Memorial Tribute to Warren Pateman

[smoothmove]

I hope I'm not out of line here suggesting a view at a Chris Craft oriented site, but there is a memorial tribute running on the commanderclub website that would be of great interest to anyone who has ever struggled to bring a boat back from near death. The man responsible - Warren Pateman, must have been quite a guy. The pictures speak for themselves. Awesome job.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/424840/message/1150922841/The+demolition+phase

 

[SeaEric]

Quite a transformation!

 

[Hows Hatt]

That is really a great project and quite a labor of love! He certainly had the passion for his boat most of us have for ours.

 

[Capt K]

WOW!

Capt K

 

[jim rosenthal]

That is astonishing. He must have loved that boat a lot to go to all that trouble. He looks happy running her, God bless him. We should all have such a memorial.

 

[dmor1284]

I hope I'm not out of line here suggesting a view at a Chris Craft oriented site, but there is a memorial tribute running on the commanderclub website that would be of great interest to anyone who has ever struggled to bring a boat back from near death. The man responsible - Warren Pateman, must have been quite a guy. The pictures speak for themselves. Awesome job.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/424840/message/1150922841/The+demolition+phase

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yes, Warren was a special person. The day Bambi was launched, he was informed he had the big C. He waged a valiant fight for quite a while, but unlike Commanders (& Hatteri), the human body isn't as responsive to repair/rebuilding in some cases. All of Warren's many friends around the world will miss him, and especially his positive attitude.
The reason for this post, however, is to correct a mistake in the above post. The link listed is NOT the Commander Club website, rather a semi-competing forum started by one of our members. There's a lot of interesting stuff here, but it's primarily the work of the forum moderator and about 10 regular contributors. If you want to see the real McCoy, go to http://www.commanderclub.com
Here is where the collective wisdom of over 700 registered members is manifested, along with our mail list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cccommander/
==========================================
As an interesting sidenote, how many of you realize the Commander group & Hatteras group have a common heritage? Well we do --- Dick Avery of Delray Beach, FL designed most of the Commanders that followed the original 38 Express cruiser introduced in 1964. After he left Chris Craft, he joined Hatteras and his first boat for them was the 32 Sport Fisherman. One of my longtime friends & dockmates bought one of these boats new, 1984 I think. I've been doing the major maintenance on this boat since then, and it's a fine machine. If I can't have a Chris Commander, I'll settle for a Hatteras
Running for cover now!!

Dick Morland
Founding Member
Chris Craft Commander Club

 

[evenkeel41]

Another common thread between Hatteras and Chris Craft...

I own a 1969 41' Hatteras with 427 Chris Craft engines. So I monitor both sites and there is very good information on both forum boards.

What Warren had was a love for his boat and boating, as we all do.

 

[67hat34c]

would those be chris craft crusader engines that later became crusader? if so then many gasers has this lineage

 

[jim rosenthal]

I realize this isn't marine related, and I'll take the blame for that, but....anyone who has CC 427s which are Ford blocks should keep the hot rod and replicar market firmly in mind if they decide to remove them and repower with diesels. Not all 427s are the sought-after "side-oiler" model, but vintage Ford V8 blocks are worth something (even if they turn backwards they can be made to rotate CCW as they are supposed to) and they aren't making any more old engines. If you are in this position, PM me and I can make some suggestions as to how to sell them. And, no I am not looking for them myself.

 

[evenkeel41]

These are the 427 Ford engines, but not the side-oiler version. Parts are very difficult to come by if I'd ever need a rebuild, but parts are out there. That's were the Chris Craft Commander Club comes in handy.

I understand that Ford is again making the 427 blocks, but I have few details other then that.

I would love to someday repower with diesels, but the cost casts a black cloud over that.

When I first bought my boat, I didn't realize that Hatteras used mostly diesels. I guess that's why I got mine for a good price. Oh well, I love the boat and she runs great.