TOPIC: New here - 1961 MFG owner

Hey everyone! I found this forum a few days ago and I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Sadie and I'm into classic boats and cars. I first got interested in boats as a kid when we had a wooden 1940s Peterborough utility boat wash up on the shore of our cottage. We never could figure out who owned it, so we kept it at the cottage as a play boat for my friends and me in the yard. At 15 years old, I bought my first vintage boat, a 1954 15.5' Lyman runabout. After five years of sanding and realization that wooden boats are a pain to maintain, I traded it for a vintage Cadillac ambulance.

My family also has a vintage 16 foot MFG boat. We bought it new in 1961 or 1962. It originally had an 85 HP motor on it when we bought it from the dealership, but it now has a '70s 65 HP Mercury on it. From looking at pictures, I think it's a Westfield Deluxe, but I'm not completely sure. Perhaps some of you will know.

Our boat hasn't been in the water in about seven years, but we're looking to get her fixed up and back in the water. We're currently dealing with some logistic issues though. The marina that has been storing our boat hasn't been storing it indoors after all and seems to have lost our trailer. The storage place also says that the transom is rotted out. I haven't been able to verify this myself yet, but if it is, I'll be looking at repairing it with Seacast on my own.

If you'd like to see some pics of our boat, I have some online here. It would be great if some of you could help us confirm what model it is. Here's a link.
www.flickr.com/photos/islandgirltalk/sets/72157630593540782/with/7523778938/

Here's a couple of old pics of it:

Island3 - 1970 by Island Girl Talk , on Flickr

Island - 1964 19 by Island Girl Talk , on Flickr

And last week:

our sad boat - 1961 MFG by Island Girl Talk , on Flickr

Hope to learn a lot from the forums!
Sadie

Welcome Sadie,

I enjoyed your old photos on Flicker. Certainly worthwhile restoring a boat with such long family history! Have you looked at the FG library: www.fiberglassics.com/library/MFG

Dean

Thanks, Dean! I checked out the FG library today and they didn't have much from 1961. Not sure if this helps in figuring out if it's a '61 or '62 or what model it is, but it does have the white deck hardware, the center glovebox in the dash and the oval rubber MFG foot grips on the sides.

Hi Sadie and welcome. I'm new too. New to Fiberglassics, and new to vintage fiberglass boats. Your photo archive of your boat is priceless. What a great thing to have a vintage boat with all that family history. Your lucky to still have all the canvas coverings, I hope they are in good shape-$$$$! to replace. Have you not found the metal tag stating the model and hp rating? Looks like a Westfield to me. The boat I just bought is a 1964 MFG Niagara Custom. It hasn't been messed around with and is in very good original condition. Pics of it are posted under "new owner 1964 Niagara Custom" . Good luck with your boat, she's great and worth the effort. Mike

Thanks, Mike! I'll go check out the pics of your project. I haven't been able to check for the plate yet as I had to leave town to go on a job interview. I'll be able to check it out hopefully by the weekend though. I'll keep you all posted.