Boomyal
Supreme Mariner
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2003
- Messages
- 12,072
Hopefully there will be others to post information and pictures of the Salem Oregon made craft. I don't know anything about the Company other than the fact that they are now defunct. I do not know when they started or when the quit.
I also do not know what range of craft they made, nor do I know anything about their philosophy in manufacturing.
What I do know, as a recent owner of an 1976 18 footer, is that they are cute and they are quick. They appear, at least mine, to be about a 4/5 scale copy of a 20 ft Searay. They have the same style hull, the same gas tank in bow, later models had the ski locker in the floor between the seats. They also had the rediculously, impractical full frontal high bow rail which I have already modified.
As far as quality, I only have one hands on example to comapare it to and it does have some shortcomings. I cannot comment on the basic quality of the hull but a lot of the other fiberglass work is somewhat flimsy. One of the areas where this is apparent is in the rear of the front deck and dashboard area. Both sides of my dash are sagging (very visible) which is causing a gross misalignment of the three windshield panels.
I hope to be able to jack these up and add some reinforcement underneath. Other than that, my '76 seams to have come thru the years without any floor rot so that is encouraging me to address some of the other issues.
Here are pictures of my '76 and a friends '78. If you know anything about the brand, please post.
This is my boat before I cut down and opened up the bowrail. It was a deathtrap. I'm surprised it stayed intact as long as it did.
This is after I cut it down.
This is my friends 1978 version. We got them both at the same time. His bowrail was already open up in front but not lowered. His will want to impale you.
Here are the both of them, stored in his yard.
I also do not know what range of craft they made, nor do I know anything about their philosophy in manufacturing.
What I do know, as a recent owner of an 1976 18 footer, is that they are cute and they are quick. They appear, at least mine, to be about a 4/5 scale copy of a 20 ft Searay. They have the same style hull, the same gas tank in bow, later models had the ski locker in the floor between the seats. They also had the rediculously, impractical full frontal high bow rail which I have already modified.
As far as quality, I only have one hands on example to comapare it to and it does have some shortcomings. I cannot comment on the basic quality of the hull but a lot of the other fiberglass work is somewhat flimsy. One of the areas where this is apparent is in the rear of the front deck and dashboard area. Both sides of my dash are sagging (very visible) which is causing a gross misalignment of the three windshield panels.
I hope to be able to jack these up and add some reinforcement underneath. Other than that, my '76 seams to have come thru the years without any floor rot so that is encouraging me to address some of the other issues.
Here are pictures of my '76 and a friends '78. If you know anything about the brand, please post.
This is my boat before I cut down and opened up the bowrail. It was a deathtrap. I'm surprised it stayed intact as long as it did.
This is after I cut it down.
This is my friends 1978 version. We got them both at the same time. His bowrail was already open up in front but not lowered. His will want to impale you.
Here are the both of them, stored in his yard.
Here's a picture of it.
