ON BELAY
Photos by Bill Widrig
ON BELAY, a 1935-designed 18' Chris-Craft Deluxe Utility, was built by Bill Widrig of Ballston Spa, New York, over a 16-year period. Bill worked from original lines and offsets that he obtained from The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia. The frame is white oak, and the planking is African mahogany. The bottom, topsides, and decks have an inner skin of ⅛" okoume plywood beneath an outer layer of ½"-thick mahogany planking.
Bill found a full description of the building technique in How to Restore Your Wooden Runabout by Don Danenberg. All the deck fittings are rechromed original Chris-Craft parts, and the engine is a 3.0L MerCruiser with a ZF Hurth 45A transmission. Bill launched ON BELAY in July 2023 and is using her on Upper Chateaugay Lake in Adirondack Park, New York.