The Travels of Tug 44 |
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Consolidated Commuter Yacht Dolphin |
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August 2008, this 66' mahogany beauty passes my dock on the Champlain Canal. She is the 1929 Consolidated Commuter Yacht Dolphin. She was built with twin 200 HP Speedway gasoline engines and was capable of 22 MPH, which is rather brisk for a yacht of this size. This 80 year old boat was never restored, instead having been continuously maintained at perfection. Her value today is easily several million dollars.
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Yacht Dolphin is lowered in Lock 7 on the Champlain Canal. This photo and the next two were taken by my friend Larry Seney, Chief of the Lock. Note the cockpit in the bow. These boats carried a crew of 5 or 6.
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Dolphin shoves off and prepares to exit the lock.
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Some 300 "commuter yachts" were built by various builders including Hacker and Chris Craft, many for Wall Street executives to be used for their commute to work from Long Island. Imagine stumbling out to your dock in your bathrobe early in the morning, boarding this boat and being greeted by your crew of 6. Breakfast and the morning paper would be waiting. Often when two or more of these boats met on the water, a race would ensue, and the New York Yacht Club would record the results. The King of Siam had one built which had a top speed of 50. The Yacht Dolphin was built by Consolidated Commuters on Long Island. There are only 4 left today, including her twin, the Mohican which was recently restored at a cost of 24,000 man-hours. The Yacht Dolphin, registered in Sorel, Quebec and is still owned by the same family as when she was built in 1929.
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http://www.classicboat.it/history/index.php?idTblCollezione=2 |
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