1935 33' Charles Mower (Gosling) design.

Bruce and I (Michele) purchased the well-maintained "Rachael S." in 1998 in Holland, MI. She was our first boat jointly owned. She came with nearly everything we needed right down to the pots to cook in -- I think we only had to supply our own dingy, oars, and grub. Other than regular maintenance and the occassional repair (Murphy's Law strikes us all!) she was always ready to go.

We loved Lake Michigan and the Lake Macatawa area and the people and enjoyed exploring numerous ports off the big Lake for several years.

She was our vacation home (just a 6 hour drive from Cincinnati) and great fun for the kids until they got too big to share cramped quarters.

Sad to have to part with her, we sold her to a gentleman in Saugatuck.

We happened to be passing through Saugatuck on M/V "Amphora" a few years later and saw her sitting on the hard, neglected. Heartbreaking!

Trawler yacht built in 1933.

Bruce found Karizma at the Wickford Shipyard in RI. The owner had gotten behind on storage and had abadoned her. After a long summer of hard work she floated again. The Ford Lehman deisel in her had been installed in 1968 and only had 750 hours. She had not been run for seven years, but thankfully she started right up after bleeding the old fuel out. When she departed Wickford the running lights were not even wired up.

1920’s and 30’s
This is a brief history of “Amphora”, a 44’ motor-sailor designed by Gordon Monroe and built in 1923 by George Lawley & Son shipyard in Neponset, MA (suburb of Boston). She was commissioned as a private yacht; rigged as a gaff ketch, outfitted with two fighting chairs mounted on her aft deck and originally christened “Betty”. Her first wheelhouse was more forward, with deck space between the aft-cabin rather than forward of the wheelhouse and her original interior included such amenities as; leaded glass cabinets, a coal-burning cook stove, and an engineer’s berth located in the engine room.
1940’s
During WWII she was commandeered by the Navy. On Gould Island in Narragansett Bay, the Navy had a torpedo testing station and utilized Amphora to retrieve torpedoes they were testing. Her masts, rigging and wheelhouse were removed. Her original gas Sterling engine was replaced with a 671 Detroit diesel engine. Two large davits were fitted on each side of the now open deck for handling the torpedoes.
Later the Navy used her to service the fleet as a laundry servicing vessel. She would motor out to meet the ships, the laundry loaded through a large hatch forward, whereby she would carry the load back for processing. Her original interior was most likely gutted at this time to allow for the large laundry cargos,
1950’s and 60’s
After her service in the Navy, the story goes that she was used in the charter fishing trade.
1970’s, 80’s and 90’s
When she was just about to be cut up, she was saved by Ray Clidence; who bought the engine but kept the boat, appropriately renamed her Amphora and used her as a live-aboard. He later married; and he and his wife, Lynn continued to cruise her up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States; from Rhode Island to the Florida Keys; even raising two of their children on-board. By the time the third child came along, Lynn had had enough. Ray built her a house on land and put Amphora in dry storage in a barn built around her. Ray and George Zackhorn, a master shipwright rebuilt the wheelhouse, moving it back from its original position, and also rebuilding the forward cabin. But family life and other commitments took over and Amphora sat in the barn for 17 years. He was ready to cut her up for firewood when he met Bruce Kennedy; and once again, she was saved.
2000’s – The new millennium
Bruce traveled back and forth from Cincinnati, OH to RI working on her every chance he could; repairing her hull, and later installing a British-Leyland 125 HP engine; designing and crafting her mast, tabernacles, rigging; and accommodations, and launched in 2001.
In 2002 Bruce & Michele & family, & dog Trevor brought her down the coast, to the Hudson River and up and through the Erie & Oswego canals, crossed Lake Ontario, and into the Trent Severne, to the Georgian Bay /North Channel, and Lakes Huron and Michigan, and down through the river system to the Tennessee River.
In 2003 she was brought back up to the Great Lakes and Georgian Bay/North Channel and wintered on the hard in MI. All-the-while Bruce continued to work on Amphora; adding more functionality, increasing her fuel/water capacity, a shower, etc.
In 2004 Amphora spent her 3rd boating season in Canada; wintered in Ontario.
In 2005, Amphora was brought back up to the Great Lakes and Georgian Bay/North Channel for the 4th time, and then back down through the river system to Cincinnati, OH for a brief stay before heading south to the Florida Keys. A place she was once intimately familiar with -- having come full circle in her navigations.
In 2006, we sold Amphora to a retired couple who occasionally call upon us to do seasonal deliveries to or from the south.