CONTINUOUSWAVE

Q1: how can the production date for a 13–foot hull with stencil number 2313 be deduced?

BACKSTORY
I am fixing up an early 13-footer. I am trying to find out the year it was made so I can register it. I found the stencil number under a layer of paint - 2313.

I got in touch with Boston Whaler, and unfortunately they lost the ledger that had the records for this hull. The production epoch is only known to be between 1958 and 1961.

Request for help in determining the age of older Boston Whaler boats is a frequently asked question. A comprehensive answer has been prepared in the REFERENCE section article, FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. Please see

Q1: How old is my Boston Whaler boat?
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/FAQ/#Q1

and

Q2: Where is the Hull Identification Number?
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/FAQ/#Q2

The FAQ mentions:

Interpreting the stenciled hull number depends on reference to Whaler's internal records.

If Boston Whaler no longer has those internal records, then definitive dating of the hull cannot be done.

The FAQ also mentions and provides hyperlinks to more details:

Information on the 13-foot and 16-17 foot hulls is available up to 1972.

In the REFERENCE article on the 13-foot hull, there is a list of stencil number ranges and corresponding years. See

The 13 foot Hull
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/13/

In that article a list of date ranges and corresponding ranges of stencil numbers shows:

1958 to 1961  =  100 to 4499

INTERPOLATION
If one assumes a linear distribution of hull production per year from 1958 to 1961, then in those four years there were 4,399 hulls produced (because they started with hull 100), or 1,100 hulls per year.

A hull with stencil number 2313 would then be made in 4399/2313 = 1.9 years or 22.8-months from January 1958 = November 1959

If the production was not linear, which is probably a good (and perhaps even better) assumption (considering the boat was just introduced in 1958), then this suggests that the production was more likely to have been later than November 1959, On that basis sometime in the year 1960 is probably a better assumption for the production date.

ANECDOTAL COINCIDENCE
If another Boston Whaler 13-foot hull owner has a stencil number that is in close proximity to your boat, and if the other owner has definitive information on the date of production, and if that owner happens to read this thread, and if that owner joins the thread and provides that information, you may be able by this anecdotal coincidence of stencil numbers to get a closer approximation of the date of production for your boat.

SELLING DEALER
If the original selling dealer is known, and if the original selling dealer is still in business, and if the original selling dealer has maintained sales records of the stencil number of every Boston Whaler boat he sold and the date it was sold, and if the dealer is willing to take the time to look up those records, then you may be able to get a closer estimate of the date of production of the hull based on an inference about the date of sale, and at the least you would be able to have a confident "made prior to" date.

To hear that old records of hull production dates and stencil numbers are no longer available from Boston Whaler is a sad story,

For decades Boston Whaler customer service specialist Chuck Bennet maintained a collection of those records on a shelf at his desk. There is a photograph of those ledgers in my article about the factory tour I took in March 2005 that appears in the REFERENCE section. See

BOSTON WHALER FACTORY TOUR
Where Legends Are Made
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/refer ... ctory.html


Fig. 1. A shelf at the Boston Whaler factory in Edgewater, Florida, containing many old volumes that recorded date of production, stencil number, model configuration, and selling dealer for early production Boston Whaler 13 and 16 foot hulls. Photo by the author in March 2005.

Thank you Jimh
Very much appreciated