Rebuilding a Pocket Cruiser

Champion 21

Amazing little Bullet-proof cabin cruiser. I found this charming little boat on a trailer in Northern AZ. It was determined that it was built in the early 60's. After 6 months of searching, and with the help of my new friends at "Small Craft Advisor" magazine, who featured the boat in their "mystery boat" section for a couple of issues, I found that it was built by Hank McCune in Long Beach CA, and called a "Champion 21". I don't know exactly many of these wonderful little boats were built, but I am guessing no more than 5 or 6 custom projects, and never made it into full production. McCune made a sister ship called the All-American, that has the same style top, but is 28'. I can find information on-line about those boats, and he only made about 10 of those, so the number of boats he made of this model must be pretty small. The boat measures 21'LOA, with a 7'6" beam. The draft is 4' with a cast iron bulbed keel. It has tons of "goodies" on it that tell me it was VERY well made...lots of custom bronze pieces, including a cast BRONZE rudder!

I am gutting the boat right down to it's bullet-proof hull, and totally rebuilding this beauty. I havn't come up with a name for her yet, but so far, just call her "bulleproof, because the hull is laid up so think and solid.....close to 2" think where the keelbolts come through the hull.

I am not refinishing the boat, but rebuilding...from the keel upward. I will try to keep this site updated with photos as I progress through some of the fun. You can see the progress photos on http://billsboat.webs.com . I hope you enjoy!