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The Story of Endless Summer
 The
keel on hull #1675 at the Egg Harbor Boat Company in Egg
Harbor, NJ, was laid in 1968. The 37' convertible, deluxe
Sedan was finished later that year and delivered to Warren
Hamilton. She had Palmer, M392s - 265 horsepower engines
and earned a 13.6" beam and a 36" draft. In 1976 the vessel
was sold to Rosemary and Edward Altiers of Providence,
RI, and in 1993, the vessel was sold again and was brought
to Winter Yacht Basin in Mantoloking, NJ. The new owner
proceeded to disassemble what was basically a sound boat
to do a complete cosmetic restoration. He used the Peel-Away
system to strip the hull of all its paint. Somewhere along
the life of this vessel the bottom had been fiberglassed,
unfortunately, in the aft sections of the bilge the fiberglass
had separated from the hull and as a result, water was
seeping between the old wood bottom and the fiber glass
covering. A dispute between the owner and the boat yard
ensued over several items and the owner ultimately abandoned
the boat after substantially dismantling her of all her
hardware and paint. In 1998 the boat yard came into possession
of the title and sold the vessel to Robert O'Brien of
Bay Head, NJ, who had owned another Egg Harbor from 1968,
hull #1669. In 1987 Mr. O'Brien renovated that boat known
today as "Berrien". Having sold that vessel five years
ago, he was anxious to find another sound, 37' Egg Harbor,
which is in many respects, the perfect boat for an owner/operator
to cruise in the waters of Barnegat Bay, the Chesapeake
Bay or indeed the inland waterway south to Florida.
In the spring of 1999, a crew of workers from Point Pleasant
Marine, a service facility in Point Pleasant, NJ, headed
by Thomas J. Bryne, went to work with O'Brien to strip
off the VV fiberglass covering on the bottom. This was
done meticulously with a Makita grinder, wherein the fiber
glass was cut into T sections and then pulled or pried
away from the original wood bottom. This process took
approximately two weeks, at which time every seam was
reefed out and re-caulked with cotton and then the cotton
was covered with 3M5200. 2,200 new 2-1/2" bronze screws
were used to refasten the entire bottom and five planks
were replaced including the chine guards. The boat which
was still at Winters Yacht Basin was then launched and
the engines, which had been dormant since November '93
started instantly and the vessel after a few days of soaking
was gingerly driven three miles to Point Pleasant Marine
where she was hauled and put into the workshop.
Five years of being out in the weather had caused the starboard rear corner to be badly rotted so it was rebuilt. We then removed the transom and covered it with new matched flitches of mahogany.
O'Brien had been buying Interlux products such as: under-coater and primer paints, some of which were originally developed for wooden vessels but which were no longer produced by the Interlux Company. He had three or four gallons of the proper product to slowly build up the raw wood on the hull and after four coats of primer and four coats of Z-spar 99 the hull looked as good as new. With her new transom and a fresh coat of blue bottom paint and a red boot stripe the vessel started to regain its former luster.
 The
front panels of the flying bridge were rotted and de-laminated
and were therefore replaced. The rear panels on the aft
cabin bulkhead had been sanded and varnished so much over
the 30 years that the veneer had been warn away, so those
rear panels were replaced with plywood ribbon mahogany.
The Jalosie type windows were replaced with dear beveled
safety glass, because this vessel was to receive a duel
system air conditioning system supplied by the Cruisair
Company and installed by Anchor Air Systems of Manalapan,
NJ. The carpenter, Rick Schultz, of Brick, NJ, redid the
flying bridge completely by taking the Formica covering
and replacing it over new marine plywood. The top panel
of the flying bridge was is varnished mahogany. The seat
boxes on either side of the center helm seat were rebuilt
and paint foreman, Tom Stritmatter, along with Fred Miranda
recommended that the decks be painted Angora Blue, which
was a popular color 30 years ago. This color is created
by mixing 6 ounces of Chris Craft Blue with 32 ounces
of Interlux Aluminum Gray #219, now out of production.
O'Brien scoured the Marine stores in the east coast of
NJ and came up with three quarts of Aluminum Gray, which
was enough to produce the excellent period color for the
decks. Z-spar 99 was used on the cabin sides and schooner
varnish was used to refurbish the main cabin interior.
Forty-two mechanical systems were gone over and where
necessary rebuilt, such as water pumps and started motors.
New hoses and belts were installed, and to everyone's
astonishment all systems except for the horn compressor
worked perfectly. All of the hardware was removed and
sent out for re-chroming where necessary and old Egg Harbor
catalogs were used to make sure that the restoration was
as authentic as possible.
"Endless Summer" is probably the finest 37 Egg Harbor
in existence and was the feature boat at the Tuckerton
Seaport First Annual Wooden Boat Festival on July 22,
2000 in Tuckerton, NJ. If anyone is interested in seeing
or discussing this vessel, please call Robert O'Brien.
(732) 295-2072.
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