Vintage Riva Junior Motorboat Restoration
Riva Junior
Fine wooden boats have restored a number Riva junior craft to date.
The Riva Junior is one of the most popular sports runabouts produced by the Riva Company from 1967 to 1972, the model was designed as a multi-purpose boat principally for the USA market for use as a tender or for water skiing.
The Junior was conceived to replace the basic Florida model and, as its name suggests, was designed to be the baby of the Riva range, and accessible to the young aspiring Riva enthusiast.
It is a multi-purpose small motorboat that could used be as a ship’s tender or equally for water-skiing.
In 1972, by which time 626 had been built, it was replaced by the Rudy, exactly the same design except that it was made of fibreglass. At this time fibreglass was rapidly replacing wooden built craft due to it’s ease of maintenance, lightness – giving better power to weight ratios, and the ability to mould the fibre into what were considered more contemporary shapes.
Its distinctive features include the open design of the cockpit and sundeck and the white painted sides for ease of maintenance – a clue to its principal target market, the USA, where owners tended to take care of boats themselves.
RIVA JUNIOR RESTORATION
