Grady White Verification

You inherited your uncle's Thompson and now you want to know more about it.

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Big Ray
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:37 am
Location: North Java, New York

Grady White Verification

Post by Big Ray »

I have boughten a boat that is registered as a 17', 1964 Grady White. There were no badges or identification tags on the boat and the interior has been removed and replaced with two back to back vinyl seats. The only identification I have found was a serial number stamped twice on the interior of the transom. The number is 8F65A2**T. The two missing digits were crushed by the motor mounting washers. This number doesn't seem to fit with any of the various serial numbers found on this site. Does anyone have any ideas? My best guess is that the boat is a Pamlico. It doesn't really matter because this has become my favorite boat. I think it's a runt of the litter sort of thing. I was just going to bomb around in it this summer and sell it but it got the best of me. So far I've replaced the transom, rewired it and am curently rebuilding an 80 HP Merc for it. This winter it gets a proper interior. I'm trying to figure out how to talk my wife into selling her Lyman instead. I'll let you know how that works out!

Thanks,
Big Ray
1962 Lyman, 16' O/B
1964 Grady White, 16.5' O/B
1967 Lyman, 16' I/O
1956 Chris Craft, 17' Sportsman
LancerBoy
Posts: 1417
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:47 am
Location: Minneapolis

Post by LancerBoy »

Pictures will be very helpful. You have to upload them to a hosting site such as photobucket to be able to post them here.

The hull ID does not appear to be one from: Thompson Bros. Boat Mfg. Co., Thompson Boat Co. of New York, Inc.; Cruisers, Inc.; or Grady-White Boats. It does not jive with any of the known systems from these firms.

Hey, maybe it's one of the elusive wooden lapstrake boats made by Marine Corporation of America (MACOA) at Salisbury, NC. They started up late in 1963 and shut down by 1966. They were a "spin-off" from Grady-White Boats.

Andreas
thompsonboat@msn.com
HalcyonDays
Posts: 83
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:09 am

Post by HalcyonDays »

My unprofessional opinion is that it could be a Grady White Pamlico. Who knows without a picture. The hull numbers starting with the letter "A" indicate Pamlico. The numbers before the "A" could mean almost anything; that particular part number, trim level boat will receive etc. Would like to see photo though.
Big Ray
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:37 am
Location: North Java, New York

Post by Big Ray »

Thanks gentlemen. I'll work on the pictures. I was surprised to see that the transom pretty much ripped itself apart on the boat. All the glue joints had failed and 75% of the screws were broken due to the expansion of the Mahogany planks in a cross direction. I have no idea why the motor didn't fall off. Is this common to this line of boats? I duplicated the transom design with the exception of bonding the outer and inner planks to a piece of 1/2" marine plywood with West System epoxy on the outside and Titebond III on the inside. Then everything was sealed with CPS. Hopefully this will eliminate any moisture problems and last another 45 years. I also added knee braces between the transom and sister keelsons for extra motor support. I hope this doesn't upset any restorers out there.
By the way, the wife said I could sell her Lyman. Oddly enough, I just saw a 1964 Cruisers Inc. on the Buffalo Craigs List. Hmmmmm.......
1962 Lyman, 16' O/B
1964 Grady White, 16.5' O/B
1967 Lyman, 16' I/O
1956 Chris Craft, 17' Sportsman
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