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Flooring for very early Corsair XL175

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Bill Basler
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Flooring for very early Corsair XL175

Post by Bill Basler » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:02 pm

Can anyone help me with what the flooring material would have been for a 1964 Chris-Craft Corsair? I think it is very likely that the same material was used for many models. If it matters, my specific boat is a XL175 Sunlounger.

The perimeter of the floor features polished stainless steel pieces that appear to be hold-downs for whatever was used. My boat has carpeting, but I am pretty certain this is not the original stuff.
Bill Basler

Wood Commander
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Post by Wood Commander » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:02 pm

Bill, don't know if this will help or not-

My Lancers (1968 and 1970) had and have red or blue "crinkly" or "bubble" looking vinyl covering on the decks. I think that they might have some at Kendor Marine near Milwaukee. Their ebay name is "Great Lakes Skipper". They have TONS of nowadays boat parts and pieces.

Would your boat have any of this material elsewhere on the boat? My boats have had it on what would be the lower ceiling board area, inside the "cove" area just above the ceiling board area, and on the inside of the hullsides up in the forepeak and cuddy cabin area. Just like on an old woody, there may be scraps under seat bases, engine cover and other trim parts maybe?
Bret

1953 35' Commander "Adonis III"

1970 23' lancer project

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Bill Basler
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Location: Cedar Rapids, IA

Post by Bill Basler » Tue Jul 03, 2007 4:38 am

Thanks Bret. My boat does not have any covering material anywhere except for the floors. The decks are gelcoated fiberglass, as is the engine hatch, dashboard, etc. In tyical 60s fashion, it was "all about the wood paneling." The dash and glove box are a woodgrain faced material. The side storage bins were actually covered with some sort of woodgrain faced masonite-type product....just like you would fins in a home of that period...just without the fake panel lines.

This stuff is obviously not very durable, and hardly even water resistant....but in keeping with originality, I'll probably be looking for a similar substitute.

The floor design is actually pretty sophisticated, with corners that bevel inward, with nice broad radii at all corners to keep junk from accumulating. The entire floor reminds you more of a pan with sides than it does a flat floor. Finally the floor appears to be gel-coated white. This is what I am trying to determine what the floor materials would have been.

Our family had a 1967 Trihull many years ago that had a gold colored pebbled vinyl material that was very similar to what you describe. Some of the pictures of these boats I have seen look to be smooth inside showing either the bare fiberglass or a pebbled vinyl material. I'll do some more digging.
Bill Basler

thompsonboatboy
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Post by thompsonboatboy » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:25 am

Could they have used Nautolex flooring? Thompson Boat in Wisconsin started using it for floors of their boats circa 1963.

Nautolex is still avbailable, but not necessarily in the same colours as in the 1960s.

Andreas

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Bill Basler
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Post by Bill Basler » Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:35 am

I was wondering the same Andreas. I am going to carefully scour some literature to see if I can find ay clues. Thanks.
Bill Basler

thompsonboatboy
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Post by thompsonboatboy » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:54 pm

I just wrote to Ted Thompson, Jr. to ask him.

Andreas

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Post by thompsonboatboy » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:26 am

Hi,

I received a return letter from Ted Thompson, Jr. at Cortland, NY. Here is what he says about the 1964 Chris-Craft XL175.

The "paneling" on the interior hullsides "...was Masonite with a wood grain/photo process material which looked quite natural and was durable."

As for the flooring, there was none. The floor was fiberglass with a skid resistant feature molded-in. There was no vinyl or carpeting on it.

Mr. Thompson further wrote that the early Corsair models were very nice running and good looking. They did not sell very well to the Thompson Boat of NY dealer network however, because they were not good in rough water. Once the deep-V hulls came about in the Lancer line, sales improved.

Ted Thompson, Jr. became general manager of the Chris-Craft plant at Cortland in the late 1960s. He mentioned that he was the youngest plant manager that Chris-Craft ever had at any of their facilities. He was age 33 when he became plant manager.

Andreas Jordahl Rhude

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Bill Basler
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Post by Bill Basler » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:50 am

Thanks Andreas. I had speculated that that may be the case based on several photos I had seen. Thanks for the excellent information.
Bill Basler

R_Maclay
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Post by R_Maclay » Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:33 pm

My 1965 XL-175 SunLounger still doesn't have any carpeting and would like to since the floor is all cracked or stress cracked from water intrusion.

Would like to get it fixed but it would seem that it would be very prohibitive in cost to replace.

Any sealant that I could apply to smooth it out instead of total replacement, I wouldn't know where to begin.

Thanks, Mac
1965 XL-175 SunLounger
Suisun City, CA

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