Pat Powell, Vintage Boat Gage Restorer Passes Away!
Sad news in the world of classic boating. One of the good guys out there to do business with and just hang around has passed away. On top of being one of the best in the business, Pat was an accomplished mechanical engineer at Stewart Warner of Chicago for over 30 years. His obit can be read here.Sad news indeed.
Did a lot of business with Pat over the years. Always a gentleman doing on time,quality work. Never knew about the patents.
The first boat I ever restored was a 1946 Century Deluxe Utility and as I was tearing the boat down – one of the first things I did was ship the complete gauge cluster off to Pat for restoration. I’ll never forget the thrill of opening up the package when he returned them to me. They were absolutely beautiful and set the bar for the finishing stages of my work.
yes, Pat was a real gentleman to deal with. He was extremely thorough in his workmanship and committed to authenticity in his restorations. He was a great asset to the wood boat community. Our condolences to his family.
Our thoughts are with the family, Thanks PAT for your perfect work on our treasured boats, 1936 Patriot 19 foot chris, 1937 Lauriebeth 22 foot chris, and a few others , steve and laurie
Pat had the foresight to take the Chris-Craft relevant parts home when Stewart-Warner obsoleted them. After he retired he would get together with a couple other retired SW employees a couple days a week and restore gauges in his shop. I have been there several times. He had all the neat test equipment. He will be missed.