April 23-24, 2016 – Lakewood Yacht Club Seabrook, Texas
By Tom Oncken
There was something noticeably different this year at the annual antique and classic boat and car show held southeast of metropolitan Houston, Texas. Several members of the Texas Chapter provided an impressive exhibit of free-standing antique and classic outboard motors at the Keels and Wheels show. This marks the first time in over 18 years that outboard motors were individually displayed at this national show.
Di Johnson, immediate Past Vice President of the Texas Chapter, noticed a pattern during the annual Houston International Boat, Sport and Travel Show held in early January of this year. Visitors to our exhibit actually spent more time talking about the old outboards on display as they did talking about the beautiful boats in the exhibit. It appeared that almost everyone had a story about an outboard motor in their past. Accordingly, Di in his capacity as a director of the Southwest Chapter of ACBS decided to present a recommendation to the Lakewood Yacht Club Board of Directors to invite members of the Texas Chapter to establish a display of free-standing outboards at this year’s Keels and Wheels show. Di stressed the popularity of the outboards at NRG Center earlier in the year, and as a result, his efforts netted us a location for outboards next to the “Kids Build A Boat” exhibit and the Antique & Classic Boat Society hospitality tent. Thanks for making our return to the show so successful, Di! It has been way over due.
Although smaller than some AOMCI displays shown across the country, 30 motors were displayed in the newly added outboard exhibit at Keels and Wheels. Jerry Ball of Pasadena, TX displayed three restored motors including a 1935 Minn-Kota trolling motor, 1958 Evinrude Ducktwin 3hp, and 1958 Johnson 18hp. Mark Betner from Montgomery, TX displayed four of his 1957 line of OMC outboards including an Evinrude Fastwin 18hp, Johnson JW-13 3hp, Johnson CD-14 5.5hp, and a Johnson Golden Javelin RJE-19 35hp. Di Johnson of Kingwood, TX brought his childhood motors consisting of a 1949 Johnson TD-20 5hp, 1952 Elgin 2hp, and 1952 Mercury KG-4 Rocket 7.5hp. The largest group of outboards was presented by Tom Oncken of Pasadena, TX including his 1925 Johnson A-25 2hp, 1928 Johnson K-40 7.15hp, 1931 Indian Silver Arrow 10hp, 1937 Scout .9hp, 1938 Clarke Troller 1.3hp, 1938 Kissel-built “Mae West” Waterwitch 2.5hp, 1939 Evinrude Mate .5hp, 1940 Evinrude Sportwin 3.3hp, 1946 Sea King Midget 1.0hp, 1947 Mercury KE-3 Comet 3.6hp, 1949 Martin “20” 2.33hp, and a NOS 1976 Mercury Merc 25ss race engine. John Platou of Crosby, TX displayed his complete line of 1960 Evinrude outboards including the Ducktwin 3hp, Lightwin 3hp, Fisherman 5.5hp, Sportwin 10hp, Fastwin 18hp, Big Twin 40hp, Lark 40hp, and an incredibly heavy Starflite 75hp. All of these motors were mounted on individual stands, some homemade and others vintage originals.
Our involvement in the 21st Keels and Wheels did not stop with our new 30 motor exhibit. Two very special Texas Chapter members spent two days working with children at the show. A creation of John Platou and Alan Bischof, the “Kids Build A Boat” exhibit has been a successful entry at Houston area boat shows beginning with the 2007 Keels and Wheels show. Basically, John and Alan manufacture a small pram boat and then disassemble it for purposes of the exhibit. As children pass by the exhibit, John and Alan invite them to come in and participate. John and Alan are very persuasive and before long, a sizeable group of kids get involved as kids see other kids enjoying themselves. The children are shown how to operate a drill with an offset bit and a screwdriver attachment and are assisted in installing several screws into the hull as they begin putting the boat together. Once each child has finished working on the pram, he/she is given a raffle ticket for a subsequent drawing to be held at the end of the show. The child with the winning ticket becomes the new owner of the boat that they helped build during the show.
More recently, John and Alan have added two new events to their exhibit. “Kids Paint A Boat” premiered at NRG Center in January of this year and is an activity that begins with a completed pram that has been painted with white enamel and the bottom side has been marked off in grids of 3 by 4 inch irregularly shaped squares using a permanent marker. The pram is then placed upside down on the floor of the exhibit and children are invited to paint the preoutlined sections on the bottom of the boat with different colors of a water-based kindergarten paint. Usually, there are six colors and each child is asked to pick two of their favorite colors to apply to the boat. There is also a space where the young artists are allowed to sign their name if so desired. This activity really comes in handy when a sister or a brother is working on the other pram.
One additional event which is becoming increasingly popular, “Kids Build An Engine”, was created in January 2015 to test the mechanical skills of any child wanting to take a hand at turning a wrench or a screwdriver. A 1955 Evinrude 5.5hp outboard is dismantled and reassembled several times per day during the tenure of the show. Similar to “Kids Paint A Boat”, the outboard is more for entertainment as it is not given away at the completion of the show. I recall one young pre-teen girl spending three hours at the “Kids Build An Engine” area. Her father commented that he had just done a four wheel brake job on his car and his daughter showed absolutely no interest at all. He was so amazed at her interest in dismantling and rebuilding an old outboard, that he has us looking for a small outboard so he can buy it for his daughter. As you can see, John and Alan are doing their part to educate and recruit younger members into AOMCI.
After witnessing the time and effort that John and Alan put into the events at this exhibit, all I can say is that these two gentlemen are incredible! They not only donate several days of their time, they openly invite any child (with their parent’s permission of course) to participate in one or more of the events in their exhibit. These fellows spend a great deal of their personal time and money getting ready for each show, and then cleaning up and storing items afterwards. They even arrange for delivery of the raffled pram to its new owner. If you ever have an opportunity to visit John and Alan’s exhibit, stay a while and offer to help. They like to maintain a crew of approximately 6 individuals and you will not regret assisting. I have never seen any child leave their exhibit without a big smile on his/her face.
Some of our other Texas Chapter members participated in the 21st Keels and Wheels by displaying their boats at the show. Robert Black of Houston, TX displayed his 2005 Aristocraft Torpedo 14’ runabout powered by a 1957 Johnson Golden Javelin 35hp, Di Johnson of Kingwood, TX presented his 1957 Feather Craft Vagabond II powered by 1958 Mercury Mark 58E, Paul Johnson of Orange, TX brought his 1941 Skaneateles 8’ Hydro-Lite cedar strip dinghy with its 1939 Johnson LT-39 Light Twin 5hp, Bob Macaluso of Kingwood, TX entered his 1957 Crosby Capri 16’ with its 1963 Evinrude Lark 40hp, and Walt Thompson of Volente, TX displayed his 1953 Chris-Craft 19’ Racing Runabout powered by its 158hp “MBL” inboard engine.
Thursday and Friday were the official move-in dates where all exhibitors scrambled and fought amazing traffic to get their boats, automobiles, and all other display items into place before the show opened on Saturday morning at 10:00am. We began moving in our outboard display on Friday in the middle of the day. Getting our vehicles into the yacht club reminded me a lot of Houston traffic on the freeways during rush hour. It took a while, but we finally managed to get in and setup in plenty of time to be ready for the Saturday show.
Despite historical heavy rains and flooding earlier in the week, the weather at the show was surprisingly very cooperative. Friday move-in occurred with blue skies and quite a few puffy white clouds floating overhead. Saturday was absolutely clear and actually got very hot during the day around our exhibits. Thankfully, the Antique and Classic Boat Society hospitality tent adopted us for the days we were there. They provided food and drinks throughout the event and made us feel right at home. I offer our sincere thanks to the Southwest Chapter for their generosity. Sunday became overcast with darker clouds threatening most of the day, but rain held off until well after the event had closed down. I do not know about our other members; however, Jerry Ball and I got drenched when we got home as we worked feverishly to move my outboard stands from the back of his pickup truck and stack them into my garage. As you may have guessed, the rain quit shortly after we locked up and went inside.
Judging for the “Keels” was performed on Saturday morning while judging for the “Wheels” occurred on Sunday. Awards for the boats were handed out beginning at 3:00pm on Saturday. Di Johnson and I decided to attend the awards ceremony and see if any of our members received awards for the boats they displayed. Bob Macaluso won a Best of Class for “Classic Outboard 16’ and Over” with his Crosby Capri. Walt Thompson won a Silver Award in the “Marque-Racer Pre War” division with his Chris-Craft Racing Runabout named “Ghost”.
Then unexpectedly after most of the awards had been handed out, Paul Merryman, who served as the announcer at the awards ceremony, began talking about the beautiful display of free-standing outboards located next to “Kids Build A Boat” exhibit. He complemented the efforts to bring so many unusual outboards to the show and said that they had been a real nice addition to Keels and Wheels this year. Then he asked, “Is Tom Oncken here in the gallery?” After acknowledging that I was indeed there standing only a few feet behind him, Paul called me up and I was presented with a Corinthian Award for the Texas Chapter for its fine exhibit of antique and classic outboards. Needless to say, the award was totally unexpected and very much appreciated. I suspect that this means we will be invited to do another display at the 22nd annual Keels and Wheels.
I would like to acknowledge several boats of close friends who had participated in our joint ACBS and AOMCI exhibit in the Houston International Boat, Sport and Travel Show who also won awards in the 2016 Keels and Wheels show. Ray Balsam of Houston, TX won a Silver Award for “Classic Outboard 16’ and Over” with his molded mahogany 1964 Helton Runabout named “Memories of Class of 64” powered by its original 1964 Johnson Super Sea Horse 75hp. Knut Bulow of Katy, TX won a Best of Class in the “Contemporary Sail” division with his hand-built 2011 Caledonia Yawl aptly named “The Y’all Yawl” (No place but Texas!). Knut constructed a special opening in the back interior of his sailboat where he mounted some alternate propulsion, a 1954 Evinrude Lightwin 3hp long-shaft outboard. Nice touch, Knut! Bob Germany of Houston, TX won a Silver Award in “Classic Utility – Other” with his 1956 Higgins Speedster named “Fiddlesticks”. Bob also won another Silver Award in the “Classic Runabout” division with his 1948 Higgins Deluxe Runabout named “Freedom”. Both of these boats were individually displayed in consecutive January shows at NRG Center. I guess this confirms that we show award-winning boats in our January exhibits.
Last, but never least, I would like to congratulate Dodie Miller of Seabrook, TX for his Best of Class in the “Classic Racer” division with his 1955 Willis Comet Class C Racing Runabout powered by a mean looking Hubbell modified Evinrude Speeditwin 22hp race engine. This boat was purchased recently from AOMCI member, Albert Snell of Jasper, TX. Albert and his twin brother, John Snell, have both been long-time members of our Texas Chapter. Since they feel that this boat is worthy of some special attention, I am going to pay tribute to it with a fully researched article in a future issue of The Antique Outboarder. Please be sure to watch for it.
In closing, I wish to offer congratulations to all those Texas Chapter members who won awards at the latest edition of Keels and Wheels. I further wish to thank all of those individuals from the Texas Chapter and the Southwest Chapter of ACBS who contributed to the success of our exhibits this year and the Keels and Wheels show as a whole. We could not have done it without your participation. I hope to see “y’all” there again next year!
Please click on this link to see all of the photos our members submitted from this past event: http://www.texaschapteraomci.com/gallery/21st-annual-keels-and-wheels-concours-delegance/