“Henry is starting his own class and Jack is working on a new futuristic design.” Mike Ripp
4LIYC Renegader Mike Ripp is keeping his boys, Henry and Jack, busy in the shop designing iceboats this summer. It’s never too early to start thinking ice!
Here’s another intriguing discovery shared by Henry Bossett. At the dawn of the age of composites, Popular Mechanics suggested creating iceboat hulls from repurposed jettisoned plastic Naval fuel tank shells.
UPDATE: Here’s a note from someone who actually tried this.
After seeing your last post about discarded fiberglass fuel tanks, I thought I would send you two pictures of attempt by two knuckleheads putting together five pieces of the discarded Navy tanks for soft water version of our boat, later to be converted for use on the ice. The plan was by two seniors in high school to launch our dream boat in Northbrook IL. To then travel down the Mississippi to New Orleans and on return, to add runner plank, mast, runners and sail for our great venture in to ice sailing. Alas, we only made our river trip as far as Wheeling, IL before our spring trip became the second version of the Titanic! All former plans canceled.
Retired Iceboater
Ed Evans
Nite 433 & 72
An unusual iceboat from the Richard Lichtfeld collection is up for auction on a website. Many years ago, Richard purchased the CRAWFISH from the Eibisch brothers in Columbus, WI. They presumably built the boat using plans published in a DIY magazine, potentially Modern Mechanics, in the 1930s or 1940s. Download the plans in a pdf file. The auction ends on July 19, 2023.
Lake Winnebago ice sailor Andy Gratton checks in with his version of an iceboat board game:
I was doing some catching up tonight and saw the nice iceboat game from Michael Young. That reminded me of the game my two kids and I used to play way b
ack when they were in grade school. I dug it out and included some pictures. We used markers and a spinner from another game. I would have made 3D-printed stern steerers for markers, but 3D printing was barely known. Everything on the game happened in the 1992 regatta at Oshkosh – Rosemary capsized, Todd Haines was thrown from Mary B, Country Woman broke the halyard, I think John Davis got stuck in a snowdrift, there was an ice shanty on the course, and more than one boat spun out. This isn’t nearly as fancy as the new game, but it’s fun for small kids. Print it off and play it if you want. Three laps!
Read Andy Gratton’s classic story, The Day The ROSEMARY Tipped Over.”
1940 Harley-Davidson Propeller-Driven Ice Boat that will be auctioned in September 2023.
Wisconsin is famous for iceboating and for being the birthplace of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. A rare iceboat powered by a 1918 Harley-Davidson J model 61/24 HP V-Twin engine is going up for auction in September. The Hudson River Ice Yacht Preservation Trust in New York is interested in acquiring this sled for its collection. The iceboat was likely constructed by someone using plans available in Popular Mechanics magazine or a similar source.
Backyard mechanics in the 1930s also used Harley engines in the Mead Ice Yacht Company’s ice sled kits, like the one below, from an article about rare Harley artifacts and ideas “that didn’t stick.”
Tip of the Helmet: Bob Wills, President of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Preservation Trust
Mead Motor-Sled Kit with Harley Engine
National Iceboat Authority Web Page
Location: In person at the Elks Lodge 711 Jenifer St, Madison, WI 53703
Time: 6:30 PM
YOU ARE SKIPPER NUMBER
TO ROUND THE MARK SINCE NOVEMBER 1999.
