Correct Steering Wheel for c.1970 SPORT 13

[JHBSport]

I plan to buy a Sport 13. I saw two c.1970 SPORT 13 boats. One boat had a white four-spoke steering wheel and the other boat had a five-spoke stainless steel steering wheel.

Q1: Between a white four-spoke steering wheel and a stainless steel five-spoke steering, which is correct for a c.1970 SPORT 13 boat?

My opinion is a white four-spoke steering wheel with twin two-spokes is correct on Boston Whaler boats made before c.1970.

Q2: was 1970 a transition year for the steering wheels?

All information I receive about my inquiry will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

ASIDE: I'm new to posting here and have a Revenge 25.

[jimh]

I don't think there is a particular mandate to have concern about which steering wheel is on a boat you might buy. I would buy the SPORT 13 boat in the best condition, and ignore the steering wheel as an important consideration in making a decision on which boat to buy. I would not obsess over the steering wheel. You can easily replace the steering wheel. You might have to replace all the steering if you buy a 1970 boat, considering that the steering mechanism will be 52-years-old.

If you prefer one type of steering wheel over the other, that is the steering wheel you should use on your SPORT 13 when you buy a SPORT 13.

I think that finding a replacement four-spoke white steering wheel will be hard to find. In 2022 to find a stainless steel steering wheel to use as a replacement steering wheel will be much easier.

See the

Original Equipment Manufacturers and
Recommended Vendors
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/OEM.html#SSwheel

for some advice on the OEM provider of stainless steel steering wheels on Boston Whaler boats. I think a GRANT steering wheel is probably very difficult to find in 2022.

[jimh]

Q2: was 1970 a transition year for the steering wheels?

I do not think that 1970 was the year in which Boston Whaler began to use only stainless steel five-spoke or six-spoke steering wheels as the standard equipment on their small boats instead of plastic steering wheels.

I bought a 1976 SPORT 15 and it had the OEM steering wheel. The steering wheel was NOT a stainless steel steering wheel. See below in Figure 1.

Fig. 1. The OEM steering wheel on a 1976 SPORT 15.

1976Sport15Wheel.jpg (33.04 KiB) Viewed 662 times

I cannot imagine that in 1976, six years after your proposed start of the epoch for the introduction of stainless steel steering wheels on 13-foot Boston Whaler boats, that Boston Whaler would be selling a 15-foot boat without a stainless steel steering wheel as standard equipment, but selling 13-foot boat with them as standard equipment. That makes no sense.

[JHBSport]

Thank you for the answers and significant editing [to enumerate the questions].