Turned his father's powerboat shop into the West Coast's most admired builder of fast wooden sloops. The PC and the K-38 defined Southern California racing for thirty years.
- Yard
- Kettenburg Boat and Engine Co., 1918; renamed Kettenburg Boat Works at a new waterfront site, 1929
- First class
- PC (Pacific Class), hull No. 1 Scamp, his own boat, 1929
- Brother
- Paul Kettenburg carried the business on; retired 1979, died 2006
- Archive
- Kettenburg Collection, Maritime Museum of San Diego
- 1929PC class — the dominant West Coast one-design of its era
- 1946PCC — Pacific Cruising Class
- 1949K-38 — with Paul Kettenburg and Charlie Underwood; 36 built
Sourcing notes & unresolved questions
- Sources give the yard's founding as both 1918 and 1929 — likely a 1918 founding with a 1929 rename and relocation.
Wooden Boat Atlas v3.0 · built 30 July 2026 · a project of the Golden Gate Wooden Boat Foundation · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · open data · corrections