craig craft

[MarkD]

David

Do you have any photos of your dad's boat ?

Mark

[DeanFHobart]

Hey Mark, thanks for the updates and corrections. The boat we had shipped to us was Jan's boat, he told us he set a ASH record with it... who knows.

Jan Chirst didn't ever set an ASH record. Probably BSH and 25SSH though.

Just a correction.

[Composite Specialties]

You are probably correct, I remember him saying her ran the boat in BSH as well or 25ss

[champhotrod]

Not that its a big deal, but just to correct a few things MJR said above:



Greg was there at the shop, but it was mostly Craig and I that were building the boats in the early days - Joe Price helped some as well the first year or so and lived at the shop for a while.



All of those folks did run Craig Crafts - we (Craig, me and Joe Price) built and did most all of the work on the Shuman's J's. Jan Christ mostly ran B Stock Hydro - sometimes 25SSH - but actually, I do not think Jan ever set a record in an ASH - I was the main ASH driver and most all of the ASH boats in those days were mine. I set the ASH Kilo in '71 or '72, and the 1 1/4 mile comp record in '77. We built and sold a few other hydros - Doug Boyer in Mich got a BSH - in the ASH class, Steve DeFeo from NJ won the nationals in my '72 ASH in '73 and again in '74 in a new boat Craig made for him (my old boat was 2nd that year). From about '74-'78, I made a number of ASH and 15SSH boats - but called them MD Boats from '74 on. Shipped them to Mass, Calif, and a few others. Craig made a few hydros after that as well but mostly made runabouts. We were both fortunate to win the nationals in '77 - I won ASH, Craig won ASR and BSR that year - and most of the crew pretty much quit racing full time by the end of '78-79. Craig made a few boats after that and sold a lot of plans. I still stay in touch with Craig and Greg as well as many other wonderful friends from those days.

Mark Demaray

I bought Mark's big A hydro in 1973 at the Utah nationals.
My ex-wife Christy bought this boat from me and I later rebuilt it and it made a very good 15SSH boat. (I ran this boat at the 77 nationals and placed in ASH that year, thought I had the fastest 15 but jumped gun) She liked the Craig Crafts so well we bought two more used ones, one of Jan's BSH which we ran at 60 MPH thru the kilos with an "A". Then we got the newer DeFeo
boat. The original Mark boat also held the 15SSH Kilo record for a while.

Cooper 1US Jess

[jon66w]

In regard to Craigs DSH boats, my racing partner, Adios Racing Team, Erv Julien, 69 W, replaced his 1st boat , a Janz Hydro he bought from Wil Pergande after the 1970 Beloit Nationals, with a CraigCraft some time in the middle 70's. It had the inovative cockpit and clear, "Creased" cowling and it was very fast. About that time Craig and Lee Suter spend that summer kicking around the Wisconsin area building a few boats and Lee racing his wild BSR which he had to use all of his tall body and considerable skills to keep it under control. I had some boat building experience and spent some time talking to Craig about boat construction and design. He was way ahead of his day with his background in aviation design and was a very kind and sharing individual. Also, John Puestow still has his CraigCraft C/DSR with the full cowling with which he set staight away records. Jon Walters, 66 W

[MarkD]

Hey Coop

Nice to hear from you. That was a great boat - the last 3 or 4 I made for my self came out nicely - you bought one, Mike Mazer from Mass bought one, Carl Holt bought one too. I still have my last one from the 1977 Nationals - I bought t back from the Dawes' who had it out in the desert of Calif for a few years. I need to restore it one of these days and see if it still works oaky.

I saw you won BSR this year - congrats my friend. You have stayed with it all these years and still look great. We had some fun in those years for sure. I recall that we had so many more boats at the Nationals in the 70's - at Dayton in '75 I think there were 124 ASH entries, you had to get a fast 1st just to get in the finals. The good old days.

Mark

[Sutter's Gold Jr.]

Craig lived with us for a summer in Brookfield, WI and built a boat in the garage when Lee and he had spare time. I will see if I can locate some pictures. He also baby sat my brother and I...let's just say he wasn't very strict. As J-Dub pointed out earlier in the string...more to come from Craig Craft.

Btw...J-Dub...Lee called me after Seafair and told me he was really impressed with you and enjoyed the tour.

[Bucket]

Craig lived with us for a summer in Brookfield, WI and built a boat in the garage when Lee and he had spare time. I will see if I can locate some pictures. He also baby sat my brother and I...let's just say he wasn't very strict. As J-Dub pointed out earlier in the string...more to come from Craig Craft.

AH yes, I remember that summer. My family was leaving WI and Lee was taking my dad's place. I was able to spend some time with Lee and Craig testing the boat they built. Funny part is we moved to Seattle, I had looked Craig up a few times then lost track of him.

[MarkD]

Bucket

I also remember that boat as it had a very short cockpit area - a design feature Craig changed after that. I found a few more old photos of the early days and early boats - I will post them later tonight or tomorrow. I saw Greg & Craig Selvidge, Earl Garrison (now 88 and looking great) and Wayne Seeberg last week - lots of great old stories. We had lunch at the restaurant that was built on the site of the Craig Craft shop that burned down in 1977 or 78.

Mark

[Ron Hill]

I have really enjoyed your posts.... Some questions enter my mind, and some have been there for years.


When you guys, Craig, Greg, Dean, Earl, the teacher that lives on an island....He lived in California for a few years...Jan Christ... Who did your motor work? Or did you guys just do your own?

I know when Sutter lived in California, he bought a lot of new parts for his 20-H's from my dad....but it appeared to me that Lee did all his own (quite GOOD) motors.

Earl Garrison seems to be a very straight shooter, retired principal and all, but one year at the Winter Nationals he was DQ'd for having his head gasket on upside down????? I never really figured that out. Do you know anything about that? It sounds like something I might do, but not to go faster, seems it might leak anyway, jusy a screw up in assembly.

But has anyone heard of putting an OMC A head gasket on upside down?

Where most of your props Smith's....or did Joe Price do them? What about George Lockhart props...He made some good ones....I know Craig had some good Records by Joe Price...Craig showed me some stuff about "A" props.

Which KG-4 block did you like the best?

Which case?

Bring on the pictures!