1936 GarWood 22 "Pouff"

There is a 1936 GarWood 22 named Pouff that has enjoyed an amazing history and endured a procession of owners. Tony Mollica reports that Pouff is one of only three GarWood 22’s, which were built during 1936. Mollica’s book states that the original price was only $3,475. This particular runabout has strong roots in the Thousand Islands, but she has also lived in Texas and Louisiana. Her owners have been captains of industry, and the boat was also under the control of a future US president. If Pouff could speak and share the past 90 years of her cruises, picnics, and conversations on board, it would be a bestseller. This article attempts to trace Pouff’s succession of owners and their efforts to restore and maintain this historic GarWood.

This GarWood’s first owner was Alfred Lee, who was a partner in Fitzgerald & Lee – boat builders in Alexandria Bay, NY. The boat may have been a stock boat for the company. The Arnot family of Summerland Island were her next owners. They named the GarWood 22 Clue. The family enjoyed Clue for a number of years, according to Bowie Arnot. Nathaniel Arnot, the family patriarch, eventually sold the GarWood to Charles Kahr of Little Ironsides Island in 1957. Mr. Kahr owned Mr. Arnot’s company in New York City. The Kahr family renamed the 22 GarWood Dot, which was short for Dorothy Kahr.

After a few years of enjoying the GarWood, the Kahrs decided to sell Dot to A. Ray Smith of Estralita cottage, on Fairyland Island. Mr. Smith owned a major dredging company named Tecon Construction Co., which had the contract to build and dredge parts of the St. Lawrence Seaway. So, Ray was a very successful man of means. The Smith family renamed the GarWood Pouff, and that name has been retained for the balance of the runabout’s life. Bowie Arnot and his brother Randy spent lots of time at Estralita with Ray Smith’s two sons and two daughters. Bowie Arnot has many stories about their summers with the Smith family and their woodies.

The George Fuller Company purchased Smith’s Tecon Construction, and also became the owner of Estralita. Not long after, a Texas businessman Trammel Crow purchased the construction business, as well as the Estralita cottage, which included the GarWood Pouff. Trammel Crow’s business partner, Cloyce Box, was also a co-owner, and one of Box’s sons took a great interest in wooden boats. Besides Pouff, they owned other wooden boats, such as a Coronado named St. Kits and a sedan named The Texan. The latter is a lovely Hutchinson sedan with a distinctive white roof that we see at local boat shows.

Cloyce Box was known to be a larger-than-life Texan who was a former NFL player, a businessman, and the owner of “Southfork,” the ranch where the TV series “Dallas” was shot. He operated several companies, and died in 1993 at the age of 70.

After a period, Crow and Box sold their Thousand Islands cottage and returned to their business interests in Tulsa and Dallas, but they kept Pouff. They took the GarWood to Metarie, LA, for a refit. The original engine had already been replaced by Rogers Marine in Alexandria Bay, and the Jancke Shipyard installed a Nordberg flathead motor. Jancke was owned by Zapata Petroleum Company, which was co-founded by George Herbert Walker Bush, who went on to become the 41st president of the US. The marine company did a rather poor job of work on Pouff, taking a rotary sander to the mahogany decks, as well as painting the covering boards white. The boat was barely kept afloat with a bilge pump at a boathouse on Lake Dallas.

At this point, Trammel Crow gave Pouff to his friend and colleague David Taylor, of Grindstone Island and Tequesta, FL. David realized that Pouff needed a complete restoration and brought the GarWood back to the River. Ron Waterson of Fishers Landing agreed to take on the project. Ron is a family friend of David Taylor’s, and has deep roots on the River. Ron is the great grandson of Alfred Lee – the original owner of the GarWood. Tony Mollica and Bob Cox were enlisted to help direct the restoration. The team’s goal was to not work toward a “concours showboat,” but rather to make her functional and lovely. Her new bottom is finished in the West System.

The block on the Nordberg flathead engine was cracked, so it was scrapped. David Taylor and his team had a 356 cc Chevrolet/Mercruiser V-8, producing 285 hp, installed in Pouff. The engine is naturally aspirated. The refit included a new redesigned dashboard, which the Turcotte’s of Brant Lake copied on newer GarWoods. The throttle on the steering wheel was removed and replaced with an aircraft-style push/pull throttle. A dual exhaust system was installed, and the original electrical design was replaced with a modern 12-volt system. And the Naugahyde upholstery was replaced with genuine leather, using hides found in Oklahoma. Lastly, all of the deck hardware was re-chromed. Pouff was now looking like new.

Today, Harlan Crow, Trammel’s son and head of the large construction/real estate company, has a renewed interest in Pouff. Harlan Crow, who has been in the headlines of recent regarding his close friendship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginnie, owns a wonderful lodge in the Adirondacks. This lodge, named Camp Topridge, is on Upper St. Regis Lake and once was the home of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Harlan Crow asked David Taylor to sell Pouff back to him so that she could be enjoyed at Topridge. A price was agreed, and Ron Waterson made Pouff ready for transport to the Adirondacks.

This article includes photos of Pouff at Ron Waterson’s shop in Fishers Landing, NY, as well as a few in the water from David Taylor. I am confident that Harlan is delighted to have his father's former boat housed at his summer retreat. Pouff will now enter into a new chapter of her long and interesting life. I wish to thank David Taylor of Grindstone Island and Bowie Arnot of Summerland Island for their input into this article.

By Rick Casali

Rick Casali is a resident of Wellesley Island. During his youth, from 1947 to 1976, his parents had a cottage on Grindstone Island named The Orchards. Rick now splits his time between Stuart, FL, and the River. He worked for Columbia Gas System for 29 years and ran their Washington, DC office. Then in 2000, he started brokering boats and yachts, and he continues as a broker with North Point Yacht Sales. Rick and his wife Anne cruise the River in a recently purchased 1968 Chris Craft 31 Commander, which they named "Foxtrot". They also have the Seaway 24 named "Miss Annie".

Be sure to see more of Rick Casali's tributes and reviews. He has now written 26 articles for TI Life, and they are not only interesting but also provides an important historical review of River life.

Comments:

Nice article, well written. The name Tramell Crow rings a bell but I can't place it. Was he a businessman in Houston market place?. If so he must have been either in the HPI market or construction market of some kind.. . Has this boat ever seen salt water or even brackish? Dick Hoffman