Happy Sailing
Into Manhattan's Coliseum last week to celebrate its golden anniversary steamed the National Motor Boat Show towing along 426 exhibits and 510 boats, the biggest fleet in show history. Crowds were so big--and sales so brisk--that the industry expects 1960 will easily top record 1959 when nearly $2.5 billion was spent on boating, including sales of 540,000 outboard motors, some 500,000 boats, and 175,000 boat trailers.
Fiber-glass boats dominated the show (more than 200 boats displayed). Some 40% of all small pleasure boats being built are of fiber glass; last year alone, plastic boat production jumped from 85,000 to 130,000 boats. Among the plastic sail fleet: a 17-ft. Thistle sloop ($1,875 without sails), Cape Cod Shipbuilding's 23-ft. Marlin day sailor ($5,500 without sails), the 25-ft. New Horizons auxiliary sloop ($8,950 with sails), and the 41-ft. Bounty II with a new yawl rig to improve its racing potential. Newest members of the flotilla are the catamarans, which will easily outspeed many power boats. Among them: Pearson Corp.'s 17-ft. Tiger Cat ($1,795 without sails), which last year won the One-of-a-Kind Regatta against 39 other one-design small sailboats, and Catamaran Corp.'s 12-ft. Tiki ($995 without sails), which sleeps two, can be converted into an iceboat.
The Horsepower Race. For power boaters, there was Triumph's 29-ft. inboard cruiser ($15,990) with a cantilevered aircraft-carrier foredeck and all-electric galley. And for less expensive tastes, Molded Fiber Glass Boat Co. showed a 19-ft. outboard cabin cruiser ($2,800) designed by famed naval architects Gibbs & Cox. Other plastic boats ranged from Sock Boat Corp.'s do-it-yourself runabout ($395), which can be assembled by a novice in 20 hours to the 8-ft. ($325) Dhow midget rowboat. In general, outboards had less chrome, fewer fins, increased storage for gas, paid more attention to passenger comfort.
There was no letup in the outboard horsepower race. Outboard Marine's best-selling twins, Johnson and Evinrude, each unveiled a $908.50, 75-h.p. giant (up from 1958's 50 h.p. tops); Mercury showed off a 80 h.p. behemoth (price: $1,100 without propeller). While out-boarders felt that they were almost to the limit in horsepower for the hulls now in existence, Scott showed an experimental 120 h.p.
No Squalls Ahead. Luxury boats among the more than 75 cabin cruisers on display included Richardson's 46-ft., $51,000 motor yacht sleeping ten people. Rivaling it in the lavish touch was Bayhead Skiffs' 30-ft. Caribbean sports express. It has a hot-water shower, two electric refrigerators, a built-in rotisserie in its all-electric kitchen. Price: $28,000. But the biggest attention grabbers at the show were the new jet motorboats. Buehler Turbocraft exhibited a 16-ft. inboard (price: $3,450), powered by a jet engine. It draws in water through intakes amidships, forces it out at the stern, drives the boat up to 38 m.p.h. in as little as three inches of water.
Looking into the '60s, boatmen see no squalls ahead. Says Outboard Marine President William C. Scott: "Research estimates for the next decade indicate that the total number of outboard motors sold will constitute a 100% increase over the total in use in 1959. By that time it is estimated that 60 million people will be engaged in boating. It would be difficult to conceive of a brighter future."
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