Chopped strand mat fiberglass is a glass mat made up of similar length hairs loosely bound into a mat that is hand laid into a boat mold and then resin that looks like honey is dripped and brushed onto it. As pictured above.

In either boat construction the mix of glass and resin are hand laid / rolled into each other to make a single layer of fiberglass.

As a side note, “hand laid” is an expression used at boat shows. Know which kind the salesman is saying is in his boat; hand laid / rolled out chopper gun or hand laid fiberglass cloth.

These two techniques are not the same.

A Chopper Gun mix has to be adjusted each time it is used and supplies are changed. That mix is can be rich or starved for resin, with each style introducing its own problems to the boat construction. That takes some skill and experience to achieve the right balance of glass and resin.

A mat of chopped glass needs its resin rolled into it, but the rich and starved  aspect is not as dependent on operator skill. Almost anyone walking beside and boat under construction can spot either a starved of rich area and flag it for correction.

closess slips to the Boat Festival

Give the yard a telephone call if you need a slip for the June 18 – 20 Classic Boat Festival. They have just a few openings left. 410-745-2929.

Higgins Yacht Yard is the last full-service boatyard in the town of St. Michaels. Located at the foot of Carpenter Street on the harbor front, adjacent to the Two Swan Inn Bed and Breakfast and the Cygnet Cottage vacation rental.

Transient slips are available at competitive prices and the location is superb!

Only two blocks to town center, one block to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (closest marina to the Chesapeake Bay Maritine Museum), and one block to most harbor front restaurants.

Note: the best weather channel TV is just a block up the street inside the “c” street bar0 (corner of the main drag and carpenter street). If TV is not on the weather channel, ask they get it up  for you, as a boater) on their wide screen TV.

On the right as one comes into town

Short Ribs for dinner, upscale Pizza for lunch (try the fresh Arugula on top of yours) or pick other items from a great menu, wine and beer anytime and do not leave without trying the special “donut style” light desert.

That is good eating in St. Michaels.

 There is outside, covered patio dining (pictured), sit at the inside bar area, or try the dinning room also inside, all are your choices here as well as outstanding food.

Parking back through here

Follow the alley pictured between the buildings for that special, for St. Michaels treat; private, off street parking.

Avas is on the main drag coming into town. 410-745-3081.

Avas is a short walk from the town Marina. No reservations and its very friendly but busy. Go early and Smile when you do. No kidding, say seabuddy sent you.

Did seabuddy / chris brown say not to miss the light desert “donut style”?

Avas own off street parking

Covered, outside patio drinking and dinning

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

In the boat modeler’s own words…We make scratch-built miniature replicas of boats ranging from elegantly simple line models to those of exquisite detail. We create all of our models from start to finish, including research, blueprints, woodwork, metalwork, upholstery, rigging, graphics, painting and finishing. When appropriate, we also take our own lines directly from subject boats. We do not use kits, or parts from any other sources. We can style your model in a variety of ways to suit your tastes; at any size or scale. We take great pride in the quality of every boat that we make and every one carries a serial number and our signatures. Other services that we provide include Display cases and accessories, restoration, line drawings and renderings, conversion of “paper” mechanical drawings to CAD, custom decal and parts making and other related activities.

John has over 40 years of modeling experience and we can make a replica of any boat provided that there is sufficient information available or we can have direct access to it. In fact, we are specialists in making models of boats that have never been modeled before. Having made over 250 models, we have significant experience with Antique & Classic boats, Workboats (from rowboats to lightships), Pleasure craft and Historical craft. We have researched myriad vessel histories and have developed a significant database, a library of a variety of maritime information, as well as contacts with other experts in the field.

Model making, properly done, takes time and patience. Every model, as with every boat, is different and will require different types and levels of work. We are fortunate to have a number of commissions in the works at all times. Please bear in mind that to produce the highest quality of model for you, unless it is one of the boats that we have made for shows, there will probably be a time factor. For short term circumstances we have presentation quality certificates available.

http://intothings.com/

Boating takes people down many paths and all those choices are fine with chris brown / seabuddy. Having fun on the water and with boats reduces my stress and makes me reflect back to my teen years where my boat was my way of going from adolescence to an early-age adult. I got the freedom to explore what life is about via my boat, not with a car. The car time was for young men growing up in NJ was 17 years and older.

I passed my first Coast Guard Auxiliary exam at age 10 (in Toms River, NJ). I had been boating since age 7 starting with a hand-me-down rowboat that my uncle gave. “Paint it, caulk it, and its yours”, his words to me. That started this passion for boating that  still going strong at age 61.

My wife openly calls boating “my mistress” and she accepts that in me as her husband.

Aristo craft boat flying a wake for the thrill of it

She is an Aristo Craft, about a 1954 model year with a Mercury outboard all up in the air because the helmsman has just used a wake crossing to “catch some air time”. These boats are a business for a Grandson and Son of the founder of the a  started in 1945 as a post WW II.boat building business.  His Dad, as I understand it, switched out of wood boats to only making fiberglass runabout boats in 1960. AristoCraftboats, remember that name. AristoCraftboats.

Does this photo get your juices going, too? Want to know more about this type of boating, and what are your choices: self or professional restoring, commissioning a new one, just like the an original one? Boat trim parts? Old outboard motors? Windshield parts? Contact here.

The original family boat builders

Nice "after" restoration Photo

She won an award in a Antique and Classic Boat Festival in St. Michaels, MD. For the restoration of what would be called a “bone yard” boat that most would just cut up, rather than save, rebuild, restore, and give another boating life to.

New structural wood was mixed in with the still good wood. She got careful time and attention to all the “next” steps. Note the finish on the stained /varnished wood and the painted hull sides. Wooden Boat Restoration is noted along the eastern half of the US for their ability to deliver any level of finish that one wants for a wood boat.

Their secret?  Years of knowledge, study, and a paint booth that Chip Foose of automotive TV fame would die for.

the Interior is highly varnished to furniture grade finish

Note that Helene Breza, woodwright, (pictured) was very involved in this boat.

Pride in her work

Wooden Boat Restoration is a small, hands on, firm that does very nice work in a large shop in the eastern shore of Maryland. Need something done? Give them a call. Shop 410-928-5501, cell 610-247-8053 or on the web…

www.woodenboatrestorationllc.com

These photos are from that website and other Wooden Boat Restoration projects are shown there also. George likes his customers to get progress photos of their wood boat as work is done on it.

"before" the restoration photo

"before the wood boat restoration

"during" wood boat restoration