Boats For Sale:
’54 Atom Skier -First Posting |
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Pelican 
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Joined: October-27-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 9 |
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 Topic: ’54 Atom Skier -First PostingPosted: October-27-2007 at 10:57pm |
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I believe I found my boat for sale on this site or oldboat.com back in February of this year. I fell in love with old wooden boats 17 years ago while visiting Lake Winnipesaukee NH - a family I was visiting had a collection of mostly Chris Crafts. All the positive discussion on this site made me look more closely at Correct Craft then Chris Crafts. When we decided to move to a lake front home ourselves in North Western NJ I went looking for an old boat before we even closed on the house. My wife's first words when we took it for a test ride in April were "it's too small." I gave the owner a deposit on the spot. I wasn't buying it for her, it's for me! It’s a good thing we closed on the house in June. I use it primarily to run up and down the lake bar hopping or taking my 7 year old twin daughter swimming. Our lake is 8 mile long with a few good places to eat. The boat has a 6 cylinder early 60's Ford Fairlane engine in it and was completely restored. All the plywood is new. It runs nice, has a great sound (I have a couple of loud motorcycles too) and is a 3/4 ton of fun. I named it "About Fun" and it sits in the water on dock whips next to its granddaughter, our 2005 Ski Nautique 226Ltd that we found brand new as a dealer left-over with only 10hrs on it. I named that one Mr. Krabs (it’s white with red trim). The wife says the new boat is big enough. I’ll be back. Thanks for reading.
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Pelican from Greenwood Lake, NJ
'54 Atom |
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8122pbrainard
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Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Posted: October-27-2007 at 11:12pm |
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Pelican, Please go back into your post and edit it. If you use the "enter" key between all the pictures, it will stack them from top to bottom instead of side to side. It will make your post easy to read. Thanks, I'd like to talk more. Welcome.
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8122pbrainard
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Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Posted: October-27-2007 at 11:34pm |
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Great! Now I can (I know others will too) read the text in the post without loosing my spot!!
Did you buy the Atom like this or did you or someone do the work on it? With the large engine in it it will probably go pretty good! My Atom with the 60 HP 4 in it will do about 37 or 38. |
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Pelican
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Joined: October-27-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 9 |
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Posted: October-27-2007 at 11:41pm |
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I can't take much credit, except for my taste. The boat was restored by David Tanis from Warwick NY - all I've done since is fix a small oil leak and change a few loose screws. I am replacing the aluminum stern mast light with a wooden one I found.
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Pelican from Greenwood Lake, NJ
'54 Atom |
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8122pbrainard
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Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Posted: October-27-2007 at 11:59pm |
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Christopher.In the past 10 years there has been a big increase in the number of people who work on wood boats. Some are real good and have tons of talent but most of the ones who have recently started out haven't proven themselves yet. I think it's due to wood boats becoming a popular item to have again. What condition was it in when you got it?
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The Lake
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Joined: May-13-2005 Location: Lk Winnebago MO Status: Offline Points: 1157 |
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Posted: October-28-2007 at 12:40am |
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Welcome Pelican,
Great looking boat! Looking forward to hearing more from you about her. Chuck |
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nates78ski
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Joined: January-24-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1041 |
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Posted: October-28-2007 at 1:06am |
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preeeeeety!!
Nate |
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jbear
Grand Poobah
Joined: January-21-2005 Location: Lake Wales FL. Status: Offline Points: 8193 |
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Posted: October-28-2007 at 2:18am |
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Welcome Chris. You sure have great taste in boats. Love the old wood one.
john |
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"Loud pipes save lives"
AdamT sez "I'm Canadian and a beaver lover myself"... |
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farmer
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Joined: July-23-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 442 |
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Posted: October-28-2007 at 12:55pm |
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Pelican, beautiful boat. Be sure to keep up with the varnishing. It makes it a lot easier to keep the boat looking nice if you don't go too long between recoats. farmer |
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Pelican
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Joined: October-27-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 9 |
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Posted: October-28-2007 at 1:51pm |
As I said originally, I get no credit for the restoration - although as recommended - I'll be maintaining her over the winter, including re-varnishing. We go for 1-2 rides a week. She starts on the second crank every time. I ordered an electrified 24" mahogany stern mast with an electrified chrome plated socket I plan on changing out to replace the hard wired and pitted aluminum mast that's on the boat now. Does anyone know what type of mast came on this boat originally? The speedometer is not working, but the temp & oil pressure gauges seem to function, so I want to investigate the problem with the speedo. I’m going to post another topic on gauges & the mast asking for some help. It took me 17 years to realize my dream of living on a lake and being within an hour of my job, so although I bought the old boat when they’re in vogue again, I’ve been dreaming about it for 17 years. For the $8,500 I paid including the trailer, all I’m out is the learning experience that is probably worth 3x what I paid. The next big project is to build a shop to work on a similar vintage larger wooden inboard I’ll be able to take personal credit for. We’ve retained an architect and hope to get going on the shop in the spring. Meanwhile, living 26’ away from an 8mile long and 1mile wide lake in a house with a 40’ x 40’ floating “T” dock setup and no old boat of my own was out of the question, so I bought a completely restored one. 
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Pelican from Greenwood Lake, NJ
'54 Atom |
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8122pbrainard
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Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Posted: October-28-2007 at 4:44pm |
Chris, The original stern light would have been a aluminum base, pole and head with a small glass globe. The wood that you have ordered may not be appropriate and at 24" will be too tall. The speedo isn't working because what you are looking at is a tachometer. It is a mechanical so it is cable driven off the engine. Don't get your hopes up as far as the worth of the boat. Correct Crafts, at this point, do not bring the big dollars of the more unusual wood boats. Yes,do plan on spending some time with the brush and the varnish. I always try to get a couple of coats on my woods every couple of years. |
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Riley
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Joined: January-19-2004 Location: Portland, ME Status: Offline Points: 7954 |
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Posted: October-28-2007 at 5:02pm |
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Welcome to the site. Really nice looking boat. I find it interesting that the engine has adjustable motor mounts. Is the carb a Carter RBS?
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8122pbrainard
Grand Poobah
Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Posted: October-28-2007 at 5:16pm |
Bruce, The engine may be a year or 2 newer than yours and adjustable mounts where becoming popular. If you look in the back of your manual in the parts section, I think you will find several different mount options. These are simply add ons to the existing rigid feet. |
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75 Tique
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Joined: August-12-2004 Location: Seven Lakes, NC Status: Offline Points: 6130 |
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Posted: October-29-2007 at 1:26pm |
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Love the contrast between the two boats in the last photo. If you just saw the atom, you'd say "its a ski boat" If you just saw the 2005 you'd say "its a ski boat". 50 years can make quite a difference can't it?
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“So, how was your weekend?†“Well, let me see…sun burn, stiff neck, screwed up back, assorted aches and pains….yup, my weekend was great, thanks for asking.†|
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nates78ski
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Joined: January-24-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1041 |
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Posted: October-29-2007 at 2:24pm |
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Larry, i was just about to say the same thing, that last pic is great.Granted the atom's a small boat in comparison to nearly any inboard but, it's amazing how teeny the atom looks next to that tank.
Nate |
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87BFN owner
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Joined: August-25-2006 Location: Saline, MI Status: Offline Points: 2194 |
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Posted: October-29-2007 at 3:07pm |
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The atom makes the 05 look like a land barge in my opinion. But both boats are very nice.
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rleinen79
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Joined: December-16-2004 Location: New Carlisle IN Status: Offline Points: 733 |
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Posted: October-29-2007 at 6:53pm |
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Congrats on the Atom. The 226 is sharp as well, and the last pic is great. Welcome to the site.
Rob |
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Luchog
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Joined: April-17-2007 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 2135 |
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Posted: October-29-2007 at 7:04pm |
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What engine is on that boat? It looks to me as a Ford 188 or 221?
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Pelican
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Joined: October-27-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 9 |
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Posted: October-29-2007 at 10:37pm |
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It's got a 170cu 6 cyl in it.
Thanks for all the compliments. I love that little boat too. I took that pic yesterday - wind was blowing hard and I'd taken her out for her 2nd run up and down the lake last week and left her unciovered to dry better. It hit 37 degrees last night - I'll be putting her away for winter soon. As to the barge, tank, whatever, it's a pretty solid craft, plenty of room with 6 adults and six - eight kids. The beam is 8', the Atom is barely 4'. On the '05 I don't ever have to yell - "don't stand on that." It's got a V drive GM modified marine engine 5.7 liters, decent on gas, great warantee and dealer service (my dealer is 80 miles away and comes to me if I have a problem). I don't think anyone makes a better skiboat today. I really like the tank, but I truly love the Atom. |
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Pelican from Greenwood Lake, NJ
'54 Atom |
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8122pbrainard wrote: