Column: Recreation

JERRY HALE | Special to Laker Weekly

Robert Pennoyer (above) readies his classic Mercury outboard for a run on his home-built racing hull. Boats from the 1950s and '60s, such as a Fiberglas model (top) whose owner and mannequin attended the SML Antique and Classic Boat Show, are becoming attractive to restorers.

JERRY HALE | Special to Laker Weekly

Pennoyer's garage serves as a workshop and display area for his antique outboards and home-built racer.

The winter months typically are when antique boat enthusiasts obsess over their crafts, preparing them for spring and summer shows and for motoring about in classic splendor.

In the 30 years or so that restoring old boats has evolved from routine maintenance to hobby status, it has been regarded as a pastime of the well-to-do. After all, those classic Hacker, Chris-Craft and Century inboards are scarce. When someone finds one, its owner usually knows how coveted it is and prices it accordingly.

If you have the skills and patience to cut and glue stingers in place, lay planks, install transoms and apply flawless coats of marine varnish, you can save big bucks by doing it yourself.

But, the people you'll need to rebuild the engine, replace dashboard instruments and upholstery and freshen chrome on windshield frames, cleats and bow ornaments don't work cheaply.

"Restoring a classic 20-foot-plus mahogany runabout to showroom condition can easily cost well upwards of $40,000," said George Blosser, president of the SML Antique and Classic Boat Society.

But Blosser is quick to point out a trend I've also noticed at the last couple antique boat shows at Mariners Landing.

"We're starting to see restorations of a considerably more-affordable variety," Blosser said. "Aluminum outboard runabouts -- boats that came on the lake boating scene back in the 1950s and '60s -- are now old enough to be considered legitimate classics. Even fiberglass boats built 30 or 35 years ago qualify and have significant nostalgic value for the generation now attending the shows. Because those materials don't rot like wooden hulls and decks do, restoring them can be a much less costly proposition."

One laker taking advantage of this "age creep" dynamic is Robert Pennoyer of Wirtz. His passion is restoring old outboard motors, cleaning off accumulated grease, touching up paint on lower units and cowlings, and doing the tinkering that makes the engines run like they did in their heyday.

Pennoyer has about 45 outboards in residence, ranging from 1.5 to 50 horsepower.

"About half of them run fine," he said. "Some are just for parts, so I don't try to get them running."

His collecting began when he heard about an estate sale that included remnants of a New Hampshire sporting goods store's inventory.

"I picked up my first dozen motors there," he recalled. "Some of those I've sold to other collectors."

Pennoyer initially declined to choose his favorite motor, but changed his mind.

"They're like your kids," he said. "You love 'em all the same."

It wasn't hard, though, to get him talking about his 1926 Model P-30 designed by the Johnson Brothers of South Bend, Ind., who founded Johnson Motors.

"This was the first outboard powerful enough to get boats up on plane," Pennoyer said. "The Johnsons designed a racing hull around this motor and named it 'Baby Buzz.' A racing cult, populated with boats built by Thompson and Penn Yan, soon evolved."

Pennoyer also knows the history of his 50-horsepower Evinrude Big 4, a four-cylinder, 300-pound industrial-looking monster built to power troop-carrying boats across the Rhine into Germany.

"It took three guys to get it clamped to the back of a boat, but it had the power needed to move soldiers and their gear," he said.

A retired welder, Pennoyer had a two-bay detached garage built a few steps from his home to serve as workshop and display space for his collection. Front and center in that space is his home-built version of Baby Buzz, a replica of a 13-foot plywood racer that was originally designed to be powered by a 1947 33-horsepower Evinrude engine.

Pennoyer's boat, however, is equipped with a Mercury 500 Super Thunderbolt that puts out 50 horsepower.

"Someone with good carpentry skills could build one of these with about 400 hours of labor and $1,500 to $1,800 in materials," Pennoyer said.

His racer was a joint project with his nephew, Alan Pennoyer, in Connecticut. While they were at it, they cut pieces for a second kit, which is awaiting assembly "someday."

"It gets run a half-dozen or more times a year," he said, "and behaves well up to 35 mph when it gets a little skittish. Ginger [his girlfriend] loves to drive it while I run my 1956 15-foot Lyman alongside."

Skipper and passengers sit very close to the water in these shallow boats, and the sense of speed is magnified accordingly.

"You know you're moving right along," Pennoyer said with a grin.

Giving new life to old outboards is becoming increasingly popular with a younger generation gravitating toward the boats they remember from childhood, said Pennoyer.

"You can get a classic aluminum or Fiberglas runabout, clean it up some, add a rehabilitated outboard and you have a reasonably affordable conversation piece to show and take restaurant hopping."

As one whose boating experience began on chilly Minnesota lakes where, at age 10, I learned to water ski behind a 15-foot Feathercraft with a 35-horsepower long-shaft Evinrude, I found Pennoyer's collection of antique outboards pleasantly nostalgic. And while I'm not up to the mechanical challenge of restoring old engines, I now know whom to call for advice should I come upon a Baby Buzz that is looking for a new owner and caretaker.

2010 Boat Show

The Southwest Virginia Boat Dealers Association's annual boat show next weekend will feature eight boat dealers displaying and selling the newest models in boats and personal watercraft.

When: Friday, Feb. 26, 1 to 8 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 27, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 28, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Roanoke Civic Center Coliseum and Special Events Center, Williamson Road, Roanoke

Dealers: Ace Marine of Stuarts Draft, Conrad Brothers Marine of Pulaski and Moneta, Hughes Marine of Danville, Magnum Boating of Hardy, Smith Mountain Boat & Tackle of Penhook, Smith Mountain Yacht Club of Moneta, Virgil Naff SeaDoo of Lynchburg, Webster Marine Center of Moneta

Others: Boat accessory and recreation vendors also will be in attendance, as well as recreation safety officials.

Cost: $7.50; children 12 and under are free.

Information: www.roanokeboatshow.com