| Including Project Updates from the Lucas Luchadores! | August, 2013 |
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The White Rock Boat Club has again offered to host boats from the WBA on the shores of historic White Rock Lake on September 7, 2013. We'll be featuring our North Texas-built Willis and Yellow Jackets on shore, and our Chris-Crafts, Centurys and other marques in the water. |
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White Rock Boat Club members will also have three wooden sailboats, both hand-built and restored, along their docks for visitors to see. If you are able to bring your boat to this enjoyable day, please let David Kanally know at david@historywithheart.com . |
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The Hilton Bella Harbor will again be the location of the WBA's annual Ride 'n Show, slated for September 27-29, 2013 on the shores of Lake Ray Hubbard. The City of Rockwall docks will provide a high-quality venue for our display of antique and classic boats. |
The schedule will include our usual dining and revelry, in addition to a Sunday morning ride on the lake. The City of Rockwall and Chamber are making a major investment to promote this event. Please make every effort to attend! |
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The July meeting of the WBA featured a fascinating look into the history and workings of Plano's own Chrysler Boats, presented by Bob Adair, assisted by Lew White. Using slides of the factory operations in the '70s, Bob showed the various phases and processes of manufacturing Chrysler's fiberglass boats, from mold prep to final fit-out and shipping. The company employed about 800 people at its peak. Bob worked in the Chrysler Boats design department, creating both hull designs and interiors for various lines of boats. Lew managed the Quality Assurance group. Bob supplemented the presentation with a number of his beautiful, original renderings of boats. Thanks to Bob and Lew for an insightful and interesting presentation! |
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(Above) Marc Hill's pride reflects in his work, as he moves to the hardware installation phase of the restoration of his '68 Grand prix. Fourteen coats of varnish protect the boat, and the last three coats were sprayed on to give the mirror-like finish.
(Above) Marc Hill's Grand Prix looks just as pretty from the stern as it does from the bow. Wonder what name this royal baby will receive? (Below) Robin and Troy's latest acquisition, a '51 Chris Craft 16-footer, after filling and sanding hull seams. The filler is epoxy thickened with "micro-balloons".
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(Above) Marc's Grand Prix glistens under the flourescent lights of the Lucas shop, awaiting stainless steel rub rails and chrome hardware. Marc was hand-buffing the rub rails while we were there last Saturday morning.
(Above) Mark Wilson's Grand Prix has received some filler in the bow seam. Note all the recesses for mahogany plugs to be placed over the screw heads. (Below) Robin and Troy's Chris shows filler in the seams before and after sanding. The bottom now has a sheathing of fiberglass for no-soak performance. They also fired up a recently rebuilt Chris 350 V8. Video here!
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Next Meeting August 15th. Don't miss it!
Jim Wolfe, engine man extraordinaire, is preparing a presentation on the ins and outs of engine rebuilding. We should probably pay attention. Jim has brought many engines back from the dead, including the Hemi that will soon be powering his nearly restored Coronado. Join us for a light meal and moderate libation at 5:30 p.m. at Two Guys from Italy prior to the meeting. We encourage you to join us for dinner, so we'll always have the required minimum number of diners to avoid a room charge. Shop Talk and Musings You may notice that this issue of the Bilge Pump has arrived a little early. As hinted in my email accompanying the July minutes sent a few days ago, we had quite a dust-up in the newsroom over the cavalier way in which our editorial staff seems to schedule road trips and vacations lately, right around press time. The guys were absolutely intransigent on the issue, so I gave them the choice of getting the issue out early or cancelling their vacation. So there you go, labor negotiations at their finest. I will admit that the "my way or the highway" management style doesn't always work, but this time it did. I think the staff understand the rules, so they choose their battles pretty carefully. Burning the midnight oil putting out a newsletter about your favorite hobby...nice work if you can get it! Word has it that Bob Adair and Lew White are having a windshield custom made for their custom Yellow Jacket. The deck is soon to be stained and varnished. They also found a good quality upholsterer in McKinney who did the Yellow Jacket seats in a pretty tight time frame, so give them a holler if you need a referral. And, finally: Please take a look in the shed or garage for the leftover parts or other saleable items you can donate to the club. Bring them to any WBA meeting, or contact David Kanally at david@historywithheart.com for pickup.  |
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