PAPA AND ME - by: Austin Hamilton

In 1999, my Grandfather, PAPA to me, Gerald Dake and I launched his newly restored 1947 22’ Chris Craft Sportsman called ODYSSEY for the first time I was 5 years old, and it was my first exposure to old boats. Who would have thought at the time that I would one day have my own old wood boat. Since that day in Mount Dora, PAPA and I have had many great times in Odyssey. I even did the St.Johns River Cruise in 2006 and drove the boat most of the way. I made so many great ACBS friends on that trip, and see them at other boating events I am able to attend with PAPA.

In 2007, PAPA bought a 1958 Joe Swift 16’ runabout built by the famed Joe Swift hydroplane racer. The boat was built on Sadler Road in Tangerine, Florida on the outskirts of Mt. Dora in a building that is still standing. PAPA said I could have the boat if I helped in the restoration. I can’t tell you how much fun we had over the next several months and how much I learned about sanding, woodwork, painting, and even varnishing. All the time we were working, PAPA was telling me about growing up in Mt. Dora and knowing Joe Swift. He said he learned to water ski behind a 12’ Swift boat with a 10 HP Mercury outboard.

The motor on the boat is a 1959 40 hp Scott. It is a neat tangerine color, unlike the motors of today, which are black or white. The Scott motor company evolved from Scott-Atwater started in 1932. Scott-Atwater made motors for Champion and Firestone, Corsair, Hiawatha, and Wizard. In 1956 Scott-Atwater sold to McCulloch and my motor has Scott 40 on the side of the cowling and McColloch on the front. The controls say Scott-Atwater. We replaced the spark plugs, cleaned and painted the engine, sent the chrome out to be redone and started testing to see if it would run (which it did). We bought an old 5 gallon gas tank which we painted red and found new stickers for the sides. After our many months of work we took it out for its first test run. Although it had a little engine trouble, it worked and you can see by the pictures we are having a lot of fun with it.

Just like PAPA did with Odyssey, we took my boat to the 2009 Mt Dora Boat show. We made a big display with pictures and writing about the boat and motor. Words cannot tell you how much fun it was to spend the time with PAPA working on an old wood boat. I learned so much about woodworking, motors, and most importantly about life, politics, government, and yes we

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Austin and friends underway in his Joe Swift!

Repairing the steering system!

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