Member Boats: 1971-1975

Boats presently or previously owned by members of the Heartland Classics Chapter.

The Antique and Classic Boat Society (ACBS) has designated age classifications which include boats of all hull material and purposes.  Although well known for wooden pleasure craft of the mid 20th century, the members’ appreciation of historic craftsmanship and styling blended with the purposeful utilitarian use of all vessels leads our members to be guardians of all types and ages of watercraft.

For the Good Times

1971 Chris Craft XK-19 “For the Good Times” owned by Mike Langhorne

Edelweiss

1971 Chris Craft 31′ Commander Sedan owned by Steve Murphy and Sunday Carlson.

 My wife and I own and maintain a 1971, 31-foot sedan style Chris Craft Commander. It’s powered by twin 383Q’s (formerly 327Q’s) and has a flybridge. We’ve enjoyed Edelweiss for 9 years on Table Rock Lake in Southern MO.

After months of searching for the “right” boat, we found one in Two Rivers, WI. It was an emotional, online purchase, and with one click, we were the proud owners of a classic Chris Craft! We acquired a slip at Kings River Marina in Shell Knob, MO, and contacted Jim Burt with Great Lakes Marine Transport to deliver it. He picked it up and brought it to one of his facilities for staging in Port Washington, WI, where we saw her for the first time. The boat was then named “Surf Dragon”. We decided to change the name to something more meaningful to us and chose Edelweiss. The Edelweiss flower signifies deep love and devotion. In Alpine lore, a man would collect the flowers from precarious cliffs where they grow to show his beloved bravery and deep love. Edelweiss translated means noble and white, which seemed fitting, and I bought this boat for my wife, Sunday.

The boat had everything we wanted, a toilet and a shower, a fridge, air conditioning, a brand new never installed water heater, and the promise of endless relaxing days on the water. The original owner was a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary on the Great Lakes and had outfitted her with all required first aid, safety, and rescue gear. Grandpa Joe, as we call him, also had furnished the boat with duplicate critical engine parts, an updated electrical system, radio, and GPS. He was a detailed record keeper. Everything we needed to know about the boat engines, or any installed component was in a drawer fully documented.

In 2011, during our first season, we met several people from ACBS at the International boat show held at Big Cedar Lodge in Branson, MO. We joined Heartland Classics shortly after and have enjoyed meeting people from around the country. At the end of last season, we pulled and reinstalled both engines. We couldn’t have done it without help, most notably from our friends, the Caddell’s! We just replaced the A/C and are now in the process of replacing the fridge. Regardless of the project, the boat is a consistent source of inspiration and mechanical education. The time we spend on it allows us the opportunity to reflect on the priorities in our lives and on our relationship with each other. We stay on Edelweiss as often as we can and are looking forward to many seasons to come!

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Rebel

1971 Chris Craft XK-22 “Rebel” owned by Chuck & Grace Ellsworth

Caviar Dreams

1971 Riva Junior 18′ owned by Paul Hastings

1971 Century Coronado

1971 Century 22′ Coronado owned by Paul and Kay Jenkins of Flemington, MO.

1971 Chris Craft Commander

1971 Chris Craft Commander owned by Pat and Melissa Lang of Wichita, Kansas.

Two Questions

1972 Chris Craft 31′ Commander Sedan “Two Questions” owned by David and Lisa White.

Gig

Gig is a 1972 Crosby Boatyard 14.5′ Fast Cat owned by Charles Tantillo of Lenexa, KS.

The Crosby Fast Cat was originally designed in the mid 1850’s and built of wood until the early 1970’s when they began building the hull, centerboard, rudder and decks from (very thick) fiberglass with spars, tiller, cockpit and everything else still being made of high quality Teak, Mahogany and Spruce. Fittings are mostly bronze. Our boat is the 9th boat made of Fiberglass but there were 100’s more made before they began using Fiberglass.

The boats were originally working lobster / crab / oyster boats with tremendous stability and a tendency to sail themselves when the sailors let go of the helm to work their traps / oyster tongs.

In fact the boats were so stable and sea kindly and voluminous and easy to sail that affluent boat owners began commissioning Crosby Boat Yard (in Osterville, MA on Cape Cod) to build them one for use as a tender to larger yachts and a great boat to teach their children how to sail in.

By the 1940’s they were very popular as pleasure boats up and down the east coast including in the Great South Bay of Long Island where my father used to go out as a child in his little row boat to see them sailing by and dream of someday owning one.

Fast forward to the 1980’s when my father tracked one down and purchased it as a tender to his motor yacht down in the Bahamas. He spent many an enjoyable afternoon sailing that little boat around the islands all by himself while my non-sailing mother stayed back on the mother ship and relaxed – happy that he was happy and even happier that she was not sailing it herself!

It was a great source of joy & adventure for him. One time he and his older brother, both accomplished ocean sailors, attempted to sail the “Gig” from Miami across the Gulf Stream to North Bimini in the Bahamas. Of course they ran out of wind, food and most importantly wine about ½ way across and had to call for the motor yacht ( just over the horizon so that they could pretend to be attempting the trip all alone) to come give them a tow the rest of the way.

My dad passed in 1998 and the “Gig” languished away in a storehouse down in Hollywood, FL for years until I told my young son about her one day. He grew up sailing boats large and small and suggested we find a way to bring her back to Kansas and add her to our “fleet” of boats on Lake Perry.  So, I called the guy who had my dad’s motor yacht in charter back in the 80’s and was storing “Gig” and arranged to have him partially restore her.

My son and I drove down, picked her up and towed her down to the Keys to give her a shakedown cruise. After that, we towed her back to Kansas City and began a 3-year restoration. Now we have the joy of sailing her in fresh water each summer where we know she will not suffer the ravages of sun and salt the ocean brings and also that we are carrying on a 3 generation tradition that hopefully, my son’s children will continue. 

Fair Winds and Following Seas.

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It’s Miller Time

It’s Miller Time  is a 1972 Century Resorter 16′ with a Chrysler engine 340hp.  She is owned by Doug & Stacy Heinsohn of Lake Saint Louis, MO.

Here is Doug’s story about It’s Miller Time:
As a child spending weekends at Lake of the Ozarks, I always admired the rumble of the Century Thoroughbreds coming in and out of Links Landing Marina. My two older brothers shared the same love for the inboards as I did. In 1980, they purchased a 1972 Century Resorter 18’ with a sliding soft top right off the floating showroom dock at Links Landing. For the next 25 years, we would spend countless hours cruising, swimming, dining, and skiing in that Resorter. The 18’ Resorter remains in the family garage but has rested for the last few years. 
Fast forward to the fall of 2020. While searching boats for sale on various websites, I stumbled across a very similar boat that was a 16’ Resorter with the same red exterior and white interior. After many photos and conversations to validate the purchase, I decided to make the trip to Crooked Lake in the Angola, IN area to bring her back home to Lake St. Louis, MO. “It’s Miller Time” is named after its previous owner and the decision was made to keep it in honor of the man who took such excellent care of her for so many years. “It’s Miller Time” is a 1972 Century Resorter 16’ and packs the original Chrysler 340 for that Thoroughbred rumble. I’m sure “It’s Miller Time” will provide us with many years of enjoyment as I enjoyed as a child. Only now we will be plying the waters of Lake St. Louis and Lake of the Ozarks.

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Phaeacian

“Phaeacian” is a 1972 Chris Craft 42′ Constellation powered with a Chris Craft 300hp engine.  She is owned by Dan Lorant of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

1972 Chris Craft XK-22

She is powered with a Chevrolet 8 cyl 320hp engine. Owned by Jim and Inna Donovan of Carrollton, TX.

The Chris Craft XK22 was advertised as a rocket ready to take off! Between 1971 and 1976, Chris Craft made only 230 hulls of the XK22 and this is hull #77.
 
Over the 60’s and 70’s, Chris-Craft made the transition from wooden mahogany runabouts to fiberglass runabouts. The fiberglass runabouts were built to last longer and had cheaper maintenance costs. The XK22 is recognized as one of the first fiberglass boats commercialized by Chris Craft.
The XK22 model attracts collectors as it was at the time a symbol of luxury and modernity made for the sophisticated gentlemen. It is a ruggedly built boat and will handle almost any waters you put her in. She is 22.9 feet long and weighs 3300 pounds. The XKs were originally designed by famed offshore racing champion, Jim Wynne. The XK 22 has both a Deep V hull and lifting strakes, which makes this a very stable boat. Jim patented the lifting strake and designed several of the new fiberglass boats for Chris Craft.  Dick Avery designed the interior and the look of the boat. Dick was recruited to Chris Craft in the 60s from Ford in Detroit. He was on the original design team for the Ford Mustang. So the boat has that Muscle Car feel to it and frankly, there is not another one like her on the water.
 
This XK22 is powered by a Chevrolet Corvette 350 engine with 320 hp. The engine has been enhanced with high performance exhaust and ignition system.
 
Ralph Smith from Marysville MI originally purchased this XK-22 and owned it for 43 years. Craig Lindberg from Peachtree Corners GA purchased her in 2015.  Jim and Inna Donovan acquired her in April of 2021.”

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XKape

1972 XK-18 Ski Boat “XKape” owned by Steve Spinharney

​1972 Speedo

Speedo is 8 feet long, built with ¼” ply over Sitka spruce framing. She is owned by Sean and Natalie Michael of Eaureka Springs, AR.

 

SPEEDO-Designed for the kids

By Sean Michael

Our bachelor Uncle Johnny learned cabinet making and boat building from his immigrant Swedish uncle -skills he was pleased to pass on to his niece and nephews.  Uncle Johnny became accomplished in the design, repair and building of wooden boats.  Living in Minnesota he did his building when the water became too hard to float boats.  He initially built traditionally planked fishing, runabout, and cruisers, later moving into plywood over frame, even in his later years allowing for fiberglass to cover his wood.

Johnny designed Speedo in 1958.  With our assistance, he built a total of twelve, 3 of which we kept for the family.  The last Speedo was built in 1972 -the one I keep for our kids.  Speedo is 8 feet long, built with ¼” ply over sitka spruce framing. Speedos have a pram bow with classic hard chine lines.  She carries up to 20 hp motors. The first Speedo was powered by an old green 54 Johnson.  As a lark, we fitted a Speedo with removeable side boards, a rudder and sail.  She actually sailed well.  Back when I was 14 and 50 pounds lighter we fitted a Speedo with a 1952 KG-7Q Mercury and saw 37-38 mph.  We know this to be an accurate speed as the local Washington County Sherriff’s boat would chase us at its top speed of 35 mph and we walked away from the deputy every time (all done in fun).

Uncle Johnny was the consummate teacher, showing patience and tolerance while passing on the skills of boating safety, handling, repair, and renovation. We practically grew up at Johnny’s cabin in Forest Lake, MN where he taught us to ski behind a converted fishing boat that he built up to become a great little ski-boat, powered by an old reliable 57 maroon and white Johnson.  Over the years we brought home project boats including cedar planked c-scows, x-boats and built from scratch a b-class catamaran and snipe.  No matter how large the fleet became, the little Speedo was the favorite for pure fun. Over the years we have had far more boats than money.  Brother Brian had a successful yacht brokerage on the St.Croix River in Stillwater Minnesota.  He personally owned several classic cruisers, trawlers, and even a teak 38 ft junk.  I’ve owned several sail and power boats, topped off by a 1960 30 ft Chris Craft Cavelier, a 42 ft Tayana for blue water sailing, a Mainship 390 in which we completed the great loop.  We have never parted with the fond memories and love for Uncle Johnny and our fun little Speedo.

 

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1973 Century

1973 Century Resorter owned by Warren & Rhonda Neighbour of Camdenton, MO.

Caliente

Calienté is a 1973 Chris Craft XK22, 22’7″ long powered with a 496 Chevy engine with 575hp.  She is owned by Kevin Hogan.

Rumble

1974 Chris Craft XK-19 “Rumble” owned by Susan Miller

Eclectic Waves

1974 Century 21’ Coronado
Chrysler Marine 440 ~350hp
Brian and Karla Ruth

Summer Blue

Summer Blue  is a 1974 Chris Craft 22′ Tournament Fisherman with a small block 200 hp engine.  She is owned by Dale and Janet Roth.

Only Bid

1974 Crestliner 19′ Cuddy Cruiser owned by George and Stacy Reaves

1974 Cobalt CD19

This 1974 Cobalt CD19 is 19′ long, powered with a 350 Mercury with 260hp.  She is owned by Chuck Gibbs.

1974 Glastron

1974 Glastron V-182 is owned by Walt Moser.  

1975 Glastron CV 16S/S

1975 Glastron CV 16S/S with Mercury Outboard owned by Logan Fure