Ever Heard of Revel Craft

Discussion in 'Powerboats' started by drewpster, May 18, 2006.

  1. scott99163
    Joined: Sep 2009
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    Location: Sequim WA.

    scott99163 New Member

    I just bought a 40 footer off ebay. are there really that few revel crafts out there?
     
  2. jimthepilot
    Joined: Jul 2009
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    Location: McKinney, Texas USA

    jimthepilot Junior Member

    I have a 1959 17" runabout and cant find anything anywhere on that boat. Feel free to email me, will be glad to share pics that Ive found of several larger Revel Crafts. Id be curious to see yours as I have ebay alerts to anything Revel Craft and did not get a notice that there was one on there for sale.
    jimunderwoodthepilot@yahoo.com

    The only thing that I have heard about the larger Revel Crafts is that they flex pretty bad. My runabout is very light weight construction and looks to me like it could have been built a little more heavy duty on the structure. I love the design of the Revel Crafts and would like to find a larger boat to restore.
     
  3. airbusmike
    Joined: Jul 2009
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    Location: New windsor

    airbusmike Junior Member

    Nice Boat

    Looks really good! That's the nice thing about wood; you can fix it unlike fiberglass.
     
  4. jimthepilot
    Joined: Jul 2009
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    Location: McKinney, Texas USA

    jimthepilot Junior Member

    Thanks. Sand, caulk, primer, and paint. Just like a shed.
     
  5. kraftee
    Joined: Dec 2009
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    Location: Florida

    kraftee Junior Member

    Hi, I'm new to the forum and I know this is a bit of an older, re-hashed thread, but I HAD to respond here. I am a lifelong boater and am currently national sales manager for a boatbuilder here in Florida that builds 21' - 42' diesel sportfish and 37' - 74' liveaboard trawlers - so I might have learned something about boat construction and design along the way

    In the late 60s, when I was about 10, my parents bought a 5-year-old lapstrake wooden Revel Craft 27-footer with flybridge. We had previously owned a 27' Chris and a 28' Owens - both great boats - but my Dad REALLY wanted a flybridge and the Revel was priced right, so... And as an aside - since they sold the Revel, my folks have owned a succession of ten or twelve other cruisers and sportfish boats all of which - to varying degrees - they have loved - that is, except for the Revel Craft.

    Yes, the hated Revel Craft. My family still shivers at the mention of that boat. I mean, this was a HORRIBLE boat. A seriously poorly designed and built boat. Not only could you watch the hull flex if you lifted the engine hatch while underway, but the thing was so top-heavy that it threatened to roll over in the slightest beam sea. This boat terrified us kids. Needless to say, we didn't spend much time on the flybridge while underway! I think we owned the "Revel CRAP" for about a year, during which time the alcohol stove caused a galley fire that threatened to consume the boat and we lost the engine in a high current river situation. Saved eventually by snagging a bridge piling. Bad boat with bad luck. As one final measure of the boat's inherent crappiness, the day the new owner was coming to pick up the boat, the entire cockpit deck fell into the bilge!

    On top of all that, our next door neighbors found and bought a 30' Revel Flybridge at around the same time. Theirs was a couple years newer and they scoffed at the problems we were having with our 27. Until about six months into ownership when a four-foot section of the BOTTOM fell out of their boat in the middle of Chesapeake Bay. They lost the boat and nearly their lives.

    Now I know nothing about the fiberglass Revel Crafts, and I am sure there is probably a market for old wooden Revel Crafts that have survived for the past 40 years - just don't put them in the water! Oh - and don't get me started on Broadwaters. There were some SERIOUSLY bad boats built in them days!

    Just my $.02.

    ERIC
     
  6. crash4wd
    Joined: Apr 2009
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    Location: maryland

    crash4wd Junior Member

    trailer

    i have 24 ft revelcraft anyone know what trailer to buy or any info about it
     
  7. dturner384
    Joined: Mar 2009
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    Location: 75063

    dturner384 Junior Member

    New cover for the "old gal"!

    I just put new canvass on the 24ft Revelcraft Key Largo! I think she looks great!

    Interesting... all of these aerospace guys here... i work for American Airlines in Dallas!
     

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  8. dturner384
    Joined: Mar 2009
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    Location: 75063

    dturner384 Junior Member

    Just noticed kraftee's post!

    I have had this old gal for almost 7 years, and she is built like a tank, and always starts! I swear the fiberglass is as thick as wooden hulls, and the engine seems like it will go forever!
     
  9. dturner384
    Joined: Mar 2009
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    Location: 75063

    dturner384 Junior Member

    As far as trailers go... I have no idea! This boat has been in the water for 40+ years, and probably has had about a thousand bottom jobs.
     
  10. jameslewis111
    Joined: Jun 2010
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    Location: Virginia

    jameslewis111 Junior Member

    Just found this thread. To those interested I have some history on this company. It was founded in the fifties by my grandfather, James Lewis, who managed the company until the mid seventies when he sold it. The company went under a few years later. As an aside, he also designed most of the boats and wrote all of the advertisements. "Revline" was the name of a subsidiary owned by the parent company Revel Craft. There were three manufacturing facilities in Maryland and Virginia. True some of the models had design flaws, however the smaller fiberglass boats were pretty good. If I remember any more information I'll gladly share.

    -Regards
     
  11. sams0001
    Joined: Jun 2010
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    Location: richmond va

    sams0001 Junior Member

    Just aquired 1972 24' Revel Craft with a tbird engine that still runs. Want to begin restoring completely to ideal condition inside and out. Any suggestions?
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2010
  12. sams0001
    Joined: Jun 2010
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    Location: richmond va

    sams0001 Junior Member

    convertable beauty

    Very nice craft jimthepilot. Looks like you take good care of her.
     
  13. jameslewis111
    Joined: Jun 2010
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    Location: Virginia

    jameslewis111 Junior Member

    sams0001, parts for these boats are usually hard to come by, I would try ebay and see what that turns up. I dont know what kind of condition your boat is in or what she needs, be cosmetic or structural. I do wish you best of luck.:)
     
  14. gluesniffer
    Joined: Jun 2010
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    Location: Fairview Park, Ohio

    gluesniffer Junior Member

    I don't mean to "pile on", especially since we have a relative of the Revel Craft ownership on board, but....

    I have to echo what someone else posted earlier...Revel Craft and Broadwater...worse and worser!!

    Up here on Lake Erie, we had a tragic accident involving a brand-new 30-something foot Revel Craft cruiser about 35-40 years ago.


    The boat was being delivered from the dealer in Sandusky or Port Clinton to it's home port around Cleveland, about a 50nm run. It was early in the season and Lake Erie was up to it's usual nasty chop business. The new owner had 3 or 4 friends along, and a small boy, I think the owner's son.

    About 10 or 15 miles into the trip, the bottom literally fell out of the boat and it rolled right over. Someone on shore around Huron happened to be trying out a new high powered telescope and witnessed the mishap. The Coast Guard was summoned, but by the time they got to the scene, all but one was lost, including the young boy.

    The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper did a big expose on the accident and Revel Craft itself. I think from this, the Coast Guard was leveraged into putting pressure on the Revel Craft company.

    Anyone else remember this incident?
     

  15. sams0001
    Joined: Jun 2010
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    Location: richmond va

    sams0001 Junior Member

    How unfortunate for that father and son, and friends. 40 years ago I was 12 years old and living in Cleveland Ohio, and fished Lake Erie and Sandusky often. Never heard the story before. However, I have a 24' fiberglass Revel Craft,should I expect the same bottom falling out problems?
     
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