Gene Wendt describes the handwork that goes into finishing a wooden boat.

 

                     “There’s a sizeable amount of sanding that needs to be done on these projects.  And we do make use of power equipment to a point. But there are some things that need to be done that you can do only with your hands.  And this is one of them.  Some days you can spends days hand sanding a boat hull prior to it’s finishing.”

 

                     With the advent of Aluminum and fiberglass, after World War 2, most wooden boats fell into disuse. 

 

                     “A lot of them were destroyed or rotted because wood is organic it’s not meant to last forever. But  due to the carefulness of some owners they’re still here. There are many left in northwoods. 

The problem is they are a lot of upkeep, between the painted and varnished surfaces. It takes a dedicated owner to want to preserve these boats.”

 

                    

                      But there’s nostalgia today for wooden boats.

 

We’re admiring a locally built Sunflower inboard.  This boat was built in 1945 at the Sunflower Boat Works on Lake Tomahawk. These boats were built with cypress and mahogany, but this one uses more white cedar.

 

“Well, this boat in 1945 there was a materials shortage because of World War 2, so the use of mahogany was limited.  So a lot of this boat is made out of cedar with the mahogany decks. So the sides will be painted but the decks will be a varnished surface.  That was due because of the materials that were available at the time.  So you had to be creative in how you built them. Cedar is a good wood but it doesn’t have the staining and varnishing qualities mahogany has.”

 

                    

                     Fabian Woodzicka ran the Sunflower Boat Works from the World War One era through the nineteen sixties. Woodzicka was an artist-craftsman who was intimately involved with every boat built at his shop.  When Gene Wendt was a teenager he worked for Woodzicka, hanging around the boats and dusting the antique cars.

 

                     “But I think what he taught me is that you have to have a lot of patience.  These are things that just don’t happen fast. But that’s a problem today you everybody wants to have everything fast. But things just don’t happen that way.  And he did teach me that you can do an awful lot with your hands and head.  I’m into the computer age and everything, but I’m worried that there aren’t enough people around to do things with your hands.”

                    

Here’s a boat named Pearl. It’s a beautifully finished mahogany decked Chris Craft.   These are boats that move you just to look at them. A workman fits wooden piece to the forward deck.  A mechanic uses a ratchet on the inboard engine.

 

Chris Craft Company in Michigan offers detailed history on every boat it’s built over the past century.  The boat named Pearl was delivered in December 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

After several years use the boat was put in storage and forgotten, but Wendt came onto it about ten years ago.

 

“So we started disassembling it and taking the engine and the hardware off, turning it upside down, removing the planking and replacing any bad or broken frame members.  Then slowly over the course of a winter building it back up again to the point you see it now, where we’re just ready to make some final adjustments and deliver it to the owner.  As you can see now it’s fairly complete.  It’s just passed it’s lake test. We’re all happy about it. The interesting thing is the man who owns this boat hasn’t seen it since it was disassembled, so it’s going to be a big shock to finally see a completed boat.”

 

Gene Wendt and the crew here at Crown Point Classics sure enjoy their work.

 

“The thing I enjoy is bringing something back that otherwise would have been put by the wayside.  And pleasing people to see the ownership that they’ve obtained again as proud as the first owner was when it was built for that particular owner.  The sound that the inboard engines have, the look when they’re going through the water. Those are all things to be enjoyed and remembered.”

 

I’m Nick Vander Puy for the Superior Broadcast Network