pcloward wrote:Q1: are the GUARDIAN model and red dot are the same?
The red dot was a marker created by using tinted gel coat in the initial gel coat resin layer of the hull lamination in a female contact mold. The dot was placed on the hullsides near the stern and at a location near where the decal indicating the BOSTON WHALER logo would be applied.
The dot would be red if the other hull decorations like the logo decals and the harpoon stripe would be applied in red, typical for recreational boats. If those other hull decorations were going to be black, as often seen in commercial boats, the dot would likely be black.
A hull having a marking of a red dot (or black dot) indicates the hull was laid up in the mold with a laminate schedule that was thicker than would normally have been used for a standard hull, that is, a hull intended for retail sale to recreational customers via normal dealers. For many years the Boston Whaler company offered their customers the option of ordering a hull with a heavier laminate layup which was originally called a "work boat" hull option, even if the boat was to be sold through the normal dealer channels as a recreational boat. At some point, I believe they stopped offering the "work boat" option to retail customers buying through a dealer, as I have not seen that choice available in many years.
At some point, Boston Whaler created a Commercial and Government Boat department, which sold boats to commercial or government or military customer using a separate sales force and a separate manufacturing group (but located on site at the main factory), although likely sharing the basic hull molds with the Boston Whaler main factory. Accordingly in c.2001, Boston Whaler began to identify boats made as commercial hulls by registering the manufacturer identify code WCG (for Whaler Commercial and Government). The federal hull identification number (HIN) for boats made by the commercial division would then have their HIN begin with WCG.
My assumption is all hulls built by Boston Whaler by their Commercial and Government Boat department were laid up with the heavier laminate construction, and I presume those hulls would have been indicated by the inclusion of the dot in the hull skin as described above, with the color either red or black as appropriate for the other hull decorations.
You can see several photographs of a GUARDIAN 22 boat delivered to an individual customer as a special order in the CETACEA collection at pages 10 and 12, with links to those pages below:
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetac ... age10.htmlhttps://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetac ... age12.html