Insuring a speed boat without knowing make or model

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markiegiscool

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Hello all,

I've just bought a 15ft secondhand speedboat. Nothing special, only cost £1k but it's got a nice Johnson 70hp, so it should be pretty nippy.

Anyway, I don't actually know the make or model of the boat. I also can't find a hull identification number on it.

This is leading to a few problems finding insurance. Does anyone know of any places that would offer cover without these details? I know that some people make their own boats, so it must be possible to insure? The only place I've potentially found so far is www.covermyboat.co.uk , and I'm waiting for an email back from them.

It's made of fibreglass, and looks to me like it was probably early 80s by it's design.

I'm only looking for a basic third party insurance. Just enough to legally use rivers, lakes etc. And just in case I crash into a £2m yacht!

If anybody knows of any companies that would offer me cover, please let me know!

In fact, here is the ebay auction I purchased the boat from - cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=160315542197 - does anybody have any idea what it is?
 
Thats not a Glastron. Doesn't look american. Safe bet would be one of the many British manufacturers of the time......

Has the lines of a Fletcher we had, though I don't think its a Fletcher. Global perhaps!
 
If it helps (hard to see on the pictures), but there are two sort of bench seats at either side on that back, rather than just the one bench seat across the back.
 
Not sure about early 70's

I have a great book from 74 listing all sports boats and there is nothing like this one in there. There are lots of old UK makes that no longer exist and a few that still do. Broom are in there with a couple of little runabouts! I think it looks more early 80's but could be late 70's.

I thought Picton as well.
 
Markie, two thoughts: (1) Try a pm to Byron, a member of these boards but mostly to be found on the Thames Forum. He is a fount of knowledge on the subject of production powerboats from the 60s, 70s and 80s. (2) Try a post on the Boatmad forums. There are several very knowledgeable people on there.

I, too, think that Picton or Fletcher are the likeliest offenders.
 
That book (I had it) didn't list the many very small builders that existsed in the 70s and 80s, unfortunately. I'd say this boat is 1970s. It has pull-pull steering and the johnson engine (you can tell from the decals) is a 1977/78 approx model
 
The book I have is called 'Boat World Guide No 3" 'Sportsboats' from 1974 and lists all??? sportsboats available at that time from many small names that have long since been forgotten.

I also have No 4 'Motor Cruisers up to £4,500'!!!!! and No 5 'Motor Cruisers over £4500' which has a Moonraker 350 on the cover!!!

Great books for IDing old boats but only if they were sold in 1974.

I also have Bristows book of Motor Cruisers from 1973 and 1975 and 25 Years of Motor Cruisers from 1960 to 1984 but none of these help with the ID of this particular boat.
 
I think they only do this make and model nonsense to wind people up. Either that, or its because they don't realise that cars and boats are quite different things!

Why not phone a broker, tell them that you want to insure an old GRP boat, 15 ft long and with a 70hp outboard, and that you don't know the make or model.

It sounds as though the boat pre-dates all this HIN and CE marking rubbish. Most insurers will probably want a "survey" on anything over ten years old, if only to make sure that it exists and doesn't have a big hole where the bottom ought to be, so they really don't need to know who made it.

And if they don't want your business, then phone round until you find someone who does.

Good Luck!
 
Ah, good collection there! I dumped all mine years ago, regrettably!

Still, all those books didn't list the cottage industry near-diy builders of which there were lots at that time, long before CE and the red tape we have these days. Firms that did a few boats a year, I mean, often in the NW (where this boat was eBayed from) borrowing one of the 30 or so moulds that were lent for free by Glassplies in Southport

The engine is late 1970s as I say. The decals give that away. I'd guess the boat is older, like early 1970s (with newer seats). The Johnson isn't the boat's first engine: there is a ply pad on the outside, probably to mask the holes of the first engine, and on the inside of the transom there appear to be two marks from the transom clamps of a previous engine.

Has anyone asked Louise Busby? :-)
 
My Dad, who owned a Shetland 535 in the seventies, was confused by this whole HIN number thing. He says that his boat never had any such thing, so maybe this is, as you said, from those days too.

I PM'd Bryon, and his best suggestion was an old Fletcher, but he did comment that as it's so heavily modified it's hard to tell.

Thanks for having a look everyone. If I find anything further I'll be sure to post it on here. Can't wait to take her out!
 
yep, HIN numbers are quite recent. Maybe only since mid 1990s, very approximately. Before that there was nothing except perhaps a manufacturer's own serial number but many small builders didn't bother.

I'm pretty sure it isn't a fletcher. They're well documented and all models were built in big numbers so if it were a fletcher you'd be able to find a pic on the web. but the lines of your boat aren't right for a fletcher
 
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