CLASSIC CHRIS CRAFT 17 FOOT "UTILITY" DIMENSIONS: 20 3/4" L x  7" H x 7 1/2" W WEIGHT 4 1/2 lb PRICE $198.95 SHIPPING AND HANDLING TO 48 STATES $10.00     PRESENTED is a NEW INTRODUCTION to our motorboat line. An oversize model of a 1935-1949 Chris Craft 17 foot Utility. The model is built from the original builder's plans using the much desired plank on bulkhead method one plank at a time, and then finished in bright varnish over her hull and deck with maroon bottom paint, just like the original. The deck is detailed in hand laid planking with alternating colored hardwoods to look like teak and holly. The seats are covered in real leatherette. All the deck fittings are custom cast in metal, not plastic, and exactly duplicate what was used on the real boats of that era. Special pains were taken with the windshield bracket at considerable expense.    DIMENSIONS: 20 3/4" L x 7 1/2" W x 7" H                     WEIGHT: 4 1/2 Lbs

The model features a beautifully shaped hull with plumb bow, glistening decks, plush upholstery and  spade rudder. Her bottom glistens with a white boot top, and maroon bottom paint. Everything about this model is exceptional. This is a near museum quality model, at an unrealistically low price. If you've been browsing on the internet, you will be hard pressed to find something that represents boats that are North American in design, and are executed as finely overall. You can spend a lot more money for so called "museum quality" detailing, but you can get the same satisfaction from our line of moderately priced, high quality models.

Aft Cockpit Detail

Front cockpit

In addition to the Chris Craft Utility & Barrel Back in motor vessels, we offer the Garwood Speedster,a classic 1920 motor yacht, a 1926 raised deck cabin cruiser, the Dreamboat, and a NEW New England Lobster Boat. In sailboats we have the Crosby cat, the Marshall 18, and Beetle cats, two different sizes of the Schooner Bluenose, the NEW Gertrude L. Thebaud, a Friendship sloop, Schooners Adventuress, America, Amistad in two sizes, the much admired Herreshoff's 12.5  "S" boats, and New York 30, the Schooner Adventuress, J Class Rainbow, Endeavour, Enterprise, Shamrock, each as full models or half hulls, and  also the three masted lumber Schooner WAWONA and Sparkman & Stephen's ocean racer Dorade, yawl Odyssey, and Concordia yawl.  Please tell us what other boats you'd like to see at auction.

HISTORY: The legend of Chris-Craft began in 1884, when Christopher Columbus Smith began the Smith Boat House on the St Clair River in Algonac, Michigan, to manufacture small duck boats and power launches. Later, the company was extended to Chris Smith and Sons Boat Co. Many of his larger runabouts were used as taxis; transporting guests on the river front to resorts, or to various sightseeing attractions. In the twenty's, mostly runabouts were produced, but with the introduction of his speed boats, Chris Smith's fame took off.

Chris-Craft was the largest producer of mahogany boats in the country. In one year alone, one million feet of mahogany was delivered. Truck load after truck of Philippine Mahogany would arrive at the factory daily. No wood was ever wasted either. First, the lumber was air dried; then various hull parts were laid out using templates and patterns, were cut into plugs to be cemented into the counter sunk holes of the screws. All scraps were burned in the furnace for fuel.   The decade of the thirties showed a tremendous growth in the company despites the market crash of 1929. However, in 1939, Chris Smith succumbed to an illness which had begun to affect him years before. The death of Chris Smith did not deter the growth of the company. During the Forties, especially the war years of '42 to '45, Chris Craft produced over 12,000 LCPR (Landing Craft Personnel Raft) for the Army. 98 other pleasure craft were also produced. During this time, the "Utility" style was introduced in 1932 and was priced as low as $405.00. The post-war economic boom at Chris-Craft was felt in increasing sales and the new product lines.

Even with a management change that took place in the early eighties, Chris-Craft bounced back with sleeker designs and a greater market share. Chris Smith would have been proud.

International buyers welcome, but inquire first.  We have satisfied customers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Chile, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Nova Scotia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, USVI and the Eastern Caribbean.