Anyone ever hear of a Keaton boat?

Here is a nice 1965 Keaton Utility, powered by a 348 Chevy.  Just an FYI for the curious, I saw it on CL tonight.

MourningWood wrote: A friend of mine was a Nautique rep on the West coast for years in the early 80's on up into at least the late 90's. Taught me how to run the course behind his '83 promo 2001.  Before Nautique his boat of choice...Keaton.  They have great lines, very sporty looking, much like the Besotes of the same era. Another NorCal boat.

Thanks for great info ‘75’ and MrMcd, It seems the late 70’s early 80’s is model shape I prefer
The one for sale is 65 ? Looks a little more dated. But I like the 460. Holy cow
Take a close up look at lower rear transom it has a bizarre cut out

67 ski nat wrote: What year is the first picture 75 tique posted

I’m gonna try and look at it
The tail on the for sale pictures has a different tail section has a concave at lower

I have not seen the magazine since it first came out but I remember one quote from Powerboat as they tested the 18' Jet Keaton. " When you floor this boat you think you are driving a Top Fuel Dragster, the acceleration is amazing " It has been 40 years but I bet that quote is very close to exact in the article.

The Keaton Inboard Ski Boat shown above was built in the 80's.  There was a competition barefooter in Sacramento at the time that asked Jack for a faster Ski Boat for his barefooting.   Jack had the Keaton Utility that he built in the 60's mold, he updated it and used a Chevy 350 in the new Ski boat like the one pictured above.   The beach we skied at in the early 80's had 2 of these Keatons on it almost every weekend.  I raced them both in my 78 Nautique with the modified 351W,  I know these guys had 55 MPH top speed, I was just a hair short of that.  When we launched and drove to our beach at that time there was about a 4 mile straight with great ski water and pretty much zero traffic because it has many shallows that you had to know to avoid hurting your boat.   In that very long straight I raced them for most of it.  Out of the hole I could pull a good boat length or more and then we were even up to almost wide open, then those dang boats would slowly start to pull away with a bone stock Chevy 350.  Jack Keaton told me he liked his boats to be fast and he varied the prop angle to help his top speed.  They ran a 12 x 15 3 blade stock.  Jacks boats had less drag but were more prone to be pulled around by a hard skier than the Nautique was.  My brother still has a Keaton Jet in his garage, 460 powered and bone stock it is a rocket ship.  Jack certainly has a legacy in Sacramento, I am pleased he is known in the larger markets also.   A buddy of mine built all of Jacks trailers in the late 70's and 80's, he was a fireman by trade which gave him several days off each week to help Jack.  Jack's trailers were a work of art also.  He built many other boat designs over the years and started out with Race boats.  In the early days the Keaton Utility which resembled an early Ski Nautique was built and sold without the engine, I have seen a 312 Ford, Cadillac engines, Chrysler 318, 383 and 440's, Chevy 348 and 409's in those boats, a guy down the street from me had one with a 400 Pontiac in it that was Fuel Injected, pretty sure it was a 389 initially.

Yes. I was in a gas station and saw very cool inboard very classy all white beauty
Owner said it was a Keaton
Told him one of best boats I’ve seen

A friend of mine was a Nautique rep on the West coast for years in the early 80's on up into at least the late 90's. Taught me how to run the course behind his '83 promo 2001. 

Keaton made a nice looking direct drive inboard.  

Jack Keaton was a class act. He passed a couple years back, I went to his funeral. Met him a few times, my brother owned a Keaton for many years. Jack was very active keeping his flock of customers happy.
A small mostly one man shop but Jack built very high quality boats. May he rest in peace.
Look at the Keaton website.
When Jack switched to making jet boats he won Powerboat of the year honors I the 70's.
Not bad for a small shop hidden in Sacramento.
I don't think Jack ever made more than one boat per month.
Jacks jet is the best jet ever built for water ski use.
In the 80's as tournament boats really took off Jack designed a barefoot inboard with a 350 GM that had top speed of 55mph. Jack built what people needed and made his boats very well.
Great man, wish he was still with us.

Picture of a Keaton I stumbled across today.

http://www.keatonboat.com/Joe_Balcao.htm

Great story. Thanks for posting.

The attached is from Joe Balco a great water skier in his day.
His son Drake took this info about his Father and Keaton boats.

http://www.keatonboat.com/Joe_Balcao.htm

maybe thats where i got the latest 460 from it was rigged to a jet drive and the waterpump (circ) was replaced by a flat plate that read Harman performance.
nice looking hull that guy built, it has a touch of Euro looks