Wood Dreams

by Jerome Evans

The restorers are the high priests and priestesses of wooden boat culture. Their hands shape the beautiful craft we see parting the wake across The Lake’s mirrored surface—an iconic vision of summer at Tahoe.

Nothing is so "Old Tahoe" as the sight of a wooden runabout skimming over the water, its fine mahogany hull flashing in the sun, cockpits filled with luxuriating people having nothing but glorious fun on The Lake. These handsome "woodies"—be they Chris-Crafts, Gar Woods, Centuries, Hacker Crafts, Rivas or some other make—fit Tahoe perfectly.

The first personal powerboats on The Lake, runabouts were eclipsed by fiberglass powerboats in the 1960s (see "Updating a Classic," page 88), and the major wooden boat makers shut down their production lines. But for many boat owners here at Lake Tahoe, woodies never lost their appeal. In fact, they became objects of great desire and, for some, are still an integral part of the Tahoe experience.

"I've had people call me," says Herb Hall, president of Sierra Boat Company—a renown hub of wooden boat restoration—"and say that they just bought a house up here and their friends told them that now they need to get a wooden boat."

The beauty of these fine boats comes at a price. Because of their age and the nature of the material, wooden boats require an abundance of tender loving care. Due to the time and expertise required, many owners turn to wooden boat restorers—a highly specialized group—to ensure their craft remains or becomes as stunning as it was when it was new.

Tahoe has become one of the centers of wooden boat culture in the world. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that it is also home to world-class restorers like Tony Brown of Western Runabouts and Hall of Sierra Boat and their crews.

"There's appreciation here," says Brown, "and there's patience, even though the season is short. I go all over the country and judge shows, and there's wonderful stuff all over. But there's maybe more here in this small area than anywhere. There are 1,000 wood boats here, according to Carol Van Etten. There are 500 at Sierra Boat alone."

Brown, a soft-spoken, affable fellow in his fifties, was initiated into the world of wooden boats in Minnesota, where he watched his father build them in his spare time. Back in 1972, Brown started a wooden boat show in Minnesota. "That's a big show now," he says. Brown acts as a "technical judge" at that show and other Antique and Classic Boat Society shows around the country, utilizing national standards he himself helped draw up. After earning a degree in business (which "didn't take," he says) Brown found himself at Tahoe, building and restoring fine wooden boats. "I've always done this," he says with a fatefully resigned satisfaction. "It makes me happy."

Brown worked first at Sierra Boat and then, after several years, set up his own shop, Western Runabouts, on the West Shore. He recently helped remodel a large, nondescript building along Highway 89 in Homewood in which he houses his business and a boat storage space. There's no identifying signage on the building, yet his stellar reputation among those in the know keeps him plenty busy.

One day this past spring, his shop floor held a 1940s Chris-Craft that he and his crew had taken down to bare wood, hull and deck. "This came all apart," Brown explains, "and we put it back together. All the planks came off, everything is repaired behind them; all the screws are new. And it has a brand new Corvette motor." Behind the Chris-Craft was a 28-foot Riva. It's an extraordinarily beautiful boat that had recently received its 13th coat of varnish and had 2 more to go.

Boat restoration is a detail-laden, time-intensive process. Behind the work is an enormous amount of passion because, as Brown notes, one of the most difficult parts of the job is having "patience." Some jobs can take over a year to complete. But in almost the same breath he clarifies: "If I was rich and didn't need the money, I'd still do this. When I retire in 10 or 15 years, I still want to keep a hand in it."

Restorers go to great lengths to assure that a boat not only glistens like new, but that it remains as close to its original state as possible. If an original part is broken or lost and can't be found, it is often recreated. "We've made hardware out of wood and then had it cast in metal," says Brown.

Because wood often has to be replaced on these boats, Brown keeps the equivalent of a small lumberyard on hand. Behind his shop, there is a stack of milled mahogany and cedar that he gets "special order" from a Seattle lumber company. He lets it dry for a year or more. There is another stack at his house. And the loft of his building is filled with old wood from boats past. Each piece is meticulously marked so that, when needed, it can be used on another boat of the same model and year that needs repair. "It's important to match the lumber," Brown says, "to take the time and get the piece of wood that fits rather than fight it and make it look right later."

One can find an equally passionate dedication to wooden boats, and even a greater array of exquisite craft under restoration and for sale, at Sierra Boat Company. Located on the North Shore in their Carnelian Bay, they are one of the largest wooden boat restoration facilities in the country, according to Hall; additionally, Sierra Boat is one of the few restorers in the nation to offer both exterior restoration services and full mechanical restoration services under the same roof. The company's 2-story building includes a showroom (usually crammed full), a sales office, an extensive shop area and storage for 500 boats. It is also the site of Tahoe's prestigious wooden boat show, the Concours d'Elegance, which takes place each August.

Sierra Boat Company and the adjacent marina were acquired by Hall's family in 1977 at a time when the other boat dealers around The Lake had given up working on woodies in the face of the overwhelming popularity of fiberglass powerboats. By the mid-1980s, however, the company began to realize that there were still a lot of people at Tahoe who had an appreciation for woodies. Now, he says, his company never lacks work. His crew often performs routine maintenance on the boats during the winter, taking them in for a new coat of varnish every three years or so. They also perform a handful of major restorations each year, with boats taken down to the frames.

In his workshops this past spring was a 1940 Chris-Craft that has been on Tahoe since it was new. "We restored it in the early 1980s," Hall recalls, "and now we're doing another complete restoration. We can do a better job now in part because we can get all the specs from the Maritime Museum in Newport News, Virginia, which maintains the data on early Chris-Crafts down to the size and number of screws in the hull and deck."

Next to the Chris-Craft was a 40-foot craft, a Fay and Bowen, that was stripped down to the mahogany and cedar, top and bottom; the original engine was being restored in the adjacent mechanic's shop. "Fay and Bowen only built two this large, back in 1919," says Hall. "It's one of the longest wooden boats we've worked on. It has a big open cockpit that was once furnished with wicker chairs. We started it in the fall, and we'll have it back on the water this summer."

Also in the workshop was an Italian-made 28-foot Riva: "the most collectable boat in the world," says Hall. Riva wooden boats, prized for their outstanding craftsmanship, have been the playthings of royalty and movie stars who want to cruise along the French and Italian Riviera. Hall is responsible for introducing these fine crafts to The Lake. Now roughly 70 Rivas, about half of all those in the United States, make their wake on Tahoe each summer; Sierra Boat is home to 50 of them. Not surprisingly, Riva Club USA is based on Tahoe's North Shore.

Tahoe's crystalline waters, and the beauty of a sleek, shining hull cutting across its mirrored surface, make this the ideal place for the king of boats—the beautiful woodies—and those who care for them. Both art and recreation, these crafts are an enduring symbol of the carefree spirit of summer on The Lake of the Sky.