 In
the 1860s, prospectors discovered gold in Idaho and before
long, thousands of miners gravitated to this Rocky Mountain
state to strike it rich. Farmers, cattlemen and ranchers
soon followed. As the mines were depleted, many of the get-rich-quick
prospectors moved on. The farmers, cattlemen and ranchers
stayed in the region and built the state whose popular name
is the Gem State, reflecting its wealth in abundant resources
and opportunities. Among them are big bodies of water and
a large population of classic boats now in need of a restorer.
After the 1979-80 recession nearly devastated the pleasure
boat industry, an untapped market for vintage boat restorations
in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, led Syd Young to uproot his
second generation boating heritage from Flathead Lake, Montana,
to the 30 mile long northwest lake where he hung out a new
shingle called The Boat Shop.
 No
stranger to the classic hull, Syd had grown up in his father’s
shop building boats. In 1933, Stan Young, just out of college,
had decided to get into boat building. He, like Chris Smith
three years earlier, borrowed on his own identity and named
the new company Stan-Craft. Stan Young built utilities,
three cockpit runabouts and cabin cruisers. By the age of
10, Syd was working in the shop with his dad. At 11, he
built his first boat, a plywood rowboat with three seats.
His second project as a teenager was the construction of
an 18 1/2’ runabout.
"I never took my childhood for granted," says
Syd. "I loved the lake and inherited my father’s
passion for boats. I learned everything I could from him.
He was the master in my life."
After World War II, Stan-Craft, along with the rest of
the industry, saw sales burgeon. Two unique postwar Stan-Crafts
were the Beavertail, featuring a sloped transom and hydroplane-like
fin, and the Torpedo, a boat on which Stan took streamlining
to the nth degree.
 In
1966, a fire burned down Stan-Craft Marina and Boat Manufacturing.
After rebuilding the facilities, Stan Young, like the boating
industry in general, got out of traditionally built boats.
In 1970, Syd Young bought the business, along with another
boat building facility five miles away, and commenced construction
of a line of 40 mph 26’ twin screw fiberglass flying
bridge cruisers competitive with the likes of Tollycraft
and Uniflite. Searching for a model name with a salty ring
to it, Syd found himself thumbing through a dictionary and
Nor’Wester caught his eye. Over the next ten years,
Syd and his 25-man crew built some $5 million worth of boats
before the troubled economy of 1980 depressed sales and
forced him to sell the business. Disheartened after spending
a decade building up the business, Syd is glad to be out
of the cyclical industry of full-time boat manufacturing,
but he concedes experience, "I learned a lot of hard
lessons in the 70s."
After moving to Post Falls, Idaho, to assume supervisory
duties at Unitec, Syd left that company in 1983 to start
The Boat Shop doing fiberglass and wood repairs. "I
really wondered when I opened the doors if I had made a
mistake," Syd said of his shop. "The response
has been terrific." One of his first restorations trucked
in from Montana was the 18 1/2’ boat Syd built as
a teenager. In addition to doing warranty work for other
marinas, Syd’s shop offers the diversity of building
and repairing in wood or fiberglass.
 With
a full service facility, Syd was without a boat of his own.
He built facsimilies of three designs that most impressed
him as a teenager – the Beavertail, Torpedo, and a
three cockpit named Arrow – boats his father had originally
built.
The 17’ Beavertail was a 750 hour project by Syd’s
head wood worker, Dave Kaschmitter. Nearby, Syd was laying
up the hull of the Torpedo. "When we were kids, the
torpedo was the wildest boat we could imagine," Syd
recalled of the six passenger, 45 mph speedboat. "It’s
without a doubt the most complicated boat design I have
ever seen. There are triple compound bends in some of those
boards."
 With
new boats and re-planked old boats along with scaled-back
production of Nor’Wester 260s representing the capabilities
of Syd and his crew to the new community, it didn’t
take long to make an impression. "When we opened shop,
it didn’t take long for people to start dragging them
out from everywhere," said Syd of the boats that came
in in any condition. "If the boats come in as firewood,
we can recreate it."
One of Syd’s own basket cases was his lat 40s 33’
enclosed cabin cruiser that he took down to the wood, replacing
most of the forward bottom. Used as an overnighter on the
185 square mile Coeur d’Alene Lake, Syd calls his
four sleeper their cabin on the lake. He sees the boat creating
as much interest in cruisers as his Torpedo and beavertail
did in developing the area’s runabout market.
In the first half of 1989, The Boat Shop did a staggering
100 complete restorations. "They were just waiting
for someone to come along," says Syd of his northwestern
corner of Idaho. "Boats come from all over." Six
years after heading westward to the Gem State, it appears
that Syd Young has struck gold.
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