Some years ago Leah and I were having coffee in Sackets Harbor. A nearby couple chatted us up, and as it turned out Dave was a friend of my Dad’s in Binghamton.
Additionally, his grandfather had the first motorized hearse in Broome County, and my uncle drove for him. We hit it off and discovered many connections and mutual friends.

Dave owned cottages and a boat house in Henderson Harbor. Not sure how he learned I liked old boats. He invited me to see his Chris Craft. It was awesome in the right most slip in his three slip boathouse. Fresh paint and varnish, new Sunbrella top, all hardware re-chromed. Restored by Tom Ditch.

More years went by, Dave asked if I was interested in the Chris Craft. Oh boy (?).
I walked around the boat and noted some soft spots, while vacuuming the bilge more deterioration revealed itself. I requested a survey; the last survey was 2011 by Ken Johnson. George Sperry was retained, who quickly identified issues including that the keel was cracked along the rabbits, said new bottom, picked up a few tools, gave me a discount and left. The price of the boat declined significantly.
No carpenters that I knew locally would tackle the project. Mike Corrigan of Gananoque agreed to consider the project and came over to inspect it. Game on !

Dave and I launched the boat. Tom Ditch towed the boat to the Harbor End lift. The crew deftly placed the boat on a borrowed trailer behind Mike’s truck. The trip to Gananoque went well.

Dave had the original bill of sale from Mercier’s in Clayton. He believed the boat had been in the same family for three generations prior to him purchasing her.
Noting that the original owner was from Cortland, I contacted Bud Ames. The original owner was a friend of Bud’s grandfather. These two gentlemen plus two friends purchased land on the North shore of Wellesley Island in the late 1940’s.

The original engine, a Chris Craft ML had been replaced in the mid 1960’s with a Chrysler 318, touted to be serviceable. A tear down revealed otherwise. Having been through this before. I ordered a Mercruiser 4.3 L plus transmission. Now looking forward to June !

Tom Neely