Flash forward 25 years or so and I have a family of my own and a 17-ft Boston Whaler (every kid needs to grow up in a fog of engine cleaners and two-stroke in my opinion) but my heart still took note of every classic runabout that crossed my path. I proudly point out the classic lines to each of my kids and wife and waited for them to react with the appropriate ooh’s and ahh’s while my mind flashes back to my youth, two-stroke and Coppertone nostalgia.

And then the fateful day. While wasting time browsing Craigslist it seemed the heavens opened and there it was. A little worse for wear (okay, maybe more on the worse side…) but clearly sporting those classic lines that call to every boater. A 1971 Winner Marauder! The same hull as my beloved first love.

With little warning and a great deal of indulgence by way of my wife, the “Blue Boat” as she was fondly (if not unimaginably) monikered, was tucked into our makeshift boat shed next to the shop to patiently wait for the day we had time and funds to bring her back to her former glory.

Ten years later she still sits, stripped, yet patiently waiting for the next chapter. With her persistent presence she has managed to continually remind me of what a great boat she is and how great it would be to see boats of her style and class on the water again.

I want to make that happen.

Spend any time on the lake and you will see many of the new recreational boat designs that are large, ultra-modern -- to the point they look like spaceships. Many people are using these on smaller lakes. They require large tow vehicles, use lots of fuel, and damage shorelines with their large wakes.

The Winner is still a perfect fit for today’s lake adventures, being the right size for towing with a smaller vehicle and much easier to store in the off season. The hull design requires much less horsepower and therefore uses less fuel all while creating a much smaller wake that is less intimidating for young skiers and courteous to lake side property owners.

The classic lines harken back to the days of heading out for a morning fishing trip that inevitably turns into an afternoon waterskiing, knee boarding or tubing.

While our original boat was finally traded away, my heart was always with this design. A few years back I decided to find another with the full intent to bring it back to glory. As I began the process of planning this restoration the idea of reproducing this boat kept nagging me. I believe there is a place for this style of boat today; to make boating more accessible for the average family.

With the new molds we made from this hull, we plan to reproduce a limited number of boats being as true to the original design as possible as well as tossing in a few upgrades that we have found over the years add functionality, such as a ski tow bar and possibly two windshield options for variations on the look. Sleek with longer wings on the windshield, no bow rails and flush cleats for the sport look or the original style windshield, bow railings and cleats for the more traditional look.