HOWB 045 – Si Miller, 1965 Century Wooden Ski Boat; Bill Weaver, PT658 Wooden Patrol Torpedo Boat Interviews - 07.26.12

Ten days ago, I attended the Annual Maritime Heritage Festival in St. Helens Oregon. It was a really fun festival with a wide range of traditional yachts, small craft, vintage cruisers, the Steamboat Portland, a wooden PT Boat 658, and other fun boats. If you can make it to the show next year, put it on your calendar – it is a great event. I recorded a total of 6 interviews, 2 of which are included in this episode.

The first interview is with Si Miller of Portland, OR. Si bought at new wooden ski boat in 1965 and he still has it to this day – 1965 Century Resorter wooden beauty. She is in immaculate condition and Si recently spent 50 days placing 50 coats of varnish on her and sanding between each coat. Is Si’s own words – “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t love every minute of it!”.

The second interview is with Bill Weaver, crew member of the PT Boat 658 wooden torpedo patrol boat. She is ’78 long, has three 2,850 hp Packard V-12’s with a top speed of 55 knots. She is the only fully restored and functioning on-the-water PT boat in the world. The boat is a living museum and has thousands of visitors each year at her home port in Portland, OR. She is one awesome looking fighting machine complete with torpedoes and 50 caliber machine guns.