BOAT: Aqua Boogie
OWNER: Butch Taylor, Newport
DESIGNER: Sea Sprite, Crescent City, IL
BUILDER: Bee Boats, North Webster, IN
YEAR: 1985
LENGTH: 26 feet [7.9 meters]
HULL: Solid Fiberglass
HISTORY:
Beginning as Crownline Boats in landlocked east central Illinois, the company that came to be known as Sea Sprite had 115 employees making 13 boats a day during its heyday in the early 1980’s. Aqua Boogie is a 260 XL Aft Cabin Cruiser that once belonged to a former governor of Connecticut. Somehow, the boat wound up on a hilltop in Uncasville, CT, in deep disrepair. Local party impresario D.J. Butch found the boat on Craig’s List and sprung into action.
A sound hull and new motor were the two things that kept Butch going during his months long endeavor to restore the boat. Squirrels, bees, mice, and birds had colonized the beleaguered hull for several years prior to the big push. It was late October of this year before Aqua Boogie made her first offshore run from New London CT to Newport.
At present, she is docked at the Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina. She is under cover, heated, and work continues. As proprietor of partynewport.com, D.J. Butch is spending extra time on the sound system. In Butch’s words, “you will hear me before you see me this summer”.
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