Wood and water are two substances that are scarce in the automotive world. For that reason, they aren’t often featured on this site, yet they can be especially compelling when brought together in the world of boating. Even more so when the boats kind of look like sleek, water-borne cars. The Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum has several such boats we’ll look at today, which are absolutely guaranteed to make you feel better*
(*Improved emotional state not guaranteed by website or editors. Your results may vary.)
The Museum is in Arnold Park, a city in northwest Iowa, nestled amongst a group of large lakes that have long been a recreation and vacation destination for the region. The Museum is dedicated to the preservation of the region’s wooden boats culture and, as a bonus, it is free (though the amusement park next door, with its classic wooden roller coaster, is very much not free). So, if you’re in the area, it’s well worth a stop.
The Museum is great, though clearly not aimed at gearheads. A lack of engine data is a theme throughout. The exhibits may not always have original engines; many surviving classic boats sport non-original and/or upgraded motors.
The lead photo and above are of a 1956 Chris-Craft Continental. Chris-Craft was sort of the Cadillac of the boat world, the top seller of premium recreational watercraft (and they are still doing it). Well, perhaps they were the Lincoln of boats, as their Continental was a popular line of runabouts, available in different lengths and with single or twin engines.
Handsome Dan is a 20 foot single engine model, though the Museum placards don’t specify what engine it has. Powerboat engine development closely aligned with the progress of automotive engines. Part of the appeal of these classic wooden motorboats is that they are often fitted with OHV V8s, making them fast and aurally appealing in addition to drop-dead gorgeous.
One of the functions of the Museum is showcasing the long-gone local boat building industry. Hafer Boat Works hand-made wooden boats in Spirit Lake, Iowa from 1896 to 1968, including this 16 foot 1954 Hafer Utility, the Francis Flyer II.
Two tone paint on the body is another obvious parallel to contemporary automobiles.
Hafer’s wooden boats were popular in the Midwest until the industry switched to mass-produced fiberglass hulls in the 1960s. This development pushed the expensive-to-build wood boats out of the market, along with any company that didn’t have the resources to make the change.
Century was another large, national boat builder selling handsome craft aimed at the well-to-do. This generation of Arabian (because Arabia is known for lakes?!) was introduced in 1966, and was available with the buyer’s choice of fiberglass or mahogany hulls.
The transitional model was a conservative approach to keep from immediately alienating traditional customers who still preferred wooden-hulled boats. More and more buyers, though, were happy to give up the high maintenance of wood, so that the mahogany option was dropped after 1968.
This reminds me a bit of the situation with “woody” wagons. Station wagon bodies were always wood until they were gradually transitioned to steel in the late 40’s-early 50’s. Woodies were gorgeous vehicles that couldn’t compete on price, function, or ease-of-ownership with the all-steel-bodied wagons that replaced them.
The fantastic dashboard looks particularly car-like. The steering wheel is definitely off of a landlubber vehicle, though I can’t place it exactly. Anybody recognize it?
One more view of the interior. Different interior configurations were available. I’ve seen other Arabians online with two bucket front seats.
Here’s another Hafer, this one a 1947 “75”, named after its 75hp Gray Marine engine. Information not supplied, but found on the internet, says this was a 162c.i. L-head four cylinder. Gray supplied marine engines to many boat builders through 1967, when it was bought and consolidated into another company.
Fancy runabouts were actually a fairly small part of Hafer’s business; mostly they made rowboats and fishing boats.
Next up is a 17 foot 1965 Chris-Craft Super Sport, once again using a familiar automotive name.
As the name suggests, the Super Sport was aimed squarely at water-skiing enthusiasts. Buyers could choose from several high-performance V8s, including a marinized Chevrolet 283 that produced between 185 and 210 horsepower in the 17-foot models, or a 327 V8 rated from 210 to 300 horsepower in the 18-foot versions. That should provide plenty of get up and go!
The padded dashboard doesn’t look too automotive, except for the gauges, Super Sport emblem, throttle handle, and steering wheel!
A 1939 Chris-Craft 19 foot “barrelback” runabout sank in a collision in 1946 (nonfatal). It was raised in 1995, having held up remarkably well for spending 49 years under 65 feet of water.
The damage is on the aft starboard side, difficult to see in the photos.
To give viewers a better sense of what it looked like in its glory, a model is displayed.
Here’s a real-life boat in its natural element to give you an idea just how fantastic these look. From the rear, it’s obvious where the Barrelback nickname came from. Chris-Craft made them from 1939-42, originally equipped with an L-head six cylinder. A Barrelback with an original engine would certainly have a nice, period sound. I don’t know if any classic runabouts came with straight eights. That would be really cool if they did.
Nearby are the remains of a 1942 Century Seamaid, also found in the depths of West Okoboji Lake in 49 feet of water. The circumstances of this boat’s sinking and previous ownership are unknown, though based on the 1969 date on the battery, it’s thought to have sunk not too long after that.
This is what it’s supposed to look like. The Century Seamaid was a competitor to the Chris-Craft barrelback and configured similarly. The owner of the wrecked boat did a major homebrew reconfiguration, probably for fishing. At around 30 years old, it was probably not in a whole lot better condition even when it was still above water. There is no obvious collision damage, so it likely sank from lack of seaworthiness.
The 1938 Larson Classy Lady stayed off the bottom of the lake and had a happier story of beautiful restoration.
In the background is a wooden slide, originally at the Arnold Park amusement park. It was refurbished and moved into the Museum, but it costs $3 a trip on the slide (worth it!). They also have vintage pinball machines you can play (my 7-year-old playing).
Larson Boat Works was based in Minnesota, a state one would expect boats to come from. The brand exists to an extent today, but only in a single boat line as a subsidiary of Polaris Inc.
Automotive type engines were not universally used in powerboats. According to the Museum, early Chris-Craft powerboats utilized the Curtiss OX5 airplane engine. These were water-cooled V8’s made from 1917-19 and used extensively in various planes, including the JN4 Jenny trainer circa WWI. Surplus engines were plentiful after the war, which Chris-Craft took advantage of when they started making motorized runabouts in the 1920’s.
You may have noticed in the background of the photos that the Museum is chock full of boating and lake related artifacts. Particularly interesting is the collection of outboard motors seen above. The Museum isn’t huge in square footage, yet you could spend hours in there if you had the time.
Finally, not all powerboats in the 50’s and 60’s were trying to look like cars, to wit we have a 19 foot 1965 Century Raven from the tail end of the Mahogany Era. The windshield is very marine-style.
The Grey Marine 235c.i. OHV V8 is a true marine engine, not a converted auto engine like Chris Craft and others had, though still very similar in design to its land-based brethren.
The interior is very nautical, with not a whiff of automotive emulation. This is perfectly fine, and the name is fitting since, starting not long after this Nevermore was made, it would manufacture motorboats as stately and memorable as these.
If you are ever in the Iowa Great Lakes area, check it out. While there, you might also want to go to Okoboji Classic Cars, which I wrote about, featuring many dozens of great cars set in an amazing life-size diorama.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert on boats. Most all the facts here are from the Museum (their site can be visited HERE) or researched for the article. If you have any corrections or additional info, please feel free to comment. I have not found general data websites on pleasure craft history with makes, models, and specs like there are lots of for cars.
Great selection, Jon!
My favorites are the Century boats, but I like them all (from a distance – I get seasick).
The steering wheel of the first Century looks like it has to be from a Ford.
I agree on the steering wheel – 1963-64 Ford Galaxie 500 would be my guess.
This looks like a very cool place. Thanks Jon.
By the way, Gray Marine bought V8 engines from AMC in 250, 287, and 327 CI displacements from the mid-50s to the mid-60s when the Gen1 V8s went out of production. They were common in Century boats.
If I were to own a wooden boat, it would be a Riva Aquamarine Speed Boat. With a mid 50s Chrysler steering wheel!
The Chrysler steering wheel used on the Italian Riva Aquamarine Speed Boats.
Hi Bill – Great choice – I have a 1958 Riva Tritone, and attached is a picture of my wife driving, with the steering wheel you mention. The Riva Aquarama debuted in in 1962 or 1963, with the lone twin-engine Riva model prior to that being the Tritone.
I have had many vintage boats and interestingly, the 1940 Barrel Back, Satin Doll, pictured in the story as an example of a restored model was mine. This picture was taken in from of our place in BC. This was after an ignominious episode, where it sank (or rather became fully submerged) overnight at our dock. A substantial restoration was required, and the boat as pictured was the result.
This museum looks like a great place, and I like the inclusion of the recovered boats!
Even with the limited number of Barrelbacks, that’s quite a coincidence that Satin Doll was your boat. That is a serious beauty! The CC Effect even applies on the water!
That looks amazing!
Love this! My brother owned wooden boats for many years. He lived in Deep Haven, MN and had a boat slip on Lake Minnetonka. His favorite was his 1949 Chris-Craft that he called “The Rumrunner.” It was powered by its original Chrysler 6-cylinder engine and had a Chrysler steering wheel. I will copy this article and send it to him. Unfortunately, he no longer is able to use a computer, but he will happily read the article and gaze longingly at his favorite type of toy. Of note: during the Second World War and just after, my grandparents and parents rented a cottage in Bolton Landing, NY on Lake George approximately ten miles north of Lake George Village. My Dad would rent a wooden boat for the month’s duration which my mother used to go shopping.
So many beautiful boats including many makes I never heard of. It looks like a wonderful place to visit. The barrelback Chris-Craft is a beauty.
Thank you, Jon.
I still remember visiting my father at his cottage on Lake George (the one on the Indiana-Michigan border between Angola and Coldwater, not the one in New York) right after I got engaged. We drove past the local marina, and there was a 1951 Century on a trailer, complete with its original Chrysler flathead six for power. It was priced at almost exactly what I had just paid for Marianne’s engagement ring. She did not think it was much of a joke when I smilingly suggested that we could take the ring back and get a boat.
I have always loved those classic wooden boats, although I am long past the point where one could seriously tempt me. However, they remain simply lovely to look at. This would be a great museum!
My best guess is Century named the boat Arabian after the horse breed. Wooden boats are beautiful to look at but a beast to maintain, although modern UV resistant finishes help with the drudgery.
Also freshwater shipwrecks are often very well preserved, as the may Great Lakes wrecks can attest. I went to summer camp on a major water skiing lake in Connecticut in the 70s but everybody was using fiberglass boats although the Hydrodyne’s were very automotive looking
Century called themselves “the Thoroughbred of Boats” hence the “Arabian” name. The big three of fairly common marine engines through the mid ’50’s were Chris Craft, Gray and Chrysler-all L heads. The Chris engines were marinized (by Chris Craft) versions of the various displacement Hercules industrial blocks, the the Gray engines were marinized Continentals, and the Chryslers were heavy duty versions of some of their automotive engines (including a straight 8). There were a few true marine only engines made including Kermath, Scripps, and a couple of others. Chris Craft made their own 824 cu in V-8 in the prewar period.
Marinized Automotive V-8 began to show up around 1955,although flathead Ford conversions were around before that. The Chrysler 331 Hemi and the Cal Connell/Crusader Marine Cadillac were the first and were available as options in different models of Century and Chris Craft boats. Gray Marine soon after marinized the AMC 250/287/327 V-8, and Ford got into the market with the Dearborn Interceptor versions of the Y block V-8s.Chris Craft marinized the 283 Chevy in late ’58 and soon followed with a version of the Lincoln 430 for their bigger runabouts and cruisers.
Good info, Thanks for the context! It’s good to have more authoritative info attached, since I definitely lack it.
If you’re in the area a couple more boat Museums worth visiting: The Antique Boat Museum in Clayton NY (NY’s Thousand Islands) is fantastic and our own little Museum of Finger Lakes (NY) build boats in Hammondsport NY
ABM.org
FLBM.org
Let’s try this again… I really don’t like typing a post over, but my comment disappeared, most likely due to the aggressive ads coupled with my company’s aggressive web filter. I’m home now, so hopefully, this will go a lot smoother. You guys are usually really good about pulling stuff out of the trash folder, so most likely, my post didn’t even make it that far….
That last picture of the boat called “Nevermore” is likely an Edgar Allan Poe reference. If you look closely at the starboard side near the stern, there’s a chrome badge that says “Raven”. It may be a model name or the manufacturer’s name, this I don’t know, but in Baltimore, we know a little something about ‘The Raven’.
Also, I had no idea that Chris-Craft used surplus Curtis Jenny V8 engines in their early boats. In fact, I didn’t realize the JN-4 even had a V8! Having flown the Jenny in Flight Simulator once or twice, that engine does not sound like a V8. And that game is pretty good at duplicating the sounds of the actual airplanes from the real world.
You really do learn something new every day here at CC. 😉
They were cheap after WWI – developed more HP and were lighter than the currently available marine engines. Surplus Liberty V-12s were used in the 33′ Gar Wood Baby Gars and many others.
Your comment got through! The boat was a Raven model, so the Poe reference makes sense as the owner’s intent. The idea that nevermore will boats like this be made is strictly my interpretation.
Back in 1971 or so a well-to-do college buddy invited me to his home on Long Island Sound. There we would take excursions on his family’s boat, which was a Hacker. I knew next to nothing about boats, but this one was quite beautiful. Wood, about 24 ft. They were quite proud of this boat, which they claimed was superior to all others.
Great post of something a little different – thanks.
That Century Arabian dash has a real Rootes Group ring to it, in my take