SHORELINES

13 Shor e l i n e S | 2016 Vol :4 Sherwood Cox Woodworks to do to his 1949 Chris-Craft Sportsman. The 18-foot utility runabout received a major overhaul, aided by original drawings from the Chris-Craft archive at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia. Edge, who has a house on Lake Martin, will start enjoying it next summer – complete with a vintage wooden slalom ski. Cox, who also builds wooden boats, notes that owners of old ones "often feel they're stewards of them, restoring or maintaining the boats to pass on to the next generation." Like valued antique cars or furniture, vintage wooden powerboats can appreciate over time. That's true of the collection Birmingham physician Mark Clark keeps at his Lake Martin home. It includes two Rivas – the glamorous Italian marque favored by movie stars and magnates – a 26-foot 1961 Tritone twin-engine runabout and a 22-foot 1964 Ariston. Rivas have been called the Ferraris of the boat world; Clark likens them to Stradivarius violins. He also owns a 1914 Fay & Bowen launch that Ambrose restored, a 1964 Chris-Craft Cavalier Cruiser and a faithful 2001 reproduction of a Canadian-made, 1931 Minett Shields 22- foot runabout. "They're mostly showboats – you don't take them to Chimney Rock much," he says. "Lake Martin is a fine place for them. It's a big lake, and freshwater is better than saltwater for maintenance. If you take care of them and keep Above: Photo by Bernard troncale – Dudley Weber and his father, Bill Weber, tool about in Bill's 1948 Chris-Craft runabout.

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