Feature Story Thunder + Memories
THUNDER + MEMORIES
The Allure of Wooden Boats by Tim Miller photos by Jeannie Knecht
O
n most lakes in northern Indiana, Sunday morning is a time of relative peace and serenity. But on Lake Wawasee, Sunday mornings are a little different. If there is a little mist still on the water you may hear them before you see them, but everyone can hear them, and nobody seems to mind. A growing number of residents on Indiana’s largest natural lake are maintaining and using vintage wooden power boats from an era that ended many decades ago.
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LakeLife Magazine June 2020
On Sunday mornings at 10 a.m., anywhere from a dozen to 30 wooden power boats gather in front of Oakwood Resort and circle the lake. They call it the Thunder Run for a good reason. These boats sport 6- and 8-cylinder inboard gasoline engines and they are loud. “Wooden boats sound different [from modern boats] because very few have a muffler,” said Luke Knecht, a wooden boat owner who, with his wife Jeannie, manages a Facebook page, Wawasee Wooden Boats. “I would often apologize for the noise when I was arriving at or leaving a restaurant dock, only to have people say, ‘no apology necessary… I love that sound,’” Knecht said.
