TOPIC: Boat Stories ?

A couple of years ago, I submitted some photos of my boat ( Marlin) along with a story of its construction. It was under the "boat stories" category. Is the story still around ? Thanks.

Let me look in my stuff. I have everything that's ever been on the site.

Kelly

Here ya go:

Here is the story of William Vilda's 1963 Marlin.


The photos, taken in 2006, show my 1963 Marlin 15 foot fiberglass boat. The boat is quite special to me, since I built it in 1963 , with guidance and help from my dear dad. The boat is all original, including the hardware . Only the upholstery was redone, in 1973. The boat has it's original gel coat colors, and has never been painted. The motor is the original one I put on the boat, and is a 1960 Evinrude 40 hp. Lark . We bought the motor used for $200, and it had only a few hours on it and looked almost new. The Rocket trailer was purchased in 1973, and I added the Evinrude 2 hp. kicker motor in 1974.


Marlin Boat Company got its start in late 1957 when Chris Craft Lake 'n Sea sold their assets.( Chris Craft had purchased the Lake 'n Sea Company only a year earlier.) Most of the boat molds went to the Parsons Corp. of Traverse City, Michigan. However, a few of the molds stayed behind in Boca Raton, Florida (where Lake 'n Sea had begun in 1956)and were acquired by the Marlin Boat Company. Starting in 1958, Marlin began producing a line of boats in the Boca Raton plant, and in a second plant in the 800 block of N.E. 30th. Street, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.


My dad's own cabinet making and custom boat building shop was next door to the Marlin facility in Ft. Lauderdale, and as a youngster I used to watch the Marlins being made. Marlin produced the 15 foot boat and a 17 or 18 foot version in Ft. Lauderdale, as well as some catamarans at their Boca Raton plant. The Ft. Lauderdale facility, possibly a subcontractor to Marlin, was owned by Mr. Byron Bristol, a talented boat designer and commercial artist. Mr. Bristol redesigned the upper deck half of the 15 foot Lake 'n Sea molds , and chose to smooth out the deck in front of the windshield, and enlarge the fins. The fins were modified so that they now started about halfway down the length of the boat, are rounded on top, and sweep continuously back to slightly past the transom. ( The Parsons Company did their own redesign of the deck and the transom, and chose a more ornate aircraft inspired theme for some of their Parsons Lake ' n Sea boats. )
Marlin made no modifications to the hull section of the original Lake 'n Sea.


The Marlins were manufactured from 1958 until late 1961 or early 1962 . In early summer of 1963, my dad and I bought a set of boat molds from the Boca Raton warehouse of the now defunct Marlin company. A fire had damaged most of the molds, so we chose the best ones. I spent the next two months repairing, patching, and hand polishing those molds, until I could comb my hair in the reflection. I can vividly recall the big, jet black, glistening molds with their sweeping compound curves, ready to become the mother of my boat. It was an awesome and soul stirring sight !

We finished building my boat in August of 1963 , just a week before my 15th. birthday. We launched the boat into Middle River, a half mile from my dad's shop. Since then, I've put many miles on the boat and motor, from Key West to the Chesapeake Bay , and I enjoy it now as much as ever !

I have a picture of my uncles first runabout in a slide form that I want to convert to a digital image soon. BUT the boat looks kinda like a lake n sea but now after seeing this I am more inclined to say its a Marlin. This boat was sold to him in Austin MN in about 1959 and had a mark 75 or 78 on it. They had a lot of trouble with the motor and later sold the boat in 62 and bought a Start craft Holiday with a 75hp Johnson. Well my question is were Marlins sold in minnesota? There is one other boat it could be and that is a Luger. Once I get this pic scanned I may get a better view of it.
Cowboy

Kelly- Thanks much for finding and posting the story on my Marlin ! I see the text of the story is now attached to the page on the Marlin Boat Company. Could my story and boat photos be included in the Gallery section, or elsewhere on the site ? If so, I'd appreciate it if you would do that for me, since I'm sure I'd mess it up if I tried to do it. Thanks again !

spanboatsguy- Marlins were made in Boca Raton, FL and also in Ft. Lauderdale, FL , circa 1959 to 1961. It's possible your uncle's boat was a Marlin, taken to MN, but I suspect it may be another brand. A close look at the hull and deck styling should distinguish it from the similar looking Lugar. The Marlin hull was identical to the Lake-N-Sea, but the deck was restyled. I was pleased to find, on this site, some photos from 1959 of Marlins, taken while undergoing outboard motor tests by Mercury. They are the first early photos of Marlins I've ever seen. One way to access those photos is to go to Home page, then "site search" for Marlin, then click on item "Marlin ( Wiki)" , currently item 36. (But that number will probably change.)
The photos are also available by going to Library, special pages, and looking for the Marlin name on a boat list. They may help you to identify your uncle's boat. There are a lot of additional interesting things in those "special pages" too .

empty"/nnThat is what we call a wonderful message board, I barely care to read out an entire list of threads but this forum got my interest and believe me, That’s unusual.

Million dollar question?

Do you still have that mold?