Steelcraft

[Fargo]

Descant how can you remember Floyd Miller? I think he passed away 1964. As a kid we lived a few houses near him. I’m still good friends with his daughter. In the early 1970s I owned a Steel Craft. I paid $100 for it because it wouldn’t float. Had the bottom welded and good to go.

[Descant]

Around 1958-59 Endicott Estates started selling shorefront on the south side of Welch Island. My father and two friends each bought two lots and Floyd Miller built three breakwaters/dock systems in 1959-60 for them. As I recall, Floyd live in the cove just north of the Governor's Island bridge and stored the barge in front of the house in the winter. Wentworth Cove? I don't have a chart handy. Am I right that Floyd was an aircraft mechanic for Bob Fogg at the Weirs seaplane base? My father was an airline pilot (Colonial, now American) until 1935. There weren't many aviators in those days, so they all knew each other, if only by reputation.

Back to Steelcraft. I recall once Floyd hit something; the barge was at our house. He brought the boat over, picked it up by the transom with the crane and proceeded to whack away at the shaft and strut with a sledge hammer. Back in the water and off he went. Tough boats.

[Fargo]

Floyd Miller was a pilot in the day and had some fame flying around the lake. He was a captain maybe in the Air Force. His daughter is a couple years older than me and vary capable. When she was 13 Floyd would let us use the steel craft on weekends. He lived in Wentworth Cove.

[Descant]

Cool info. Nothing to do with Steelcraft, but we should get together offline. My daughter and I are both pilots too.

[Fargo]

There’s a Steelcraft Boat Group on Facebook that’s pretty interesting with people restoring these boats. Some have made their way to Europe. The photo in this forum is the 26 ft Day Cruiser model, I had owned the 26 ft Sedan like Floyd’s. Years ago the Margate owned a Steelcraft that is being fully restored by the new owner. Maybe we’ll see it on the lake this summer.