Hi,

I have just posted a similar message to this on a UK board, then found
this one too. I guess there's a good chance that someone reading this
will be able to point me in the right direction.

I am new to boating (if you don't count some time with the UK's Royal
Naval Reserve!) and have recently bought an early 1960's 16ft Owens
speedboat. I need to do some work on it before putting it back in the
water next year, but would love to get hold of any information that
would help me with restoring it to at least some of it's former glory.
I have searched the web and can find very few references to this type
of boat. It seems that Owens was a Baltimore/Annapolis based company
well known for building wooden hulled motor yachts and latterly went
into smaller GRP hulls before collapsing. I think they may also have
built minesweepers for the USN somewhere along the line: and that is
about all I know. All very interesting but not particularly helpful! If
my history is wrong I apologise.

So, if anyone can shed any light on this particular craft for me I
would be very grateful. What might be really helpful would be pictures,
or information on where I might be able to lay my hands on an owners
handbook/manual (if such a thing existed) or a company brochure for the
period the craft was in production.

Thanks,
Graham (UK)

Graham wrote:
Hi,
I have just posted a similar message to this on a UK board, then found
this one too. I guess there's a good chance that someone reading this
will be able to point me in the right direction.
I am new to boating (if you don't count some time with the UK's Royal
Naval Reserve!) and have recently bought an early 1960's 16ft Owens
speedboat. I need to do some work on it before putting it back in the
water next year, but would love to get hold of any information that
would help me with restoring it to at least some of it's former glory. I
have searched the web and can find very few references to this type of
boat. It seems that Owens was a Baltimore/Annapolis based company well
known for building wooden hulled motor yachts and latterly went into
smaller GRP hulls before collapsing. I think they may also have built
minesweepers for the USN somewhere along the line: and that is about all
I know. All very interesting but not particularly helpful! If my history
is wrong I apologise.
So, if anyone can shed any light on this particular craft for me I would
be very grateful. What might be really helpful would be pictures, or
information on where I might be able to lay my hands on an owners
handbook/manual (if such a thing existed) or a company brochure for the
period the craft was in production.
Thanks,
Graham (UK)
=================================
The Owens boats were very popular in the Great Lakes during the 60s and
I knew a number of people that owned them. They were price a bit under
the Chris Craft boats. Most people that I knew that had them were
pretty well satisfied with them. I didn't know anyone that owned a
runabout, tho. They built a 30 ft. double planked hull that was very
popular and seemed to be a well built boat. Their 24 footer was very
popular. Probably because of the price. In 1964 it sold for about
$4400 base price. Not much more than a good outboard runabout......
I have a lot of old boat maganizines that would have some pix of various
boats in the advertisemts, but I doubt that it would have the info that
you're looking for. Most of these boats were powered by the Owens
Flagship engines that were based on the 283 Chev. block.
Good luck on your project and happy boating, Norm

You might try contacting the Owens Marque Club, in seeking further
info. Here are the particulars:
Owens Yacht Marque Club
P.O. Box 2065 Vincetown, NJ 08088
609 859-2370 Fax 609 268-7582
Ginger Martus
The info came from the Antique & Classic Boat Society, whose
website is: http://www.acbs.org/ One of their chapters was named
for a man with whom I (and he) corresponded as teenagers, name of
Bob Speltz. Bob spent his entire life collecting speedboat literature,
drawings and such, and turning all of it into several books. I don't
know if Bob's piles of literature have been turned into a borrowing
library or not. Good luck in your search! Aloha, Dave

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I have just posted a similar message to this on a UK board, then found
this one too. I guess there's a good chance that someone reading this
will be able to point me in the right direction.

I am new to boating (if you don't count some time with the UK's Royal
Naval Reserve!) and have recently bought an early 1960's 16ft Owens
speedboat. I need to do some work on it before putting it back in the
water next year, but would love to get hold of any information that
would help me with restoring it to at least some of it's former glory.
I have searched the web and can find very few references to this type
of boat. It seems that Owens was a Baltimore/Annapolis based company
well known for building wooden hulled motor yachts and latterly went
into smaller GRP hulls before collapsing. I think they may also have
built minesweepers for the USN somewhere along the line: and that is
about all I know. All very interesting but not particularly helpful! If
my history is wrong I apologise.

So, if anyone can shed any light on this particular craft for me I
would be very grateful. What might be really helpful would be pictures,
or information on where I might be able to lay my hands on an owners
handbook/manual (if such a thing existed) or a company brochure for the
period the craft was in production.

Thanks,
Graham (UK)

Thanks to Norm and Dave for your helpful replies to my posting. I will
certainly contact the Owens Yacht Marque Club. Interestingly (and
credit here to Norm) the guy I bought the boat from also said that it
had originated on the Great Lakes, but he was unable to give me a
definitive history. The craft carries a UK Small Ships Register number
on her stern, but the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency have no
record of it or the boat. This may be to do with the fact that she has
been lying on a river rural England for a few years and the
registration has lapsed.

Considering that she has been moored uncovered and under some trees for
I don't know how long, she doesn't need an horrendous amount of work,
though we are currently getting the seats professionally
re-upholstered. We are hoping to take her for a 'sea trial' on a
navigable river in Essex before the end of October. She came with a
20hp Chrysler outboard, which although I haven't had a chance to fire
up yet appears to be in pretty good order. With that engine she won't
be the fastest boat on the water, but it will give me an idea of her
handling and potential. We hope to get her into the sea around
south-west England or the Welsh coast next summer. I will keep you
informed of progress.

In the meantime if anyone can tell me what form the decking should take
I would be really grateful. A previous owner has replaced the original
decking with some unfinished marine ply. Doesn't look right to me!

Thanks again.
Graham