Duratech…?

[johnyrude200]

Recently picked up one of these boats…first time I’ve ever seen one anywhere. Single owner boat, and in pretty good shape overall. Trying to figure out the HP and weight capacity. It’s far beamier than any 14′ starcraft I’ve ever owned (including my current 2001 model complimented with a 2014 30hp ETEC).

It’s 61′ at the transom, and is a 14′ foot boat, with some ‘unusual’ aluminum riveting and placement of reinforcement aluminum folds. 3 aluminum bench seats with styrofoam, but they seats are one big 3-fold sheet of aluminum which tie into the floor. My initial hunch is it’s a 60’s vessel, or *maybe* a late 50’s vessel. But you’d never guess it was that old.

Serial is 46076, model S14 63. No coast guard rating plate, but the original company stickers still are on both the SB and P sides of the boat (albeit, wrinkled and tattered, but clearly readable).

Hoping this thing can handle a 40hp motor…I sold a ’71 14′ starcraft earlier in the year that had 3 transom braces that I felt very comfortable saying was good for a 40hp motor, and that boat had the old mohogany seats with aluminum styrofoam undercarriages.

Thanks for the help, 1st time I’ve asked for help identifying an old boat!

[kerry]

From the Fiberglassics library http://www.fiberglassics.com/library/Fi … hbb002.jpg

If you have too many, AND not enough, you're a collector.

[kerry]

Keep in mind, this is not necessarily all of the data, just what they have to print. Yours could be a different year that isn’t represented, but should at least give you some useful info.

If you have too many, AND not enough, you're a collector.

[lotec]

My first aluminum runabout was a very well used 1956 Duratec Sea Line 14. They were a premium aluminum boat when built and had a lifetime warrantee against leaking.

Mine had been run hard and put away wet all its life. It also had more holes in the dash and decks from old hardware, instruments and radios, than your average piece of Swiss cheese! However the hull, true to the warrantee, did not leak a drop. It was also dry in a sea and handled predictably at all speeds. The boat ran very well with my ”55 Big Twin and would run 23 loaded with my two boys, gear and two full tanks of gas. Empty with just me 27.7 was the best I saw.

There was a guy Joe Mansuto who had a website about them. He was looking into reproducing the name badges and finding a replacement for the red and later blue deck canvass. Im sure a Google search would turn up his site if it still exists.

In later years they came out with a line of fiberglass boats and eventually thy were bought out by Penn Yan. I dont know anything about these later boats and , from the few ive seen, they dont seem to be of the quality of the original aluminim line.

[johnyrude200]

Looking at some files on the ‘net, I believe mine is a ’63 model COMET (or perhaps named something different, because I can’t find anything for 1963 and 1964 years out there). The ’65 model COMET closely resembles the description of this vessel, in that the ’65 model is quoted as having a 61" transom beam, and 67" mid-vessel beam overall. My boat has a 60" transom, 66" mid-vessel beam.

The big payoff is the ’65 model is quoted as good for just under 1,000lbs, and a 40hp motor.

We had a massive rainstorm earlier in the week (to the tune of 2-3" of rain in 1 day). I was away, and the boat filled up with a solid 50-60 gallons of water while sitting on the trailer, and I didn’t see anything coming out…anywhere.

It looks like a pretty rugged boat, and take nothing away from Starcraft (which I’ve owned several of, and am a big fan of), but this one just looks very stable and strong. Not excessively heavy either, which is always nice. I’ll be heading out with the pressure washer today to give it a thorough cleaning; this one was sitting in the original owners back yard for the last 15 years, so it is quite the petri dish if you know what I mean.

[johnyrude200]

EDIT: Found an old advertisement for a 1960 model quoting the MSRP as $279.00…by today’s rates…that’s nearly $2300.00! Some big bucks for even back in the day!

I don’t know of many bare-bones aluminum boats selling for that price these days ($1000 – 1200, yes, but not $2300!).

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