TOPIC: Report on North Coast Ohio ACBS Portage Lakes Show

This annual show was held from 9:00AM-3:000PM this past Saturday, June 28, 2014. It was a judged show, although you could display your boat and not have it judged - captain's option.

It had the best turnout ever - a total of 50 boats on display, with 44 in the water on display, plus the 6 on land. There were another 5 in the "Field of Dreams" that were for sale - the sale area was new this year. So a total of 55 boats at the show, including a very nicely restored 1966 Amphicar.

Of the 50 display boats, 21 were outboards. I was very pleased to see so many outboards - a new record.

Also a another new record - a total of 8 fiberglass boats were on display out of the 50! Good variety.

All the photos below were taken with my iPhone 4S, and then re-sized for uploading to this site. Here they are:

The first was a nice 1972 Sea Ray SRV 190:

Next up was a 1985 Elite Craft Riviera. This is a unique fiberglass boat using a special fiberglass composite made to look like a woody. Very pricey, but the only way to go if you want the wood look in a fiberglass boat. This competed in the new Late Classic (1976-1989) category.

My boat was the third one down the dock - a 1966 MFG Niagara. I was amazed - it won "Best Classic Outboard".

Right next to me was a sweet 1958 MFG Cambridge with a Royal Scott motor:

Next down the dock was a gorgeous 1989 Boston Whaler Mischief - a pretty rare boat with the even rarer all red gelcoat and interior option. Bet a lot of you have never seen an all red Whaler! It won "Best Late Classic Outboard":

Next to the Whaler was a nicely restored 1969 Wooster Hellion - made by a division of Rubbermaid from 1968-1970:

The next boat was a beautiful 1959 Glasspar G3. No show is complete without at least one of these. I thought it would win "Best Classic Outboard" - it came in second:

Last but not least was a 1959 Glasspar Del Mar that had undergone a complete restoration. Always a sweet day cruiser:

There were also some really nice wood Chris Crafts, including a very rare antique 1939 triple-cockpit Chris Craft runabout, a number of wood Centurys, plus several wood Lymans. For more pictures of many of those, see:

www.photosbycommodore-don.com/Other-10/Portage-Lakes-Show-and-Awards/42544083_R5LZnG#!i=3350106405&k=bjCVFcs

All in all, it a was a great show, with good variety, and very well run.

I'll be back next year.

Too cool. I wish there was something like this in Southern California!

congratulations on your win.....ron

Thanks for the pics! Looks like it was a great day and show!

Looks like a great show.jim

Congrats Dave, and thanks for the great show report!

I was trying to get the Groovy Larson ready for that show, but wound up having vehicle problems. Guess I should have payed some attention to the tow unit. Congrats on the win! I was hoping to get to meet some glassics site members. maybe next time. any more Ohio shows this year?

Woodglass, hope you can make it next year. Our local chapter does participate in an August wheels and keels show in Huron, OH and a September wheels and keels show on Lake Milton. I did get a chance to meet talltales from this board.

Thanks to all for the congrats. My goal was not to win anything, but more to just show what a well-preserved regular family-type fiberglass boat from the sixties looks like. MFG sold tons of these (Niagara, Westfield, and Edinboro) around Ohio, PA, NY, and the rest of the northeast US, but so many have been heavily modified or just beaten to death, then left outside to deteriorate in the sun, snow and rain.

The 1965 Edinboro my brother has that was our dad's is pretty beat up now, but is still functional. He even offered it to me for free once, but it just needed too much work to get it where I would like it to be, and what I remember it to be 40 years ago. It's also green rather than blue and I really like the blue deck and interior.

For my Niagara, I just had to fix a few things on the seats (replace cracked hinge and fix a loose wood frame inside the seat - not rotted or anything - and then also remove the rest of the shipping plastic wrap that was still on it from the factory after all these years), then give a whole boat a good scrub, polish, and wax. Not a spider crack anywhere to be found on it.

These things are very sturdy boats if taken care of even just a little bit.

Dave it was a pleasure to meet you and your wife at the show. to bad we didn't meet up earlier so that we could have talked longer.

I thought this century was very nice.

I'm thinking now that that boat was fiberglass and I missed it in my report, or was it wood? Not sure...

But, oh man, that was my favorite and I voted for it for "Best of Show"!

Then again, I tend to be partial to blue boats.

I know these are custom boats etc. But I really dislike the newer motors on the old hulls,its blasphemy IMHO. If your going to all that trouble to restore or show the CLASSIC boat I can't understand for the life of me why anyone throws a modern engine on it and still thinks it is a classic. Yes I know some guys want a more reliable motor for fishing etc.but this does not fall into that catergory.If anything have a age appropiate motor that you can put on it for shows if nothing else.I have see guys modify old shrouds and put them on there new power plants. Which is better than it looking like a 2010 motor on a 1970's hull, but you be cheating. The 1989 Whaler may be rare but it is a 1989,entirely to new for a classic show IMHO along with a newer power plant that sucks the life out of the whole package.The 1969 Wooster Hellion also has a newer engine,too bad it drags the whole look down as well. First impressions are only made once.... thats my rant haha.

I like things best when the old motors are matched with the boat, too. International ACBS judging rules for wood outboards allow a motor +-3years with no penalty, with 4-15 years older or newer a 5 point mandatory deduction, and if a modern motor, then a 15 point mandatory deduction, all of which which I think is reasonable. (My own boat is a 1966, but the dealer must have had a leftover 1963 when he sold the boat, and cut a deal to the buyer at the time.) As far as the boat goes, with the latest category changes, the new ACBS year designations are:

Historic: 1918 and before
Antique: 1919-1942, inclusive
Classic: 1943-1975, inclusive
Late Classic (NEW): 1976-1989, inclusive, with end year rolling from 25 years ago (so in 2015, the cutoff year will be 1990, and so on. Also, this new designation excludes PWCs, pontoons, and inflatables made during these years.)

So, per the new rules, the 1989 squeaked in there. I'm not positive about the motor, but it looks to be about a 1999 or 2000 or so. However, not every chapter follows the International rules exactly, and I suspect the judges might not checked the motor as closely here. Judging is one area I hope to get involved with in the future. In any case, the boat itself met the new rules.

Also, right now, there are no official judging scoresheets and guidelines published from International ACBS for non-wood outboards, yet - they are pending - so things can be a little loose there, and likely vary quite a bit from chapter to chapter and judge to judge. I suspect by next year, things will be a bit more rigorous when the new pending rules for non-wood outboards get finalized and published.

At the end of the day, the most important thing in my book is to see some cool boats and have a little fun. I think the show accomplished that.

The late classics are as modern as the come. I have a 1991 Regal and would never consider putting it in a show when it is legal to enter. Had a 1973 Stamas cruiser,as rare as that Whaler and I would of never entered it in a show.Cut off IMHO should be mid 70's for late classics.After that they are all the same.