Boat Buzz

In most pictures of 55/56 Continentals that I find, the blonde area near the windshield starts about 4" in front of the windshield and wraps around to the sides. In all of the brochures that I can find, all of the '56 continentals have the blonde area about 4" behind the windshield. The Capri's in the photos have it in front of the windshield, but if you look at the continentals, it is a much smaller area near there.

Did they just do it that way for the brochures? Or is that how it should be?

Thanks for the help,

They started out in 55 with the smaller band of "blonde" behind the windshield. This area became wider later. I am not sure when. Someone on this forum will probably let us know. If you still have original decks there should be a "false" seam delineating the dark from the blonde.

Thanks Greg. Not much on mine seems original. There was some damage to the king plank, and someone added another on top of the first so that it stands proud.There is no blonde left, everything was stained walnut, and the seams run all the way back to the cockpit edge, rather than all tight in the blonde area. The curved seam on mine does go in front of the windshild, but that could have been an attempt to make it look 'newer' at some point.

Steve, seems odd to me that someone would go to the trouble of replacing decks with the deck seams running all the way back and then put the delineation seam back in and then stain it all mahagony with no blonde. There is still hope (in my view) that your decks may still be original and just cosmetically "adjusted".

It was common to see these boats refinished without the blonde to avoid the bleach hassel.

A photo might help.

In the mean time look under the decks to see if they are sealed and not stained (factory) and if so compare the grain on each side with the corresponding plank on the other. The battens running fore and aft will tell you where each plank starts and stops. If you find matching grain patterns then there is a strong potential that your deck planks are the bookmatched originals.

You are right, the underside does look original...

Perhaps the panels shrank, leaving gaps, so he just caulked them and painted them?

Of course, it looks like he had his 5 year old paint the seams, with a 1" brush!

Another thought on the subject, maybe they moved the line from behind the winshield to in front of it for the 1956 models, but used 1955 boats in the brochure?

this is the original blond pattern ,20' 57 continental

ClassOf56 wrote:Another thought on the subject, maybe they moved the line from behind the winshield to in front of it for the 1956 models, but used 1955 boats in the brochure?

This sounds like a pretty good assumption. I would guess that the curved seam in front of the windshield was the delineation line, but have no proof of that.

tkhersom wrote:

ClassOf56 wrote:Another thought on the subject, maybe they moved the line from behind the winshield to in front of it for the 1956 models, but used 1955 boats in the brochure?

This sounds like a pretty good assumption. I would guess that the curved seam in front of the windshield was the delineation line, but have no proof of that.

Troy. The Blonde goes with the guy with the unugliest boat

Doug: I thought she went with the guy who has the "BIGGEST BOAT"!

tkhersom wrote:Doug: I thought she went with the guy who has the "BIGGEST BOAT"!

If that's the case, neither of us will get the blonde....wait a moment. We both married blondes

FUnny guys!

PS I also married a Blonde!

There's a boat in here somewhere! (I married a redhead.)

I'm not even going to touch the redhead comment. I want to live.

BTW: is unugliest really a word?

PS: Looks like the blonde went to DC.

cc-woodboats wrote:this is the original blond pattern ,20' 57 continental

Just curious, I thought the '57's went to the curved windshields?

Beautiful boat.

All the 57s I have seen have the flat windshield.
the same one as the Holiday.
I always thought that Chris Craft decided to use the windshields on both boats
because it was less expensive than the curved Continental windshield
and this was the last year for this style Continental.

From what I have read CC was know to use up stock before changing a design so something like a curved windshield may actually change mid-year.

I know the '57 21' Continental has a curved windshield.

Here the Blonde is on the engine cover.

I don't recall where this Chris Craft Ad Photo came from - Mahogany Memories? Inside The Factories? It does appear to answer the proposed question. The Blonde goes on the half of the boat that is finished and seaworthy. The guys on the other side of the boat appear focused on their work, and perhaps not having the beaming smile fun that she is having . According to this Ad, Blondes belong on the Port side, and do appear to have more fun.

Yaaa, the port side sure looks fun, but I think I'll hang out with the guys on the starboard. Lot less trouble and cheaper in the long run.