wooden boat: Labor of Love
When Paul and Janet Pletcher discovered the boat they were looking for in 1996 it was 250 miles from their home in Nashville, Tenn., and it needed work. By the time it reached Nashville by truck, it needed even more work because the headliner had blown out, horns had ripped off and windows had broken. But the Pletchers were used to working on boats—they were wooden boat fanatics who had been restoring old models for years. At least this hull wasn't wood. It was the first fiberglass cruiser model ever built by Chris-Craft.
The Chris-Craft 38 Commander first debuted at the New York Boat Show 42 years ago. Like most boat shows, this one had an unveiling, a defining tradition. Yet few debuts have ever aroused the applause that greeted the Chris-Craft 38—the builder's first fiberglass cruiser. Even the dealers in attendance were blown away by the boat, having been kept in the dark about the project. Chris-Craft was charting new waters with the 38, and the voyage had been top-secret.
Designed by Dick Avery, a Ford Motor Company veteran who put his mark on a succession of Chris-Crafts from 27 to 58 feet, the 38 Commander had wooden boat motifs, but flowed from stem to stern with a stylistic flexibility unachievable in wood. And, pound-for-pound, it was the strongest Chris-Craft ever built, with an inch-thick glass bottom reinforced with heavy roving and transverse box beams. It was constructed out of three main pieces: a deep-V bottom, and the two hullsides that were bonded to the bottom and joined at the bow and at the transom, which was pointed to create a more comfortable ride in a following sea.
The 38 Commander changed Chris-Craft's course, ushering in the modern era of man-made materials in place of wood, although the firm continued to build wooden boats. The 38 Commander's "pioneering" status, plus its lines and its strength, made it an icon, an almost instant classic, a collector's boat. The 38 was recognized as a "modern classic" by the Antique & Classic Boat Society in the 1990s. Two-hundred and eighty-four of them were built from 1964 to 1972.
The boat's most impressive legacy, however, is a Web site that's been created in its honor: www.chriscraftcommander.com. The site contains what could be the most voluminous collection of information, tips, documents, images and postings about a single boat model ever assembled. The development of the site was a labor of love undertaken by Paul Pletcher, who is a quick, lean, soft-spoken man of myriad talents. He started the site after he and his wife, Janet, began work on their 1966 38 Commander. For Paul, the 38 "represents one of the major milestones in fiberglass boat manufacturing history."
The Pletchers named their Commander Tradition because they've owned only Chris-Crafts. The first was a 1957, 17-foot Sportsman that Paul bought in 1978 for $350. In 1986 Janet bought Paul two more 17s for his birthday—a 1956 model, now in their basement, fully sanded and ready for varnish, and one built in 1939 that they turned into a full-size half-model, finished like a Steinway piano and installed on a reinforced wall of their 1,000-square-foot living room. Paul can climb into it and steer—the wheel actually turns the rudder. "If I get tired of it, I'll need a chain saw to get it out," says Janet.
Next in line was a 35-foot Sea Skiff in 1992—another restoration project. "When you have boat-itis, there is no cure," says Paul. "All you can do is make the patient more comfortable with a larger boat from time to time."
Tradition is powered by original, solid-lifter Ford 427 gas engines—NASCAR racing motors detuned from a street rating of 425 hp to 300 hp for marine use. It's a 32-knot boat built to withstand three times the stress of heading into six-foot seas at full speed. "The engines were built to satisfy Henry Ford II's ego—he won 101 races with them in three years while Chevrolet won only nine," says Paul. "They have cross-bolted main bearings and are made of high-grade iron. They're the product of millions of dollars of racing development and are virtually indestructible if you take care of them." He recommends synthetic oil—namely, Mobil 1 15W-50, "although the manual says to use straight 30-weight."
Pletcher is a purist: "I believe in retaining the original engines in classic boats if possible rather than installing new engines. Mine have 2,700 hours on them. They've been rebuilt, but they run so well that I have no thought of repowering."
He and Janet still consider
wooden boats the ultimate classics, but he's acquired great respect for fiberglass, too. "Once you've lain on your back for days replacing planking, you appreciate the advantages of fiberglass," says Paul. "Plus, the 38 is one-of-a-kind. Dick Avery's penmanship is superb. As an architect I appreciate the proportions he achieved and how he distributed the mass. The 38 is the '57 Chevy of the boating world. People put hundreds of thousands of dollars into restoring them."
Tradition now sits under a tin shed roof at the sleepy Commodore Yacht Club off the Cumberland River just outside Nashville. This is where the boat was when I photographed her last spring, and met with the Pletchers. A green mist—incipient leaves—had settled on the bluffs and ridges of this hilly area.
The Pletchers are proud of all the improvements they have made. The interior and exterior mahogany was sanded, re-varnished and replaced in some areas; new lights and new blinds were installed; a granite counter, stainless steel sink and electric range modernized the galley; the electrical system was upgraded with a new battery bank, a charger and an inverter. There's a new headliner over the lower helm and a new Bimini top over the bridge. Most impressive, Paul has done all the work himself.
Paul is very fond of the design and layout of the 38. "The big aft deck provides plenty of room for entertaining. With the windows, the large deck makes the 38 a truly open boat. I'm not a sedan kind of guy. It gets hot and humid here in Tennessee, and we open the forward windshields and get a great breeze through the helm level.
"I'm very enthusiastic about everything I do, and I want to know everything about it. Whether it's boating or cars [he collects water-cooled Porsches], I try to find out as much as possible about a subject."
This insatiable curiosity, coupled with his penchant for clubs—he was a charter member of the Dixieland chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society—led him to help found the Chris-Craft Commander Club and to mastermind his extraordinary Web site. "The site has two purposes," he says, "fun and sharing. It's free and open to anyone in the world. No registration is required and nothing is for sale. I just want to get the word out about these boats." For Paul, who works on the site instead of watching TV, its educational value is a two-way street."The amount I've learned about Commanders has alone made it worthwhile."
The Pletchers' Chris-Craft is a true classic, but the Web site is unique. It gets as many as 1,500 hits a day by people from virtually every continent. "I just thought I'd give it a try, and it grew into what it is," explains Paul matter-of-factly. "I'll fund it until hell freezes over. For me, it's become a matter of pride, not profit. Watching it continue to grow is a real kick—it's almost as great as the boat itself."
Story and Photography by John Clemans
