1967 Chris-Craft Constellation Salon

It just caught my eye when I was on eBay this morning. Without a doubt, its one of the biggest boats on Chautauqua Lake.




Just in case you were interested.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Boats___1...p3286.m14.l1318

Nice looking boat. If it's in good shape, I'd think that the price isn't too bad. But the maintennace (let alone the gas) would eat you up.

The gas wouldn't necessarily concern me. It's an 18 mile lake, how far can you go?

Maintenance on the wood is what keeps me away.

That would be a great liveaboard here in San Diego. Not sure I like that forward anchor placement much though.

1 gallon per minute. Holy shista!

Cool looking boat, but as others said - wood hull is what will keep buyers away.

Wood hull in salt water would be especially bad for maintenance.

I've been thinking about this boat all day... Its driving me nuts.

Well, what are you waiting for? Call him up!

That's alot of boat for $18,000. Something tells me that is not the final price.

we're all nuts for being boaters, but an old wood boat seems extra nuts to me, although i think she's got nice lines. if the 18k includes ginger, pepper, and dr. bombay you're gonna need plenty of kitty litter. if not, you're gonna spend money re-doing your transom.

"Every year during winter layup, I have made major renovations to the vessel".

I don't mind doing some work every year---

first summer I replaced the upper deck carpet (and travel re-assembly!)
last summer we had the canopy re-sewn and I replaced a starter motor,
this summer I did the bottom and need to do lower deck outdoor carpet, and hopefully prep for new paint for next year---

But "major renovations" every year, that's gotta get old, and expensive...

Wood boats are surely beautiful things. There are two rather large Chris Crafs in our marina.

One looks like a thing of beauty, and the other looks like it has spent time on the lake bottom.

As others have indicated, there is maybe some maintenance issues. I would suspect though, that if the boat were in good repair, that the maintenance would not be all that bad.

On the other hand, should there be a lot of deferred maintenance, then watch out.

My childhood best buddy's father bought a 30ft wooden Chris Craft in the mid 1970s. I remember the boat quite well. It was an early '50s model. The boat had been out of the water for 7 years, and I remember looking in the bilge when it was in storage, and seeing shards of sunlight peeking between the bottom planks.

But they took two years with the boat next to their garage, and went through every square inch of it - repairing, painting, varnishing, and updating.

When they were done - wow!

On launch day, they had to keep the boat in the sling for two days with all of the bilge pumps running, until those bottom planks swelled shut.

After that, the boat was pretty watertight.

All the boat really took each year after that was a maintenance coat of varnish and paint in certain areas.

Sure is special. I like it too.

I just love those old boats. There's an "identical" boat sitting on blocks at a marina nearby. Deplorable condition. Always makes me sad to see it. Huge boat, especially so, out of the water. Probably never get wet again.

Whenever we drive by it, I wish I were retired, wealthy, and a skilled shipwright. Alas .....