After having "Little Old Boat" for almost 10 years, I finally got the chance to haul out and fix her up a bit. Before Chris gave me this boat in 1999, he made me consider it over
a weekend to think about what I was really getting into. I had no idea how much work she would turn out to be.
She was commissioned by an old seagoing dude as a retirement pleasure boat, and laid up in East Hollywood in 1963 by Hank McCune Marine. (Interestingly, Hank McCune was not only a yacht designer, but also the star of his own sitcom, the Hank McCune Show, famous for using the first laugh track in 1959.) My boat's design, the All-American 28, is touted to be the first fin keel with spade rudder on a fiberglass boat used for off-shore racing.
In 1982 she was donated to Ventura County, where she served as a training vessel for sailing students for ten years. She was then auctioned to a man named Ken Robinson in Ventura, who sold it to my brother Chris shortly after. Little Old Bay has been in the San Francisco Bay area ever since.
A few major things had to addressed ...
1 comment:
I would like to know the measurements of this boat.I once owned 2 "Champions" built by Hank in 1961 and 1963. Hull no.51 and 53 respectively.
These were 21'3" over all length and 7'4" beam at shear. I ended up gutting it and putting wheel steering inside. It also had tiller on the transome hung rudder,the spade rudder/tiller inthe floor of cockpit sucked. Please contact me at padedsel@gmail.com. Jim Harris
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