TOPIC: Introducing myself and some interesting projects

So I am not new to boats, however in terms of major restoration I am trying to learn some new tidbits... My family owns a marina in northern Indiana, so I have been around boats the better share of my life...

First off I have a 1968 chris craft commander 23'. My grandfather purchased this boat in 1972 and it has been in the family ever since... While he still gets around pretty good, I have been commissioned with the task of maintaining this beast. Currently, the chevy 327 is out of the boat for a rear main seal and oil pan seal.. This is a very rare and unique boat..





Next up is a very interesting piece, which I would really like to look into restoring enough for operational use.. I dont know anything about this boat, other than its a PowerCat and it was used for racing..

My grandfather got this boat in trade in the 60s and we have had it ever since.. Apparently this boat was in operational condition when it was taken out of the water about 30 years ago. My uncle and my dad were going to paint it and do some other cosmetic work, but never got around to finishing it.. Since then, its been sitting outside.. It seems stupid to have a seemingly decent or restorable powercat with twin merc 800s with super speedmaster lower units just laying around

Heres a pic of the engine sitting on a stand in our showroom



Heres a couple shots of the boat..





Any comments are appreciated!

First of all, welcome aboard!

Ya can't beat Power Cats. There's a website one of the sons of the original designer of those boats keeps up for a bunch of Power Cat owners around the world. Check it out here: www.powercatboat.com/

At the top of the website you can click on something to join the Yahoo email list. Also, there is lots of good info on his website, including lots of photos of rebuilds, videos of racing and cruising, fascinating historical stuff. the guy who keeps this all up is Danny Leger, son of Ray Leger, desinger of these boats. He's on here often just as "powercat".

Good luck with it, and please keep us all posted on progress.

Frank

Welcome elwesso, and thanks for sharing your projects with us. The Chris Craft is gorgeous, hard to beat those classic lines. A pleasure to look at, please post some more pics when you get a chance. The PC would make a great "grin generator" with the twin 800's, we'd love to watch your project as you bring her back.

Thanks for the welcomes everyone!

I am member over at the powercat yahoo groups, I had a post but I forgot to post the pics that I took over a year ago... I revived my thread over on the powercat forum, so we'll see...

Its such a simple boat, especially since it was in race trim, so I'm thinking that it shouldnt be a big deal to get it looking really nice... I'd like to get it operational, and then this winter have it painted and make it look real nice..

I understand this could be a really rare piece, especially since it was built for, and was, raced...

Heres a couple more pics of the 23'.. It is original, except for the interior being redone and the engine rebuilt.. It is the same engine that came from the factory, just had to be freshened up after 40 years...









The old man at the helm..

Must be nice to have a couple Merc 800's with Super Speedmasters "just laying around" !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I betcha he's gotta bunch of props layin around to test on those babies too eh Kerry?

Frank

Nice boats.

According to "Chris-Craft: The Essential Guide" by Jerry Conrad, there were 115 of the Commander 23 footers built bewteen 1968 and 1969. The hull ID should start with either "FRAV" or FRBV". They were from the Commander Division of Chris-Craft.

I wonder if they were built at the Thompson Boat of NY, Inc. subsidiary at Cortland, NY?

Andreas

Thanks for the welcome everyone.. Im hoping to get to work a little more this weekend..

Wes,
Great to see you on the site with pics of your boats. Dig those twin Mercs. Guys, Wes is a longtime friend and moderator from a car website we both frequent. Neither of us knew the other was into boats. He has helped me and many others immeasurably with the car stuff and has been a great source of knowledge there. Hopefully we can do the same with his resto on the Power Cat. Doesn't look like the Chris Craft needs anything. Really nice ride! Hope to see it and the Mercs in person when I pay a visit to his family's marina this summer.

Frank, who has already chimed in, and Brian (Crosbyboat) have current Power Cat restos going and are very generous sharing their knowledge. I will help with what I know, but I'm more of an aluminum guy and just getting started in fiberglass.

Welcome aboard!
Paul