Vintage Race Boat Shop

  We maintain vintage wooden boats.

Foxwood

Foxwood - a 1934 Chris Craft, 27 Foot Custom Runabout

Owner/Driver - Karen Sanders

Riding Mechanic - Shaun berry

In 1984, my brother Arnie fulfilled his passion for wooden boats and bought his first boat, an original 1932, 22 foot triple cockpit. He combed every nook and cranny on Lake Winnipesaukee and was as in love with the Lake as he was with  his boat . Once again there was a wooden boat in the boathouse at Foxwood, the first since my grandmother's 28 ft Hacker Craft. In 1985 my Dad, Arnold Sr. was nearing retirement , and after George Johnson took him for a spin in his 27 foot Chris Craft Custom he was convinced, and it wasn’t long before we acquired Foxwood. We were shocked at what we saw, a 27 foot hull of dried up wood which now resides in the rafters of our boathouse. The journey began and George Baker worked his magic in restoring Foxwood, a 1934, 27 foot triple cockpit with a 454 cubic inch, 350 hp Crusader engine . I’m not sure what Foxwood's life was like for the 50 years before we acquired  her , but for the last 21 years she has provided our family with unending pleasure.

After several years of non-use, in the spring of 2007 the Vintage Race Boat Shop was asked to survey and prepare Foxwood for running again on Lake Winnipesaukee. So on 3/31/2007, we trekked over to the Foxwood boat house, and crawled all over the boat during a thorough survey. Foxwood had gone through a major restoration years ago, and George Baker did a superb job with all the wood replacement. The boat was in excellent shape, but in need of a major cleaning!!!

 

       

We also had to repair a little damage on the stem, nothing major. Once the wood was cleaned out, a skim coat of epoxy was applied, followed by an application of "thickened" epoxy to reshape the stem area. 

The water pump also had to be completely rebuilt, with a new impeller and complete front bearing and seal. The Crusader 454 motor fired right up, but was not flowing enough water out the exhaust pipes, so we had to back-flush the oil cooler and replace the raw water strainer with a better/proven design. That did it, the water then flowed much better, and the motor ran much cooler - right around the desired 150-160 degrees.

To complete the spring commissioning, we ran the motor for a while to get the motor oil nice and hot, then changed the oil and filter, using the best - Mobil 1 Synthetic 15W50. And to finish the project, we spent a few hours cleaning and polishing, and the results - absolutely stunning ???!!!

Watch for Foxwood this summer on Lake Winnipesaukee, and the boat will also be running in the opening ceremonies of our Wolfeboro Vintage Race Boat Regatta.