 When
it became time for me to make my initial purchase of a classic
boat in 1991, I was completely blown away when I first saw
Big Sky. You could say it was love at first sight. I was
fortunate to know the owner, Alan Furth, and when he decided
to trim his collection, I was one of the first to get a
shot at buying the boats he had decided to let go. I had
carefully reviewed the list of available boats and was determined
to buy the Greavette Streamliner Canadienne, a Chris-Craft
Cobra, or one of three very special Gar Woods. But the first
boat I saw was Big Sky and it was all over.
I couldn’t then, and still can’t, imagine a
boat with more perfect lines than Big Sky. The boat simply
looks great to me from every angle and it even looked good
dusty and on a trailer in one of Alan’s barns that
first day. Although I would have bought Canadienne also
because of its beautiful lines, I was beaten to the punch
by another buyer while I fussed over Big Sky. The Cobra
and the Gar Woods weren’t even in the same league,
to my eye.
 Like
many people interested in classic wooden boats, I am also
a collector of classic auto-
mobiles. There are basically two types of boat and auto
collectors: those who collect on the basis of mechanical
design and performance, and those who collect on the basis
of emotion and visual design. Although I am an engineer
by training and greatly appreciate mechanical design excellence,
I definitely fall into the visual design or styling camp
of collecting.
To my eye, my two prized auto and boat possessions have
a lot in common. My favorite auto is my 1966 Jaguar E-Type
roadster. The Jaguar and Big Sky both have beautiful, sensual,
curving lines which evoke speed even when at rest. Neither
has a bad viewing angle. Both Big Sky and the Jaguar were
distinctly different from prevailing contemporary designs.
Both have power plants which were considered innovative
and effective at the time. And despite their 20 year difference
in age (1946 for Big Sky and 1966 for the Jag), both have
that ageless design quality which makes them attractive
to the full range of observers, from the refined tastes
of auto and boat aficionados to the visceral feelings of
the casual fan.
 Big
Sky’s appeal spans country lines as well, as the French
magazine Moteur Boat ran a several page feature including
a two page color picture of Big Sky entitled "Tahoe…
Le Lac Incroyable Aux Mille Runabouts En Bois Vernis!"
(October 1994) following the 1994 Tahoe Concours event.
Apparently my attraction to Stan Young’s design is
widely shared. Big Sky has won "People’s Choice"
at the Tahoe Concours four times, including three times
in a row (1994, 1996-1998), and came within a few votes
of winning the award six times in a row (runner up in 1993
and 1995). No other boat has won "People’s Choice"
more than twice, and interestingly, the only boats to win
twice were also once owned by Alan Furth. These "People’s
Choice" awards are especially satisfying since they
result from the votes of spectators at the events and demonstrate
the aesthetic appeal of Stan Young’s design. Big Sky
also won the Thunderbird Trophy at the Tahoe Concours for
"most unique design" in 1995.
The original prototype Stan-Craft torpedo-style runabout
was designed and built by Stanley Young in Seattle, Washington,
in 1943-1944. Stan Young had moved to Seattle from Polson,
Montana, in order to manage the boat-building operations
at Shain’s Boat Yard during World War II. While at
Shain’s, Stan supervised the construction of many
26’ through 65’ military vessels which proved
to be very valuable to the war effort.
 The
design and construction of the prototype torpedo was a welcome
creative outlet from the focused wartime effort, and Stan
hoped to produce more torpedoes after the war. The prototype
was powered by a Chris-Craft 6 cylinder K engine; most of
the hardware was Chris-Craft as well. Stan named the first
torpedo Joysid after his two children, daughter Joyce and
son Sydney.
Joysid was originally promised to Alton Pearce, a pharmacist
in Kalispell, Montana, whom Stan had known for many years.
However, in an interesting twist, Stan actually sold Joysid
to a car dealer in Seattle just before returning home to
Flathead Lake in Montana. With Joysid loaded with the family’s
possessions, Stan sheepishly called Alton Pearce to say
that the car dealer had made an offer he simply could not
refuse. Would Alton wait for Stan to build a new and improved
torpedo immediately upon his return to Montana? Alton reluctantly
agreed and the original torpedo remained in Washington.
With the war over and his work completed in Seattle, Stan
returned to Flathead Lake, setting up his boat-building
shop in Lakeside. Because of his work with the military
during the war, Stan had access to "strategic war materials"
which included mahogany and other hardwoods, materials many
other boat manufacturers simply could not get. In fact,
even Chris-Craft, which had certainly been very active in
providing boats for the war effort, was forced to offer
painted runabouts constructed of cedar and other substitutes
because of the severe shortage of mahogany and other hardwoods.
 Making
good on his promise to Alton Pearce, Stan immediately began
work on the second torpedo prototype. Stan elected to build
the second torpedo out of Honduran mahogany above the chines
and Alaskan cedar for the bottom and framing. He preferred
Honduran mahogany because of its finished beauty and because
the nature of the wood was well-suited to the complex, compound
contours characteristic of the torpedo design. Of course,
Honduran mahogany was very scarce and very expensive. Therefore,
the bottom and framing of the torpedo and many subsequent
Stan-Craft boats were constructed of Alaskan yellow cedar
because of its workability, durability, availability, and
cost.
Just as the war effort had made mahogany scarce, marine
engines were also difficulty to obtain. Stan decided to
fit the torpedo with a more powerful engine than the Chris-Craft
K engine he had installed in Joysid. Calling on his boat
racing connections, Stan pieced together a Gray Fireball
racing engine with a horsepower rating somewhere in the
160-190 range.
As with all Gray racing engines, the engine Stan put together
was custom designed to suit the power and space needs of
this particular boat. The intake and exhaust manifolds used
and carbs chosen ultimately determined the horsepower rating
for each individual engine. Gray considered all such engines
experimental. The Gray racing Fireball was one of the most
successful racing engines of the 1930s and ‘40s, establishing
many speed records and winning many races. The Fireball
was an excellent match with the sleek hull of the torpedo
and the boat’s performance was excellent by contemporary
standards.
 After
making several hull and general design improvements over
Joysid, Stan and his brother Merlin completed construction
of the torpedo in 1946 and designated the hull number as
#2101. The boat was delivered to Alton Pearce, who paid
$3,600 for it. Considering the complexity of design and
construction, this price seems a real bargain since it is
unlikely that a similar boat could be bought today for the
current dollar equivalent of about $37,500. It was also
a bargain compared to the 23 foot Custom Runabout from Chris-Craft
which listed for $4,290 with a 160hp Chris-Craft engine.
The strange looking name chosen by Pearce for the torpedo
was 77-II. His son Mike explained that this name was derived
from the telephone number of the Pearce Pharmacy in Kalispell,
which was simply 77. the family’s first boat, an outboard,
was named 77, so 77-II seemed only natural and was very
recognizable by most people on Flathead Lake. This second
Stan-Craft torpedo, production hull #2101, originally named
77-II, is today known as Big Sky.
As was the case for all boats built by Stan-Craft, Stan
did all the design and marine engineering work on Big Sky,
as well as much of the construction. Although most would
agree that Stan’s torpedo design was an aesthetic
triumph, the design is very complex and the boats were extremely
difficult to construct. The torpedo design demanded complicated
framing and even more complicated planking. The covering
boards have curvature reminiscent of Greavette boats from
Canada. Many of the planks in Big Sky have three dimensional
curves.
 Stan’s
son Syd remembers that, "when we were kids, the torpedo
was the wildest boat we could imagine. It’s without
a doubt the most complicated boat design I have ever seen.
The wood planks were bent and twisted to their limit."
This is high praise for father from son, especially considering
that Syd has followed in his father’s footsteps to
build hundreds of wooden boats himself. Syd’s respect
shows. "I never took my childhood for granted. I loved
the lake and inherited my father’s passion for boats.
I learned everything I could from him."
All of the hardware on Big Sky today, including the ski
tow, is original. The ski tow was designed by Stan and added
later as a special request from Alton Pearce. The windshield
was custom designed by Stan and produced by a small company
in Kalispell. Rather than choosing to use standard Chris-Craft
hardware as did many smaller manufacturers, Stan elected
to design and build most of the hardware for boats produced
by Stan-Craft.
Big Sky was originally powered by a 190 horsepower Gray
Fireball engine with three carburetors. When the original
engine wore out from heavy use, Pearce brought Big Sky back
to Stan to be refitted in 1962. Stan elected to replace
the original Fireball 6 with a more powerful and reliable
215 horsepower Interceptor V-8 engine. Stan equipped the
new engine with 2 low-profile, side-draft, Carter 2 barrel
carburetors, often referred to as "boat burners."
Stan also elected to change the location of the exhaust
pipes when the new engine was fitted. At this time, the
Pearces also had the covering boards bleached or painted
white, and the name 77-II was removed.
Big Sky was purchased from the Pearce family in 1976 by
Bill Redmond. In 1985, it was purchased by Alan Furth and
brought to Lake Tahoe for complete restoration by the Tahoe
Boat Company. My wife Paula and I, the current owners, purchased
Big Sky from Alan in 1991. Additional restoration and refinishing
work was done in 1993 by Tony Brown.
To celebrate its 50th year in 1996, Big Sky was returned
to Syd Young for a 50 year make-over. Syd and his team at
Stan-Craft in Post Falls, Idaho, restored Big Sky to its
original glory by reinstalling the original Gray Marine
Racing Fireball engine; returning the electrical system
to the original 6 volt operation; reinstalling full leather
upholstery and trim, including seat cushions with original
stuffing material; reinstalling all original hardware; and
making several cosmetic changes. The original Alaskan yellow
cedar bottom was replaced with mahogany.
We were very fortunate to be able to consult with Stan
Young, who originally designed and built Big Sky, his son
Syd, who worked on the boat as a teenager, and Michael Pearce,
the son of the original owner, who has very fond memories
of literally growing up with the boat.
We were also fortunate to have many original photographs
of Big Sky taken by Stan and the Pearce family to use as
historical references. We used this information and guidance
in restoring Big Sky.
Big Sky has been a wonderful source of pleasure for myself
and my family. Although I would hardly call it our everyday
boat, we do enjoy cruising on Lake Tahoe during July and
August when many other wooden boats are out as well. My
oldest daughter Brittany has water skied behind Big Sky,
an interesting experience given the unusual wake created
by the torpedo stern.
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