1953 Penn Yan Swift CZT Water Test

May I say it? The mother of all milestones just swept past us and is quickly disappearing into her wake. Preserving this rather stunning 1953 Penn Yan 12’ Swift CZT, HIN CZT 2351, her period-correct electric-start 18 HP Johnson Seahorse and her TeeNee trailer has reached the finish line and soon will be trekking to her home waters in Seattle, WA.

I was stunned on her arrival by how complete, how original and how rot-free she was. Now she’s the stuff of museum displays, but, happily for her, she will soon be romping across the waters of a small lake in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.

She retrains her original canvas, all of her original hardware, including her incredibly rare water-skiing and her original mooring cover bows.

Other than a couple very minor Dutchman repairs, which Joe challenges anyone to find, every spec of her wood is original.

Fran Secor, Otego, NY, once again transformed a good engine into something very, very special. These electric-start 18 HP Johnson Sea Horse engines are incredibly scarce, so Fran was under special pressure that he handled with his typical good humor.

We are honored to have had this opportunity to complete a thorough, museum quality preservation on one of Penn Yan’s most iconic models.

She will travel in an enclosed trailer, but only after we’ve run her engine one last time without being connected to the tank so we do not leave any gas in the carburetor.

The Seahorse will be mounted on and shrink-wrapped to an engine stand which we will lash to the trailer’s wall.

Her newly-restored-and-painted tank will also be shrink-wrapped and likely stowed in the tow vehicle. (We did the land run test using her restored tank, but then emptied it. We’ve used a shop tank to run her now.)

We recommend running a 24:1 gasoline to 30-weight, two-cycle oil mixture (4 oz oil per gallon of gasoline) using only fully synthetic BIA certified TC-W3 two-cycle outboard motor oil, such as Star-brite Super Premium 2 Stroke Oil TC-W3.

We will spend some time doing some final adjustments, waxing her, ensuring every detail is ready for prime time. (We will be smiling when she leaves, but the smiles will be bittersweet for sure.)

Rather than type out all the materials’ names and source links correctly each time, you can find a comprehensive roster here.