Welcome to the new website of the Bruce 22 Gentleman's Launch built by Montreal Classic Boatworks, a Division of PS2000 Inc. This is an interim posting in order to have information up for the Toronto Boat Show while we work to finalise the site. So, when you come back and it looks like a different site - it's still us! Take your time and have a look around, should you wish to contact us you can do so directly or through our Marketing Partner in Orillia.

Read about the review of the Bruce 22 by Canadian Yachting magazine: Bruce 22 - Something Special in the Classic Style

The genesis for the development of a period-style launch was a 1945 Myles Jeffrey 22ft. open utility owned by Ward McKimm, a great friend of Ian Bruce's on 31 Mile Lake, north of Ottawa, and greatly admired by Ian and which, Ward said, was greatly coveted by many of his friends on the lake. That would be understandable as his boat was one of about only 50 boats, in different configurations, built by this incredible craftsman in his lifetime. Jeffrey had been the Head Joiner in the famous Algonac plant of Chris Craft in the 20’s only to return to Canada in the Depression and set up his one-man shop in Athens, Ontario.

McKimm remarked that, as much as he treasured his Jeffrey, he would dearly love to have the same boat with a maintenance-free fiberglass hull and topsides but with his mahogany deck and interior, much like an electric boat that Ian had designed for another builder. This is the boat, in the two photos below, that Bruce created in response to that casual remark and, below them, the boat that started it all!

Below, McKimm’s Jeffrey

A working engineering prototype hull, without windscreen, fittings, furniture or engine box, was built and tested in 2006. Minor modifications were subsequently made to the hull shape to allow the boat to plane in a flatter attitude and, late in the year, it received final in-water approval in Montreal when temperatures hit 68°F just before Xmas! Below, the prototype running at 35 mph on Dec 18th, 2006, Lac St. Louis, Montreal.

In 2007, the engineering prototype was turned into a pattern, called a plug and pictured below, off which the moulds were taken, and the year was spent producing the production tooling. It also includes tooling for a moulded structure that is bonded into the hull bottom and which also supplies the bed for the engine and support for the cockpit sole. The length of time it took was a reflection of the fact that we are a builder of very high quality performance sailboats and, during the summer of 2007, that took preference. However the runabout is now phased into our regular production schedule.

Above, the plug with paper patterns in position for the eventual recesses in the deck for the mahogany inlay.

Above, creating the original grid structure in the engineering prototype hull out of shaped foam which was then glassed-over in place. Observations of the structure under load during testing led to the final structure shown below in the first boat – the production prototype.

The grid is a solid lay up laminate which is hollow, with no foam or wood anywhere in the structure. Reinforcements for the engine bearers are ½” aluminum, tapped for the motor mount bolts and are the raised sections in the two longitudinals.

After the tooling was produced, the original ‘engineering’ prototype (the grey one 4 photos above shown being tested!), was completely fitted out and that is the boat pictured immediately below. The first ‘production’ prototype hull pictured above and first customer’s hull are now out of the moulds and the fourth boat is in production. Our final brochure and website are now being finished.

The engineering prototype was launched at a hugely successful in-plant reception here in Montreal on March 19th, and a follow-up story was carried on the front page of the Gazette Business section on Monday the 24th. Pictures from the reception, with the boat "at the dock" in our plant, follow. (Those are International 29er sailing skiffs in the background).

In the 1930’s and ‘40’s, many of this genre of boat had painted hulls, particularly during the shortages of good materials in the war years, owners preferring to spend the maintenance effort on the deck and interior. They are referred to as “painted woodies” and would have had an identical look to the one above although there are no records of a painted Jeffrey.

Here is a rundown of the boat's specifications:
Length 22', beam 6' 6", draft with 14" dia. prop approx. 18 - 19"
Weight 2400 lbs with half fuel.|
180 HP 4.3 Litre Vortec, Gas, V6 Mercruiser (standard Chevy small block marine engine).
Carbureted with TKS (turn key start) instead of manual choke.
No distributor - electronic ignition, no bells and whistles – a simple engine.
1:1 Velvet Drive transmission w/ straight shaft, LH rotation.
Raw water cooled w/ twin un-muffled exhausts.
Propeller: Bronze, 3-blade cupped, 14 x 14 (14" diameter, 14" pitch). Bronze spade rudder with 1 1/8” s/s shaft.

Engine is under a central engine box. The engine box top is a removable seat pad for oil check etc. A lifting finger-pull is sewn in to the front.

• Box opens forward on detachable hinges to expose the full engine 360° and the seat pad rests on the front seats when open with box clear of the sole.
• The interior lining of the hull side is a natural cane webbing "infused" together with the hull laminate at the time of the glass construction. This means that it is completely encapsulated in the resin and will never discolour or degrade. It is the light beige area on the stbd. side below with a longitudinal shelf half way up the side.
• Fuel tank is aluminum, built to USCG Spec., 30 Imp. gallons (36 US gallons), and is mounted under the rear deck with a flip-top filler above on the deck.
• Bilge pump (automatic w/ switch override), bilge blower and 12V deep cycle battery are standard.
• Hull, topsides and deck are a solid glass laminate. Wood deck is epoxy-inlaid into the deck laminate.
• 2 mooring eyes fore and aft with chocks and 4 torpedo bumper cleats are standard.
• 4 step plates, a pennant staff on foredeck and a flag pole/stern light on aft deck are also standard.

Decking, flooring and panel inserts come from Milan, Italy. Seating and engine box are solid Sapelli Mahogany that frames Sapelli inlaid panels. The decking is Sapelli mahogany with pressure dyed Ramin white strips (not caulking) and is the same as that used on the well known Riva runabouts. Floor is Teak and Holly.

Hull form is suited to rivers and inland small lakes. These boats were sometimes referred to as "river slivers" and the hull form is not suited to large open water. That requires a deeper V.

Cutwater (see very first photo) is formed and polished stainless steel, through-bolted to hull (no screws).

Steering wheel is a GM-approved reproduction of a classic Chevy Butterfly wheel. Black or Ivory are standard.

Instruments are Stewart Warner "period" style - oil press, water temp, voltage, fuel, speed (mph) and RPM. They are mounted in a burled ash insert in the solid mahogany dash.

Steering mechanism is standard Uflex. Gear shift and speed control are on the steering column in 40's style connected up with standard Teleflex cables that run behind the mahogany coaming that butts up against the dash (on the right above), and not under the floor.
Dash switches are: bilge pump, blower, nav lights, spare circuit, horn button and key/starter switch.

Seating
The standard seating arrangement is twin forward seats, a central seat on the engine box front and removable jump seats on both sides. With one jump seat installed (shown here on port side), it produces a 3/4 cross-cockpit seat with a passage down the starboard side of the box.

Jump seat wood back (on port side looking forward) is supported by the engine box inboard and a barrel bolt latch to the coaming. Photo on the right (port side looking aft) shows the back cushion removed. There are no fasteners holding it in place, only cushion friction, so it removes very easily.

The bottom jump cushion is supported on the centre seat frame and the outboard shelf and is also instantly removable. Centre of boat is now completely open.

The boat is supplied with both port AND starboard jump seats so that a full-width centre seat can be set up turning the boat into a true triple cockpit.

Below, the fixed ¾ central seat arrangement of McKimm’s original Jeffrey forms part of the engine enclosure and is not removable. Access to the back of the boat is down the port side.

Outboard windscreen supports with integral navigation lights are custom-cast from our own patterns.
Patterns are taken from the original Jeffrey. They are clear, powder-coated, aluminum.

Below, at the Clayton NY in-the-water Antique and Classic Boatshow

Standard Hull colours
Jet Black, Flag Blue, Evergreen, Cabernet (burgundy), and Scarlet (light mahogany brown). Other colours are available at a premium of $200 from supplier’s available standard colours. A colour chart is available. Any hull colour may be had at a $750.00 premium. Customer supplies a 4” x 4” sample of their own colour and we have it matched.

Deck perimeter colour
Deep mahogany brown. No options available.

Standard upholstery colours
Royal Blue, Dark Grey Green, Burgundy and Cream (pictured in the prototype). Upholstery is a very high quality, leather-like vinyl. It has the same look and feel of leather but without the upkeep. Other colours are available at a premium of $500 due to minimum fabric purchase requirements. A colour chart is available.

Additional Options
Sunbrella mooring cover for deck - $895.00
Single or double axle trailer. Single $5,695.00. Double $5,995.00
Provision of lifting rings. They double as mooring eyes fore and aft but are rated 5000 lbs ea. and attach down to the structure. $495.00

Pricing
CDN $87,500.00 Terms are 30% deposit with order, 30% when hull is photographed out of mould, 20% upon completion of fit out and balance upon delivery.