Buddy Has Long Les Cheneaux History
By Amy Polk

Master boat craftsman Jim Mertaugh of Hessel screws in newly chromed hardware around the hatch on the deck of Buddy.

Buddy, one of the three feature boats in the 2006 Les Cheneaux Antique Wooden Boat Show and Festival of Arts Saturday, August 12, has a long history in the Les Cheneaux Islands, where she was known as the "fastest boat in the Snows," said current owner Jim Mertaugh of Hessel. She has spanned a lifetime of racing excitement.

Mr. Mertaugh was reunited with the 1930 Chris Craft after a long search. Three years ago, he got a call from Ron Reyers of Spring Lake, near Holland.

"He said if he could return the boat to where it started from , he'd be very happy," Mr. Mertaugh said. "I had been looking for that boat for years, trying to track it down, and had just about given up."

Buddy was formerly known as Betty M., named by the Miller family of the Les Cheneaux Club on Marquette Island. They ordered the 26-foot runabout through Mr. Mertaugh's father, Eugene, who held the first Chris Craft franchise and sold an estimated 500 boats for the manufacturer from 1923 to 1972. His franchise extended north from Bay City and into Canada.

Buddy was named for one of its former owners, Bud Haywood, a summer resident of the Les Cheneaux Islands, where he raced the vessel once owned by the Chris Smith family.

"Mr. Miller wanted the fastest boat in the Snows, and that was the order given to my dad," Jim Mertaugh said. "During the 1930s, speed was a really big deal to people. It was the time when Ford developed the V-8 and was a time when people where becoming very speed conscious. They were always looking for the fastest boat or the fastest car."

The fastest boat turned out to belong to Chris Smith, owner of Chris Craft in Algonac, who raced it on the St. Claire River. It had a high-compression engine and a special bottom paint that helped the boat achieve speeds of 60 miles per hour, fast even by today's standards.

Like many of the boats brought north by Gene Mertaugh, Betty M. was driven up Lake Huron from Algonac to Hessel.

"It was usually about a 12-hour trip," Mr. Mertaugh said. "My dad brought probably 30 to 40 boats up here that way. The only other way was to bring them up by train to St. Ignace, and he said it was harder to bring them up that way, get them off the car, and launch them back into the water. He preferred to drive them."

The Millers enjoyed Betty M. through 1939, when she was traded back to Mr. Mertaugh for a 22foot Chris Craft called Smiley, which remains on Marquette Island and is now owned by Joseph Carr of the Les Cheneaux Club.

World War II put a stop to pleasure boating, and Betty M. sat unused through 1945.

"There was no gas available for boating, so there was no pleasure boating as we know it at the time," Mr. Mertaugh said.

At the end of the war, Bud Haywood and his family bought the boat and renamed it Buddy. The vessel was docked at the former family cottage, "Journey's End," on Big LaSalle Island and was used from 1945 through the 1960s, including about 20 years of racing, Mr. Mertaugh said.

"She was raced for so many years, people knew the boat very well around the islands," he added. "She was known for her speed."

Buddy appeared in many old photographs of boat races in the area, and she participated in the former Labor Day races held annually in Hessel Bay. The races were one of the highlights of summer in Les Cheneaux and featured sailboat, Chris Craft, outboard, and kids boat races, among other activities. The races were started after World War II, continued for about 20 years, Mr. Mertaugh said, "and were a very festive time in the Les Cheneaux Islands."

Those boat racing days are long gone, but Dick Tobin of Hessel is trying to rejuvenate that sense of friendly competition through an annual Ned Fenlon International Trade Race between Chris Craft runabouts he launched three years ago. The race is primarily between classic, Chris Craft triple cockpits like Buddy, which is from the same era as Mr. Tobin's Whiskey Runner.

Eventually, Buddy was sold by the Haywoods to Ron Reyers, left the Les Cheneaux Islands for a brief period, and returned when Mr. Mertaugh bought it.

Buddy has been completely restored to top condition, with all new Honduras mahogany, except on the interior panels, which are still original. She is powered by a 1970s vintage, 330 horsepower, Chrysler 440 engine, which Mr. Mertaugh installed to provide more dependable power. The vessel's original engine was Chris Craft's own V-8, a 275 horsepower, A120.

She has an upswept deck and was completely re-upholstered with dark, green leather. Her original hardware was re-chromed.

During restoration, a friend and collector, Steve Vogelzang of Holland, suggested the boat needed a spotlight.

"He told me he had one, and as a token of his friendship, he would give it to me," Mr. Mertaugh said. "I thought that was a really special thing to do, and he couldn't have given me anything I wanted more."

A year later, Mr. Vogelzang sent a clock, making the boat pretty much perfect in Mr. Mertaugh's eyes.

"They're both really special, and really set the boat off," he added.

Buddy will be used for pleasure by Mr. Mertaugh, when he's not in the shop helping his sons, Tom and Dan, with the family business, Classic and Antique Boats Ltd. of Hessel.

"It's been a way of life for them, for me, all our lives," Mr. Mertaugh said. "It's all we've ever done. Tom and Dan never had to look for something to do when they got off the school bus. They just came to the shop. They are both, truly experts at what they do and will continue to do the quality work that we've been known for, for generations."

Mr. Mertaugh has two other children, Amy and Erin, who also live in the Les Cheneaux Islands, and one granddaughter, Megan.