Recreating masterpieces

Watts’ wooden boat restorations are works of art

BY DIANE LEUKAM | STAFF WRITER

Friday, January 15, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 9 masterpieces

RICE – Ask Dave Watts what his favorite aspect of restoring vintage wooden boats is and his answer is simple: He is recreating masterpieces. He and his crew of four which includes his son, Ben, at Little Rock Boat Works in Rice, take great pride in their workmanship while bringing one-of-a-kind treasures back to their original beauty – or better. On Dec. 7, Watts talked about the art of boat restoration and the business that has been his full-time work since 1986. Walking through the facility just outside of town, the sights, sounds and smells of work and wood fi lled the air. Each boat that comes into the shop can take up to three years to rebuild. They are completely disassembled and put back together in a process that creates a boat with longevity far outlasting the original. They were fi rst built to last six to eight years; after Watts is done with them, they will be treasures that last generations. By the time they are fi nished, the owners will have at least $300,000 into each boat. “Originally, they were mass produced in a factory,” Watts said. “They were not perfect and there is no such thing as a perfect restoration, but we try.” In one area of the shop, Wayne Carriveau worked on a shiny, beautiful boat. He paused to explain what he was doing. “I am on my third stage of buffi ng, taking out all the fi ne scratches and everything,” Carriveau said. “We have about 20 coats of varnish on here.” Nearby, Dave Nelson worked on fi ling a window frame. It must be perfect before being chromed and placed on a boat. No two boats are exactly the same, but there are currently two that are as close as they get. Watts walked over to the Abby B. She has been in the shop for two-and-a-half years. She is sided with planking of African Mahogany, a tropical wood with natural oils that retard rot and bacteria, and built back with a tightness of the hull to ensure the vessel is waterproof. Caulking was added to fi ll any holes, followed by sanding and many layers of varnish. Like every boat, the Abby B has a story. She is a 1930 Dodge 21 1/2 ft. Hull #2, the oldest 21 1/2 foot known to exist. “These are amazing boats, extremely elaborate,” Watts said. “The Dodge brothers, Horace and John Dodge, became ill and both died within a month, probably from the Spanish Flu. They were extremely successful and were building parts for Ford and government contracts. Horace Junior, an heir, went through his money real quick. He liked boats.” The two boats were designed for Horace Junior by naval architect George Crouch. Each boat had a fi gurehead on the front; the Abby B’s is a sea nymph. The Emma S, Hull #83, is another 1930 Dodge and Abby’s twin; both are now owned by the same client who

PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM Dave Watts is owner of Little Rock Boat Works in Rice, where he and his crew restore one-of-a-kind vintage wooden boats. The boat he leans on is the Abby B, one of two they are currently working on, that was designed in 1930 by naval architect George Crouch for an heir of the Dodge Brothers.

has named them after his twin granddaughters. Watts has had numerous clients, but basically, there are two that keep him booked up with work for years in advance. Watts will fi nd an unusual boat, something a little out of the ordinary. If they like the boat, they purchase it with plans of restoration. Over the course of the projects, they communicate often with Watts, and take great interest in the work.

Watts page 11

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“I think they enjoy the restoration pron process as much if if not more than the fi nished n PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM This is a 1930 project,” 8-cylinder Lycoming Watts said. engine, installed in a Many boat at Little Rock Boat boats have Works in Rice. gone through the shops (the e original shop is p is located nearby and is d i still used as well) over the years. Most are pre-war, in other words, built before WWII, up until 1940. There are also many Chris Craft boats. “We just fi nished a 1961 31-foot Chris Craft Roamer with extensive restoration. We thought it would take fi ve or six weeks and it took us six months working seven days a week,” Watts said. He lists off others they are currently working on, like a 1954 36-foot Chris Craft; 1940 25-foot Chris Craft; 1940 23-foot Chris Craft barrel-back, triple cockpit; and a 1936 28foot Gar Wood sporting The a Scripps V-12. One boat Abby B is a with a colorful history is the 1928-29 42-foot Belle Isle. Its entire life was spent on Lake St. Clair 1930 Dodge 21 1/2 foot, Hull #2, runabout. Each boat in the shop can take three years from

Watts page 12 start to fi nish.

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Watts the years have gone by. “When these [the “I know a lot of people around the country,” from page 11 Dodges] were made, there were huge stacks of wood Watts said. “Unfortunately, I’m 68 and a lot of the the size of this building, men I’ve done business between Lake Huron and with many stacks at each with are no longer alive, Lake Erie. It was built boat manufacturer and and certain items we need specifi cally for running now, to get quality pat- for these boats are no illegal alcohol from Can- terned grain wood of a longer produced in this ada to the United States particular species is about country.” during the Prohibition. impossible,” Watts said. He also keeps his One might suspect He keeps an exten- business local whenever that sourcing parts for sive inventory of parts possible. Rapids Upholone-of-a-kind boats can that he has found over the stery out of Sauk Rapids be challenging; in fact, it years on hand. There is a does all upholstery work, is the most diffi cult part of large collection of cruiser with much research goWatts’ work. For instance, search lights and many ing into appropriate grain just one part, an original other cabin cruiser parts, patterns and coloring; glass globe on the Abby along with parts for other other businesses include B, cost him $1,000. It has boats such as runabouts, the Rice Blacksmith never been reproduced, the core of the business. Shop, Northside Weldbut he was able to fi nd All of his sourcing is done ing, East Side Glass, one in Michigan. Sourc- by phone, and through EMF Machine Shop in ing quality wood has also become more diffi cult as people he knows from all around the United States. Watts page 13

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Sauk Rapids, and farther away, B & L Plating in Warren, Michigan. Watts, 68, is nearing retirement from the business that has kept him busy for so long. He thinks back to the beginning of his boat obsession. He grew up in Austin, and his parents kept a travel trailer in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He fi rst boat was a 6-foot with a sheet metal bottom and pine sides. “I bought it for $15 and my dad hauled it home in the trunk of his car,” Watts said. “I worked on it a little bit, and I’d go up and down the Mississippi with it. I would see these cabin cruisers that were all wood on the Mississippi and I was just enamored with them; they were phenomenal works of art.” Being from a very blue-collar family, he never thought he would have anything like them. “I remember one time at the marina in La Crosse, it was called Pettibone Yacht Club,” he said. “I had my little 6-foot boat there and I was walking the docks looking at these yachts. One man must have seen how I admired them and he called me over, took

PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM Wayne Carriveau buff s the Emma S to remove fi ne scratches from its African Mahogany body that is covered in 20 coats of varnish. In the background is the Abby B, a twin to Emma S; the boats are named after the owner’s granddaughters. me on board and showed worked at the reformatory me all through his boat. in St. Cloud. I was maybe 15 or 16. I “One day, I looked still remember all these in the paper and saw a years later, what that man one-bedroom lake house did for me.” for sale with a guest house After being drafted on Little Rock Lake,” and serving on a com- he said. “Payments were bat mission as a fi eld ra- less than a one-bedroom dio operator in Vietnam, apartment in St. Cloud, Watts went to college for criminal justice and Watts page 14

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CA-JAN15-1B-MT PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM Ben Watts is pictured Dec. 7 at the original Little Rock Boat Works shop, where he is currently reconstructing the body of a 1947 25-foot Chris Craft boat.

Watts graduated to a larger cabin cruiser. ating masterpieces. His work has been noticed at from page 13 After all these years, Watts’ love for wooden shows around the country and even internationally. boats has not waned. He Typically, a Little Rock and Elaine would like Boat will take best of so I bought it and a short to retire to Leech Lake, show. While he is proud time later, started drag- where he would set up a of the accolades, they are ging home wooden boats small shop and work four not what drives him. Uland working on them.” hours a day, four days a timately, his clients’ satis He met his wife, week. faction is the end goal. Elaine, they married in “I still like working “Awards are yester1988 and the two spent o n boats, it’s the business day’s news,” Watts said. many years boating on end; I’ve had enough of “The clients appreciate Lake Superior in their it,” he said. the boat for what it is and own cabin cruiser. When He can take pride in not what it collects.” Ben came along, they a lifetime of work, recre-

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