hey does anybody know where to boat plans for a 1955 chris craft 21 foot cobra boat? i am planning on building one in the near futrue.
I don't know where you can get the plans but if you find them and build it be sure to post some OT photos. Frank
Ambitious project.Have you tried any of the wooden boat sites? Maybe there is a Chris Craft owners club.
Don't know about that exact boat, but Glenn-L has a shit load of plans. All sizes and types. My Dad and I are just getting ready to start one. Gonna start with a 10' barrel back, then were going to build my Cracker Box. Look up Glenn-L on the web. Good site with tons of info.
Tinbender, I dig hot rod boats especially the wooden variety. Would you email a pic of that barrel back? Thanks,dusty
Tin Bender, You're going to have a ton of fun. My dad and I restored a 1953 Glen-L 13' foot crackerbox with a nailhead buick in it a few years ago, and it was a blast! We painted it red with Watson style flames . It was a kick in the pants to drive and Hot Wheels/Mattel actually used it as a model for a special set they made with a flamed '59 El Camino and a little cracker like ours. Unfortunately my dad sold it to make way for other projects, but I'll always have a soft spot for crackers. Let me know if you want more info, we are both members of the Crackerbox Racing Club as well. Dan
I have always had a love for those cracker boxes and would love to find one.. My dad had one when I was younger for about a year before getting his flatbottom ski boat... Have thought many of times about buying a 16-19 ft chris craft but with most of the water down here being of the salt type (or brackess) I did not think it would be good for the wood without alot of upkeep.)
The Glen-L Tiny-Mite 13-foot crackerbox sells for about $1000 as a frame kit with plans, bronze fastener kit, and complete fiberglass kit. The plywood planking and hardware should run another $1500. That's not much for a full-all certified water-borne hot rod foundation. It was desgiend for a V8-60, but would run just as fast, probably faster -- and way cheaper -- with a 215-cid aluminum Buick or Pontiac V8.
I live near Lake Ozark Missouri and Cruising around the "Party Cove" in a Mahogony Decked Century with a 390 and exhaust exiting just above the waterline is about like cruising around in a classic 'vette. Century made a lot of Cool Boats and they can be bought fairly cheap. Two of my friends have '69 Century "Resorter's". They have a Fiberglass hull, but the Deck and side rails are all Mahogony. Easy to restore, they just had the hulls Gel-coated, then refinished the Wood, fittings, and Upholstery.
I love those boats, not something that around in these parts much, we saw something similar in a boat shop (painted but still wooden and nice shape) a few years ago when I still had the Marinized gear off the Olds motor thats in my car now..... was very tempting, by the sounds they don't like salt water ?? or is it just more maintinance ? in this neck of the woods a good ol NZ invented jet unit would be good too
This is one of the Centurys I was talking about.He sold it last year for $2200. I didn't have anything to pull it with at the time so I didn't buy it. I regret that decision now.... Best thing about this one is, like I said, its an instantly recognized Classic around my parts. But its also big enough I could get my wife and three kids in it. This one had a 318 in it and ran about 58mph wide open, but the Other friend I mentioned has a 390 in his, plus a different Prop and his will run nearly 70mph. Only bad thing about inboards like these and the others that you are looking at is the fact that you can't steer them in reverse like you can with a sterndrive. Since the rudder is behind the prop on an inboard, it only functions while you are moving forward....
man, the dude i bought my impala off of had a hot rod boat. he raced them, flat bottomed drag style stuff, i guess he still has a world's record in his class, especially since they ended whatever type he did because of so many racers getting killed. he had a boat that did 100 down the river here, got clocked by the stateys to prove it. long story ensued that i won't get into...
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the wood Glen-L cracker with the nailhead my dad and I restored, but he dug up a few pics of the boats we replaced it with. This is our second cracker... its a fiberglass hull from the '70s with an 8,000 rpm 302 that made about 600 horsepower. These boats are direct drive, so you need a motor that can turn high RPMs.
The yellow boat never did very well since we were still learning the sport and it was an old hull. After a while we put a waterpump on it (racers are cooled by forced cooling with a pickup under the boat, less parasitic drag on the motor that way) and turned it into a river runner. The boat my dad bought to replace it is this 1994 Wrap hull, which ended up being a national champion in '96. It went 124mph on radar, and if you've ever ridden in a 15' boat on the ocean you know that's screamin' fast. Unfortunately a few of our friends died racing in '98, so we "retired" and sold the boat.
And this is what it got replaced with. 1966 Sanger 17'10" lightweight hull flatbottom. The engine is a 427 with a '60s era Edelbrock Tarantula intake manifold and a 3-barrel Holley carb. It goes purdy fast...
Hot Rods are Hot Rods, I don't care what you build. If it floats, flys, or roles. You guys ROCK! I dig checking this stuff out. Now I have to go pick up the latest Wooden Boat magazine. Thanks allot! Sandman.
At a wooden boat gathering on Lake Minnetonka, I saw an old Chris with a plaque on the transom that read "If God had meant us to have fiberglass boats, he would have given us fiberglass trees." I liked that.
Scribe, paint that Sanger a different color and you would have a copy of my dad's boat. His was white and yellow with some red and orange (this was mid 70's). His had a 427 with a rare square deck tunnel ram.. It would run over 100 up on the Colorado River.. Used to spend alot of summers in Parker and as a kid, hanging out at the Sundance Bar was always a thrill... Remembered the first time I actually skied from just below the bend at Parker to the Sundance.. I was probably about 8 then.... Went back about 20 yrs later for a truck show and rented a jet ski so I could cruize the river all over again Anyone of you have a pic of a cool looking Day cruizer or a 1/2 half day cruizer (prefer to have a day cruiser for the river and bay conditions). I have been talking to the wife about finding a nice one out west and skipping it out here to play with.. FIgured it would handle the rougher waters here.
Boones- That's awesome man, the picture of me flyin' the flatty was actually taken at Parker right by the dam. I grew up drag racing up and down the Parker Strip and Havasu with my dad, so your story sounds familiar. In fact, the first nekked lady I ever saw was at either the Road Runner or Sundance, I can't remember the bar... only the boobies. I Go Pogo- I just cut and pasted that along to my old man. He's still an active member of the CrackerBox Racing Club, even though he doesn't have a boat anymore. Many of the club members are older gents who used to be involved in the sports heyday, back in the '50s and '60s. The club still puts out a newsletter called the "Cracker Rapper." It's pretty cool. I agree that hot rods are hot rods, no matter what surface they ride on. Unfortunately, its hard to maintain and pay for a rod and a boat at the same time. I guess that's why god invented debt...
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