Full Speed Ahead

Americans spent a record $1.25 billion on boating last year, bringing the nation's pleasure armada to one vessel for every 28 people. Last week, as beaming boatbuilders launched the 47th National Motor Boat Show, the outlook for 1957 was for more clear sailing. Outside Manhattan's cavernous Coliseum, thousands queued up for as long as two hours in near-zero weather to see the biggest boating exhibit ever: 420 boats and thousands of nautical gadgets crammed into seven acres by 363 manufacturers.

The biggest hit was the biggest boat, the 53-ft. Wheeler cruiser with twin 285-h.p. diesels, wall-to-wall carpeting, two bathrooms, a stall shower, electric galley, and private staterooms for ten. Price: $110,000. The most versatile: Neptuna's $4,400 Sportsman, a new amphibious auto trailer with retractable wheels that sleeps four on land or sea. The fastest: Bellingham Shipyards' 100-m.p.h. Bikini with hydroplane fiber-glass hull, twin inboard engines firing at 430 h.p., and a price tag of $12,500.

More than half the boats (227) in the show, accurately reflecting the U.S. market, were outboards nine to 21 ft. long (275,000 sold last year). All were reinforced to take the most powerful motors yet, such as Kiekhaefer's new 60-h.p., six-cylinder Mercury Mark 75 ($985).

Sales competition was bringing down the price of family inboards to meet the outboards. Carlisle tagged its 17-ft. Aqua-Queen cruiser with new compact Fageol VIP 35-h.p. engine at $1,995. Ulrichsen priced its 21-ft. Sea Skiff with twin 60-h.p. Chris Craft engines at $2,895. For do-it-yourselfers, there were kits ranging from an 8-ft. pram at $52 to a 23-ft. cabin cruiser for $879, about half what each would cost assembled.

Plastic boats, which were dubious experiments only a few years ago, have become so popular that they accounted for 25% of all boats shown. Most notable use of the new materials was in the show's 50 sleek cruising sailboats. Biggest crowd pleaser: Coleman Boat's new fiberglass, 41-ft. Bounty II, designed by Phil Rhodes, which sleeps six and sells for $18,500, about half the price of a wooden-hull boat.

The 15 1/2 sift. Snipe, world's most popular sailer for 25 years, reappeared with a new fiber-glass hull at $999.

Mass production was also boosting safety devices, driving down prices on expensive navigational equipment. Raytheon produced a simple kitelike screen ($14.95) to hang on a mast in a fog so that small craft will shine extra bright on big ships' radar. And depth indicators that sold two years ago for $500 were down as low as $139.

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