Category: Chris Craft 17 ft. Runabout

 

95 Hp “K” engine

One of the first major things to come out of the boat was the engine.  It’s a 95 horsepower Chris Craft “K” engine, weighing in at 660 lbs.  The block is a flat head six cylinder style engine built by the Hercules Truck Company.  Chris Craft marinized it by adding their own intake/exhaust manifold, adding a raw water pump, and turning it around 180 degrees, so the “front” of the engine faces aft.  This last was done to get a”right hand” rotation of the prop (make the propeller rotate in a clockwise direction if you’re looking at it from the rear facing forward).  So now the flywheel, which in a truck would be at the rear of the engine, connected to the pressure plate of the clutch, is on the front of the engine.  A special casting was made to accommodate the generator and the starter motor at the front of the engine.  Also, Chris Craft added an oil pan with a slanted bottom to allow for the correct mounting angle of the engine in the boat.  The oil pan is cast iron, not pressed steel like on a modern engine.

Next step is to continue stripping the boat of as much as possible to get it ready to flip over, and to rebuild the engine.  Onward!

Soon it was time to begin dis-assembly.  Much of this was accomplished with the boat still on the trailer.  This can be a slow process because you need to document every little step. Of course having a phone with a camera greatly helps–less time drawing diagrams.  But I need a lot of notes and pictures to help me remember how this thing came apart if I hope to get it back together.

Stripping out all of the parts helps identify which parts need more work (in the case of a 60 year old boat, almost everything) and reduces the weight that will have to be born by the hull in the flipping over process.  We’ll have to flip the boat to get the bottom off and rebuild it.  Well, I suppose it’s not absolutely necessary to flip the boat, but I can’t imagine not doing it!

One of the first things I did when starting this project was research it.  I found to my surprise that plans are available for many old Chris Craft boats.  As a matter of fact, Chris Craft donated their archives to the National Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, VA.  The have a great website here:  https://www.marinersmuseum.org/

So I ordered what they had, which was pretty extensive, from line drawings and plans to owner’s manuals, to marketing material.  They even had a copy of the “hull card” which is the factory data sheet that tells you what options my boat originally came with.  Pretty cool stuff.  It was fun reading through the engine manual.  I enjoyed their emphasis on using “oil of good character and quality”.  That’s something that can’t be overstated, but is pretty much taken for granted today–apparently no so much in 1949 when this boat was born.

I”ve uploaded a picture of the Lines Drawing of this boat, with some of my measurement scribblings.  The boat had retained much of its original shape with only a little hogging (sagging at the front and/or back end).

The current project for Ashley River Boatworks is a 1949 Chris Craft 17 ft. Deluxe Runabout. This boat will receive a new bottom, upholstery, cockpit ceiling, and engine rebuild, and be completely refinished. It’s a long road, starting with a lot of research and investigation into how it was done originally at the factory. A good resource for this is the national Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA. They have an extensive archive of Chris Craft drawings, literature and marketing material. The original lines drawings were available for this project from the museum. I’ve actually been working on this boat for some time, and will be trying to catch up with posts on progress that has been made. By the way, did you notice anything funny about that bow light?