THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

[MuskyHunterDave]

Hello. . . . All

I have been searching for YEARS trying to identify my baby, and today I finally nailed her down.

Thanks to diligent hours of searching I have, beyond the shadow of a doubt, concluded she is a Duratech Comanche.

I was almost convinced by a local retired crestliner employee that it was a special order crestliner, but alas he was wrong.

She has had a "on going" restoration since I bought her in the early 90's. The rear grab bars where removed, the side panels where shortened, but I have two pieces of diamond plate ready to replace them, and install new side windows next spring. Right after I bought her I stripped her to the bar hull, re-did about 50 rivets then installed a new 8 ply marine plywood deck with tons of compartments. I have repainted her twice, built the full stand up canvas cover myself, widened the front center access in the lower window, diamond plated the bow, installed a Perfect fit GLASS upper windshield (installed after below pictures), and a window wiper is going on next spring as I fish in very fowl weather sometimes. Also as you can see I am slowly accenting it throughout with diamond plate. Built a new bunk trailer for it early on with the help of a friend from Easy-Loader . . . Thanks Rick

Originally came with twin Evinrude 40's and when they ran good the thing could throw you out the back, but have since upgraded to a 91 Evinrude v4 90hp with Power tilt. I have a electric bow mount for fishing / pitching, and I run it from the removable seat on the hard top. I am primarily a Tiger Musky fisherman anymore, and being up there is like tarpon fishing the flats as you can see everything. Always fun to tell a friend out with me when he is going to get a hit before it happens

I will add some more pictures of the interior as soon as I find them.

I would love to find out any info on these duratech comanche's as well as any and all pictures.

There was a lot of info on the duratech webpage, but not a lot on the Comanche, so if you have any info I would surely appreciate it!!


Glad to finally know for sure, but unfortunately after the fiasco getting it titled years ago they are calling it a 1969 SEA boat, but who cares, I know what it is now

Here are some pictures for you all to enjoy.

 

[JoeMan]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Dave, this being a Comanche thread...thought you'd like to see this one. This belongs to Matt. If he joins, he'll see that his boat has made it to the forum ahead of him.

 

[MuskyHunterDave]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Hey Joe . . . .. Thanks for posting the picture !!

Matt. . .. That is a Fine looking Comanche, and I would love to see MORE pictures of it throughout as it seems to be stock, and I am overly curuious to see more of it!!

I am stunned, Believe it or not, that was the EXACT color scheme of my first re-paint job = WOW

The guy I bought My Comanche from Removed the side bars as seen on matt?s

I might be a little prejudice, but I am confident these Comanche's are the best dam boat ever made!!

I would LOVE to see more pictures of Comanche?s (irregardless of condition) soooo any on lookers who are fortunate enough (like Myself & Matt) to own a Comanche - Post some pictures of YOUR Comanche for all or us to see !!!

Dave

 

[JoeMan]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Dave...you and I talked before about the year of your Comanche. Well...after looking through a number of Duratech brochures...I believe that if we've not already settled it...your Comanche is definitely a '62. 1962 is positively the first year for the Comanche. I just received the difficult to find '61 brochure, and Duratech was still making the Sealine style hulls...had not switched over to the Neptune, Galaxy, Orion, Marlin, Comanche, etc. '62 brought a huge change to the entire line. The Comanche is of course a cruiser built on the very tough 18' Galaxy hull. The abbreviated aluminum panel behind the side window on the Duratech built Comanche is present only in '62. As of the '63 preview document, the extended panel shows up and remained through '65. Penn Yan bought Duratech in '65, and when they launched their own version of the Comanche, they went BACK to the abbreviated panel, which is shown in the '66 brochure. But...you can positively identify the Penn Yan Comanche model by it's lap strake hull and single spray rail, whereas Duratech were solid aluminum hull panels and split spray rail.

Matt's Comanche above is a '65...this was confirmed by his serial number.

 

[MuskyHunterDave]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Hey Joe . . .

When you say "abbreviated" Side panels, do you mean they do not extend backwards beyond the vertical rise of the hard top ??

If so . . . . I hate to admit it, but it originally was just like Matt's, in that it had extended side panels as well as the grab bars. I removed the side panel extensions (back from the vertical rise of the hard top) years ago as one was partially damaged when the previous owner barbarically removed the aluminum poles that extend along the top of the side panel then further back and down as pictured on Matt?s boat. I actually have plans to replace then back to the original extended look with some thin Diamond plate aluminum I have, as I will be replacing the now deteriorated side windows. The side panels need to be removed for this procedure.

With all this in mind, we have it narrowed down, so I would like to see the 63 64 65 brochures of the Comanche, are they all now posted on the Duratechboats.com website ??

It is good to know your confident it is NOT a pennyan made Duratech. As you know I tried joining and gathering info on the Pennyan forum, and while a few members where interested in the pennyann / duratech line, unfortunately that forum / thread was full of people who plug threads with yammering and gibberish not pertaining to the topic so the topic was soon lost and the thread turned to sarcastic comments. Quite frankly, life is to short, and I can do without that kind of people, so I never went back.

I really appreciate your help on this, and once we do finally get the exact date of my Comanche nailed down, I am going to approach the states licensing dept at our capitol and see about Pulling Strings / getting the titles "Year" / "Make" error corrected. It states 1969 SEA as that was what the gal decided to put on it when I bought it /titled it ( it was purchased in Idaho & Idaho did not require titles for boat for many years), at the time I was not concerned, but eventually it would be nice to get it clarified / resolved / titled properly to carry the Duratech name.

Dave

 

[JoeMan]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Dave...no, I have far too much historical Duratech stuff to ever post it all on the site. But I'll send you scans of '63, '64 and '65 info on the Comanche. If you don't hear from me by this weekend, just rattle my nest again.

I don't recall you telling me you shortened those panels, but with damage, that makes sense...and you did a nice job...as with your entire custom resto job!

 

[MuskyHunterDave]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Hey . . . Joe

I look forward to seeing the info, do you know if there where any distinguishing variations to the 63 64 65 lines that would help nail it down ??

Although I have been over this entire boat multiple times throughout the years, and to date have found no numbers ID plates etc., Where is the factory Location of the Serial numbers?

I was looking at your Video?s on You tube last night . . . . There?s some good footage, and some reall funny ones as well. I will try and get some of my boat in action this summer and get them on there as well!!

Thanks again Joe

 

[JoeMan]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Let me email to ask the owner of the one above where their serial plate is. I will look closer at the info from those 3 years, to see what the differences may be, if any. Still need to scan each so that I can send to you. I have a real busy weekend going, but I'll try to get that to you in the next few days.

 

[MuskyHunterDave]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Sounds good Joe I am anxious to see the literature . . . . . but be sure & enjoy your week first, I can wait = No worries

Dave

 

[JoeMan]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Dave, still no time for scanning, but I did get a response from Matt, as it regards his ID tag:

"Our boat is in storage for the winter so I can?t double check this, but I am pretty certain there was a plate on the left outside of the transom that gave recommended capacity and the serial number among other things."

Dave, my suspicion is that yours was removed by the previous owner during one of his projects. I don't get why guys do that...and you're not alone. A number of other Duratech owners ID tag has been removed previous to them receiving the boat.

 

[MuskyHunterDave]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Hey. . .. Joe

Yea no plate in that location, and like I said, considering I have touched every square in of the boat, I am certain it was removed at some piont = Stupid

Hopefully the 63 64 65 Literature will help me nail it down.

Again, No rush. . .

Thanks again
Dave

 

[JoeMan]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Here are some images for you Comanche owners...

 

[currint]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Hello!!, I just registered!........I have just located what I believe is a Comanche, it looks a lot like MuskyHunterDaves, but if I recall correctly, the side windows are curved [and cracked]......I want to make an offer on it but wanted to check to see if there are any places to get old parts and info on rebuilding...........Thanks So Much!

 

[JoeMan]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

I run the Duratech site. All I've got to offer are the images, and the fact that I did a custom resto on my runabout. Are you looking to morph it into a fishing machine...or looking to just make it into a nice cruiser?

 

[MuskyHunterDave]

Re: THE SEARCH IS OVER !!!! She is a Duratech Comanche

Hello. . . . Everyone

Been awhile since I have been on here - picked up a new hobby . . . Dual Sport Motorcycles KLR650's Needless to say the ole musky huinter is jeleous of the new hobby LOL

Figured I would post up - I/We (Thanks for the help Joeman) figured out my boat was actually a 1964 Duratech Comanche

Joe - I see things are growing nicely here in the Duratech section, and as usual you are doing a steller job supporting and "being there" for new / old Duratech owners = Hats off to you my friend for all you do !!!

FYI - My wife got me a GoPro Hd Camera for christmas, maybe I will get creative and get you that "on the water" Comanche - action footage you asked for some time ago

Lakes are all still frozen here :-(