CONTINUOUSWAVE

I'm in the market for a 16- or 17-foot Boston Whaler boat. I found one listed as a 2000 17-foot Boston Whaler, but according to images of the Montauk and Standard for that year, it doesn't look like either. The owner said he's had it for a couple of years and as far as he knows, it is a 2000. Still working on getting a HIN.

Give me the model identity of the boat seen below.

That is a Katama with an aftermarket windshield, produced from 1969 to 1975.

See https://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetacea/cetaceaPage30.html. Scroll down a bit.

A reasonable sale price if it included a trailer would be $5,000 to $7,000 because it is missing several OEM features and is in fair condition.

Last year for the blue interior was 1972. My guess is a 1971 Boston Whaler 17 Katama hull with a 1977-era Boston Whaler Newport Reversible Pilot Seat.

Interesting. I think you may be right. I was looking at https://continuouswave.com/whaler/refer ... odels.html but wasn't getting much help because the Katama isn't listed there. Thank you!

I regret that the REFERENCE section of the website was not much help for you, but I believe you have overlooked some other resources that can be helpful.

Look at the REFERENCE article on the 16/17 hull. The KATAMA model is mentioned there as a variant of the MINOT:

Katama........1969 - 1976 Minot plus canvas windshield, forward seats

https://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/16-17/

The KATAMA model is also mentioned in the narrative description of all models.

A 1972 KATAMA is shown in CETACEA at Page 30.
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetac ... age30.html

A modified MINOT is shown in CETACEA at Page 33.
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetac ... age33.html

However, the boat seen above has a Reversible Pilot Seat (RPS), so it really does not fit as a KATAMA. There is a possibility it was specially ordered, or, more likely, an RPS was bought as an accessory and added to replace the original seating.

More important to your inquiry regarding the purchase of the boat under discussion, I doubt that there was a model year 2000 KATAMA made. Hulls with blue interior were not made after c.1972.

In general, a seller who offers a boat with a date or manufacture that is 30-years off from the actual date is either very uninformed about what he is selling or is being very misleading about what he is selling.

Regarding hull identification numbers, the federal hull identification number or HIN was not required until c.1972. Boston Whaler boats made prior (and after) 1972 all have a molded-in "stencil" number. The production year for some models and their stencil number ranges is partially documented. The 16-17 foot hull pre-1972 stencil number ranges are given in the REFERENCE article on the 16-17 foot hulls.

If the claim that the boat is a 2000 model were to be true, then the boat would need to have a federal HIN attached or molded into the hull. By c.2000 I would expect the federal HIN to be molded into the hull.