Vinyl Deck Covering

[willsu]

We have owned our Thompson Sea Coaster since the mid 80's. It is a 1964 Sea Coaster, thanks to Andreas for correcting the year as we thought it was a 1965. I have seen many Sea Coasters with the same color interior as ours, seats and dash, and they all have the vinyl decking. Ours is a two tone Aqua and White. Is there any way of telling if the boat came originally with this covering? Was it factory applied? Dealer applied? I like they way it lookes without the vinyl, but also like it with the covering. Whats odd is the center board on the deck is the same shape as the ones with or without the covering, and the bow lights are the same as well. By reading the forum I was under the assumption that all the accessories may have been dealer installed to suit the buyer. Could someone shed some light on this?

Thanks, Will

[LancerBoy]

Looking at the brochures can answer most if not all of your questions. They are available for purchase on a CD-ROM at http://www.wcha.org

In the 1964 Thompson Bros. Boat brochure, the Sea Coaster 1773 and 1775 are pictured with stained and varnished decks, no vinyl. The seating, dashboard, and cockpit liners are blue and white upholstery. In the 1965 brochure, model 1773 has stained and varnished decks and covering boards whereas model 1775 has blue and white vinyl covered decks and covering boards. There is no wooden king plank trim on the 1775. The '65 brohcure states that vinyl covered decks were standard but stained and varnished was offered at no price change.

In the 1964 price list it indicates 1773 1750, and 1775 Sea Coasters were standard with stained/varnished decks. All had "deluxe hardware" factory installed.
My guess is that this hardware package included steering wheel; navigation lights, cleats, chocks, bow eye, and transom eyes. Anything else would have been an extra.

Tough to say if your vinyl is factory original, original dealer installed (doubtful) or owner installed.

By the early 1960s, much of the hardware (steering wheel, lights, cleats, chocks) was standard from the factory.

Hope this helps.

Andreas

[TDockside]

Will:

I have a 1963 Thompson Sea Coaster Special. It is the one between the basic Sea Coaster (front seats only) and the Thomboy, which was their deluxe model for that 16'7" hull.

I bought it from the original owner in 2004. It came with the Aqua/white vinyl combination. The vinyl was an option starting in 1963, the idea being that it would cut down on maintenance and eventually everyone would continue to buy wood boats, after all wasn't' fiberglass suppose to be just a passing fad?

Thompson did not put the vinyl on top of a Mahogany deck. If you take the vinyl off you will discover some of the ugliest Fir that could be had at the time. It was cheap and did exactly what it was supposed to do - support the vinyl.

The vinyI decks were never put on by the dealer. I suppose it is possible that someone out there with the traditional Mahogany decks has put vinyl on top of it but I think that is unlikely. I think the furthest anyone has ever gone is paint the parts of the boat that at one time were stained and varnished.

A few years ago I had all the vinyl replaced on my boat. The folks who did it found an exact match! How they did this I have no clue but you will be interested to know that the aqua vinyl liner in certain Chevrolet trunks works perfect. If you are going to go ahead with this project, write me and I will give you their contact info so you have access to the stuff.

See you at dockside

Miles

[willsu]

Andreas & Miles:

Thanks so much for your responses. I didn't think my Sea Coaster came with the vinyl, but I wasn'yt sure. The original owner had tried to replace some of the split veneer of the decking by trying inlays. Well we all know the out come of that. That's why I thought it may have had the vinyl covering. The plans are to stain the new decking once restorations begin which... well when time allows. Hope to make the reunion this year, thanks again for the help.