got my v12a back
Recruit
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2010
- Messages
- 4
I bought it slightly used about 1962. It was state registered as a 1961 boat, but we never really knew the model year. Duratechboats.com says it is either a late 1959 or an early 1960.
I recently sold the boat because I hadn't used it since 1987 (we have been avid kayakers for many years). I immediately regretted it and was lucky to get it back. I used to use it with a 7.5 HP Elgin outboard engine. I will now be using it as a car-top rowboat for fishing with my grandchildren. With its 56" beam, some would think it big for car-topping, but I did it for several years on a Volkswagen Bug (long trips at that). See the attached picture taken in 1973. I later trailered it.
That Duratech could tell so many stories. We used to take it to the outermost islands of Boston Harbor. I also took it on many large and small river trips requiring portages and sometimes having to walk in the water behind it holding it back with a rope to keep it from being destroyed by whitewater.
With people and equipment in the boat, it would plow through the water in an adequate but not to exciting fashion - but when I was alone, I could get it to plane for a real exciting ride. I would have to put the gas tank in the bow to hold the bow down.
I always knew there was something special about that boat. It just seemed sturdier than all the other aluminum boats. If I remember correctly, it has a lot more rivets than the average boat of its type - the rivets are very close together.
I recently sold the boat because I hadn't used it since 1987 (we have been avid kayakers for many years). I immediately regretted it and was lucky to get it back. I used to use it with a 7.5 HP Elgin outboard engine. I will now be using it as a car-top rowboat for fishing with my grandchildren. With its 56" beam, some would think it big for car-topping, but I did it for several years on a Volkswagen Bug (long trips at that). See the attached picture taken in 1973. I later trailered it.
That Duratech could tell so many stories. We used to take it to the outermost islands of Boston Harbor. I also took it on many large and small river trips requiring portages and sometimes having to walk in the water behind it holding it back with a rope to keep it from being destroyed by whitewater.
With people and equipment in the boat, it would plow through the water in an adequate but not to exciting fashion - but when I was alone, I could get it to plane for a real exciting ride. I would have to put the gas tank in the bow to hold the bow down.
I always knew there was something special about that boat. It just seemed sturdier than all the other aluminum boats. If I remember correctly, it has a lot more rivets than the average boat of its type - the rivets are very close together.
