2022 Showcase

A Barrel-Back is a boat with the transom and aft deck shaped in a half circle. John Hacker was the first to use this design in a 33 ft. runabout built for Henry Ford in 1924. In the mid 1930ʼs the Port Carling Boat Co. in Ontario used this design in some of their Seabirds. The Barrel-Back design came to be known as “Streamlining” and was used by both Gar Wood and Chris-Craft in the late 1930ʼs; and in 1941 Century Sea Maids were designed with a rounded transom. Chris-Craft started using the Barrel Stern design with their 16 ft Special RaceBoat in 1937. They eventually used it on 17, 19, 23, and very few 27 ft runabouts from 1937 through 1942. Chris-Craft built a total of 1054 runabouts using this design. In 1942 most U.S. motorboat builders converted to 100% war production. After WW ll ended the design was considered too expensive to build. There currently is one boat builder, Fish Bros. Marine Service, of Queensbury, NY, that builds Chris-Craft replicas. 

If you own a Barrel-Back, please consider bringing it to the 44th Annual Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Wooden Boat Show on 

Saturday August 13, 2022.