Any experience of Dolphin boats from 70's?

[73 Dolphin]

Hello.

Does ANYONE have any experience with Dolphin Products boats of Clearwater Florida? The company is now out of business - so not the Dolphin boats out there now.

What I have is a 1973 Dolphin 20' bow rider. I have read the most of the posts on restoration and realize that I need to replace the floor and stringers. The transom was redone a while back and looks solid, though i suspect that it was done with a minimum of effort as the deck is topographically similar to the Himalayas and was obviously not done!

So I am hoping that perhaps someone on the forum has owned one of these in the past and knows a little about what is under the deck. For instance
( and I jest ) " Yes the stringers were actually made of shaving cream, but its the fiberglass wrap that held it together!"

You see, while I realize that there's a lot of work there and intend to get it done, the very idea of actually getting out the reciprocal saw and "digging in" scares the cr*p out of me!!

So if you ever tried to save one please let me know.

 

[GO OVRIT]

Re: Any experience of Dolphin boats from 70's?

I've only seen one other Dolphin. Its a 23 cuddy cabin that is a few min from me. It seems to be a very solidly built boat. It has a lot of thick glass. If your 20 footer is built as well then you should have a good starting point. The kind of work you're doing is pretty universal between any make/model. There is more than enough great info on here for replacing decks and stringers. Good luck with it.

 

[73 Dolphin]

Re: Any experience of Dolphin boats from 70's?

Thanks for letting me know that there is at least one still out there!Yes she is built like a tank.

 

[Lanemr123]

Hello.

Does ANYONE have any experience with Dolphin Products boats of Clearwater Florida? The company is now out of business - so not the Dolphin boats out there now.

What I have is a 1973 Dolphin 20' bow rider. I have read the most of the posts on restoration and realize that I need to replace the floor and stringers. The transom was redone a while back and looks solid, though i suspect that it was done with a minimum of effort as the deck is topographically similar to the Himalayas and was obviously not done!

So I am hoping that perhaps someone on the forum has owned one of these in the past and knows a little about what is under the deck. For instance
( and I jest ) " Yes the stringers were actually made of shaving cream, but its the fiberglass wrap that held it together!"

You see, while I realize that there's a lot of work there and intend to get it done, the very idea of actually getting out the reciprocal saw and "digging in" scares the cr*p out of me!!

So if you ever tried to save one please let me know.

Hello 73
Dolphin.
My name is Mark Lane and the boat you asked about was a boat my father built many years ago. His name was Harry Lane. I’m sure by now you have another boat or have finished your project I know my father built the boats with the goal of it being unsinkable.

 

[airshot]

Your situation reminds me of the time many years back when my wife said " I sure wish we could put a sliding door where that window is" ......she returned home a few hours later from the store wondering why the house smelled like chainsaw smoke ???