The hydroplane was originally built in 1978 by Ed Karelsen. I purchased the boat in 1986 and raced the boat with my brother John Woodward (we shared driving responsibility) and my brother Richard Woodward as the crew chief. We ran as the Country Stoves until mid 1987 when John flipped the boat at Lake Tapps, near Auburn, WA. We rebuilt the boat with the help of Ed Karelsen over the next 15 months. We updated the sponsons (the right one was mostly ripped off in the flip), added the dropped center section and also added rear "shoes" to the hull. We also changed cowlings as the original rear cowl is still at the bottom of Lake Tapps (sure wish we had a little flotation in the original rear cowling). We went to the newer style of Karelsen cowlings for the rebuild as the mold was no longer available for the original rear cowling, hence, the different look of the boat. We then ran the boat in the last Region 10 race of 1988 and a few times in the following 3 years. 1991 was the last time the boat was in the water. It has sat in the garage since then. 

E-76 after 1987 rebuild but before 2003 restoration as a Vintage Hydroplane. 
 

View of bottom - wood in great shape 
 

Another view of the bottom 
 

View of the bottom rear of the boat and the shoes that were added in 1987 
 

View of right sponson - step is too thick (2 each 8 mm thickness rather than 1) 
 

View of left sponson - step too thick 
 

Right sponson rebuild begins 
 

Left sponson rebuild begins 
 

Nose skin stripped off 
 

Right sponson with new wood - not yet glued 
 

Right sponson - now a single 9 mm thickness step 
 

Left sponson - new wood - not yet glued 
 

Left sponson - now with a single 9 mm thickness step 
 

Nose of center section with new skin on bottom side.
 

Front of boat - beginning to shape up.
 
 

The rear shoes have been sanded and are ready for finishing.

The entire bottom is sanded and ready for finishing, also the prop shaft hole was rebored as it was not bored correctly
when the new bottom was installed in 1988 and the prop shaft was rubbing against the edge.
 
 

View from the front with all the woodworking done on the tips of the sponsons, sanded and ready for refinishing
 
 

A closeup of the front of the right & left sponsons.

Country Stoves E-76 - restoration page 2
©2003-2004 Doug Woodward

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