Now we're talking!

[slo-mo]

Alright, I make a motion for club dues to immediately raise to $100 - we need this wicked clubhouse/mothership today!!



YOU COULD HAVE THE COOLEST BOAT AT SEAFAIR THIS SUMMER!!!CHRIS CRAFT!! - $8000 (BALLARD)

Date: 2012-01-08, 6:54PM PST
Reply to: sale-ufnuk-2790296142@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

RESTORED 26FT. 1968 CHRIS CRAFT FUTURA AND TRAILER. 1" THICK MOHOGANY PLYWOOD HULL. THIS THING SOUNDS MEAN AND HAULS ASS!! RESTORED WITH THE BEST STUFF MONEY CAN BUY! NEW MOTOR, NEW PAINT, SLEEPS 4, HEAD, SINK, GRANITE COUNTERS, COUCH, 1000WATT INVERTER, STARTS AND RUNS LIKE NEW, TRUE HOT ROD BOAT! LOTS OF NEW TEAK AND VARNISH! THREE DIFFERENT COP BOATS PULLED ME OVER JUST TO TELL ME HOW COOL MY BOAT WAS THIS YEAR AT SEAFAIR!! THIS BOAT IS EXTREMELY RARE AND YOU WILL NEVER FIND ONE LIKE THIS AGAIN. CASH OR TRADES
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/2790296142.html

[Bflaherty]

This is on our list of potential cruisers.. I have been ogling the 26' Futura since I first saw the Chris Craft Cavalier sales brochure!!! But this one has been modified and the paint scheme is a little flashy...

[bham-rick]

We have a Mother ship !

We already have a great Mothership , Warm coffee , quick tow , Very friendly Captains - Who would want anything smaller ?? :HandHorn1:

[slo-mo]

We already have a great Mothership , Warm coffee , quick tow , Very friendly Captains - Who would want anything smaller ?? :HandHorn1:

You my friend are a party pooper! Jay, Tara, Tabu and their dog are awesome...

Hope this fine boat finds a good home, not in my neighborhood

Greg

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Great Boat...

Chris-Craft built a lot of different Futura models in their Cavalier Division, which focused on plywood boats. More than 500 of the 26-foot Futuras were produced for three years (1968-'70), and they were equipped with either 283 or 327 V8s at the factory. Hulls were red, with white cabintops, white vinyl-covered decks, and copper-bronze bottom paint.

The Futura in the ad looks great, and a bit more slinky than the original since its windshield has been chopped almost in half vertically, and the original mahogany windshield side frames (that once swept back to join the coaming about six feet aft of the windshield peak) have been eliminated.

Here's a factory photo showing how they looked when built...

- Marty

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

The Original "Futura"

Greg -

Your posting on the 1968 Futura reminds me of the Northwest's original "Futura," a bold Ed Monk design built in 1948 by McChesney Boats, on Lake Union in Seattle. This little 16-footer was ahead of its time in styling...and boy, would I love to find one of these today!

- Marty

[FINS]

Do you have drawings for the McChesney? i would think to the right client, that would be an easy sell.

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

McChesney

Brian -

I do have some original drawings, and would love to build one of the little streamliners for a customer--or for myself!

McChesney built only plywood hulls, but they pioneered the (partial) use of fiberglass with this 16-footer, which had a molded-fiberglass cabintop...one of the first uses of fiberglass in a Northwest-built boat. (About the same time McChesney was building this model, the very first fiberglass boats were being produced on the East Coast by Beetle, the catboat builder, as I recall.)

Bryant Boats, Reinell, Tollycraft and other NW builders of wooden boats soon followed McChesney's lead with fiberglass cabintops on some plywood cruiser models...but I'm pretty sure McChesney led the way back in '48.

- Marty

[GregJ]

That Futura is really a cool boat but I'll take the Tabu as a mother ship anyday.

[Bflaherty]

That Futura is really a cool boat but I'll take the Tabu as a mother ship anyday.

Deffinitely aggreed!!! I don't think our club will ever find a better mothership than Tabu.

Although the Futura is trailerable so it could serve as the satelite mothership on lake outings that Tabu (and the Saratogan for that matter) can't reach...

[slo-mo]

Streamliner daydreaming...

Damn you Marty! Now I want one. That McChesney rules, reminds me of the 48 Ford that I almost owned, with it's overstuffed look.

Obviously, the attraction of a modded Chris Craft fits my M.O., thus the appeal - plus you couldn't redo another for that price. Being allergic to payments, i.e. moorage fees and insurance - would keep me from joining the cruiser club. For reference to others considering a larger boat, what are the major/annual costs and hurdles of keeping an old woody floating safely in a marina?



As for the McChesney sedan design, I will be now be daydreaming about the concept all day. I have very little interest in a wood hull - so finding a suitable glass alternative would be the first order (wish I had a few). Constructing a beautiful wood (chopped) coaming would look the part, add some aluminum and rivet heads and a custom glass top would be the coup de grace. With a silver topcoat, my Kalakala "streamliner" dreams would be sated.:Shocked: Now for the engine.............

You've gotta build a replica for someone, Marty.

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Mimicking the McChesney

Greg -

I spent part of today daydreaming about streamliners, too, and even visited the 18-foot Bell Boy hull I've been trying to give away for months, thinking it could be a good foundation for the McChesney replica. (Yes, starting with a fiberglass hull would simplify the process and give you something more bulletproof.)

The Bell Boy is an 18-footer, which would allow you to build a McChesney lookalike that had more room in the cabin and cockpit area. (Not only two feet longer, but with more beam.)

Just as a reminder, here's the '56 Bell Boy 18, all gutted out and ready to become a McBellsney. I guess, for the moment, I'll hold onto the BB18 after all, just in case somebody wants a streamliner.

- Marty

[slo-mo]

faux McChesney build - off

I like the cut of your jib Marty. It is awesome that you thought of the Bell Boy 18 as your starting point. Before I left the house this am, Coulee and I took a walk to check out the mothballed SkagitRod hull as a possible starting point. Using your parlance, it would be dubbed McSkagney. "James McSkagney" as a period piece.

Guess I'll have to step up my game and fire up the PhotoShop machine. I was considering the logic of cutting the bow and pinching it a bit to net a more Chesneyesque cutter. I hope that guys like McCrain will join the contest with his BB 404.

Keep the ideas flowing.

... For reference to others considering a larger boat, what are the major/annual costs and hurdles of keeping an old woody floating safely in a marina?

Probably not typical, but monthly expenses for my old barge run approximately:

Moorage - $235
Electric - ~$20
Insurance - ~$80
----------------
Total ~ $335

Add to that a haul-out every couple years for zincs and bottom paint at about $400+ (roundtrip)


One way to build a streamlined, curvy cabin would be 1" rigid urethane foam bent over plywood bulkheads jigsawed into the desired shape - then fiberglassed. I'm sure Marty knows of efficient methods to create a form. The rigid foam method worked for this total amatuer when I built this motorcycle-powered three-wheeler from Popular Mechanics plans in 1983. It took me three months to complete and I learned a lot about patience and materials in the process.

[Lootas1]

Capt. Dan that is such a cool three wheeler! You still driving it? Is that a Florida license plate I see on it?