SEABUDDY
ON BOATS

Posts Tagged ‘boat photo’

this Classic wood Riva Aquarama runabout boat sold for $975,000

This was the price paid at auction for a very original boat. She was a single cockpit Riva Aquarama first sold on December 23, 1998 as a new boat. This boat number 774 was presented as the last Riva wood Aquarama Special as sold by Cantieri Riva as they made their final step in boat building into fiberglass boats from wood hulls.

It is said to be a low engine hour (less than 20 total engine in operation hours) boat. This classic is a twin engine boat that had a speed “approaching 55 mph or 90 kmh” according to the sales information. She is powered by her original big block 454 Chevy engines made to Riva specs by Crusader engines in the USA.

She still had her original varnish as done by the Riva factory. Her chrome bright work was original. The original owners and sellers of this boat at this $975,000 sale price, the founding family of Sony Electronics, said it came with full documentation paperwork to support the boat’s history. A very special one owner boat. You can see from the Mecum Auction supplied photos that the boat was properly stored, serviced, and maintained over her lifetime.

Roberto Franzoni authored a great boat about Riva; the family, the shipyard, and the boats as well as the yachts. His book called Riva was published in Italy in 1986 and is an out-of-print collector type book. ISBN 88-85058-48-5. Naturally copies are hard to come by now in 2012. They do not come around often, so any pricing is not related to the original price. Just like this number 774 Riva Aquarama. If you want one of these books, get it when one comes up for sale on sites like Amazon.com as a copy of a hard back book.

Mecum Auction supplied these photos of the wood Riva Aquarama boat

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

deck house side of the wood boat 1964 Chris craft Constellation

Chris Craft boats made this one in its similar series of 30 foot wood cabin cruisers from 1963-1968 which they named as a Constellation model. Constellation is a storied Chris Craft model name first used in the 1954 model year as the name for the 53’ flagship model of the Chris Craft cruiser fleet. This name has the prestige and respect that fans of the brand love. It seemingly stands for all that a wood cabin cruiser should be in most folk’s minds.

These wood boats were built by a publicly held Chris Craft Corporation. The various members of the Smith family had sold their holdings in the family business on February 7, 1960. The sales price of the company was about one year’s sales volume and roughly 16 times the profit. They were building about 8,000 boats then with their 3,500 employees.  At the time of the sale, the first non-family person became responsible to run the Chris Craft boat building business.

Starting in 1963, “Connies” came in 27’ to 57’ sizes. By 1964, the Chris Craft Connies range expanded to be as long as a 65’ diesel yacht. This and other 30 footers were somewhat re-styled over the years that they were in production and had good sales success. Chris Craft made 160 examples of this 1964 wood boat. The 30’ boats had a beam of 10’ 8” and weighted 8,920 lbs. dry. They carried a fuel capacity of 100 gallons. The keel, chines, frames, stringers, ribs, and planking were made of oak, fir, and Philippine Mahogany. The inner bottom planking was marine grade plywood. All of the side and the bottom outer planking was made out of Philippine Mahogany wood.

These photos were taken by seabuddy at the Wooden Boat Restoration, LLC boat shop. Call George Hazzard at 410.928.5500 or please see http://www.mywbr.com/ or www.woodenboatrestorationllc.com for more information.

reworking chine 1964 Chris Craft Constellation 30' wood boat photo

note the really nice refinish work on this classic fiberglass Bertram 20

looking at the stern of the Bertram 20 classic fiberglass boat photo

Remember the 20 foot version of the classic fiberglass Bertram? It came in several versions, including a boat model called the Moppie, the Bahia Mar, and the Baron, among others. These 20’ boats tended to weight in at around 2,300 LBS. Here seabuddy talks about and shows boat photos of a center console 20’ 6” model.

Bertram started with a wood prototype 30 footer in 1959. That boat was turned upside down to use as a form to make a mold and became the classic fiberglass Bertram 31 in 1960. She was introduced at the New York Boat Show in 1961. That boat model started the Bertram Yacht boat building business.

In 1962 Bertram made their second length in a production boat model. It was the 25 footer. By 1963, this boat builder then made a 38’ sport fishing boat.  It was 1964 when they introduced their 20 foot boat series. By 1965, reports say that they made one of these a day in their Miami boat building plant.

I have seen restored and updated 20’ Bertram boats that are powered by a stern drive V-8 and also by outboards. The one in the photos has been repowered with a V-6 Mercruiser and has an Mercury Marine Alpha out drive.

There was a Dick Bertram. Dick founded and originally owned Bertram Yachts. He passed away at age 84 on 4/28/2000. He successfully raced sail boats and then power boats. In 1956 he won a famous offshore race in a 34’ wood Chris Craft powered by twin 215 Hp. Cadillac Crusader engines. While Doodles II won, it was pretty much destroyed as a usable boat by the beating it took in the race. Dick again won the same Miami to Nassau race in 1958 in a 35’ wood Enterprise brand boat. He won the 1960 race in the wood prototype Bertram. In 1961 he won again, this time in a fiberglass Bertram 31’.

More on Bertrams here

http://www.wortoncreek.com/

another photo shot the Restored classic fiberglass Bertram 20

WOW! classic wood / fiberglass helm station on Bertram 20

Top Fish a 2012 center console 39 Cigarette Racing outboard boat

The open edition of this sport fishing center console offers more fish fighting space while still offering a head compartment that has over 6 feet of headroom. Seating for a bunch of family and fishing friends are standard with both cockpit layouts. The Console is also the same for both.

She comes with 900 horsepower as standard equipment with 1,050 horsepower as an optional choice. Both of these three engines on-the-transom packages are with Mercury Marine Verado or Mercury Racing Verado outboard engines.

This Top Fish fishing boat is a 39 foot by 10 foot high performance son of a offshore racing boat that weights 12,600 lbs. She carries 418 gallons in her gas fuel tanks.

This is the company that built boats for Billy Martin, Betty Cook, Bob Norskog, Tom
Gentry, and Rocky Aoki on Thunderboat Row.

Cigarette Racing has moved from their combined 30,000 square foot buildings on NE 188^th Street in North Miami, Fl to a purpose built 150,000 square foot building in Opa Locka, FL several years ago. That new building allowed Skip Braver, owner of Cigarette Racing, to really do up his plans for research and development in addition to offshore racing as well as do terrific paint jobs, cockpit treatments, and interior work on his boats. The company has moved ahead in its product line-up since then and this is one of the boats that is the result. It has proved to be a smash hit. Enough of a hit that it birthed a big sister in 2012 now. That boat requires an inspection, too if a fast and fun fishing is what you had in mind.

note the cockpit seating in the 2012 Cigarette Racing Top Fish

2012 Marine Mercury Marine 4.2 TDI diesel engine

Audi and VW make an approx. 350 horsepower marine diesel engine. In a joint marketing agreement, Mercury Marine sells that engine packaged with a transmission (inboard or vee drive) or a stern drive (I/O). This is a sophisticated engine that can be found in some Audi A8 and 7 cars on the road.

It’s a high torque engine for good acceleration and low time to plane times for boats. This engine uses a 3.27 bore with a stroke of 3.76 inches. Using a 90 degree V-8 it is a Turbo-charged, Direct Injection (TDI) design, the guts of the marine Audi diesel engine is made in Gyor, Hungary by Audi . The crankshaft features 4 bolts to hold it in place (4 bolt main). The piston’s connecting rods are fracture split. Mahle aluminum pistons are used. The heads are also aluminum and of a 4 valve design. It’s properly called a common rail engine. Like seabuddy said, it is a sophisticated engine.

These engines offer the best of automotive-like quality and durability that a German engine maker brings to the marine marketplace. This is up-to-the-minute diesel expertise for a low or no smoke exhaust. It gives excellent milage.

Mercury Marine digital throttle and shift (DTS), Sea Core, and Axius systems are all available with this 252 cubic inch displacement (4.2 L) marine diesel engine. That 350 Hp. that this engine is rated at is more horsepower from a smaller displacement engine than the popular V-6 gas engine that both Volvo Penta and Mercury Marine offer. That is a milestone in seabuddy’s opinion.

Photo courtesy of Mercury Marine

running to the fish Edgewater outboard center console 228 CC boat

Does a center console fiberglass boat work better than other boats for fishing? How about doing well in people carrying and just plain cruising? Getting from the pier and into the boat?

A fish boat like the 228 CC can really work well for fishermen. She has a higher freeboard than most boats. That works well in rougher open waters. This model also has a notch transom that should be inspected. Other features can be found throughout this fishing boat model that give a real positive impact on your ability to chase and catch fish. This is a good selling, single engine center console.

Rated for up to 250 horsepower, most of these boats go fishing with a Yamaha 225 horsepower outboard. That outboard gives almost 3 MPG at 3,500 RPM and 21 MPH. Speed up to 4,500 RPM and the speed numbers go up to 33-34 MPH. Mileage is still good. Top speed, if you ever use it, is around 46-47 MPH with the 225 horsepower Yamaha outboard motor. Yamaha along with Honda was an early four stroke outboard engine manufacturer.

Edgewater also just now makes this boat model with a center mounted diesel engine for even better mileage. Seabuddy looks forward to doing a boat test on of those. Edgewater calls that model a 228CCD.

Pretty much all of these 228 Edgewater center console boats are used with a T-top. Look for boat test numbers for a center console equipped with one, as it can affect your complete boat test performance numbers.

aft cockpit of Yamaha / Edgewater 228 CC center console fishing boat

first photo of the new diesel Edgewater center console boat

29 X Flight Advantage fiberglass sport boat photo at Lake Havasu

The team at Advantage boats has hit one out of the ball park with its 2012 X Flight 29 foot stern drive go fast river runner boat. Simply put, it’s a sales success do to its performance on the water.

Here is one performance boat that Mom puts her thumb up as the boat to buy for the family after she takes a ride and compares it to similar go fast boats The 29 X Flight model inboard outboard model boat turns far better than the others, gives a good, soft ride, and still delivers a solid 73-74 MPH in test after test as you trim the drive to air it out.

What is the secret? Boat designer Gary Ferguson created a blend of a racing boat catamaran air entrapment hull entry with a multi-step vee bottom hull aft for a truly different sport boat. Here is a performance hull with a soft ride, an ability to take rougher water, make turns with great control, and a hull shape that uses all the performance boat tricks to get higher top speeds.

This boat can take more horsepower if you want an even higher top speed. Both 600 SCI Bravo 1 XR Merc Racing Horsepower and 800 horsepower engines from the racing division of Mercury Marine Mercruiser are routinely a part of the discussion when Advantage boats gets down to how should they build a boat for you. All Advantage boats are made custom for each customer. That is the way they do things.

29’ 7” is the hull length and the beam is 107” and most boats run a completed weight of 4,400 lbs. As many as 14 people can enjoy a 29’ X Flight at one time.

Try this link for more information http://www.advantageboats.com/x-flight.htm

Here is a quote from the company… “We’re dedicated to being the industry leader in performance sport boats, creating innovative and technologically advanced new models”

Nuff said for seabuddy.

Photos from Advantage boats.

2012 Advantage boats 29 X Flight 600 horsepower Merc Racing power

movie star Brigitte Bardot in her classic wood Riva boat

Brigitte Bardot was the movie’s ever first “sex kitten” movie star. She modeled for Elle magazine at the age of 15. By age 22, she played the lead role in the Roger Vadim movie And God Created Women. This was the type of actress that then morphed into the sex movement of the 1960s. She owned several Riva wood Boats.

Elizabeth Taylor owned at least one Riva boat. Taylor was a movie star in some 50 films over her lifetime. She was best known for her role in Cleopatra. Miss Taylor was married eight times (twice to Richard Burton), suffered from over 70 illnesses. She loved jewels, men, and eating.

Back in 1966, Carlo Riva, then owner of Riva boats, was interviewed for a magazine. In that interview, he related how he used nine coats of varnish; four sprayed, and five brushed on and hand rubbed. He went on to say that all Riva wood boats were tested in the water for at least sixty hours before it was sold.

Carlo then said that his stainless steel metal came from Sweden, his windshield glass from Belgium, the wood screws from England, the boats various textiles from Italy, and his boat’s engines from the United States.

Interestingly, a twin engine wood Riva boat took 36 days to make while a single screw inboard Riva took only half as long at that time.

He and his customers preferred, based on purchase patterns, Chevy engines five to one over the 290 Horsepower 413 Chrysler engines. Most of those Chevy engines were rated at 185 horsepower at that time.

Photos from Riva boats.

Elizabeth Taylor and her yacht and her Riva wood boat

1960 photo of movie star Anita Ekberg in her classic wood Riva

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