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Hull Year vs year on boat title

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:12 pm
by Ravenswood
I just received a copy of the hull card for my 1941 Deluxe Utility, hull #81069 from the Mariners Museum. The hull card is hand dated and stamped Aug 16, 1940. The year on my state marine board registration shows 1941. So, does that mean I use 1940 as the hull year in the CCABC Boat Registry even though it is registered with the state as a 1941 model? And do I refer to my boat as a 1940 instead of a 1941?

Re: Hull Year vs year on boat title

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:54 pm
by joanroy
My boat was built in 1947 for the 1948 model year. Just like production cars, boats for a model year go into production the year before.

Re: Hull Year vs year on boat title

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 3:01 pm
by drrot
When the Museum opened I ordered three hull cards. Two of the three were a couple years off of what I was told they were. I asked a Conservation officer about it and he informed me that titles were issued after the boats were made. They started 40 years later in some cases. So when people had to fill out the paperwork for a title often they had no idea what year the boat was made. If someone said "I had one of those, it was a 1941" BAM!! it was titled as a 1941.

Re: Hull Year vs year on boat title

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:45 pm
by Ravenswood
From Jim’s comment I’m leaning towards the date on the hull card being the year of the boat, not the following year that it was registered. Perhaps I’m just overthinking this entire thing since ChrisCraft just shows a range of years (1940/42) and a range of hull numbers for the
18’ Deluxe Utility.

Re: Hull Year vs year on boat title

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:30 pm
by jim g
Boat production is the same as car production. The new model year typically started in August/September of the previous year.

So the 1941 model year would start in Aug/Sept of 1940 and end June/July 1941.

Remember years ago when the car dealers would start having the end of the model years sales in September because the new year models were coming in.

Re: Hull Year vs year on boat title

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 2:43 pm
by Don Vogt
Jim G is right. remember we are focusing on model year, not production date, for the purpose of accurately identifying the boat. Even within a series that runs for several years, there are often changes (generally somewhat subtle, but not always) from one model year to the next within the same series.

Re: Hull Year vs year on boat title

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 6:02 pm
by Don Danenberg
Listen to Jim G, like the automobile production, around Aug/Sept they were 'next year's' model.
They didn't just build XXX-number of boats, and hoped they would sell? They took orders from the CC Catalogs at their local marina, and built in 12-20-hull 'runs'. That's one reason there are hardware, etc., variations in individual models.

My #48510 was one of the earliest, production, 19-ft, 'barrel-backs', (11th) and it was built, AND DELIVERED, in 8-1938. Even though it was always advertised as a 1939 'model'! This is why I often refer to it as a "1939 ('38)" boat (prototype with one-piece covering boards, roughly the first 70?).

There are even stories of hull numbers that got sold as "The year they were sold!"

In Michigan, where CC's and many other popular builders' boats were built, they didn't "TITLE" boats until 1972?
They stopped building (standardized) wooden boats in 1968?

YOUR boat does NOT have an Original Title, period! Some numbers can easily be off?
Perhaps, you should apply for a correct title?

Re: Hull Year vs year on boat title

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 8:14 pm
by Ravenswood
Thanks for all the replies. Quite a learning curve here understanding how things were done before I was even born and I do appreciate all the information. Sounds like I indeed have a 1941 18' Chris Craft Deluxe Utility and that is how I will list it in the CCABC Boat Registry.