Volume 12, Issue 2 Summer 2006
The Bow
Boat Show Season is here. Once again the Keel and Wheels
was a great success, thanks to all of the volunteers from the
Southwest Chapter and Lakewood Yacht Club. As the rain fell
Saturday morning, there were a lot of nervous exhibitors. An hour
later, there was hope. Fortunately, the clouds stayed to the
north for the rest of the day. The Saturday night banquet was again
held at Space Center Houston. Ed and Jan Ueckert were honored
for their service to the chapter, as were Judy Dorflinger and Judy
Fuller. There were more boats sold in the auction this year.
The Las Colinas Water Taxi was purchased by
Austin collectors Bill and Christie Nalle. I’m sure some heads
will turn on Lake Austin. The Auction tent
was used for the award presentations. You can view the winners
and other show pictures on both the chapter and show websites. Also,
our thanks again to Troy and Trish Gately for photographing all of
the boats and producing CDs for all the exhibitors.
The Eagle Mountain
“In the Water Classic Boat Show,” took place June 3, at the Eagle
Mountain Marina. The Kick-off Dinner was held at Kelly’s
Sports Bar (a floating restaurant) on Friday night. The boat
show ran from 9:00 to 4:00 on Saturday on Eagle Mountain Lake.
The annual WBA show will again take place August 26-28 at Sneaky
Pete’s Marina on Lake Lewisville. Activities
include social events and the boat show. For more information
see their web site www.woodenboatassociation.com.
Enjoy your summer.
Austin Boat Show
The Austin Boat Show will be held at the Horseshoe Bay Marina (Lake LBJ) on
October 21st.
Norm Weingard of Classic Boating Magazine will attend the show this
year to take pictures. There will be a river cruise on Friday and
the October”Boatfest” Dinner will be held at the home of Bernard and
Georgieann Brockstein on Friday night. The Saturday Boat Show
will be held at the Horseshoe Bay Marina, with the banquet to follow
Saturday night. You can also enjoy breakfast and cruising on Sunday
morning. For more in formation contact Scott Reichardt,
830-598-4661,hsbadmiral@hotmail.com.
Newsletter
Beginning this fall, the newsletter will be posted on the Southwest
Chapter website. An
email notification will be sent. You will need to let Chris
Dorflinger know if your email address has changed. Only
chapter members will be able to view the current newsletter.
Visitors may see the past newsletters. By placing the newsletter on
the web site, we will save postage and you can view the pictures in
color. For anyone who does not have a computer, we will print
and mail them a copy.
Calendar
Aug. 26-28 Lake Lewisville
Ride-n-Show Sneaky Pete’s
Sep. 7- 10
Heartland Keels,Wheels,Wings Arrowhead Yacht
Club
October 20 Lake LBJ River Run
Horseshoe Bay
October 21 Austin Boat Show
Horseshoe Bay
A WOODEN BOAT STORY - PART 2
BY SCOTT REICHARDT
When Branard Brockstein called me in September of 2002 and told me that
he had decided to sell his boat and that he wanted me to buy it, I
was somewhat taken aback. I kept telling him that I didn’t have a
slip for it and since we had just finished building our guest house,
I also didn’t have any money to buy it. This didn’t seem to
deter Branard, as he had already decided that I was going to buy it.
He said that I just needed to get rid of one of my boats and I could
pay for it when I felt like it. The price was not even
discussed. I told him that I could not buy another boat
without asking Pam.
After I got off the phone, I found Pam, and said you’re not going to
believe what that call was about. I told her the details and
she asked what year the boat was. I replied 1946, and she
calmly said, “ I think you should buy it.” Luckily for me,
1946 was the year she was born.
So I called Branard back and told him I would it if I could pay him
after the first of the year. He said “fine, it’s at the HSB
marina, go get it. So I did. Still no money changed
hands and no discussion of price. I guess he trusted me.
After I brought the boat home, we immediately called our builder and
told him we needed another slip, as I didn’t want to sell any of the
boats we already owned. I also called Jerry Conrad at the
Mariners Museum and asked him to give
me all the information on hull number 20-1. He called
back the next day and said that Chris Craft built three prototypes
before the beginning the production run of 20 ft. Custom Runabouts.
There were hull numbers 20-1, 20-2 (which were probably the same),
and R20x-1, which was probably different. The production run
included hull numbers R 20-001 thru R-20-366. They were built
from 1946 to 1949 and then replaced by the Rivera Runabouts.
Jerry said that he had not had any inquiries about the other two
prototypes. So as far as he knows, they no longer exist.
Another interesting tidbit about the boat, is that it has an M engine
with the serial number 12345. I assume that since the boat was
a prototype, the serial number was made up. However Jerry said
this is not the case. The last M engine used before World War
II was 12342 and mine just happened to be the third engine installed
after the war and the numbers were in sequence.
In case you were wondering, in January 2003, Branard told me what he
felt the price should be and I wrote him a check for it (and it
didn’t bounce.) Pam renamed the boat “Baby Boomer”, and we are
still enjoying it.
Scot Reichardt is a regular contributor to the Southwest Chapter
newsletter.
TEXAS CAVALIERS’ RIVER PARADE
–ED UECKERT
Fred Adams supplied his beautiful, twin screw 24’ Grand Craft,
FIREWATER, and Scott and Pam Reichardt were his crew as the
Southwest Chapter participated in the San Antonio Fiesta Texas
Cavaliers’ River Parade on April 24. The celebration started
116 years ago in tribute to the heroes who won
Texas’ independence at the
battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto. The celebration lasts
for ten days and is supported by 70,000 volunteers from 100
nonprofit groups. Over 250,000 spectators watched the parade,
and it was televised locally.
FIREWATER was the lead boat, and she carried George Gervin, who was the
Parade Grand Marshall. Even though the event gave us the
opportunity to show off our wooden boats to over a quarter of a
million people plus the television audience, the channel is narrow,
and there are many other vessels in the parade. However, we
will probably be asked to supply two boats next year. If you
have any interest in participating, contact Ed Ueckert.
Ed Ueckert is a regular contributor to the newsletter.
Lake Austin Water Taxi
I
have had the privilege of helping Bill Nalle for the last couple of
years in his function as dockmaster at the Keels and Wheels.
We are usually given a list of boats for prepositioning at the show.
This year we were instructed to dock the Venetian Water Taxi at the
northwest corner of the inner harbor. The boat was to be
offered in the auction and needed good visibility. Well, it
must have been positioned in the right spot, since Christie Nalle
bought the boat. She was delivered a few days later to Lake
Austin.
Even though the boat arrived on time in Austin, there were a few
issues that had to be resolved before her first cruise on her new
home lake. First, there were no keys in the ignition.
Bill crawled under the dash and wired across the switch. Next,
the batteries would not turn over the diesel engine. He then
jumped the engine off his truck and launched the boat.
Christie quickly assumed the helm and joyfully steered her boat
across the water.
Christie’s new boat has already had it’s own lift installed in the
boathouse and is awaiting delivery of a newly constructed trailer.
The 28’ water taxi is quickly becoming the most recognizable and
unique boat on Lake Austin. Even though Bill’s
DAWN TRADER has been featured in CLASSIC BOATING, Christie’s water
taxi was the cover boat on a 2001 issue of ANTIQUE BOATING.
Come to the Austin Boat Show in October where both Christie and Bill
will be displaying their boats.
Ed
Ueckert
