Customizing 1964 16-footer at purchase

A conversation among Whalers
msrobin
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:10 am

Customizing 1964 16-footer at purchase

Postby msrobin » Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:22 am

boat_1.jpg
Fig. 1. A 1964 16-footer
boat_1.jpg (20.22 KiB) Viewed 1463 times


boat_2.jpg
Fig. 2. Detail of seat
boat_2.jpg (8.04 KiB) Viewed 1463 times


I've had this 16-foot Boston Whaler (stencil number 31602) for 23 years and always considered it a 1964 Sakonnet based on its forward platform. However, it [has] a fixed pilot seat and not a reversible pilot seat.

Is it possible that one could customize a new purchase in 1964?

Or is it more likely that the reversible seat was replaced with a fixed seat before I owned it?

jimh
Posts: 11674
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: Customizing 1964 16-footer at purchase

Postby jimh » Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:41 am

It is difficult to see any details of the seat in either Figure 1 or 2. In order for readers to make a conclusion about the origin of the seat, we will need a better image of the seat. Note that in 1964 the 16-footer was offered as an EASTPORT model. The seat on the EASTPORT was a fixed seat. The forward platform on the SAKONNET was usually painted white.

To determine if either the seat or the forward platform were original components of the boat when it was sold in 1964 will require consulting with Boston Whaler. Generally they can tell from the hull stencil number the original configuration and the dealer who bought the boat.

More information on the history of the 16-foot model is given in the REFERENCE article on that boat. See

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... index.html

ASIDE: the JPEG images provided have been compressed in a very lossy manner, and they do not show much detail. I have reoriented the images and removed extraneous material such as the background, the sky, the foreground, and so on, leaving only the boat or the seat in the image.