Boatnerd Discussion Forum

ed wrote:Didn't Chris Craft also make the Romer ( steel hull ) line of boats in Holland Mi. I think they also made the Sea skiff line. When V-8 engines were used for marine use I believe they used the Chevy 283 and the Lincoln 430.

I think the Gar Wood building ( just next to the main plant ) had a collection of WW II Alison airplane engines stored in wooden crates back around the 1950's. These engines were outside their main building and were being rebuilt for racing. 'O' those were the days !

Yes, chris craft did build the romer boats in holland.

Anything you want to know about Chris-Craft can probably be found here:
http://www.marinersmuseum.org/library/chris-craft

Larry64 wrote: I know right were you lived. Right by the Lions pool and field. If your grandfather retired he might have gotten a Rolex with the Chris-Craft logo on the face, his name and employment dates on the back. I have my grandfathers, in the box with the paperwork from the jeweler in Pompano Beach.

I don't recall hearing about my grandfather ever getting a rolex, but my cousin was very interested in collecting items related to my family's association with Gar Wood and Chris Craft so he most likely has possession of such an item if it exists. As he was so interested in this subject, and I was more inclined towards freighters, I passed nearly all of the collectables I inherited to my cousin. The family did have quite a bit of memorabilia from Chris Craft / Gar Wood. Among which included some original blueprints (some of designs which were never built I believe) and wooden engineering models.

Didn't Chris Craft also make the Romer ( steel hull ) line of boats in Holland Mi. I think they also made the Sea skiff line. When V-8 engines were used for marine use I believe they used the Chevy 283 and the Lincoln 430.

I think the Gar Wood building ( just next to the main plant ) had a collection of WW II Alison airplane engines stored in wooden crates back around the 1950's. These engines were outside their main building and were being rebuilt for racing. 'O' those were the days !

My chris craft was made in Holland, Mi along. Her engines were made in Michigan too. What a difference 20 years make. Now you got to go to Florida and the service is so so

Ok, found my stuff. The last boat was shipped from Algonac March 25, 1972. It was a 46ft Aqua-Home hull #2173.

Yes they did just pave over the tracks on Michigan St. My Grandfather lived on Michigan St right down town, about were the condos by the fire station now. You could see them under the pavement when the did water main work. The house was torn down in urban renewl in 1974 and the moved onto Stone Rd.

I know right were you lived. Right by the Lions pool and field. If your grandfather retired he might have gotten a Rolex with the Chris-Craft logo on the face, his name and employment dates on the back. I have my grandfathers, in the box with the paperwork from the jeweler in Pompano Beach.

My Grandfather retired from Chris-Craft in the early 1970s. Most likely when the plant closed. His name was William Lisee. He died in 1973, a few years following his retirement. I'm not exactly sure what his role was at Chris-Craft. I do know, however, that he was a very skilled woodworker. He built a bookshelf for me when I was a few years. This would have been shortly before his death. In the nearly 45 years that have passed, this piece of furniture has moved with me all over the United States and Europe and still looks good as new with no weakening.

My great grandfather Napoleon "Nap" Lisee had a hand in designing many of the racing boats used by Gar Wood during the 1920 and 1930s. I have a pocket watch given him by Gar Wood engraved with a message of gratitude for his work to win the 1932 Harnsworth Trophy. I am sort of vague on my family's history, but I believe that he also had a hand in designing several pleasure boat designs during his career.

Guest wrote:The line went down Michigan St and today the bike path that starts at the end of the street and goes through the state park on it.

While growing up during the early to mid 1980s, I lived for a number of years in Algonac at the intersection of Mill and Michigan streets. They must have just laid the road directly over the tracks as I remember seeing portions of the rails where the road had broken away.

There were a few small foundries in Algonac. Algonac Cast Products on Stone Rd is still in business. The pant had small engines used to take boats by rail to Marine City. The line went down Michigan St and today the bike path that starts at the end of the street and goes through the state park on it. As for the house, it was one of the Smith families homes in north Algonac. It has a lot of mahogany including the stairs.

http://www.abandonedrails.com/Algonac_Transit_Authority

Didn't they have a foundry directly across from the plant that produced their hardware ? I also believe that they had two train engines which moved finished boats by rail. Another tail is that they let the workers take home scrap pieces of lumber and that many homes in that area had quite elaborate staircases made from that wood. I've heard that they made two outboards which were almost exact copies of engines made by Mercury. 'O' those were the days !

.[/quote]
Some sources state it was '72[/quote]

Maybe. I'm at work and can't double check until tomorrow. I have a pic of the houseboat. I know for sure his retirement was '71. It's on his watch.

Larry64 wrote:I can look it up when I get home from work tomorrow. The headquarters moved out of Algonac to Pompano Beach Fl in 1960. I think the last Algonac boat was a house boat in 1971. My grandfather retired as the shipping foreman that year, but stayed working there for the City of Algonac. They took over the property and ran it as a marina until the land was sold and the big marina was put in.

Some sources state it was '72

I can look it up when I get home from work tomorrow. The headquarters moved out of Algonac to Pompano Beach Fl in 1960. I think the last Algonac boat was a house boat in 1971. My grandfather retired as the shipping foreman that year, but stayed working there for the City of Algonac. They took over the property and ran it as a marina until the land was sold and the big marina was put in.

Chris-Craft Industries[edit]
Chris-Craft Boats was an independent company until it was acquired by Shields & Company's NAFI Corporation in 1960 and merged with NAFI. They renamed the merged company Chris-Craft Industries, Incorporated in 1962.[1] In 1962, the company acquired the Old Crown Brewing Corporation, a brewery company based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Old Crown was sold to its employees a short time later.[4]
In 1964, Chris-Craft launched the all-fiberglass Chris-Craft Commander. This dramatic new design was unveiled at the New York City National Boat show, perched at the top of an escalator on a giant, castered cradle. This first Commander was a 38' express hardtop with a 13' beam. The line of Commanders soon grew to include sizes ranging from 19' to 60'—all "styled in fiberglass."
In 1968, Baldwin-Montrose Chemical Co., Inc. took a controlling interest in Chris-Craft and installed its chairman, Herbert J. Siegel, as Chris-Craft's chairman.[5]
Chris-Craft Industries formed BHC, Inc. to hold its two existing television stations, KCOP in Los Angeles and KPTV in Portland, Oregon, both placed within BHC's Chris-Craft Television, Inc. subsidiary. That same year, Chris-Craft purchased a share of 20th Century Fox. In 1981, the 20th Century Fox share, then at 20 percent, was traded for 19 percent of United Television.[5]
Between the 1960s and 1980s, Chris-Craft lost market share as competitors with more innovative designs and less expensive manufacturing techniques such as fiberglass hulls came on the scene. Chris-Craft ended production of its last mahogany-hulled boat, the Constellation, in 1971.
Chris-Craft Industries sold its boat division to Murray Industries in 1981. Chris-Craft Industries retained the Chris-Craft trademark and licensed it to Murray.[6] Outboard Marine Corporation acquired the company in 1989. OMC went into bankruptcy in 2000 and was purchased by Genmar. Genmar sold the Chris-Craft division to Stellican, Ltd., then Stellican purchased the Chris-Craft trademark from News Corporation thus reuniting the two parts of the company.[7]
Chris-Craft Industries was acquired by News Corporation in 2000 for its television subsidiaries.[8]

looking for the date the Algonac plant closed for good.
to my knowledge, this was the last major builder in the Detroit area.