Sewickley Herald

              The Herald
The Sewickley Valley's Home-News Weekly
Vol. 33.   No. 40,
SEWICKLEY, PA., FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1936
Price 5 Cents
BUILDS TRIM BOAT
Valley Needs Boat Club
John McCrea, Jr., 318 Woodland Road,
Edgoworth, a clerk at the Sewickloy
Valley Trust Company, is spending his
spare time for the rest of the summer
Skimming over the surface of the
usually placid Ohio River in the now
16-foot mahogany finished cypress runabout motorboat he built after four
months of spare timo labor.
The trim eraft, which has scats for
four pooplo, is powered with an adapted four-cylinder Continental automobile
motor, located between tho front and
rear cockpits. The boat travels at a
maximum speed between 25 and 30
miles an hour. Of hollow V construction, both the sides and bottom aro
concave, cut to At and bent to shape,
a rather difficult construction. Brass
screws and fittings aro used throughout
the runabout,
A spotlight is mounted on the covered front deck and red and green clear-
TE&geWortb ^outl) Guilds Motorboat
John McCrea, Jr., of Edgeworth, at the wheel of the speedy motorhoat he huilt in his
spare" time. Note the curve of the decks and the stern, particularly difficult to construct.
The hoat is tied up inside the old guide -wall at the abandoned Glen Osborne dam.
ance lights are mounted on the sides
of the boat. An automobile steering
wheel is used and the dash carries only
the necessary ammeter and oil pressure
gauge. "Water is picked up under tho
hull, circulated through tho engine cooling jacket and out the exhaust pipe.
A . threo bladed bronze propeller 12
inches in diameter provides the power
necessary to push tho boat through tho
water at high speeds.
Except for the propeller, water pump
and engine, Mr. McCrea made tho entire
boat, with tho aid of Max Feltwell and
the tools in his shop and most of tho
boys in tho neighborhood. J. D. MeCord loaned his trailer to transport tho
boat to tho end of Chestnut Street, Sewiekley, where it was launched, and
christened at the samo time, in a driving rain and thunderstorm about two
weeks ago. Since then, it has been
tied to tho old guide wall of the former
Glon Osborne dam, whero it is protected from tho waves of passing steamers.
Mr. McCrea, who was born in Sewiek
ley and graduated from Sewiekley High School in 1930, living in Edgoworth for tho past twelve years, had
almost as much trouble naming the boat
as ho did building it. But it had to
havo a name for licensing purposes, so
he.finally dubbed it the "Spare Time,"
as it was built in spare time and ho
expected to  use it in his  spare time.
Mr. McCrea believes that it would
bo a good idea if thc youths, and older
men too, would Organize a boat club.
Sovoral Other youths arc building or
buying boats, especially outboard motor-
boats, and tho Ohio River is not so bad
for boating, especially since tho Shields
dam has created such a long pool of
comparatively quiet water. If pilots
keep away from tho big waves immediately behind steamers, there is littlo
danger and usually in the summer the
rivor is low with littlo current.
It is cleaner this year thaw it has
boon for years, and that may bo duo
to tho thorough flushing tho pools received iu the March flood.   However,
""■■mmmw
pppiiiiii
tho flood had a rather disastrous effect
on boating this summer, as it swept
away the houseboat and dock maintained by John (Slim) Kemp at thc foot
of "Walnut Streot, with tho result that
many owners of canoes, sail boats and
motorboats had no safo place to keep
their boats when not in use, so thoy
didn't oven put thein in thc water.
Two summers ago, thero wore 15 boats
tied up at Kemp's dock and there would
probably be more if a boat club could bo
organized.
All that is needed is a floating dock
anchored behind tho old guide wall at
Glen Osborno dain, whoro the boats
would bo protected from rubbing up
and down against tho dock when waves
como in from passing steamers. Tho
Murdock brothers, of Glon Osborno,
havo launched their outboard motor-
boat in that quiet pool in the last few
days, and it seems to answer all requirements for a good boat club headquarters. Much pleasure could bo had
on thc rivor if facilities wero available.
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