Vintage Beauty: 1929 Chris Craft Headlines SML Antique Boat Show

A meticulously-restored 1929 26-foot Chris Craft Triple Cockpit runabout will grace the waters of Smith Mountain Lake on Sept. 14 at the 32nd Annual Antique and Classic Boat Show, a free in-water and on-land display of more than 50 restored wooden, fiberglass and aluminum vessels from recreational boating’s days of old.  

The headliner for this year’s show, which will take place at Goodhue Boat Company – Blackwater, is Mark and Jennifer Thompson’s “Pink Lady,” an incredible testament to the art of giving new life to a severely neglected wooden power boat. She emerges this year after a total top-to-bottom, stem-to-stern restoration that began 35 years ago.  

Mark Thompson’s dream of navigating the waters in a classic mahogany runabout took hold in the 1980s after he watched the iconic lake-life film “On Golden Pond.” The desire only intensified after enjoying the thrill of wooden boating in a friend’s 1965 Chris Craft Super Sport.

A wood guy by trade (he ran the custom millwork side of a Greensboro building supply firm he co-owned with his brother, Jeff, before retiring to SML in 2016), Thompson’s career was spent designing and manufacturing decorative architectural features for commercial spaces and high-end private homes. Plus, he was in a position to acquire–and store in a barn/workshop he built on the couple’s Greensboro-area farm–offcuts of fine lumber that he felt might come in handy for boatbuilding someday. 

And indeed they have. Over the years, Thompson has acquired and reconditioned three antique boats, including a Chris Craft Riviera, which won him Craftsmanship Award recognition at a 1986 Florida boat show. But he became infatuated with the idea of owning “The Big Boat”–Chris Craft’s runabout flagship, the 26-foot, 11-passenger “Triple.” 

Thompson finally found one offered “in restorable condition” at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, in 1989. Off he went with a friend and then 8-year-old son, Matt, to trailer it back to his Greensboro workshop. Blanketed with an obscuring layer of fresh New Hampshire snow, it was impossible to determine exactly what he was dragging home. 

But it didn’t take long to realize the bottom and topsides had been fiberglassed–not a good thing in antique wooden boat circles. Mark built a cradle above the boat and rigged a strap-and-pulley system that enabled flipping it for access to the bottom. Peeling back the poorly-adhered fiberglass uncovered planking, ribs, stem, keel and stringers that were oil-soaked, rotten and mostly bonfire fodder. 

Thompson discovered this would be a “pattern boat” restoration wherein one decayed and discolored piece after another would be painstakingly removed to serve as templates for fresh-wood duplicates. Only the two one-piece curved chines, each 27-feet long, were salvageable for reuse in the restoration. Every other piece of wood had to be completely recrafted.

Even after the boat had been moved to SML, Thompson managed to spend only an occasional few weekend-visit hours on the project. 

“It wasn’t until the pandemic took hold in 2020 that I began spending enough time in the shop–seven or more hours per day–to feel completion might be possible,” he said.

More long hours were spent online to chase down missing parts–rub rails, original instrument panel, ignition switch, the rare accessory canvas top among them. 

“I would lay awake at night figuring out how to make the next piece of the puzzle come together,” Thompson said, noting that more searches turned up photos that revealed small but important original details he could replicate. 

“Many of the experienced people who guided me were 80 and 90 years old,” Thompson said. “When they are gone, a wealth of knowledge about these old classics will disappear forever, making such a restoration all but impossible for those who may come after.” 

Thompson used a total of 23 gallons of epoxy to coat and bond together the myriad frames, strakes, stringers, Okume marine plywood inner hull and mahogany planking into a water-tight, vibration-resistant vessel. Every piece was hand-planed and dry-fitted before being wedged and screwed into place as the epoxy cured. Screws were later removed, their holes filled with mahogany plugs that match the external planking of hull sides and decks.  

Midway through COVID, “Pink Lady” was ready for engine installation, a job Thompson left to an Alabama-based professional. A suitable power plant, formerly used in fellow SML Antique Boat Club member Mike Mutchler’s award-winning “Flapper,” became available when Mutchler found an original “flat-head six” engine for his vessel. His re-powering for authenticity made the surplus “big block” V-8 available for re-use in “Pink Lady.” 

“Getting the boat out of the workshop, up alongside the house and onto a trailer for transport to Alabama was a test of our plan for moving the finished boat to a launching ramp,” Thompson said. 

“Pink Lady” will eventually be berthed at the Thompsons’ ample Roanoke River dock, alongside the professionally restored 1929 Hacker Craft Triple, “Lootas,” which was the featured boat and “Best of Show” winner at the 2022 SML Antique Boat Show. 

Today’s “Pink Lady,” likely originally named for a popular cocktail of its time and reflecting an earlier owner’s unusual choice of hull-side paint color, features a mirror-like stained mahogany finish: 20 hand-sanded coats of marine varnish defy the viewer to find wood joinery lines. New upholstery is by Elite Customs of Rocky Mount. Among other remarkable details are a full complement of original hardware, installed using authentic slot-head stainless steel screws that had to be individually polished for a matching chrome-like shine. 

“Some people play golf; I just like fiddling around on old boats,” Thompson explained matter-of-factly. 

“This is your chance to stroll the docks, marvel at the craftsmanship involved in giving these boats new lives, and chat with owners and other knowledgeable members of SML’s chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society,” said Alan Frederick, coordinator of this year’s show. 

The event is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parking and admission are free, with food and beverages available for purchase. Proceeds benefit area charities, which to date have received more than $100,000 from past shows.