Here We Are: What Makes Us Human

53. Chad Durren [Wooden Boats]

• Joy Bork • Episode 53

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Boats. Watercraft. Speedy things over the surface of a body of water. Or sometimes not so speedy. Today's guest loves all types of water vessels. And he loves making them look like new again.
 
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Joy Bork:

Welcome to Here We Are. The podcast where we celebrate the beauty of being a nerd by learning about nerdy things from fellow nerds. I'm your host, Joy Blue. I met today's guest while working a show on the road. We had the same flight back home, so we rode to the airport together, had a nice leisurely breakfast, and next thing I know I'm learning all about one of Chad's passions. I found it utterly fascinating, and I hope you will too. So without further ado here's Chad Durren to talk with us all about his love of wooden boats.

Chad Durren:

I'm uh, Chad Durren. I'm just a computer graphics nerd that travels for a living. And does PowerPoint graphics and presentations for executive meetings, trade shows, conventions...

Joy Blue:

like a boss. Well, what do you wanna nerd out about today?

Chad Durren:

Boats. Yes.

Joy Blue:

A boat or boats?

Chad Durren:

All boats in general. Yes. Any boat owner, boat enthusiast likes all boats.

Joy Blue:

Okay. When did your interest in boats start?

Chad Durren:

I guess in the bathtub, when I was a kid.

Joy Blue:

Best place.

Chad Durren:

yes. Any kid that sits in the bathtub with their toys imagines themself floating in one of the toys that they're playing around with.

Joy Blue:

That's so true.

Chad Durren:

Yes. My kids all had little toy boats when they were kids and they always remember'em.

Joy Blue:

amazing.

Chad Durren:

Yeah, that's where your adventure starts on a small scale and it just gets bigger and bigger throughout life. Your toys get more expensive, gets more complex, but your boats. I tell people I could be in a, I could be in an inner tube on the water and be just as happy as I am in a million dollar yacht because it's water. I think that's what you're drawn to.

Joy Blue:

Do you remember some of your first experiences on the water?

Chad Durren:

Yes. And I would have to say it's probably fishing with my dad and my brother.

Joy Blue:

That's

Chad Durren:

I have a, an older brother and my father was a firm believer that you shouldn't really own a boat unless you could fish out of it.

Joy Blue:

Interesting.

Chad Durren:

we always had canoes or metal fishing boats. And we started small. We rode or we paddled to where we needed to fish. And not until probably when I was in grade school or junior high did I start imagining a boat with a motor. Because I was a lazy kid. It was a lot of work to paddle yourself across lake to catch one fish and then paddle back. And you were constantly seeing other boats that were whizzing by with motors. And we were like, why dad? Why couldn't that be us? When are we gonna get a motor on our boat?

Joy Blue:

So, when did you get a motor on your boat?

Chad Durren:

I would say shortly after that. My dad always had a motorboat, a fishing boat or something with an outboard engine on the back of it. And. It was used solely For the purpose of fishing. And I loved fishing as a kid. That was probably my first, aside from the bathtub, my next introduction into boating. There was always an attraction to the boats or envy of the boats that were, getting to the fishing spot quicker. I grew up on an inland lake, So I saw a lot of boats, but when you get to the age where you're kind of screwing around with your friends, you start looking at boats that are pulling tubes or skiers or something like that. And then your dreaming begins. But it wasn't until I bought my first boat, did I buy a boat that was fast enough to ski or tube behind. My father always felt like if you're gonna ski or you're gonna screw around in a boat, you can do it in somebody else's boat.

Joy Blue:

For better or

Chad Durren:

go find some friends with a boat, and any boat owner will tell you. It's always better to have a friend with a boat than it is to own a boat because of the work and the maintenance, but I like that part of it as well.

Joy Blue:

So one of the things that intrigued me in our passing conversations on the job was your love of wooden boats specifically. When did you first get your hands on a wooden boat and start playing with that world?

Chad Durren:

So that was in high school. And I remember it specifically, cuz my dad bought something that didn't have an outboard motor. You didn't have to pull a cord to start it. You got in and you'd turn the key, like an automobile.

Joy Blue:

who

Chad Durren:

Yeah, exactly. My dad bought a 1956 Chris craft. It was a 22 foot boat. And on our lake that we grew up in a that's a decent size boat, maybe too big for the lake that I grew up on. And, that's when I learned how to love wooden boats. The, just the sound of'em the smell of them. It's like a piece of antique furniture with an engine strapped on it. And my mother and my family are heavy into antiques and collectibles. So I grew up around the antiques and there's just something about the smell of a musty piece of wood. Or walking into a barn in the spring and smelling the wood or smelling, the gasoline from the engine. And yeah. I just I was attracted to it and it was wood is it's is maintenance. It's sanding, it's varnishing, it's staining. It's not unlike a piece of furniture. And because I was already doing that and helping my mother as a kid, trying to like, restore furniture, where my mom was always dragging home, something, she found on the side of the road and we would, repaint it or refinish it. So this was kind of the best of both worlds. I had a project to restore, work on, monkey around with, and then put it in the water and enjoy it.

Joy Blue:

Who supported you along that learning journey? Like your parents taught you how to refinish.

Chad Durren:

Yes. I would say my mom was probably the biggest supporter in the sense that she's the one that taught me how to sand and varnish and stain a piece of wood. And make it look you could, you can find a lot of things in the junk or at a flea market or yard sale or in an estate sale, and you can take it home and you can clean it up, put it in your home. She's the one that was kind of like the, do it yourselfer. My father didn't own a tool except for like a hammer and a, a bad screwdriver. He, the basics. And I was always getting in trouble for not returning them to where, the toolbox where he kept everything, but he was not very handy. My dad could screw in a light bulb and then it ends right there.

Joy Blue:

Well, Hey, got thing going for him.

Chad Durren:

Yes. If the toaster was broken, my father was looking for a new toaster. And I was looking for the screwdriver so I could take it apart or the hammer to bang on it. Yeah. so that started the love of tinkering with things. Why get a new one when you can just fix the one that you've got. Yeah. And it's just like anything else these days. Older things were built better. They were built with pride and with a little bit of love and a little bit of maintenance, they would last a long time. You can go to the store now and buy a toaster and within a couple years you need a new one cuz something that's plastic kind of broke.

Joy Blue:

Right. Totally. Okay. So backing up a little bit. For those of us in the world that might not be boating humans, can you auditorily describe what a Chris craft looks like.

Chad Durren:

When you're in one, there's a feeling that you've kind of stepped back in time and when you're on the lake driving one, you always get the waves. You get the thumbs up, you get the, Hey, I love your boat. I love the way it looks. To me, it's and it's not just the look, they all look great. Anything that's finished, to perfection varnished with a mirror shine or a Chrome that's polished, you can comb your hair in it, it's always attractive, but it's the sound, it's the experience. It's the fact that you can't just get in it like a car and turn the key. There's a process. You gotta pump this, you gotta prime this, you gotta turn this valve three quarters this direction, you gotta pump the gas, you gotta push the button. You gotta turn this, turn the key. They all have kind of like a startup sequence. That to me, that's just kind of the fun of it. Not everybody can hop in and want and go. And knowing how to do something, fly a plane, drive a forklift, anything that's different than just getting in. You always feel like there's just a little bit more of attachment to it,

Joy Blue:

Well, it's kind of like the analogy you just used of the old toaster. You can go in and look at it and you can do something about it, but the newer stuff, it's not analog anymore. So what I think I'm hearing you say is there's a beauty of the analog of the Chris craft,

Chad Durren:

Yes, they were not mass produced in any way.

Joy Blue:

are each of them hand built?

Chad Durren:

They're all hand built. Most of the wooden boat manufacturers were in the Midwest. Chris craft specifically was Algonac, which is just south of Detroit. So there were automobiles being built. Model T's and model A's were rolling off the assembly line. And Henry Ford invented the assembly line where, the boat or the car traveled through the manufacturing facility and everybody had one role. You're the guy that twists the screws. You're the guy that mounts the board. You're the guy that hammers the nail. And as it comes out the end, you have a completed car. And Chris craft was the first boat manufacturer to adopt Henry Ford's assembly line method of manufacturing.

Joy Blue:

Interesting. Mm-hmm

Chad Durren:

So it literally came in on pallets of wood, planks of wood that were hammered to the frame. And then finished and fitted with all of the hardware, the engine um, stained, and then varnished with like three coats of varnish. And then they left the factory. So a big day of production back then was, four boats rolling off the assembly line in one day. You know, you think of automobiles. Now, a model of car has, hundreds of thousands of just that one model. It's because hundreds are coming off the assembly line each day. Back then, big production run on a boat was maybe 1200. So they're rare. And when you see one, you're just you're privileged to see something that there are very few of'em. Some of'em didn't survive. That boat that I was talking about earlier that my, my father bought when I was in high school, we'd enjoyed it for two years. And then it fell into a state of disrepair where my dad trailered across the street and it sat underneath a big plastic tarp for years. And I thought to myself, that's a bit wasteful to enjoy something for a couple years and then just let it rot. And I wasn't gonna let it happen. So I started tinkering with it myself in high school, and refinishing it with the intention of getting it back on the water. So whenever you can take something that's broken or in a state of disrepair and put it back into circulation or back into use it's rewarding.

Joy Blue:

What's that process like with a wood boat? Like if it's rotted that just seems like going into a rabbit hole that you might never come out of.

Chad Durren:

Right. Well, I like the idea that there are projects that could be had on the cheap. My, that boat, my father, I think maybe purchased for$2,500. I spent like probably three years of my life restoring it. I brought it to Chicago and kept it in Belmont Harbor, downtown Chicago. But when I was ready to start my freelance business, I sold the boat. And I sold it for like 11 grand. So my father, spent maybe$2,500 on it originally, but I put three years of. blood, sweat, and tears into it with very minimal investment on that boat. Everything was there. It just kind of needed what we call in the restoration business, like a mop and glow. It was like it needed to be shined up. It needed to be loved. It needed to be painted. It needed to be recaulked. The engine needed some attention to be able to start.

Joy Blue:

let's break it down real quick. I'm familiar enough with the wood finishing process because I grew up in my dad's wood shop. And I have so much respect for the smell of cut wood and all the wood smell, things that you said, I'm like, yes, I'm right there with you. What is the process of starting to strip a boat back to its essence and build it back up?

Chad Durren:

I'll use my first personal boat, not the family boat that I used or restored personally, but was my first boat was a gift and it was sold to me for a dollar. The proof of a sale was a dollar agreement. And it was a wreck. The shape was there. The wood was there, but it was not gonna float. Its original bottom from 1952 was rotten out of it. It was a 1952 sportsman, an 18 foot boat that I still have and is still the, kind of like the, my favorite boat. I bought it for a dollar. But you take the hardware off of it. The Chrome bits, the hardware, the steering gear, the steering wheel, the gauges, the engine. Anything That's not wood. You strip off of the boat. It gets pushed aside. Parts that need to be repainted or polished to you,

Joy Blue:

do you document that somehow? Okay.

Chad Durren:

With photographs, thousands of photographs. I've never been big on the manual of disassembling something, or even like my computer, if I need to upgrade Ram or I need to do something, I'd usually just grab a screwdriver, take it apart, but I have to take photographs. So I know how to put it back together. There's nothing worse than putting something back together and finding leftover parts. Cause you know that Just

Joy Blue:

oops.

Chad Durren:

So you take a picture of it in the form of where it sits. And then as you disassemble it, you're taking pictures of how it goes back together. So, cause when I restored my first boat, I didn't reassemble it for another six years later. And by then you have, will have forgotten everything. So tons of photographs. You strip the hardware off, you strip the engine out of it, and then you tackle the wood. And if the wood is rotten, meaning that if there's no strength or oils left in the wood it doesn't make for very safe boat. And in the world of boat restoration, bottoms, anything that sat below the water line. Has a tendency to be dried out and weaker than the rest of the boat, because that's where it got most of the abuse. And that's where the water was. Uh, Wood is very porous. So it soaks up water in the season that it's in the water, it swells and in the off season, it dries and then it shrinks. So that's constantly moving and flowing and they're really sensitive to humidity and moisture. And over the years, too much swelling and shrinking, the wood gets tired. The oils leave the wood, and then you could literally poke your finger through wood. So you go around and you take an ice pick and you tap around the wood to see whether something is soft. And where it's soft, that piece of wood needs to be replaced. So they're fastened to the frame of the boat, which are the ribs and the keel. Planks are bent into shape or steam bent into shape and then screwed to those frames. So you have to pull those fasteners off, the screws off and size up a new piece of wood, fit it to the boat, fasten it to the boat, and then you move on to the next piece of wood. And on my first boat, the entire bottom was replaced. It was all brand new. And there are some modern techniques that they didn't use originally that the life of the boat is really extended.

Joy Blue:

Fascinating

Chad Durren:

When boats left the factory, back in the fifties, I mean, I mean, they've been built since the turn of the century, but mine specifically, as a fifties boat was only guaranteed to last six years. The bottom of the boat was intended to be replaced within, you know, after six years of use. And nowadays you wouldn't buy a boat if you knew they had to put a new bottom on it in six years, you'd want it for the rest of your life for at least 20 or 30 years.

Joy Blue:

So how does that play out then if you have old wood next to new wood, like, does that change the dynamic of it?

Chad Durren:

No. The hardest problem is trying to find there were certain species that wood used in the fifties Honduran mahogany and Philippine mahogany that were used. And there was a shortage of it essentially ran out of it in the sixties. We had chopped down all the trees in the rainforest to make boats and. Yes, it was the war. Landing craft and PT boats were all made out of wood and there was a demand just like any other in world war I, there was a demand, a shortage of metal. You know what I mean? In world war II, it was a shortage of tropical hardwoods. Mahoganies that are resistant to rot. So all of the boats that were built with Honduran mahogany Yeah. So you're using replacement wood, which isn't readily available. There's different species, there's Philippine and African mahogany. And you're laying up newer pieces of mahogany to old and staining them. Appear like they would've appeared in 1952.

Joy Blue:

Staining is just the color.

Chad Durren:

yes. And Chris craft uses a specific color. They call it Chris craft red, but there was a number that they gave it and they still manufacture that same color of Chris craft stain. Varnishes have developed over time. They last longer, they're more UV protectant. And that's just to encapsulate the wood and the grain and protect it from the elements. So once you've put your raw wood on there, you've stained it. You've matched the rest of the boat. Then you go to encapsulating it or protecting that wood underneath of it. So you're basically making a hard, hard varnish shell. Originally there was only three coats. It just it looked pretty, but it doesn't have the number of coats of varnish that you see on boats now. And that's just because you don't want to have to put varnish on your boat every year. Right now it's like an every three year or every six year type thing. But back then they used it until it fell apart and they replaced it. Or they took it, haul it to the dump, and or to the bonfire.

Joy Blue:

That's really sad.

Chad Durren:

Yeah.

Joy Blue:

What is varnish made of?

Chad Durren:

There used to be volatile chemicals but they're oils from exotic hardwoods that are harvested and added to the wood to give it a protective shell. There's artificial ones, spar varnishes that use basically they contained SAP.

Joy Blue:

Interesting.

Chad Durren:

And they harden over time. So you can put coat on coat over the top of them. But there's now newer coatings and varnishes that are polyurethanes or they're epoxies. Two part formulas that harden up where you're putting a hard shell. I prefer to use natural varnishes, which are made from the natural extracts of trees.

Joy Blue:

That's so interesting

Chad Durren:

yeah.

Joy Blue:

In my head varnish was more like analogous to like laminating a piece of paper,

Chad Durren:

Right.

Joy Blue:

but I didn't realize it was natural substances.

Chad Durren:

Yes. They were natural substance used to be in in furniture, repair shops, a jar that had they were laquer. laquer was made from Shelac that you added thinners to. But it was like a hard a hard chunk of like of sap that solvents and thinners were added to it so that you could paint it onto the brush, but old repair shops and antique repair shops always have a jar of this hard ball crystallized sap that they thin to put over to wood to protect it. And it's all natural is an all natural. Yeah. It is amazing. when you think about it. Most of the glue, most of the glues and epoxies that are made are extracted from plants.

Joy Blue:

I didn't know that either.

Chad Durren:

There's artificial. And then there's glues made from, trees and plants.

Joy Blue:

You're blowing my mind right now.

Chad Durren:

Yeah. I mean, people had to build things. I don't know when the first person to use tree sap to uh, to build something, but it goes back centuries.

Joy Blue:

Wow.

Chad Durren:

Saps and oils and Shellac and all sorts of things.

Joy Blue:

That's amazing. Okay. Getting back on board a little bit, you told me that you have redone two more boats since then.

Chad Durren:

I have,

Joy Blue:

Each of those kind of belongs to one of your kids. Right.

Chad Durren:

right?

Joy Blue:

And those are both Chris craft as well.

Chad Durren:

yes, they are. Well, no one of them in the middle was not a Chris craft. I've done three different materials. My father's boat from high school was a wooden boat restoration. My first one that I did myself was the 1952 Chris craft. And that one was wooden as well. but. I did an aluminum boat in between after I finished that one. I thought, oh, I'll never do this again. This was kind of one of those long painful, it wasn't painful for me, but over the course of three years, I was dumping money into a project That I didn't know that it was gonna be finished. And, you're kind of throwing money at it until it finally, the problem goes away. You put a, you have a list of items that need to be completed before you can Actually go boating in it. And it was It was a long journey. And I thought, you know what, I'll take a break from this for a while. But after like two years of not touching anything, I was like, I need another project because I really enjoyed, you know, my weekend and evening hours going out into the garage and working on it. So I did an aluminum boat, which was probably a little bit easier than the, I did that one in the course of months, not years. A piece of aluminum that got polished, to, with a mirror shine and an engine attached. And I had fun with that one. And I sold that one. And then I bought a fiberglass boat from the sixties. And in the mid sixties, Chris craft had kind of, it was in the process of phasing out of wood and introducing fiberglass, which was already being used by other manufacturers for big cruisers and saltwater boats. Saltwater is extremely damaging to, all boats in general, but specifically wood boats are hard to maintain in a salty environment.

Joy Blue:

Yeah,

Chad Durren:

So I bought a rare boat, a 1969, Chris craft commander super sport. it's a long name, but it was Chris craft's first recreational speedboat made out of fiberglass. And, it was overengineered. They didn't Know the strength of fiberglass at the time. So they made it like three quarters of inch thick, which was just insane. It's really heavy stuff. And the boat is built like a tank. So they put larger power plants in them cuz they needed to move across the water. So they, Chris craft used to use, Smaller six cylinder engines. And now they started strapping in Chevy small blocks in them with a lot of horsepower so that they would move faster. And it wasn't really just for the need for speed. It was because they were so big and they were so heavy, bulky. And that production run was about 85 or 90 boats. And I have one and I have, yes, they changed. they changed. the name of it and called it. something else in 70. so, they only made it for one year and one year they made like 90 of them. And then in 1970, they switched the name of the boat and changed a bunch of things about the power plant and the finishing of the interior boat. And then they think they made about 3000 of them. But. Yes. Yes. And that one was my son's boat. And I always joked with my friends that were like, how does your wife let you spend money on these boats? And I said, just name'em after your kids. And then your wife will be on board so,

Joy Blue:

okay. right. Totally on board. Yeah.

Chad Durren:

Yeah. She doesn't have her boat yet. And I guess I don't really have my boat yet. So there's still room for a couple more.

Joy Blue:

great. You have a lot of life to live yet.

Chad Durren:

Yes. A kid needs a boat. Right.

Joy Blue:

Well, I didn't have a boat. So

Chad Durren:

Did you ever, like when you were a kid float a stick down a mud puddle or a drain or something like that and think,

Joy Blue:

what is, well kind of.

Chad Durren:

yeah. You had a toy in the bathtub that

Joy Blue:

Yeah. I mean, we always joked that when my dad got a pickup truck, we're like, what are you gonna get a boat? We're not really water family,

Chad Durren:

Right. Yeah. I didn't become a pickup driver until I owned a boat because, because I think I tried to tow my 22 foot Chris craft on the Dan Ryan behind my Isuzu rodeo and realized that was not a, that was not a wise decision. So then my brother's like, you. need a truck.

Joy Blue:

There are so many words there. You tried to tow it on one of the busiest highways in Chicago,

Chad Durren:

Yes. I'm one of the smallest, most the weakest power trains of any SUV on the road at time. An Isuzu rodeo. There's a reason Isuzu rodeos on the road anymore. Fell apart or rusted. Yeah.

Joy Blue:

I'm really glad you made it this far, despite the Isuzu rodeo.

Chad Durren:

Yes. I've come a long way since that.

Joy Blue:

Chad, this has been so fun. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us about your love of boats. I learned so much today

Chad Durren:

Thanks for having me. I had a blast.

Joy Bork:

So Here We Are! I learned so much in today's interview about boats. Outside of being able to point at one and say, that's a boat, or being able to paddle a canoe or a kayak, I haven't had the chance to learn more about these pieces of art. And I am so grateful to have had the time to do that with Chad. Thank you so much for your time, Chad. If you've got a flavor of nerd that you want me to celebrate, I would love to hear all about it. Go ahead and email me at herewearethepodcast@gmail.com and tell me everything. And I really mean it. I love taking time to sit and make space for nerd to be celebrated. If you really liked this podcast and want to financially support what I'm doing, head on over to patreon.com, search for Here We Are the podcast and sign up for one of the many, many beautifully written support tiers that I'm really proud of. So until next time, don't forget the curiosity wins. And the world needs more nerds. Bye