Matthew P. Murphy
Reff Reinhart designed and built his 17’2" launch VIRGINIA PARK for short outings near his home in Holland, Michigan—and trailering expeditions farther afield. Here, he passes under Holland Harbor Lighthouse, which marks the entrance to Lake Macatawa from Lake Michigan.
Five years ago, Reff Reinhart needed a new boat. Specifically, he needed an open motorboat of modest power that he, his wife, and a couple of guests could sit in, facing forward while underway, for outings on Michigan’s Lake Macatawa. This new boat would not be ornate, but it would be classically beautiful and would combine elements of the 20 or so boats that Reinhart has owned over the years.
He discussed possible designs with his friend Mike Kiefer, proprietor of Great Lake Boatbuilding Co. in South Haven, Michigan. Kiefer, who has been in busi- ness since 1980, has built or repaired more than 300 boats and taught countless people the finer points of the craft. He’s been a mentor to many, including Reinhart. Each of the designs the two men discussed lacked some element of Reinhart’s vision—one bow profile was too raked, another hull too wide. And yet another lacked a critical detail that Reinhart couldn’t shake from his mind: a pronounced tumblehome at the stern. “Reff kept coming to me with this design, that design," said Kiefer. “Finally, I told him to get a piece of basswood and carve a model of the boat that’s in your head."
Reinhart, who’d grown up on the St. Joseph River on southern Lake Michigan—the “St. Joe,” to locals—has had boats since he was a kid, and he’s built eight or nine of them. His first effort, 50 or so years ago, was to fas- ten two shipping pallets together and stuff them with Styrofoam; his most ambitious was a 28' Jay Benford– designed cruising sloop that he spent 12 years building in his home-based shop, and another 10 cruising on Lake Michigan with his family. In between these boats were some 20 others he’s owned, including a 16' hot- molded mahogany Dunphy runabout and a 22' power dory that he didn’t particularly like because it lacked sufficient buoyancy aft to float an engine—and its flat bottom pounded in waves. But like them or not, Rein- hart took a lesson from each of his boats, and he seems to have condensed this knowledge in Virginia Park, the elegant lapstrake launch whose shape he would carve in that half model.