Antique Boat Museum: The Exhibits

After our time touring  La Duchesse, Rebecca Hopfinger, the Antique Boat Museum's executive director,  took us to some of their exhibit areas. Of course, you would need more time to see everything, so we focused on two exhibits: "The National Motor Boat Show" and "The Quest for Speed."

Recreational motor boating goes back to 1900, and the first National Motor Boat Show was held in New York City five years later. Much like car shows, consumers saw the latest and greatest in boats, motors and new technology. Housed in its own two-story building, "The National Motor Boat Show" steps you back in time to see motor boating through the years. The boats here are showroom new, with familiar names like Chris-Craft, Gar Wood and Hacker. It brought back a lot of memories for Pam, whose father owned three Chris-Craft cruisers.

The "Quest for Speed" also has its own building, debuting in 2008. Here you can trace the whole history of man's attempt to go fast on the water, including historic racing boats, engines and vintage posters.  One wall features the evolution of speed records, the latest clocking in at over 317 MPH.  At that rate, you get go from New to London in about 10 hours!

​Take a look:

---

Photos by North Palm Beach Life