Wooden boat with Studebaker V-8 available in CA

[Mark L]

There's a nice looking wooden boat with a Studebaker V-8 available in California.

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/d/former-tahoe-boat-show-winner/6563228216.html

[Bullet]

Has some of the styling elements of a Chriscradt.

Love it!

Mark

[PackardV8]

Very good price for a custom wooden boat, especially one with a professionally built Studebaker V8.

Agree, I really like the front half, however, I'm having trouble with the styling at the rear. Does it look like it's wearing a bustle?

jack vines

[RadioRoy]

I wonder if the rear bustle would be under water and thus less noticeable when the boat is floating.

[r1lark]

I'm trying to figure out what purpose the"bustle" serves. Hopefully someone who has knowledge/experience with boats of this vintage can help us. Facts versus just conjecture......

[jclary]

I'm trying to figure out what purpose the"bustle" serves. Hopefully someone who has knowledge/experience with boats of this vintage can help us. Facts versus just conjecture......

Sorry to disappoint you Paul, but without further detail from the original builders, conjecture is all we have to go on. IF the claims of the ad are correct, there were only three built, by three skilled cabinet making brothers. When I was a kid, I recall ads in comic books, Popular Science, & other publications where you could buy plans to build everything from canoes, pond boats, & motor boats. My thinking is that this boat was probably a modified plan originally designed for a six-cylinder engine and scaled up to handle the heavy cast iron V8.

Also, I would like to see the serial number on the engine. I have had others mention that the short stroke, durable, high revving capabilities of the 224 Stude engine of the era became very popular to use in marine applications. I don't know that for a fact, but this could be an excellent example. Furthermore, the lower "deck" footpath of the bustle, could make transitioning back and forth from the boat to water much easier for skiing and swimming. IF the boat is as structurally sound as it is pleasing to the eye...a real winner in my opinion.

Just imagine showing up at a Studebaker meet, or cruise-in hauling this behind your favorite Studebaker!

[DEEPNHOCK]

It has a late model intake on it...

Wouldn't that be a hoot towing it with a decent Ccab...

[Scott]

I'm thinking the rear is designed that way so it provides more buoyancy in the back so when at speed the boat doesn't sink as much in the rear as it would without it, providing a leveler ride.

[Buzzard]

Who on this forum remembers a boat from Seattle area powered by TWO R-2's complete with blowers circa early to mid 70's? I know squat about boats but all I recall had the steering gear on the right.
Which side is correct?
Bill

[JimKB1MCV]

Its pretty easy to guess the builder of this boat was a cabinet maker, I think there may be an excess of right angles and straight lines. A boat builder might call the design a little cringe-worthy.
The 'bustle' most probably was added for increased support for the extra cast-iron, as Scott mentioned in #8.
It is interesting and I suspect a very well-built boat. The lines do look a little like they were taken from one of the 1950s or 60s stock plan books.
Jim/ KB1MCV

[PackardV8]

Who on this forum remembers a boat from Seattle area powered by TWO R-2's complete with blowers circa early to mid 70's? I know squat about boats but all I recall had the steering gear on the right.
Which side is correct?
Bill

South Bend urban legend has it that during the confusion of the shutdown, someone with connections made off with a truckload of leftover R2s, took them to Seattle and sold them as boat engines.

As anyone who understands the thermodynamics of a ball-driven centrifugal supercharged engine would expect, most of them melted down under the first extended full throttle runs.

jack vines

[Springstreet]

I have an Avanti and previously restored wooden boats. What you described as a "bustle" was a popular transom in some post war boats ... notable the Ventnor. Usually the stern had a mahogany boat tail above (shaped like an Auburn boat tailed speedster) and the hull at the waterline (or boot top) extended to the transom as in a conventional Chris Craft. I had a Ventnor that I did not restore but it did not have a V-drive V-8 ... however, it did have headlights set into the bow!

[t walgamuth]

Nice looking boat. I can picture it behind my CE at a show.