Lorne Kermath’s 1955 Curly Craft is one of the wooden boats that will have the crowd talking as Whitefish Woody Weekend II unfolds June 28-30 in Whitefish.

There’s a story behind every one of the vintage classics and their owners. In Kermath’s case, his family’s century-long involvement in the marine engine industry is part of his story.

Kermath’s great-grandfather, James Kermath, operated the short-lived Kermath Motor Car Co. in Detroit in 1907-08 that produced a small four-seater runabout that featured a 26-horsepower, four-cylinder engine.

The records of that business didn’t survive, and no one knows how many cars the company produced.

Though the car company didn’t take off, James Kermath found a longer-lasting outlet for his mechanical expertise by building marine engines. He began building boat engines long before his involvement with the auto industry.

“The first big push for internal combustion was in boats,” said Lorne Kermath of Whitefish. “By 1900 he was building boat motors. The car motor from 1907 was virtually the same as the ones in his boats.”

Kermath Marine Engines produced engines from 1910 to sometime in the 1950s in models from single cylinders to V-12s.

The company slogan promised reliability: “A Kermath always runs.”

Kermath’s great-grandfather, who immigrated from Canada to Detroit in 1899, was a pioneer in the marine industry who not only built some of this country’s first marine engines and also developed one of the earliest outdrive units. He also developed an early jet propulsion unit.

Many of those reliable Kermath engines are still running, and Lorne Kermath has collected seven of the engines bearing his namesake, models dating back to 1915. One of those engines will go in a 1938 18-foot Poulsbo he’s restoring.

Kermath has siblings and nephews who also have a passion for the classic wooden boats.

“It’s the same mindset as those who attend these classic boat shows,” he said of his family’s love of oldtime boats. “It’s people who enjoy the beauty of the product.”

There’s a lot of nostalgia that floats to the surface at shows such as the upcoming Woody Weekend II at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake.

Even the outboard motors on the classics can bring back memories.

“My 1958 Johnson motor (on his Curly Craft), that’s what I learned to ski on,” Kermath said.

The Curly Craft with a Johnson motor was a “very typical combination that Northwestern Boat Company would sell,” Kermath said. George “Curly” Crouch built the wooden Curly Crafts for Northwestern Boat in Southfield, Mich.

“George raced boats locally and used that as a test bed for his designs,” Kermath said. “What worked in those test boats he incorporated into the boats he made.”

By the early 1960s, fiberglass had become the dominant building material in boat construction.

These days, however, a number of marine companies once again are making wooden boats, maintaining “the genetic thread of classic wood boats,” Kermath said. Some companies have even purchased the old wooden boat names such as Garwood.

Kermath takes his Curly Craft out on the water a number of times each summer.

“It’s always a fun outing,” he said. “Usually we can be sure we’re the only classic woody on the lake.”

Kermath likes the process that’s involved in maintaining a classic wooden boat and the effort it takes to keep it looking good.

He’s a member of the Big Sky Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society that’s sponsoring the Whitefish show. The chapter also has generated interest in classic boats at its annual Lakeside Antique and Classic boat Show that’s staged in August.

“It’s a young chapter,” Kermath said, “but it’s active and successful.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.