Mystery 19ft boat. Please help!!!

You inherited your uncle's Thompson and now you want to know more about it.

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craftsman
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:01 am
Location: Kinston NC

Mystery 19ft boat. Please help!!!

Post by craftsman »

[img]Hello to all. I have bought a boat from NH, last year and was told it was a Grady White. I am not sure, However, as it looks more like a Thompson.
This boat was rescued from the chopping block since it needed much work and had no hardware. It was in a boathouse stored for years from the death of its former owner. The house was sold and they just wanted the boat gone. The number stamped in the inside of the transom is C5625. That is really all I have to go by. NH is giving me the run around and wont give me the exacts on the numbers since I dont have a registration. Does anybody recognize the boat?
The following link has some pics of the boat where I picked it up.

http://atlanticboatshipping.com/sitemap.aspx
LancerBoy
Posts: 1417
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:47 am
Location: Minneapolis

Post by LancerBoy »

Hello,

Looks less Thompson to me and more Grady-White. The splash well is definately nothing like any Thompson, Cruisers, Inc., or T & T Boats.

The hull ID is more G-W than Thompson Bros. Boat Mfg. Co.

What is the boat's centerline length and gunwale length?

Barbour Boat which were made at New Bern, NC is another possibility? Are the laps of the planking attached to one another with machine bolts or clinch nails? If they are clinch nails, this eliminates Thompson, Cruisers, T & T, and Grady-White.

Can you create a BILL OF SALE so that you can get the information from the NH registration? I am surprised they will not give the information to you. Here in the Midwest many states make it available to the public. Heck ya can buy the entire listing of boat registrations in MN and WI for a very small fee.

Andreas
craftsman
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:01 am
Location: Kinston NC

Post by craftsman »

Hello, Thanks for the reply.

The boat's centerline length is 18.5 ft. I will have to get the other measurement for the gunwale.
As for the planks, they are machine bolted together with three bolts each section both above AND below the waterline. The only nails it has are at the transom edge where I guess it was tacked together during assembly.
I am going to work with NH the best I can to get some information. To be honest I just kind of put it to rest a while as I didnt really have the energy for the govt's red tape at the time. I have another boat I am restoring in the mean time. I have a bill of sale, but since the boat was sold off as trash, being useless and considered only good for display...- it only says it is for a 50's grady white, which the seller was told that it is what it is. However I dont think grady made a boat until 60, so I guess its needing some more research trying to get NH to open up. Since no registration documentation was provided, the boat was priced accordingly, almost free minus the gas and time needed for me to move it which became the main cost.

Registration is public information here in NC too.

Do you have any pics showing it resembling a grady? I have looked on their wood boats catalog and dont see anything like it.
LancerBoy
Posts: 1417
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:47 am
Location: Minneapolis

Post by LancerBoy »

There are some brochure pages at the Grady-White Boats website. They only took selected pages from one brochure and put them on the site.

The GW Hatteras models were 17'-4" centerline length and the GW Pacific models were 19'-3" centerline length and the GW Atlantic was 20'-4" centerline length.

It appears as if GW did not change their hull designs like Thompson and Cruisers and T & T Boats every year or two. They even used the same photos in their brochures year after year.

Yes, the first boats built and delivered by Grady-White were in 1960. The company got its start in December 1959.

Andreas
calvin
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 4:09 pm
Location: maryland

Post by calvin »

Gradys usually did not have the plank closest to the covering boards in stain and varnish...the ones I have seen are all painted.
LancerBoy
Posts: 1417
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:47 am
Location: Minneapolis

Post by LancerBoy »

I looked at the photos again. Here are some things that make me feel she is NOT a Thompson, Cruisers, T & T, Thompson of NY:

1. the splash well
2. the almost vertical front windshield
3. the side lights of the windshield
4. the back rests and storage shelves at the front seat
5. the bulkhead under the dashboard
6. the "V" shaped block under the bow light

Yes, Thompson of Peshtigo and Thompson of NY (up to circa 1961) used the stained and varnished shearstrake whereas Grady-White did not use this feature.

Maybe she's a Barbour, Lyman, Dunphy, Chetek, White or ????? There were many builders of lapstrake boats along the Mid-Atlantic coast as well.

Andreas
LancerBoy
Posts: 1417
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:47 am
Location: Minneapolis

Is it a Chetek Boat?

Post by LancerBoy »

Could she be a CHETEK BOAT? Here's a little article and photo from the January 1960 issue of "Yachting" magazine.

I just bumped into this while paging thru the magazine last nite.

Andreas

Image
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