.aspx
http://www.antiqueboat.com/boatdetails/beat25u.aspx
http://www.antiqueboat.com/boatdetails/fish25u.aspx This one is a new Fish Bros one.
http://www.antiqueboatamerica.com/ab_list_boatNew.asp?Left=&Type=ViewBoat&BoatId=30448 Twin engines make this very rare and easy to drive
http://www.antiqueboatamerica.com/ab_list_boatNew.asp?Left=ForSale&Type=ViewBoat&BoatId=30642Right in Sparta NJ.. Very close to us here. Dang, I might need to go see this one
Mamma warned me about people like you! Bad enough Paul emailed me about this at 12:09 a.m. But now a WB banner and story!
I’m in full rationalizing mode right now. Sell the cars. Sell the house. Sell the children…
I even have a name picked out for the boat. Big name for a big transom: “Temptation Island.”
I know a little bit about these boats – a little bit being the operative words here. Brian Robinson nows a WHOLE bunch more – I will be interested in his comments on it. A nice find, but I do know this much – a huge project and very expensive. Alex and I know what these cost to do, but this is a very worthy boat.
I did think all these were mahagonay sided (mine was tested and proven to be Honduran) and it will be interesting to know if it is just painted mahogany or really is cedar. Mitch really can find ’em though.
Time to buy some lotto tickets!
Paul, my ’48 was also tested as Honduran. Certain my ’49 (original wood, except bottom) is too. Will be interesting to see what this ’46 is.
I’ve decided to put a tail on Mitch. No longer will be be able to visit barns in stealth mode.
Wife won’t let me have a 6th boat, what a find
Anyone interested in this boat should take serious note of its Scripps heart (motor).
This video shows a Scripps 202, which is the predecessor to the Scripps 208 (correct) motor shown in Mitch’s boat. (The 208 has twin carbs and about 10-15 more hp.)
While twin engine Sportsmans are way cool, the Scripps powered boats have three extra things going for them.
1) An especially authoritative exhaust note. (To me, the sound of a classic boat is the best part of ownership.)
2) A crazy-fun amount of torque. One could waterski behind a Scripps Sportsman turning 1,200 rpm. No exaggeration! Feeling these boats speed up while the tach barely moves will stretch your smile to new widths.
3) The fun of telling friends, boat show admirers, and motorheads the engine displaces 678 cubic inches, and that from 6 cylinders. Once you do that, you could charge admission they’ll be salivating so to hear it fire up.
So go on, someone. Winter is upon us. It’s restoration season. “Virtue is insufficient temptation.”
— George Bernard Shaw
i think it is beautiful. oh go on, alex…what’s one more?
I did just finish the Gar Wood….. and I need something to do for the next 10 years hmmm……. Wait a second, two months ago I said never ever again. But man that’s a cool one and a Scripps, everyone should have a boat with a Scripps.
go for it Matt- this is really one of kind – see Brian’s post below.
Aw c’mon Matt, you did such a great job on the Garwood! This boat needs you! Do it!
This is hull# 10 or 21 (not sure which) if the aft seat is original it is #10. Actually three postwar 25s were built with the Navy top, which explains the windshield. The first twenty-nine 25′ Sportsmans all had the Scripps 208, then only a handful had it through the rest of the five-year production.
stop it Brian, you’re tempting me!
Ha, ha, you are right Brian, it’s hull #10.
I like the notch in the engine box to accommodate the exhaust.
Don’t let your bare foot touch that, OUCH! Can it really have left the factory that way?
Shes a beauty would love a boat like this!!! Matt remember I can always help you with spelling problens !! Tom
This really hurts. I spent the last year traveling all over hell and gone trying to find a project 25′ Sportsman with a Scripps. (Thanks Paul H.)Long story short..no luck. I looked at a bunch..could not decide and bought a 40′ and a 47′ Sedan.Neither one has a Scripps. While I am wasting a lot of time trying to get them home, or restored, still trying find a Scripps to put in one, blah, blah blah..Mitch (who I have bought a boat from) shows up with one 20 minutes from my house.
I know of several 208’s around. Give me a call.
I would be interested in one of those 208’s….. If only to have one!
But I don’t need the boat……unless……hmmmm.
No, just the scripps…..unless…… No, just the scripps”
Oh Carroll – come on, you can’t split the engine from the boat here, you know that. You have a 25′ Sedan, I think the open with the Scripps is the perfect companion! No, wait, what am I saying!?
In addition to your Sons of Varnish t-shirts and and other spectacular swag, can you please make a drool proof keyboard cover. I look at the potential this honey of a barnfind has and I immediately start drooling. Maybe a career change is in order. Does Mitch need an assistant? I come cheap. Will work for boat rides and doughnuts.
Dear Santa:
Remember the puppy I wrote you about for Christmas? Can I have a ’46 Scripps Sportsman instead?
Your friend,
Billy
Dear Billy:
Sorry pal. Mr. Harrison emailed me about it at 12:08 a.m.
But you can call your puppy Scrippy.
Santa
UPDATE! We just spoke with Mitch, It is Hull #10, they were laughing at Brian and his detective work. It did come with a Navy Top. Not a blue color, but the style. It came with a GREEN interior. The thought is that it’s black because they were cranking these out and a bumch of boats were painted to get them out the door sooner. It is Mahogany, not cedar. It is the original windsheild. Has all its gauges and banjo wheel. It took Mitch Two years to get the boat, and was pulled out from behind a barn in Green Lake Wisc. This is the real deal, as only Mitch seems to find! Dang again!
This is how a Navy style top looks. This is a much smaller boat.
Interesting top, in a cosmetic rather than fucntional way. I have seen navy tops on big Canadian launches and they have large chrome supporting frames aft and the tops themselves move from side to side, rather than front to back. The boat in the pic is 18′ – I wonder if the bigger 25′ had these aft frames and a much larger area under cover?
Whoever buys this and has the dough to do it is going to end up with a super-cool boat. That aft seat is a very nice option to have, only about 6 or 8 of the 208 of these 25’s built after the war had it.
The Navy Tops I have seen are actually quite rigid. From inside the cabin they appear as a “Woody”station wagon. Coverage generally matches the sedan counterpart without the enclosed sides. Closer to a hard top than a convertible.
“‘Cranking these out?” Perhaps “any color he wants so long as it’s black” applied here too…
Wayne said it best;
i was gonna offer to trade my Gar Wood for it till i looked at the price, not even close.
Thomas
Yes, your Gar Wood is worth much less than 30 grand :~)
Terry H. Your 1940 with a Scripps is a much cooler boat IMHO
Nice trailer, alot less work.
Hi Mitch, please keep the rest of us abreast via WoodyBoater when this boat finds a home, or if you restore it in-house for a buyer. I’d so love to see the finished product. It has the making of a stunner! And if the owner keeps the hull black, it could be doubly so.
Paul H, I could never split the 2 up (boat and “scripps”) but there is something about 678 cu in that makes me quiver, especially after seeing yours in the sedan.
Brian H has pointed me in the direction of a few 208’s…… maybe I’ll build a wooden airplane to go around it!
Did I say “airplane”? ….but I said wooden, too!