Cobalt Boats, a fiberglass power boat for 2012

The 105^th edition of the granddaddy of all united states boat shows runs Jan. 4 – Jan 8 at the Jacobs Javits Convention Center with the main show entrance at 11^th avenue and 34^th street in NY City. The driving directions address would best be expressed as 655 W. 34^th Street, NY, NY 10001. Parking is handy at down or around the block or take a taxi from the train station.

Cobalt boats, a favorite fiberglass power boat brand of mine, is offering one of their 2012 models at less than $40,000 as a show boat special. Another one of their boat show specials is a two foot larger model at a price that is way less than $50,000. Its closer to the mid-40s than a flat $50,000. Yes, the prices for their even larger power boat models go up even higher, but Boat Show Specials are displayed throughout their generously sized display booth. Look for the Cobalt Boats booth display over on the right side of the convention center and a little more than half way back from the front door.

Chaparral Boats is also featuring special boat show pricing on their bow riders, cuddies, and cabin cruisers.

Chris Craft, the famous boat builder that has a boat building history as old as pleasure boating is also at the show.

Grady White Boats has several new for 2012 model year center consoles, walk –  arounds, and fishing / family bow rider boats at the show.

Ski boat and wake boat noted boat builder, Correct Craft Boats, has a special price offering on two of their most popular models at the boat show, also.

Cobalt Boat 2012 fiberglass power boat

Specs on the boat is 18’ 11” in length and she has a beam of 6’ 1”. Her overall weight runs in the 2,100 to 2,400 lbs. area. Chris Craft built 503 of them in a production series from 1948 to 1954.

She is not a bow rider and one must change which cockpit to sit in at dockside, as this power boat is a true runabout and not a utility. She is almost all deck, engine room, two rows of seats and little, if any, walking around room in the cockpit areas.

I got a ride on a Pennsylvania Lake in a similar boat that belongs to a friend that was also lovingly restored and its ride and handling during that fresh water cruise was really a terrific experience. That one had an extremely special Chris Craft engine rebuild by an out of state noted engine builder of classic engines.

Chris Craft offered this wood power boat model in either a natural wood stained and highly varnished hull and deck or as a painted red and white finished powerboat. Most came with the seating areas finished in a Chinese red or red hue, but blue was a choice, as I understand it, but not in all of the model years the Racing Runabout was built post WWII.

The photos are from Moores Marine,  www.woodenboatrepair.com  that did this runabout’s restoration. Great workmanship and attention to detail is shown in the work coming from Moores you can see.

This one is a 1954 model Chris Craft

early on in the restoration work

The new power boat is 32 foot long and it is both a bow rider and a sleeper. The new boat is the largest boat model of its type in Chris Craft’s model line-up.

All the folks at Chris Craft including Chris Craft President, Steve Heese, welcome boat buyers to take a long look at their newest offering at their Miami Boat Show display along with their other show boats. Heese is quoted saying that “the Launch 32 is the logical next step for the active boater that still wants a bowrider but also wants the option to overnight at a moment’s notice.”

Sunning space, an open cockpit, a sleep-in cabin, and a on-board head  as well as all the creature comforts that a first class boating experience demands awaits your family and friends aboard the new 32’ Chris Craft Launch.

Chris Craft boats are driven by active boaters. These boaters value high style, sleek-like proportions and a very practical configuration for their boating adventures. Thinking of long excursions or champagne cruises? Take a long look at a Chris Craft made boat. They very well may have the right boat for you for 2012. I have been on their boats and studied their operations inside the Chris Craft boat building plant in Florida. The value of a Chris Craft is well deserved in this writer’s opinion. The story of Chris Craft may be the story of pleasure boating, and both are a glorious one.

It (the 1998 edition) sells for about ten times the price of the first edition. Get your thinking about the price to pay for an excellent copy to a dollar figure north of $100. It is that much in demand. That is for a used copy that is in better shape than what most book stores sell as a “new” book. What I am talking about is a book that looks as if it just came out of a shipping carton and has had no “floor time”.

What is the book about? Chris Craft power boats. From its origins, when Christopher Columbus Smith carved his first small rowboat out of a log in 1872 (as the story goes) to the first planked boat in 1874, to his first power boat in around 1894 and the story continues.

There were several companies and partners for Chris Smith in the early times and those details are fascinating to me. Gar Wood, Ryan, brothers, and sons all helped shape this success story. Race boats and runabout pleasure boats all were a part of the quality reputation that developed around Chris Craft power boats. Boat production went from 24 power boats in 1922 to 946 in 1929, for instance.

How the boat builder made their fine runabouts covers several sub issues, like owning their own rail road to how they dealt with the wood in early Chris Craft wood power boats. And then there were the engines and the World War II war effort. Plus the post war boating boom. Then the book covers the company and its products in the fifties to the nineties in detail. Overall a great read for all of us interested in boating.

Chris Craft Runabout

 This a Chris Craft runabout under rstoration at a company that does quality classic boat work, Wooden Boat Restoration LLC. I also have seen the boat all but finished except for final “punch List” work. She is a great sight to see. She is 15  1/2 feet in lenght and powered as a speed boat should.

Sly Fox is a classic wood runabout, with two cockpits and two rows of seating aboard with good room for all.

She uses a utility style layout for ease of acess between the two cockpits. An engine box keeps the mechanicals out of the seating areas.

Its a joy to explore the lakes and bays of america’s waterways in such an antique and classic boat. Its a different feeling than one gets in a new boat. People that share the water with you give you a smile and a wave as they like seeing you and the boat in use.

on display at the show

The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show opens on October 27 and runs through October 31, 2011.The Boat Show exhibits new boats from boat and yacht companies as well as yacht designers and used or brokered yachts.

A variety of boats and ocean vessels will be on display including runabouts, sport fishing boats, high performance racers, medium sized cabin cruisers, skiffs, express cruisers, motor yachts, bow riders, catamarans, trawlers, inflatables, and extraordinary super yachts.

Covering six locations and some 3 million square feet of space, the show has a transportation network of land bus, water craft, and river boats to get around the show.

A great venue for a boat show, Ft. Lauderdale, has the water and land items that make for a great boating experience.

The best day for most is the first day, although one can’t see all of the show in a day. Take even non boaters with you, it’s a terrific venue.

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.

    Wednesday – January 19 12:00pm to 9:00pm

    Thursday – January 20 12:00pm to 9:00pm

    Friday – January 21 12:00pm to 9:00pm

    Saturday – January 22 10:00am to 9:00pm

    Sunday – January 23 10:00am to 6:00pm

Parking-

Astor Parking Corporation, 1515 Broadway at 44th Street, 212.869.3543

Central Parking System  www.parking.com  800-836-6666.

485 10th avenue

433 West 37th street

453 West 35th street

550 West 37th street

Convention Center- 551 W. 38th street

417 W. 35th street

447-9th avenue

490 11th avenue

521 9th avenue

346 W. 40th street

Lincoln- 324 W. 34th street

West 40th street

640 W. 42nd street, New York

Penn Mark Garage- 304 W. 34th street

Oil Market Garage- 575 11th avenue

New York City Post Office- 360 W. 31st street

Port Authority Bus Terminal- 628 8th avenue

Enterprise Parking System www.enterpriseparking.com 212-564-3199

          404 West 37th Street (btw 9th and 10th Avenue)

          453 West 38th Street (btw 10th and 9th Avenue)

          451 10th Avenue (btw 35th and 36th Street)

          343 10th Avenue (on the corner of 10th Ave and 30th Street)

          506 West 30th Street (btw 11th and 10th Avenue)

          447 West 35th Street (btw 10th and Dryer)

          444 10th Avenue (btw 35th and 34th Street) 320 West 30th Street (btw 9th and 8th Avenue)

Square Industries, 306 West 44th Street, 212.247.5807