KBL Carburetor hood color scheme

mhestley · Post by **mhestley** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 7:53 pm

I am painting the carburetor hood for my 1948 Deluxe Runabout. The sales brochure for 1948 shows the fins and the rib down the top painted white. Does anyone know the correct red and white colors (I am leaning towards the bilge red and Chevy fleet white),

What is the extent of the white? Is the underside of the fins white or red? Is the entire fin white or just a narrow stripe?

Thanks for the help
Murray

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:34 pm

Murray, Welcome to Boat Buzz. Good to see a fellow post-war Deluxe owner with us.

Wow, I know that I have seen a dozen of them but can't remember much. I'll do some searching through some of my photos and see what I can find. As I recall, the body is closely matched to the deck stain color and the ribs (3 side and 1 top) appear to be white to match the deck seams. The photo in the brochure is a colorized B&W photo, no doubt, and does appear to match the stain closely.

Al

I found this photo of one but the paint might be a little too dark. Actually, the stain on this one may be a little too light. I would think the hood color should be closer to the stain color. Beautiful boat, though I don't like the white welting on the cushions.

Mark Campbell · Post by **Mark Campbell** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:21 am

Does anyone make a copy of this vent?

mhestley · Post by **mhestley** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:00 pm

I am lucky enought to have the hood, so I have not looked for someone to cast a copy. I am told that the hoods are more difficult to find than the KBL.

By the way, the casting is not a vent per se. It has no openings but covers the carbs, which protrude above the deck line. So it serves as a cover and for air circulation because the carbs are downdraft. Plus it's very cool looking.

Murray

tph · Post by **tph** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:56 am

Mark,
I have a mold to make them out of fiberglass. Have done
one and it came out great.
Tom
Vintage Marine

gbraker · Post by **gbraker** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 2:34 pm

Al;

We may be able to find the owner of the boat. He has a Minnesota license I think. We can ask him why he has the white beading, and other questions.

gbraker · Post by **gbraker** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 2:36 pm

That really cracks me up. Make it from fiberglass.

Isn't that the enemy!!!!

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:12 pm

Gary, I'm not sure where I came across that photo. It was from 3 or 4 years ago and may have been from one of the brokers who had it listed for sale. No telling who may own it now.

I don't know what material the original hoods were cast from and haven't been curious about until now. Just what were they made of? Murray or Tom, can you tell us more about them?

Fiberglass may be the best alternative to duplicate one of them these days.

Al

I just ran across another '48, 17' Deluxe with this hood. It appears to be either chrome plated or polished metal of some sort.

mhestley · Post by **mhestley** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:20 pm

The hoods are made from cast aluminum and then painted inside and out. My conclusion about the paint job is that the red underneath matches the bilge red. The bilge red is meant to approximate the mahogany stain, so the outside of my hood will be bilge red with the white stripes (match the deck striping)and then clear coated. I have asked Sherwin-Williams to advise me on the exact color match.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:31 pm

Murray, thanks for the quick follow-up. The one in the photo that I just attached must be polished aluminum then, a bit much for my taste.

Denis D · Post by **Denis D** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:50 pm

Hi,

Newbie here, bought my first woodie restoration project earlier this year, a 1948 17' deluxe with the KBL option, (engine missing). It's still wrapped up but I have the carb hood in my basement. I was told the boat was mothballed in 1955 and does appear to be very original. The hood does appear original except someone may have repainted the red on the outside at one time. The inside still has a lot of the bilge red factory paint on it. Also, the white stripes appear toa have been hand painted at the factory. The stripes on the fins are also only about 3/16" wide. I am going to try to attach some photos I took but being my first post, not sure I will succeed.

gbraker · Post by **gbraker** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:58 pm

amazing that after all these years, we have the original part.

What is it made from?

mhestley · Post by **mhestley** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:26 pm

I looked again at the 1948 sales literature and it appears that your paint job is accurate with the 3/16" stripes on the fins and the broad stripe on top.

Al Benton · Post by **Al Benton** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:05 pm

Dennis, Welcome to Boat Buzz and congratulations on posting photos on your first attempt. The photos are great. Thanks much for them.

Murray mentioned that it is cast aluminum. That casting was probably half of the extra cost for the KBL engine option, couldn't have been cheap.

Again, as Murray said, the KBL may be easier to find than another original carb hood. So here's wishing you luck on finding an engine for your treasure. They're out there.

Dennis, do you have the hull number? I encourage you to register her in the Club Hull Registry and order a Research Package from The Mariners' Museum.

Al

Denis D · Post by **Denis D** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:39 pm

It is indeed an aluminum casting and a surprisingly heavy one at that. It also has a rough sand cast surface as removed from the mold. The only grinding they did was to smooth the edges of the mounting flange.

Since the photos worked, the first one shows where I carefully scraped the darker maroon paint off the top corner exposing the factory bilge red paint which is also visible in the 2nd photo of the bottom which was not repainted. The 3rd & 4th photos show the bottom of the fins, the white paint appears factory & was not repainted. You can see they were not too neat with it and went back and brushed some red over the white they got on the bottom of the fins.

Al, I did get the Mariners Museum package with the boat and I will add the boat to the register.

I am hoping to find a complete rebuildable KBL for it so I can use some luck. Thanks for the kind words, I am sure I will be using the buzz for a lot of questions I will have during the restoration.

Cheers,

mhestley · Post by **mhestley** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:09 pm

Not to get off topic but I can post what I have learned about the KBL. They are eminently rebuildable. The carburetors are the touchy topic, but it is all good. Just think of a 17' boat with 131 HP. She will take off, just make sure you have a solid bottom.

Bill Basler · Post by **Bill Basler** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:18 pm

I just learned of a member with an original Carb hood that has been on his boat, but was not original to his boat. He is returning to original, and will be removing this piece. I will direct him to this post if anyone is interested, state your interest here.

Mark Campbell · Post by **Mark Campbell** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 4:26 pm

Thank you Bill, I appreciate that. I have also seen the chrome 'looking' version of the original farther above. I have to say I think it looks awesome as chrome and had always thought the original to be a bit out of place...but a signature look for sure. the earlier chrome scoop is even better looking. I look forward to trying to buff the original to a polish and when I do will certainly take photos of the process. I have a very early "Alumicraft" and have done a 5 step sand paper spot that brought it to a chrome look.

KBL Carburetor hood color scheme

KBL Carburetor hood color scheme

KBL Carburetor Hood Color

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