CONTINUOUSWAVE

Q1: is there a subset of Boston Whaler boat owners that focus on early Boston Whaler boats as collector's items?

Q2: is the interest specifically around the 1,500th Boston Whaler hull (which seems to make it a 1959) more than simply another old boat?

Q4: are there only a handful of these hulls left?

Q3: are almost all hulls from number one to number 1,500 still in existence?

Condition and originality count.

WestChester wrote:Q1: is there a subset of Boston Whaler boat owners that focus on early Boston Whaler boats as collector's items?

I am not aware of any particular collectors of early Boston Whaler boats. Many people own them and use them as boats, not as collectable items.

WestChester wrote:Q2: is the interest specifically around the 1,500th Boston Whaler hull (which seems to make it a 1959) more than simply another old boat?

Not that I am aware. There have been hundreds of thousand of Boston Whaler boats made, and this tends to dilute the value of one of those hundred thousand boats. If you want a collectable item there usually must be a scarcity associated with the item. There really is not a scarcity of old 13-foot boats.

WestChester wrote:Q3: are almost all hulls from number one to number 1,500 still in existence?

The probability that a hull with stenciled number lower than 1501 is still in existence as a boat is likely to be good. Boston Whaler 13-foot boat production built hulls usually have a stencil number, which began at 100 and incremented upward. The prototype hulls were single digit numbers.

WestChester wrote:Q4: are there only a handful of these hulls left?

I am not aware of any source of reliable data about how many very old Boston Whaler boats remain as boats.

To follow up on "collectable" older Boston Whaler boats, I recall many years ago a fellow restored a very old 13-footer to showroom condition, including an old outboard engine and a Tee-Nee boat trailer. The boat-engine-trailer configuration was just about exactly as would have been seen in a Boston Whaler dealer showroom 60-years ago. This boat attracted the attention of a very long-time Boston Whaler dealer somewhere on the East Coast, and the dealer bought the boat. The price paid was rather remarkable at that time.

In some cases where a family has owned a 13-foot Boston Whaler for several generations, then that boat to that family will have special value. See

Cetacea Page 51
February 10, 2002
Grandfather's Whaler
A 1959 Classic Is Reborn
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetacea/cetaceaPage51.html