TOPIC: Is it a Larson or Larson/ Crestliner?

I just bought a rare boat for being out in California, it appears to be a 1950's Larson 14 foot fishing boat. I tried doing research and I found pictures of Crestliners. The transon end caps have Larson Boat Works Little Falls in Aluminum. When were Larsons called Crestliners?

..K.: We have a big history library here on Larson.. I dont see any
connection with Crest Liner.....M.F.G., bought out Crest Liner mid 60's.(?).... Do you have a FiberGlass boat with metal caps,,or a complete Aluminum boat,, as you posted in the Aluminum section .?
.Crest Liner did have a build plant in Little FALLS, mINN. .(?)

If it just trim caps or transom pieces, it is possible a prior
owner / repair man used spare parts from a salavage boat. (?)

Even in past we saw car parts, like a Dodge DEMON, put on the rear corner of a boat. . Any pictures for you to post .?

Crestliners began as a spinoff of Larson in Little Falls, called Larson Watercraft. Its principals included Paul Larson, Robert Wold, and other investors. The idea was to produce an aluminum boat, but to distinguish it from the predominantly fiberglass Larsons produced by Larson Boat Works. Initially, they were made in the same factory. The early models included references to Larson, but by 1957 that connection was no longer advertised. There is lots of Larson/Crestliner detail on the Crestliner Restoration web site. I don't have the link handy, but it's easy to find if you google it. Hope that helps, and don't forget pictures.

Shannon

Larson spun off the Crestliner marquis in 1954. during that year and for a year or so before you would see the transom triangle supports with both larson and crestliner names on it and then after that crestliner was it's own division with no larson badging for aluminum product.

i had one of these same boats not long ago and dug up the history on it, which i believe resides in some detail at retrocrestliner.com

there are DEFINITELY co-ownership linkages between larson and crestliner in the early 1950s and then i believe it was after the 1954 year that the crestliners were badged completely separately with no reference to larson

and i just remembered that the manufacturer plates for serial number and horsepower/weight ratings (two different metal tags on my boat mounted on the transom board) had both larson/crestliner names mentioned on the boat i had. that did not go past 1954

Thank you for your help and info. I can send some pictures soon. I'll pick the boat up next week. Too much snow. My boat does look like this

www.retrocrestliner.com/viewer_photos_page36.htm

www.retrocrestliner.com/viewer_photos_page%2027.htm

Knots

Knots,
Here's the difference. Bob Wold met with Paul Larson shortly after World War II to discuss making metal boats. Bob was a sheet metal guy, and, of course, Paul Larson was the boat guy. In August of 1946 they announced the formation of Larson Watercraft, Inc. to build what they called the Aerocraft, an aluminum 12' rowboat. To confuse things, Harwill announced their new line, Aerocraft Boats at the same time. From that point on, the Larson line of boats had names like Commander, Resorter, and Admiral from Larson Watercraft. Their boats were aluminum hulled with wood seats, gunnels, and spray rails, along with wood on the transom to reduce vibration. The boats closely resembled the line of Larson cedar strip rowboats, coming from the drawing board of Paul Larson. The company had no corporate connection with Larson Boat Works, other than sharing board members. It was on its own. They built a factory on the banks of the Mississippi River next to the Larson Boat Works plant in Little Falls. In a power play in the late 40's Loiel Ryan took on the directorship of Larson Watercraft, placing his son, Loiel Ryan Jr., as General Manager. The Crestliner name came in early 1954 as Larson Crestliner boats from Larson Watercraft, Inc. The 1952 models had aluminum spray rails and by 1954 the gunnels were aluminum also. 1954 also saw the introduction of Ply-A-Lume boats, made from plywood in the same forms as the aluminum boats, using H-moldings to hold the plywood sheets together. Larson Watercraft continued to use the transom corner brackets into 1955 or 1956 on their boats until the supplies ran out. While the boats said Crestliner on the side, the corner brackets said Larson Watercraft, still the name of the company until 1956 when it was changed to Crestliner. Sanford Bigelow bought Crestliner around the same time. MFG bought the company around 1962 or '63. Bob Wold was lost in the shuffle around 1952 and went to Cadillac, Michigan and helped form the production line of Cadillac Boats, so the resemblence of the early Cadillac boats to the Crestliners is understandable. I got my information from Paul Larson's daughters in a series of interviews that I did in the early 90's, along with the usual periodical and literature stuff that I have, so this should be relatively accurate. I know that it differs somewhat from the Crestliner site info that was out a few years ago, but I have faith in my sources. I'll post a couple of things from some early Larson Watercraft info later, none of it is scanned.

Lee Wangstad

Here's a couple of shots of history. The first is a photo of the two Larson plants on the Mississippi. On the left is the Larson Boat Works office and plant that burned to the ground in December of 1949 and on the right is the Larson Watercraft plant. The service station in the middle belonged to Roy Larson, Paul's brother, and was the home of Larson Motor Service, an Evinrude and Larson Boat dealer. The building behind Roy's shop is Larson Lumber. If you look really, really close you can see an inboard Falls Flyer in the lift at the dock behind the Watercraft building. When the Larson Boat Works plant burned, they set up shop in the Watercraft building temporarily until the new plant was built. The second image is from the 1947 catalog.

Lee

Lee has provided accurate information. There are a series of four articles in "The Boathouse" magazine about Larson Boat Works and Larson Watercraft, Inc. (later the name changed to Crestliner) at www.acbs-bslol.com . There probably is a link here in the Glassic Library area.

Crestliner was purchased by carpet maker Bigelow Sanford in 1960. In 1964 they sold Crestliner to Molded Fiber Glass. AMF and Rockwell also owned Crestliner along with Genmar and Brunswick.

Andreas