...And now for my favorite: The rise and downfall of Boat #3

Once again, in the mid-60's it was time to up size on boats.  In 1965 my grandfather built Boat #3.  He used the plans for the Glen-L Sea Knight.  Built from white oak and douglas fir marine plywood (just as his previous two boats were) this was the first boat my grandfather fiberglassed.  Instead of finishing off this boat with a cabin (which the plans call for) he left it as an open cockpit runabout.  He powered it with the 1961 75 HP Evinrude "Starflite III" that he used on the previous boat.

This is the first of my grandfathers boats that actually remained in the family long enough for ME to have a memory of it. In 1973, once again, my grandfather decided to up size and build yet a bigger boat.  As he finished his fourth boat, he sold "Boat #3" to his son-in-law (AKA...my Uncle Ed).  In 1974, Ed decided to re-power the boat with a brand-spakin-new Evinrude 115 "Starflite".

Now if you fast forward a little bit...i am born in 1982.  Some of my absolute earliest memories that I can still conjure up in my head are camping along the Clarion river, and running around on Georgian bay in and around "Boat #3" and "Boat #4".  As a small child (maybe 5, 6 or 7) I have only the vaguest memories of Boat #3 being used.  SO, to be honest, I don't really know what makes this particular boat so special to me. 

Somewhere around the early 90's my uncle simply stopped using the boat.  I was never really sure why.  He also, despite the fact that he had a garage, for some reason began to store the boat outside under a tarp.  So roughly, from 1991 to the late 90's the boat sat unused and unmaintained under a heavy green tarp out in the yard.  The cold, snowy winters of Western PA and the hot summers took their toll on the boat which was now around 20 plus years old. 

I can remember desperately wanting someone to take possession of the boat because I can remember how I knew, that someday...when I was old enough, i wanted to own this boat.  In the late 90's, another uncle of mine (the builders son Luke) was able to get Ed to part with the boat.  The boat was left in a garage to dry out for several months, before the windshield was removed and the boat was lifted in to the second story of my families Cabinet Shop.  Everyone knew that this boat was in need of serious repairs and restoration after its hiatus.

After the boat was up in the second floor of the shop, the analysis of the dry-rot could now be fully assessed.  I wasn't there to actually see it, but i have been told that the boat was too far beyond repair.  Almost every frame member including the chine-logs and keel were split and cracked.  There were certain places where plate aluminum had been bolted to the boat years before where wood fatigue was setting in.  The transom was so rotted that the only thing holding it together was a thin veneer of fiberglass on the outside.  My grandfather and my uncle Luke concluded that it would be easier and make more sense to just build a new boat then to try to repair this one.  My uncle stripped the boat of any components that could be used and the boat was cut up and thrown out.  A sad and bitter-end to what I would consider to be my favorite boat of all time.  It just goes to show you what poor maintenance and upkeep on a home-built boat can do.  That was the late 90's (i believe around 1998 or so).  Of course...that's the end of Boat #3 in one sense.  That boat inspired me to "re-create" it using many of the same components.  That story comes later. 

If you jump back to 1973, my grandfather had sold this boat to Ed and built Boat #4. 

Pennsylvania Boat Registration in the 50's and 60's

Motor boats in PA actually were issued metal plates (like car license plates) back in the day.  Boat #1 and Boat #2 up untill 1963 both sported an anually issued plate.

Beginning in 1955, motorboat plates began to strongly resemble motorcycle and the previous motorbike plates, and used the same state map design and expiration date embossed along the top edge as did motorcycle plates.  Motorboat plates even began to use the stacked letter code M/B, which had been used to designate motorbike plates in the 1930s and 1940s.  However, in most years, motorboat plate colors were completely different than Pennsylvania license plates used on land vehicles.  Motorboat plates were last issued in 1963. 

1955 –	white on red		1958 –	white on red		1961 –	yellow on navy
1956 –	white on olive green		1959 –	navy on yellow		1962 –	white on light purple
1957 –	white on navy		1960 –	black on white		1963 –	white on red

Regular motorboats Regular motorboats had the stacked letter code M/B, which had been previously used on motorbike plates in the 1930s and 1940s, above the stacked two-digit year, along the right edge of the plate.  The expiration date, always March 31 of the following year, was embossed along the top edge, and the state abbreviation Penna was embossed along the bottom.  Serial numbers were all-numeric, apparently starting from 1, and could have up to five digits.

Motorboat dealers Motorboat dealer plates had an "X" serial prefix, but otherwise looked just like regular motorboat plates.

Enter the 60's: The Story of Boat #2

In the early 60's my grandfather built his second boat.  We have once again simply dubbed it "Boat #2".  It too was built in his basement on Willis Street in Oil City, PA.  When the hull was completed, a wall had to be knocked down to get it out of the basement.  Whenever the discussion of this boat came up, there was confusion as to exactly "what" plan had been used.  My grandfather seemed to think that he simply stretched out the plans from Boat #1 but was never certain.  I happen to think that it is the Glen-L "Nimrod" plan.  I know the boat was 15 or 16 feet long.  I have spent a lot of time looking over the pictures I have of Boat #2 and there are many attributes that fit the Glen-L "Nimrod" lines.

The boat was completed in 1961.  It was originally powered by a 1961 Evinrude 40 hp "Lark III".  Within a year or two it was re-powered by a 1961 Evinrude 75 hp "Startflite III".  This was the first of my grandfathers boats to sport the blue stripe that would be seen on the rest of the boats he would build.  It appears as if this strip was probably derived from the Thompson boats of that time, as many friends of the family drove Thompsons in those days.  The shape of the windshield and the shape of the blue stripe seem to both be directly "borrowed" from many Thompson models of the day.

Once again, come the mid 1960's it was time to sell this one and build a bigger one.  This boat along with the trailer were once again traded to Weigle Brothers Marine to help outfit the next boat.  This boat....as they say...was too never seen again.

The Begining: Birthplace of a passion and the story of Boat #1

It is really difficult to pinpoint the time and place where a deep-seated passion is truly born.  The beginning of my obsession with wooden boats would probably be all the way back to the 1950's when my grandfather, John E. Hargenrader, built his first boat. 

In those days, he was working for Asels Cabinet Shop in Oil City, PA.  For a few years in the mid-50's he had been traveling to some of the back-country lakes in Ontario in the spring and fall for fishing trips with his friends and co-workers.  He owned a 10 Horsepower Johnson outboard with NO boat.  They would rent boats and use their own power.  It wasn't until 1958 when my grandfather decided to build his own boat.  I'm not sure if it was because he wanted his own craft to take fishing or he wanted to build something to use with his family on vacation.  Whatever it was, that would be what I would consider the spark that set off a chain of events leading up to me building my boat over 50 years later.

Boat #1
The first boat John H built was an Edwin Monk design purchased from the Douglas Fir Plywood Company.  Even with the almighty power of the Internet I am unable to find a lot of information on the company.  The boat was a small 14 foot runabout with a handsome split-paned windshield.  He powered it initially with a 25 Horsepower Evinrude.  I don't specifically know what model or year that first motor was, but he always claimed that it kicked out a TON of exhaust and ran really rough.  By his testimony, I would guess it was a second hand motor that needed a tune-up.  I have no pictures of the boat with the first motor on it.  It must have been a very short time later that he purchased a 35 Horsepower Evinrude Lark for the boat.  This is the motor seen on the boat in virtually every picture I have.   

What do I know about this boat?  As far as my grandfather can remember, he never named any of his boats in the early years.  That's why, as boring as it is, his boats are typically referred to by the numbered order in which it was built.  I know it was built in the basement of John. H's house on Willis Street in Oil City.  In the grand scheme of things, he only owned this boat for about two years.  All of the photos I have of the boat show that the windshield was modified at least once.  Some pics show it with side-windows and others show it before it had side windows.  The boat was never fiberglassed.  The boat was family owned from 1958 to 1961 at which time it was traded to Weigle Brothers Marine in Franklin PA.  It was traded in for a 1961 Evinrude 40 Horsepower Lark outboard to power the next boat my grandfather built.

At this point, I have never seen photos of the boat while it was under construction.  My uncle John (my grandfathers third born) claims that somewhere....sometime....(in the last 50 years) he remembers seeing black and white stills of the first boat while it was being built.  Lets see, 50 years....9 children....including my Grandfathers own photos....I would say that "if" those photos exist they won't be the easiest thing to find.  If I ever could put my hands on them...what an absolute thrill that would be.

The Fate...
What ever happened to boat number 1?  As I said above, it was traded at Weigle Brothers Marina in Franklin in 1961.  My uncle Luke (my grandfathers 9th born........no that's not a type-o) claims that when he was very small, the family was traveling to Conneaut Lake Park for a picnic.  Somewhere between Franklin PA and Meadeville PA along the highway, the family saw the boat in a yard.  Luke claims he was very young so that would probably put the sighting in the mid-60's.  After that, the boat has never been seen by the family again.

That's the story of boat number 1.