SEABUDDY
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Archive for the ‘classic Century Boats’ Category

seabuddy photo of a 1959 Century Resorter classic wood inboard boat

Wood Century boats are called “The Thoroughbred Fleet” and Century made Resorter models in 15’, 16, 17’, 18’, 19’, 20’, and 21’ lengths over the years. Most had a big powerful V-8 or a big six cylinder inboard engine in a direct drive marine power set-up. Resorter boats were style leaders.

They had to limit themselves to boat building within the 15’ to 21’ boat size as their factory in Manistee, Michigan could not handle the up to 30’ plus boat models that competitors such as GarWood, HackerCraft, and Chris Craft offered.

Century wood boats relied on styling, use of color, hull design, and usefulness in their wood boats to get their market share. Their hull design for their boat models was often the fastest hull within their size range. They used paint and chrome as trim accents on their varnished mahogany runabouts. Their windshields often were style leaders in boating.

They had their own ideas about what made for a useful boat. Many of their competitors kept their seating within the boat in contained, separate cockpits. Two cockpits were the most popular. During the Classic years, Century wanted better walk around function than a cockpit themed boat offered. They combined the rows of seating into one big, open cockpit with a box over the engine. This allowed for full front to back access around the boat away from the dock float. No more climbing over decking that separated seating areas in a Century Resorter utility.

My seabuddy photos of a 1959 model year boat and one from another source show one style of a wood Classic Century runabout that is nicknamed “the Carrier deck” in a 19’ Century Resorter . The foredeck broadens out to a wide, almost aircraft carrier style, piano finished varnished planked wood platform. A very different and now rare boat design. They say that there were only 180 of these 1959 boats made.

My photos show one boat of a three Century brand boat owner. He may want to sell one.

detail close-up of the carrier deck of the 1959 Century wood boat

seabuddy gives credit to Paula Faye for photo about the Carrier Deck

This is a 29" model of a real wood Century Arabian classic inboard boat

She is a classic v-drive (some say vee drive) inboard with one bigger center cockpit wood runabout. But the boat in the photos is a model!

This built from scratch 29” long boat is modeled from a privately owned version of a real boat and is shown here for its outstanding workmanship and attention to detail. John Into, a boat modeler for 50 years and a published author on boat modeling, even discussed this boat model with the real boat’s naval architect, a designer named Robert Rioux, who designed all of the Century Boat Company’s boat models at the time this boat was conceived.

One interesting fact to seabuddy is that the full-size runabout’s windshield was from the rear window glass used in a car. I knew the steering wheel was from an auto, but the windshield information is new to me. This boat that was modeled by John was a wood classic utility runabout, it is one of the last wood ones, as Century Boat Co. was using this and other boat design models as the ones that they would craft in fiberglass, too.

One thing to note, the photos here do not show the colors as well as an in person review will. Let me tell you, Into got those color shades right as a match to the real boat he was modeling.

John is a long time vendor / displayer at the Tavares, FL Classic Boat Show on March 23-25, 2012. Look for him and his models very near the entrance to the vendor area of this big show. If you like his work and want to better understand boat modeling for yourself, ask him to autograph a copy of his book for your home boating library.

note the background to understand that this is a scratch built model

That is a car maker's steering wheel shown in this boat photo

The Century Boat Company’s Coronado was a smash hit when it entered the luxury runabout marketplace in the 1950s and into the 1960s. It was recognized for its groundbreaking styling that combined automotive accents from nearby Detroit along with a roomy cockpit. This boat features a lightweight and fast hull shape. Speeds of up to 55 MPH are mentioned for this wood classic.

The selection of engine offerings over the years alone is interesting.  Chrysler 354 hemis were an option, along with the Chrysler 413 wedge head “Golden Lion” engines.  Other choices included Buick and AMC engines as well as the “new” Cadillac V-8 selections.

About 1/2 of the way through their production years, Century boats even tried using Rolls Royce engines in its Coronado as an experiment for a gas engine power choice. It did not work well, however, so the boat had to be re-powered upon its sale.  The boat was such a powerful inboard that it was capable of pulling up 10 skiers at a time.

Cushioned seating inside the cockpit would let you take 8 or 9 friends for a ride around the lake – that was often the feature that sold this boat. Other attractive features included a Pontiac car windshield that was standard one year. Think Lincoln automobiles when it comes to the Coronado’s steering wheel. And lots of chrome trim, just like autos of the day.

The Coronados were wood-hulled boats from 1955-1968. All Coronados had basically the same length (21’- 22’) and width (approximately 8’ on the beam). The 1959 model seems to have been the biggest at the deck line, but was built on the same hull bottom used in the other years.

I mentioned earlier the one Coronado was configured with a Rolls Royce engine—seabuddy remembers seeing one at the NY Boat show when I was in my teens.  In those days you just had to walk into a boat show and ask to see the most luxurious boat on the floor, and you’d be pointed directly to the Century Coronado display.

cockpit photo of classic wood Century Coronado boat

Century Coronado engine box behind second of three rows of seating

One of 419 examples of this model size built the year that she was made and one of the best old style ski boats is this mahogany Century 16’ Resorter model. This one has a replacement 260 Hp Chevy Mercruiser inboard V-8 for power and she really goes when a skier says “hit it”. She is a high speed, speedboat.

A wood runabout Century boat has a good amount of v (vee) at the bow that flattens aft for a very shallow amount of deadrise for the most speed and quick acceleration that a performance boat on lake waters needs.

Further, a Resorter Century from this era used the light but strong batten seam construction style for her hull construction. She has many athwart ship frames as well as having seam covering longitudinal battens that the planks are both fastened to (A separate wood batten runs behind all of the planking seams to add strength and water tightness to the hull in this style of boat building).

 A hard chine, v-bottom mahogany runabout was and is the runabout style of choice for many water sports. She is best described as a utility, as each passenger row is easy to get between, rather than being described as a twin cockpit mahogany speedboat.

Straight shaft inboard runabouts with their separate prop, rudder, and propeller strut, are one of the oldest, most reliable ways to design a timber boat. And, Century was a quality leader in both design and styling in the 1950s era. This classic mahogany runabout was the official tow boat brand in the late 1950s, not a Chris Craft.

Century Boat Company started in the wood boat business in 1926 and by 1969 had stopped production of wood hulled boats as they continued on with fiberglass boats.

The photos are from antique boat america.com that has this boat for sale.

16 century wood boat 1959 model

Dashboard of the 16' Resorter Century

Classic boats are here along with historic planes and antique cars.  Wood Antique and classic booats as well as race boats are apart of this Florida event.  Enjoy the boats on the water and on land. Ideally, one would enjoy all three (land, sea, and air) in this one event.

January 27–30, 2011
Baltimore Convention Center
1 W Pratt Street (at Charles Street)  One block away from the Inner Harbor
Baltimore, MD 21201
 

Show Hours

Thursday, January 27, 2011
      11am–9pm 

Friday, January 28, 2011 
      11am–9pm 

Saturday, January 29, 2011 
      10am–9pm

Sunday, January 30, 2011 
      10am–5pm

They will have more boat events upcoming. I’ll keep you posted.

Peter brought his self-restored Classic wood boat Century boat Resorter up from Fl and took two top awards at the recent Chesapeake Bay Chapter – ACBS 11 acre Boat festival in St. Michaels, MD.

His Resorter is powered with a gas Norberg engine. This is a rare combination, as the Cal Connell “Crusader” Cadillac 331 cu. in. engine was coming to market via Century Boats in both Coronado and Resorter Century Boat models and it was a lighter weight engine so it delivered speeds of 60 mph in a prototype Resorter (these Cal Connell modified  gas Cadillac engines powered similar cut- down family boat designs to over 67 mph in race conditions).

Read the rest of this entry »

another photo of the sliding hard top

1958 Century Coronado with factory Hard Top

This is the boat that was and is still famous for being able to deep-water start 12 water skiers at one time.

It is often mentioned as it was the fastest production boat during the time it was built.

I am sure that fans of the Chris Craft Cobra 21 models powered with the hot-rodded Cadillac engine option would want to challenge that statement.

Certainly, almost all knowledgeable classic boat owners will say that the Century at high speed far out-handles the Chris Craft Cobra while giving the man behind the wheel more of a sense of confidence.

At the same time, those same people will pay a far higher price for a Cobra boat for sale than the Century Coronado boat for sale.

underside view from the boat's cockpit

The Coronado was introduced as a one of the first 1955 models from any boat builder. The styling was very different and caught the fancy of boaters that lusted after a luxury boat to use on the lakes of the world.  It was said to be the most successful and impressive luxury boat ever.

Regular engine choices offered speeds to boat owners of up to 50-55 mph when all the other production boat builders only set up their offerings to go 40-45 mph.. The Coronado was introduced in the summer of 1954, as a 1955 model. It was the most successful and impressive luxury boat ever. It not only had style but also offered impressive speeds reaching in excess 55 mph with stock engines.

1,743 wood boat units were built by Century in a 14 year model run. A record for what is a top shelf boat offering. About 1,000 more boats were later built using fiberglass. The fiberglass Coronado is a very close clone of the wood Coronado, but not an exact copy.

Hey, Elvis Presley owned a Century Coronado, as did Robert F. Kennedy, the Shaw of Iran, and Liberace did also with his having a special trim treatment, plus TV’s Dr. Spock was an owner of a Century Coronado.

In another posting, seabuddy / chris brown blogged about a model of the boat shown in these photos. Look between the two and see how close the model matches up to the real boat, if you want. I expect the model and the boat to be at the Antique and Classic Boat Festival in St. Michaels this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 18-20.

nice, comfortable seating with walk around cockpit space

engine cover box

Like a 1950's Car interior