WELCOME TO RIVER DAVES PLACE

Alright, school me...V-drives...

dryhoze1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Messages
777
Reaction score
1,583
Wooddeck’s are like a women’s breast. One’s not enough & three’s too many :)


1969 Sanger 427 FE powered

1966 Sanger 425 nailhead powered
54107B4A-6B4B-45CA-9269-B4C65DF6BDDD.jpeg



EB4C3165-6931-4BDA-8F73-0AE80E453A67.jpeg
300E7D40-DA6B-42AF-828D-44CFF335C532.jpeg
63629B92-B199-4C9B-AE53-0198F72B4E03.jpeg
11764C04-78E6-4930-86CC-E153F1B56D72.jpeg
13F7115F-FF1A-405F-A279-A3239864D097.jpeg
 
Last edited:

TrollerDave

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
3,842
Reaction score
8,102
The wood deck market place is pretty small, they are a pain in the ass to take care of, takes an OCD person to own one and have it last and they are expensive to restore if needed. I believe that the way one of these was restored also plays into the equation and I am talking about materials. Polyester resins to Epoxy. The one below was restored in the late 80's early 90's as far as the deck and floors, all done in poly, the newer resto's done in epoxy should last longer and not be as fragile. have not been around them, I believe Andrew (rivergames) did his in epoxy. Agree with the comment above that there is a wide range on price, if Hell froze over and we had to sell my Dad's I would start off in the 50 to 60 range I think and hope no one offered.

I love them as my Dad has had his since 65', its more of a family heirloom than anything, he can't really get in the dam thing any more at 87' and no one else is asking about getting it ready for the River so it sits covered in shipping quilts. View attachment 1012784 View attachment 1012785
Sad it has to sit. It’s a beautiful boat. I love the blue with the wood deck.
 

sintax

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2008
Messages
6,731
Reaction score
11,190
He rigged this one in Parker!! @Clank123 does some beautiful work!!!

You got that right, he’s certainly on my short list of people when I finally get around to getting something laid up.

I’ve been chatting with the younger Rankin about a Canary.

Was thinking about Don or Dave. You bored @Clank123 ??
 

74 spectra20 v-drive

74 spectra20 v-drive
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
2,030
Reaction score
2,844
I cant find the question but I thought someone had asked about who was making the wood deckers... the answer to that was everyone and I mean everyone because that is how this sport really began was by guys building these things in their garages, a lot of boats were sold as kits, fiberglass is a relatively new concept when you go back to the late 40's and early 50's the all wood boats were the industry. I was just up with my Dad this past week for some garage time and he was talking about his Brother deciding between a Cracker Box and an SK (flatbottom) he went with the Cracker that my dad eventually got. The early 50's were awesome for boats as it really exploded. Mandella, Hallett, Sanger were all emerging. I am in no way any kind of expert on this subject , I just love talking to me Dad about it and Man do I miss Ken Meyers of B&K, my Uncle took Kenny for his first boat ride in 48' when he and my Dad were Freshman at Excelsior HS, the rest was history as that man spent his life elbow deep in boats.
 

dryhoze1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Messages
777
Reaction score
1,583
I cant find the question but I thought someone had asked about who was making the wood deckers... the answer to that was everyone and I mean everyone because that is how this sport really began was by guys building these things in their garages, a lot of boats were sold as kits, fiberglass is a relatively new concept when you go back to the late 40's and early 50's the all wood boats were the industry. I was just up with my Dad this past week for some garage time and he was talking about his Brother deciding between a Cracker Box and an SK (flatbottom) he went with the Cracker that my dad eventually got. The early 50's were awesome for boats as it really exploded. Mandella, Hallett, Sanger were all emerging. I am in no way any kind of expert on this subject , I just love talking to me Dad about it and Man do I miss Ken Meyers of B&K, my Uncle took Kenny for his first boat ride in 48' when he and my Dad were Freshman at Excelsior HS, the rest was history as that man spent his life elbow deep in boats.


Ken Meyers at B&k was top shelf. I sure do miss him. Without a doubt one of the best guys in the boating industry.

Honest,Loyal & extremely talented.

I miss the days visiting him at his shop in Bellflower.
 

Clank123

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Messages
1,604
Reaction score
11,589
I saw that boat at Dave’s when he was finishing it up. It’s a beaut!!

In my opinion, the Litchfield brothers were second to none in Wooddeck craftsmanship.
The brothers were finish carpenters by trade that started to build boats for fun and it took off from there.
Our second vdrive was their Raceboat they were selling to build a new one…year was 1968. All wood with a wood deck.
I bought a wood deck boat of their’s in the early 2000’s that I drove and skied behind in 1974. It was in need of a new deck.
I took it to Harlan for the work. I had rigged his twin prop Mandella in trade.
I get the boat there and started helping him pull the Mahogany off and about half way through he says he’s never seen anything like this!
I say what?
He says look at the sub deck…the plywood is laid across the deck instead of running length wise (front to back).
I say, makes sense to me it has to be stronger and give more support than running it the same direction as the mahogany!
I ask him if he’d run it the same way. He just said no. I don’t do it that way and I’ve never seen another one like this.
The Litchfield Brothers may just have been some of the finest craftsman to ever build wood boats and decks…when they got slow, they would build solid Oak roll top desks from scratch!
5C4CA168-CB63-4A6D-81E0-9B441D9461CE.jpeg

My friend Dick VanBeenan in his 1968 all wood Litchfield “Cherry Mist”
 

Clank123

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Messages
1,604
Reaction score
11,589
This 1964 Centerdeck Stevens is completely redone and ready for rigging. New floors and stringers are in it as well. Floors are done in the same Mahogany as the deck.
I rebuilt the Rocket 88 olds for it as well. Engine has all Cal Marine running gear and is topped off with six completely rebuilt Strombergs on a log manifold.
I have all of the Vintage rigging out of it as well.
I was really looking forward to making this a one off proper vintage restoration.
Owner has lost interest in the boat and wants to move it. Not sure of price but if seriously interested send me a PM.
6830AFE1-7C09-4662-9379-2EE4F0FA14CC.jpeg
 

farmo83

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
2,395
Reaction score
2,521
The guy 2 doors down at the lake collects wood deck Rayson Crafts, all V drives. One is Maroon out of Tahoe called "Jake." The other he called a "Bat Wing" and is so pretty, real small though I think it's only 16 feet. The third I've only seen once but it was yellow.

Also Alexi at Boostpower's new personal Hot Rod is a Rayon Craft Wood Deck V drive. He called it a "Sunday" mold. He said he had bought the mold for it and Harlan did the deck work. He wouldn't say what was going in it for power but that it would be "special."

1623778005391.png
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20180901_113421722_HDR.jpg
    IMG_20180901_113421722_HDR.jpg
    259 KB · Views: 41
Top