A Love for His Craft : O.C. Restorer Puts Neglected Wooden Boats Back in Shipshape

Scott Mead was paid the ultimate nautical compliment.

“There is nothing better,” said the Pasadena marketing director, “than to be cruising in an old wooden boat and have someone in a hot-rod boat pull up beside you and give you the thumbs-up. You know you have something special.”

The something special in this case is one of the last of the all-wood classic speedboats ever built, a 1964 Chris Craft restored to showroom condition by a Huntington Beach craftsman.

Bernard (Gus) Guscott spent almost two months screwing in Philippine mahogany planks, sanding and varnishing Mead’s 18-foot SuperSport. When he was finished, the boat was picked best of show in its category at an Antique and Classic Boat Society competition.

Guscott has had other award winners as well. He is one of the few carpenters who specialize in restoring classic mahogany speedboats--the Chris Crafts and Gar Woods that ruled the waves until fiberglass and plastics hailed the supposed age of the maintenance-free boat in the late 1960s.

Some of the old runabouts fell into such disfavor that they reportedly would be set ablaze at lakeside parties. But when brought back to their varnished, glistening original state, the boats have attracted a new following.

“The interest just keeps on growing,” said Al Schinnerer, a founder of the Southern California society that has swelled from nine to 150 members in the past 13 years. And Schinnerer, who operates a Long Beach antique boat part supply house, said that Guscott is the “only guy I know of” who has been able to make a living locally in restoration.

Guscott, a 38-year-old Welshman, restores about nine boats a year at his B&G; Custom Woodworking, a small garage-like shop in an industrial complex. No two boats are the same, but those in battered hulk condition can cost from $20,000 to $25,000 to fully redo.

The transformation from scow to showboat requires a tremendous amount of labor. Guscott or his assistant often have to replace 1,200 screws in the hull alone with rust-proof models. Most of the work needs to be done by hand, for a single slip of a motorized screwdriver can ruin an otherwise flawless plank.

Achieving a mirror-like finish requires 10 to 12 coats of varnish, each hand-brushed after the dust has had a few days to settle.

But new ones are always coming in as collectors scour back yards or barns to find neglected old craft that have the potential for a new life. Some are so weather-beaten that their components aren’t good for much more than serving as patterns on which to make new ones. In those cases, the keel is about the only original part that remains.

“I appreciate these boats,” Guscott said. “It’s nice to do a good job and see people on them on the water having a good time.”

It’s been a good time for Guscott as well, considering the pleasure he takes in his work compared to the repetitive routine of cabinetmaking.

His new life as a boat restorer began one day when he was making cabinets and met a man who needed some work on a couple of mahogany planks. The fellow explained that he worked on the old boats, but was moving to Seattle.

Calling upon his skills as cabinetmaker who had grown up around boats in Wales, Guscott realized he could fill the void, and he quickly established his name as one of the few restorers in the area.

Six years later, Guscott said he expects to stay with boats, but not expand. “I don’t want to get too big that it affects the quality,” he said.

Mead appreciates the sentiment. Though his boat is up for sale at $18,500 because he needs the money for a down payment on a house, Mead said Guscott turned his Chris Craft from “a slipshod piece-together derelict boat to a beautiful show-winning vessel.”

He added, “When it comes to boat restoration, Gus is a god.”