Re: 57 Sealine RD Restoration Project
Hey folks. Well Before I get started I wanted to pass this great information that Joe Mansueto at
www.duratechboats.com shared with me. He explains the information on the ID plate and provides some history relating to this boat:
"This is the Sealine 14 foot Runabout Deluxe. True, it's closer to 13 feet if you measure down the center line, but they measured along the gunwale from stern corner to nose...and she should be about 13' 7". Beam should be about 62". The Sealines were the deep-V hull of the Duratechs at the time; they made a more shallow V as well, called Veeline. This one may be mis-marked however...we see a bit of this in the late 50's, mostly in '58. Your tag indicates 'S 47'. The S represents Sealine, the 4 is odd...from the picture, there looks to be no '1' in front of it, as this should read S147...the 14 being a 14 foot hull...and the 7 represents 1957. Also, the S147 would not have the mid and rear decking on top as yours has; this means that the boat was likely not dressed and put in inventory with this decking, but was later added and the tag not made to reflect what it ended up as. Also...your decking appears to be the light blue of 1958...whereas in '57 the decking was a pinkish-red. Does any of this vinyl decking appear to be painted over with blue? I've received pictures from a number of guys where the pinkish-red was painted over with this light blue type color. If you find underneath some hardware that the vinyl is pinkish-red, I won't be surprised. If it's blue vinyl, then my educated guess is that the hull was constructed and tagged in '57, (due to the '57 model number AND the serial number range putting it as a '57), but was dressed with decking in early '58. Not sure if they'd have registered this as a '57 due to the tag, or as a '58 due to having been finished and sold in '58. Interesting, and not the first like this. All of that said...if this boat would have been finished with this decking and tagged correctly in '57, it would have been a S147RD (RD for Runabout Deluxe...due to that mid and rear decking); if tagged properly in '58, would have been a S148RD. Whew...that's a lot of info I threw at you, but info you'll want to hang onto since you won't find it anywhere else."
Thanks Joe. Here are a few pics of the condition of the boat at the start. The top has numerous additional blind rivits and screws installed across the top of the gunwalls and edge to secure the top to the sides. There is considerable corrosion on all the trim and hardware throughout. The last time the boat was tagged was in 1963 and was last (12 years or longer) used as a beater fishing boat with a rear tiller late engine. It has survived outside, upside down under an oak tree through 3 hurricanes, 1 tropical storm and a fallen tree limbs.
More to follow.
