WOODEN BOATS AND IRON MEN

At oh dark thirty on Thursday morning Oct. 29th, nine of us motored (all but one from BYC) south to Portland to the Coast Guard Base on Basin Ave. to see for ourselves what a group of two dozen or so WWII PT Boat Veterans, most of them in their 70's had accomplished. It was beyond amazing. This core group has been joined by other interested volunteers and members of the Columbia Willamette Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society and now stands at about 50 strong.

Found derelict and half sunk in California in 1992 with only a small deck house remaining, the 658 was purchased and shipped "home" to Portland for restoration culminating in her re-launching in June of 2004. The details can be found on their website "Save the PT Boat Inc" and are very worth reading and seeing.

This is an all wood boat built by Higgins Boat Co. in Louisiana in 1945, too late to see wartime action and was sold as war surplus. In her correct configuration, she has three, 1850 HP each, turbo-charged Packard V-12's in her that run on 100 octane gas at speeds to 55 kts! Interestingly, her MK 14 Torpedos could only do 37 kts so the skipper had to be careful not to over run his weapons when launched. These boats were, for their size the most heavily armed ships the Navy had at the time.

Currently, a new foredeck is being installed and a new bottom is in the future. It was quite a thrill to sit behind a twin mount 50 caliber machine gun and try to imagine what it was like. I think you had to have been there.

After marveling over the incredible restoration of PT 658, our hosts Chuck Kellogg and Bob Alton took us on a tour of three wonderfully restored beauties housed at PYC, PHANTOM, MERRIMACK and REBELLION. At 50ft., 45 ft and 42 ft respectively, these boats were built in Astoria, OR in the mid 30's. These boats have been lovingly restored to pristine condition and we were allowed free access. The pictures don't do justice to the boats but you'll get the idea. All of these boat including PT658 will be on display at the Portland Maritime Festival next June. A little bit of digging will get you all the details.

Slide Show: 37 Photos

The final tour was of Dave Jerome's boat restoration shop housed in his 40 x 60 ft garage in suburban Portland. Dave is a one man show with help from wife Susan and has numerous awards and "Boat of the Year" honors to his credit. His current project is a 1936 Gar Wood 26 ft. cruiser, one of only two known to exist. We were all given a beer, chocolate chip cookies and a quart of Dave's home made BBQ sauce and asked to stop in any time! You can't beat hospitality like that!