Bertram Yachts grew out of the legendary 1960 Miami-Nassau powerboat race. Moppie, a 30-foot wooden prototype with a deep-vee hull, designed by C. Raymond Hunt for Richard Bertram, won the race and even set a new course record. After the race, a mold was cast from Moppie, leading to the first fiberglass Bertram 31. The next year, Bertram again won the Miami-Nassau race but this time in the fiberglass version of the original prototype. It is said that the publicity generated by these wins was so great that Bertram decided to go into business (something he had not originally intended).
In the April PropTalk, you may remember we interviewed Robert Shapiro who has owned both a Bertram 31 and a 33. This month we caught up with Charlie Ford to chat about his classic 1965 Bertram 20 Moppie runabout (not to be confused with the Moppie that won the legendary race).
And after talking with Charlie, I can’t help but admit—there’s just something about Bertrams.
Charlie and his wife, Diane, were always more sailors than powerboaters. Several years back, Charlie owned a 17-foot Correct Craft and his neighbor, Dr. Bill Finagan, owned a 20-foot Bertram. Charlie says, “I always loved the lines of the boat; it always caught my eye.” And naturally he was familiar with it, seeing as how they were neighbors and kept their boats at the same dock. So, one day, Charlie says he was getting his teeth cleaned and asked Bill what was going on with his boat, as he had recently sold his Correct Craft. This was about 20 or so years ago.
Charlie recounts how Bill referred to the boat as a “nuisance,” and that it was currently being kept in his airplane hangar. When Charlie questioned if his sons were interested in the boat, Bill said no, and then asked, “Why don’t you buy the boat?”
“I was primarily a sailor,” says Charlie, “so I didn’t really need a boat, but I loved the boat.”
But despite being pretty enamored with this classic Bertram, Charlie held off. About six months went by and he said, “I don’t think I want the boat.” But then Bill gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He told Charlie, “Why don’t you take the boat and pay me what you think it’s worth?”
Charlie says, “I offered him $5000, and he said, ‘Sold!’”
That was the easy part. While the initial purchase price might have been low, Charlie explained how he’s, “definitely put a lot of money into it over the years.” When the boat was stored in the airplane hangar, it wasn’t covered. So, one of the first things Charlie did was to have it repainted. “The bottom had about eight layers of paint, so we had that stripped down and totally repainted,” he says. “We also fixed a windshield issue and replaced a stainless bow light that was corroded. We managed to find a brand new one, but you wouldn’t believe how expensive it was to replace one little light.” He shared this last bit with a chuckle; classic boats are definitely a labor of love for the mariner willing to take them on. And you can clearly hear the love in Charlie’s voice.
The Fords named her Spirit. There was no name when she was purchased, and Charlie says he came up with the idea because she’s an old boat and even at the time he thought, “she’s got a lot of spirit.”
Despite lots of work over his years of ownership, Charlie attests that it’s always been his intention to keep the boat as original as possible. “The instruments are all original,” he says. “We replaced the steering wheel, but I still have the original. As the years went by, there was always maintenance.” One project involved replacing the gas tank. The original was fiberglass and had started choking up the carburetor, so they installed an aluminum one. The gas gauge had to be replaced when they put in the new tank, but the rest of the instruments are original and intact.
In September 2003, when Hurricane Isabel inundated the Chesapeake Bay, Spirit was swamped. The Fords belong to a private club on the Magothy River and at the time the boat was kept in the water. The motor had to be replaced, and when I asked Charlie if there was any other damage, he laughed, saying “no, just the motor, but that was enough.”
The Fords also belong to Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, where Charlie is one of the earliest members. They’ve kept Spirit on a lift for the last 10 years with a full cover and every year they have the boat shrinkwrapped for the winter. Each spring they have their trusted mechanic get her ready for the season, and they’ve had the same mechanic work on the boat for the past 15-20 years.
But let’s rewind a bit. Charlie is a sailor through and through. He has only owned two powerboats in his lifetime, the first being the Correct Craft and now Spirit. So, what is it about this Bertram that made Charlie want to invest in a classic powerboat when he was honestly pretty skeptical at the start?
“It performs really well; it just has great performance,” he says. “When the Bertram 31 was originally prototyped, it raced in the Miami-Nassau race, an open ocean race, and it won. That to me, just the performance of the boat, sold me from the very beginning. The Ray Hunt design, the deep-vee hull; it’s a great performing boat.”
And even though Charlie and his wife never go “anywhere like the ocean,” he says it does great in a couple-foot sea.
“I don’t fish,” he added. “We go out and watch the sailboat races. I love the fact that I can just jump on the boat and watch races wherever they may be. We get some wine and cheese and putt up and down Spa Creek, Back Creek, or Ego Alley. It’s definitely a ‘show boat.’ When we go up and down Ego Alley, people wave, and it’s amazing the number of people who complement us on the boat.”
Charlie is 82, and while he still gets around really well, he says it’ll probably be time to sell the boat in the next couple of years. The expense of classic boats coupled with the time you actually get to use them doesn’t always add up. But for now, Charlie and his family (especially the grandchildren) will continue to use and love their spirited runabout.
So, what is it about Bertram Yachts? There seems to be an indescribable quality that so many owners, past and present, can agree upon. You can hear it in their voices when they talk about their beloved boats.
Charlie says, “Like the other article mentioned, once you get a Bertram, that’s all you’ll ever want.”
The next time you’re in Ego Alley, keep your eyes peeled for this beautifully restored Bertram 20 Moppie. She’s got a lot of spirit!
By Kaylie Jasinski