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By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 08:44 p.m. EDT, Jun 27, 2009
COVENTRY TWP.: Most of the boats lining the docks today at the Antique and Classic Boat Show had been plying the waters for decades.
Larry Otermat's was making its maiden voyage.
Otermat was at the show behind the Olde Harbor Inn and Hook, Line & Drinkers restaurant to display Dad's Legacy, the mahogany-clad craft his father, Orvil, started building from plans in the mid-1940s but never completed. The boat sat unfinished in his late father's woodworking shop until 2007, when Otermat took it home to Ashland, finished what work he could and then hired boat restorer Joe Hodges of BoatCraft in New Franklin to do the rest.
Otermat suspects the boat is a Chris-Craft, but the few pages of plans that remain didn't specify the make. His research hasn't turned up definitive answers, he said.
What he does know is that his father started the boat shortly after World War II in a backyard shop in Fremont. Otermat remembers helping with the project, driving screws and carefully positioning the wood bungs that covered the screw holes so the grain on the little plugs matched the grain of the surrounding wood.
The last record of his father purchasing parts for the project was in 1953. Orvil Otermat started having health problems in 1955, his son said, and died 10 years later.
The boat is covered in gleaming mahogany that a lumberyard owner sold his father for just $26 — the owner's way of repaying his dad, a floor-covering salesman, for pulling strings to get him supplies during the war. Otermat remembers his father tying the rough planks atop a hay wagon to take them home, and then having them milled to the proper dimensions.
The 18-foot boat has a 225-horsepower motor instead of the 85 to 95 it was designed for, which required reinforcing the frame to handle the additional stress, Otermat said.
''We haven't really turned it on to see how fast it'll go,'' he said.
Although Otermat's boat was officially new, it was in familiar company at Saturday's boat show. Vintage watercraft, many with wood hulls, bobbed alongside the docks for visitors to admire.
Some of the 42 boats on display were rare, such as a 1939 Chris-Craft Custom Runabout named Sashay that is one of only 24 produced, and an oceangoing pontoon boat that's believed to be the first of its kind on the Portage Lakes.
John Trippe of New Franklin restored the battered, 1,900-pound pontoon boat, which was built in Hawaii and has fiberglass tubes instead of aluminum to stand up to saltwater.
''It rides like a Cadillac out here,'' he insisted.
Some of the boats were grand, most notably a 1928 Hacker-Dolphin Triple that stretched an impressive 291/2 feet. It featured Oriental rugs to complement its red upholstery and a tray table set with a bottle of champagne and a pair of glasses.
And at least one boat was unique: a squat glass-bottom craft that Parma resident John Blazy designed and spent about a year and a half building.
The 15-foot boat, with its Lexan panels in the floor, was designed so Blazy could see into the depths of the clear water during his annual vacations in northern Michigan. He's even seen shipwrecks, he said.
The electric-powered boat won first place at last year's show in the Contemporary Class, a category he said was created to fit his newer old-style boat. He isn't sure how to define the craft, though.
''I call it a couch boat. It's a Blazy boat,'' he said with a smile and a shrug.
This was the 34th year for the one-day show and its eighth at its current location, said Walt Stashkiw, president of the North Coast Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society. The group co-sponsors the show with the Portage Lakes Historical Society, and the two restaurants donate their dock space.
The show supports the historical society and the July Fourth celebration at Portage Lakes, Stashkiw said. It also promotes the hobby of restoring and owning old boats.
But besides that, ''it's just fun,'' he said. ''It's fun to bring your boat and show it off.''
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.
COVENTRY TWP.: Most of the boats lining the docks today at the Antique and Classic Boat Show had been plying the waters for decades.
Larry Otermat's was making its maiden voyage.
Otermat was at the show behind the Olde Harbor Inn and Hook, Line & Drinkers restaurant to display Dad's Legacy, the mahogany-clad craft his father, Orvil, started building from plans in the mid-1940s but never completed. The boat sat unfinished in his late father's woodworking shop until 2007, when Otermat took it home to Ashland, finished what work he could and then hired boat restorer Joe Hodges of BoatCraft in New Franklin to do the rest.
Otermat suspects the boat is a Chris-Craft, but the few pages of plans that remain didn't specify the make. His research hasn't turned up definitive answers, he said.
What he does know is that his father started the boat shortly after World War II in a backyard shop in Fremont. Otermat remembers helping with the project, driving screws and carefully positioning the wood bungs that covered the screw holes so the grain on the little plugs matched the grain of the surrounding wood.
The last record of his father purchasing parts for the project was in 1953. Orvil Otermat started having health problems in 1955, his son said, and died 10 years later.
The boat is covered in gleaming mahogany that a lumberyard owner sold his father for just $26 — the owner's way of repaying his dad, a floor-covering salesman, for pulling strings to get him supplies during the war. Otermat remembers his father tying the rough planks atop a hay wagon to take them home, and then having them milled to the proper dimensions.
The 18-foot boat has a 225-horsepower motor instead of the 85 to 95 it was designed for, which required reinforcing the frame to handle the additional stress, Otermat said.
''We haven't really turned it on to see how fast it'll go,'' he said.
Although Otermat's boat was officially new, it was in familiar company at Saturday's boat show. Vintage watercraft, many with wood hulls, bobbed alongside the docks for visitors to admire.
Some of the 42 boats on display were rare, such as a 1939 Chris-Craft Custom Runabout named Sashay that is one of only 24 produced, and an oceangoing pontoon boat that's believed to be the first of its kind on the Portage Lakes.
John Trippe of New Franklin restored the battered, 1,900-pound pontoon boat, which was built in Hawaii and has fiberglass tubes instead of aluminum to stand up to saltwater.
''It rides like a Cadillac out here,'' he insisted.
Some of the boats were grand, most notably a 1928 Hacker-Dolphin Triple that stretched an impressive 291/2 feet. It featured Oriental rugs to complement its red upholstery and a tray table set with a bottle of champagne and a pair of glasses.
And at least one boat was unique: a squat glass-bottom craft that Parma resident John Blazy designed and spent about a year and a half building.
The 15-foot boat, with its Lexan panels in the floor, was designed so Blazy could see into the depths of the clear water during his annual vacations in northern Michigan. He's even seen shipwrecks, he said.
The electric-powered boat won first place at last year's show in the Contemporary Class, a category he said was created to fit his newer old-style boat. He isn't sure how to define the craft, though.
''I call it a couch boat. It's a Blazy boat,'' he said with a smile and a shrug.
This was the 34th year for the one-day show and its eighth at its current location, said Walt Stashkiw, president of the North Coast Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society. The group co-sponsors the show with the Portage Lakes Historical Society, and the two restaurants donate their dock space.
The show supports the historical society and the July Fourth celebration at Portage Lakes, Stashkiw said. It also promotes the hobby of restoring and owning old boats.
But besides that, ''it's just fun,'' he said. ''It's fun to bring your boat and show it off.''
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Canton, OH
Posted 08:58 PM, 06/27/2009
YAWN. . THE RICH & FAMOUS. . ." It's fun to bring your boat & show it off. ". . I'm happy when I make ends meet. . .& put food on the table for my kids. . .
Akron, OH
Posted 09:03 PM, 06/27/2009
A picture would tell a thousand words.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:34 PM, 06/27/2009
my boat is ,my size 13 shoes, fish from the shore as poor folks do
Massillon, OH
Posted 12:01 AM, 06/28/2009
To the "naysayers" out there.....you missed some
truly beautiful works of art that were produced
back in the day when the American worker was proud
of his trade and craftsmanship. I talked to many
of the owners of these fine craft and they were
there to share what they have poured their hearts
and souls into bringing them back to life......no
"short-cuts" here either ! It should also be noted
that this was open and free to the public so all
they had to do was get out from in front of the tv
and/or computer and enjoy a day at water's edge and
take in some history rather than knock those that
enjoy bringing these true works of art back to life.
kent, oh
Posted 12:32 PM, 06/28/2009
Yeah, great. It's in the paper AFTER it's over....
WADSWORTH, OH
Posted 05:53 AM, 06/29/2009
I would have gone over to check these old babies out-had I known it was going on.
Theres an old Chris-Craft docked in a water garage over on the lakes that always catches my eye when we float by.
Even better is the guy that has all the antique boat motors visible from the water.
ABJ-thanks so much for telling us AFTER the fact-losers
Akron, Oh
Posted 07:37 AM, 06/29/2009
paul...
That was the first thing that came to my mind also.
Posted 08:04 AM, 06/29/2009
I thought they used to have a show during the fourth of July celebrations. Thanks ABJ a little too late as usual; I bet the Suburbanite and the Canton Rep reported it early enough so people could go. It's just like a car show but for boats.
Akron, , OH
Posted 08:07 AM, 06/29/2009
These boats exemplify craftsman and their work, a fine piece of art needs appreciation.
Given the effort it takes to restore and display these boats makes a good story.
