Anybody love Owens boats?
Steve
>
> I've been searching for a liveaboard for Puget Sound and have come
> across some old Owens boats, one in particular I've fallen in love
> with. 32 foot, wood planked, pretty as a young girl on a summer day.
> Will I be sorry later? She's a beauty now, but....?
>
> 73, Bill W7TI
If the boat meets your needs and appeals to you, most CERTAINLY go for
it. Any boat, wood or tupperware, can be in good or poor condition. Like
anything else in life, preventative care solves millions of problems
downstream.
Just met a guy this afternoon living aboard a 41 or 42 foot Owens off
Chesapeake Bay; living on any boat is a passion. Personally, I can't
imagine anything worse than a live-aboard boat made of garish, sensory
depriving monotone white plastic. GO FOR THE OWENS! Personally, however,
I would find 32' short for my comfort level.
Bill Turner, W7TI
Osrick
keeping her beautiful is really up to you! If you are willing to make the
commitment, go for it. A wooden boat WILL cost more to keep up than a 'glas
boat, but if you are living aboard, you'll be there to take care of things. I
think a lot of the trouble people have with their boats goes back to the fact
that the boat only gets used every once in a while.
At my last marina, there were a number of old wooden Owens, still very sound
and giving their owners a very good time. Sorta wish I'd bought that 28' Sea
Skiff, had a new 327 and looked GOOD!
"Too soon old. Too late smart."
Patrick Fischer
an Owens contemporary. I've spent many a fine day cruising in that boat.
Great on flat water, better when it got rough. Then I discovered DRY ROT.
Spent many a fine day..........
..........you get the point.
If you're willing to do the work, the Owens is a good boat.
Patrick
Current Boat: Plastic
Bill Turner, W7TI wrote in message <36af9a45...@eskinews.eskimo.com>...
|I've been searching for a liveaboard for Puget Sound and have come
|across some old Owens boats, one in particular I've fallen in love
|with. 32 foot, wood planked, pretty as a young girl on a summer day.
|Will I be sorry later? She's a beauty now, but....?
|
|73, Bill W7TI
|
Cbdonospam
>I've been searching for a liveaboard for Puget Sound and have come
>across some old Owens boats, one in particular I've fallen in love
>with. 32 foot, wood planked, pretty as a young girl on a summer day.
>Will I be sorry later? She's a beauty now, but....?
What year and model is she? Owens was the line of the most active dealer in
the area when I was growing up (1960's) and my family went through three of
them.
The "Owens Yacht" line was especially well made in the hull--double-diagonal
planking-- but like most boats in the 60's was occasionally prone to
superstructure leaks. The level of fit and finish wasn't quite up to
Chris-Craft's standards, but that hull construction was a strong point for
sheer structural strength compared to Chris' seam-and-batten. Owens were
definitely production boats, made to be good value for a competitive price; but
the 35' Jamaican, about 1963, that we had was as sweet-running a hull as I've
known. If it's well kept up, and you continue the project, you should be
happy. Feel free to Email me if I can supply any further info; delete nospam.
Craig Bethune
Bill Turner, W7TI
______________________________________________
The one I'm in love with was made in '64 and it appears to have the
double-diagonal planking you mentioned. I haven't seen it out of the
water yet, but from the inside I can see the planking is on a 45
degree angle. As you and others mentioned, maintenance will be
higher, but living aboard and retired, time is no problem. 32 feet is
on the smallish side, but good enough for me. Back in the '80s I
lived aboard a 20 foot sailboat I built myself, so 32 feet is like a
king's castle by comparison. At least I'll be able to stand up! And
this one has a shower too, rather unusual in one this size. The
engines are twin 327s, recently rebuilt with 250 hours on them. The
current owner obviously loved her. Everything is as close to flawless
as you will find outside of a brand new one. The asking price is
$28,500 I'm getting seriously tempted.
73, Bill W7TI
Gould 0738
>I've been searching for a liveaboard for Puget Sound and have come
>across some old Owens boats, one in particular I've fallen in love
>with. 32 foot, wood planked, pretty as a young girl on a summer day.
>Will I be sorry later? She's a beauty now, but....?
>
>73, Bill W7TI
The longer it's been since a boat was built, the less the brand name means. It
could be a really swell boat or a beater, but the years of
maintenance or lack of same now have a greater bearing on the vessel's
condition than the standard she was built to.
Put her under covered moorage if you get her.
And as far as sorry later, remember that pretty girl on a summer's day? Were
you? :-)
Good luck.
Lyle
I hope you like to work on them. I would make sure someone inpected
the hull for rot as once this starts it seems to spread. I have since
been told that Chris Craft used a better quality of wood than Owens
but I have never verified this. All of this said I still think a well
maintained wooden boat is the best looking boat on the water.
Lyle
cbdon...@aol.com (Cbdonospam) wrote:
>Bill Turner wrote:
>>I've been searching for a liveaboard for Puget Sound and have come
>>across some old Owens boats, one in particular I've fallen in love
>>with. 32 foot, wood planked, pretty as a young girl on a summer day.
>>Will I be sorry later? She's a beauty now, but....?
>
Cbdonospam
>>>I've been searching for a liveaboard for Puget Sound and have come
>>>across some old Owens boats, one in particular I've fallen in love
>>>with. 32 foot, wood planked, pretty as a young girl on a summer day.
<snip>
>The one I'm in love with was made in '64 and it appears to have the
>double-diagonal planking you mentioned.
I've got a moldy old copy of the 1964 Yachting magazine's Boat Owners Buyers
Guide. Owens made three 32-footers that year. The Sea Skiff is obviously not
your boat; it had plywood lapstrake sides, although the bottom was
double-planked mahogany. The Regina was the largest in the Flagship series,
and it shared the design of the Tortiga which was the second-smallest of the
Yacht series. (I'd like to claim that I can recall what the cosmetic
differences were, but I really can't except to say the Flagship looked like its
smaller sisters and the Yacht like its larger ones). Construction was
double-planked Philippine mahogany. Dimensions were 32'3"x11'x2'3". Standard
(and maximum) power was twin 225 Flagships, which were based on the Chevy 327.
Price for the Regina was $12,250 and the Tortiga was $12,995, before adding the
inevitable options. The hull design Owens touted at the time as FLD
(full-length dihedral), which simply meant that a degree of deadrise was
carried all the way aft; the hulls ran very well. Decks were Siamese teak, by
the way.
The only caution about the double-planked hull is that it's a bit more work
when you have to restore, due to the obvious difference in construction. I
always liked the style of those boats, though; at that time they had gorgeous
teak decks and a great heavy casting for the bow chock. The Owens also were
unusually well muffled for a stock boat of that era, and were quite quiet by
comparison with most others. Enjoy!
Bob Kurtz
old (that's '64) until about 2 years ago. Double-planked mahoghany,
twin Chrysler Crowns (okay, a wee bit underpowered- hard to get on plane
by the end of the season!), and simply a beautiful boat. Gave us plenty
to do all winter long, too!
We added a hardtop and flybridge ourselves many years ago, which made an
enormous improvement to everything except the performance. She always
handled beautifully, and was even passable on one engine.
The boat was tougher than nails- she was in Block Island RI when
Hurricane Bob hit, and was rolling so far that the props were coming out
of the water. A piling chewed through the hull side just below the
gunwale and blew off a couple feet of deck, and most of the windows were
trashed, but she came through tight as a drum.
Well, I don't know that any of this is useful to you, but thanks for the
opportunity to reminisce! ;-)
-Bob
Bill Turner, W7TI wrote:
>
> I've been searching for a liveaboard for Puget Sound and have come
> across some old Owens boats, one in particular I've fallen in love
> with. 32 foot, wood planked, pretty as a young girl on a summer day.
> Will I be sorry later? She's a beauty now, but....?
>
> 73, Bill W7TI
med...@aol.com
BAR
> If anyone is looking for parts for an old Owens cabincruiser, let me know. I'm scrapping and old '63 I believe. Everything is for sale except the deck port hole. The prices will be reasonable. Email me direct at wolft...@aol.com. They won't be around long so don't wait!!
marinas has many Owens resting on the shore, the back lot and a couple of them in the water.
The one thing they all had in common was that they were deteriorating or deteriorated and you
could see the plywood de-laminating. I can't imaging that anything on a 50 year old owens
still exists.