TOPIC: 60's? 70's? Ahhhhhh!!!

Hi all, first time posting, found out about this site through the iBoats forums!

Anyway, I have an old fiberglass basic fishing boat that I'm trying to find a little more about.

I don't know the year, make or model. It doesn't have original paint and the only bit of info on it is a little metal tag that says it was made by 'Fiberglass Products and Engineering Wyoming, MN'.

I have more pictures if I can figure out how to attach them, but maybe this will be enough? It originally had 4 bench seats, but I converted the front 2 to a casting deck/spindle seat.

My registration says it's a 1973 Forester 14' Fiberglass, but I think the previous owner just made that up for registration reasons as I have never seen a Forester of this style. I also can't find any info on that Manufacturer either.

Any info or thoughts of where I can get more info would be great! Thanks a lot!

Hi Zenvalo, to add more pictures, "edit" your first post... browse and attach the next photo, then submit... repeat until you have all the photos uploaded.

Dean

Fiberglass Engineering & Products of Wyoming, MN was the maker of Forester brand boats. That was the original corporate name prior to the company name chage to Forester. They always made "Forester" boats.

I don't know what year they started or when the name chage took place.

If the boat was made after November 1972 it should have a 12 character Manufactirer's Identification Code (MIC) on the outside of the transom, starboard side. That will have a code to tell the manufacturer's name and month and year it was built.

Andreas

Thanks for the quick replies! I can add some more pics tomorrow if need be but it sounds like we have a good start already! The metal tag is on the inside of the stern on the transom, port side. The numbers are '14 6434'. Common sense tells me the 14 stands for it being 14 feet in length. Never put any thought into the last four digits aside from being just a serial number. Could it possibly mean 1964 March 4th?

This is an additional pic I have handy looking at it from above the bow. It's only about 4-4.5' at its widest and the bow comes to a fairly sharp point. Structurally it reminds me of a canoe. The side walls are very thin like you would see in a canoe. Flexible yet durable. When on the trailer and looking at the side on a sunny day, you can actually see light passing through the side walls. The motor is a '71 Evinrude Sportwin. Maybe the original buyer bought it as a package? I really do feel as though it is earlier than a 70's boat though...

I would bet the last 4 digets are actually a sequential number not related to any date.

Forester was making boats in the early 70s for sure, 60s, I don't know. From the number you provide, the boat is pre Nov 72.

Hmmm.... Well, knowing that it's built before Nov. 1972 does put it closer to the year of the motor ('71). It's just so hard to judge since it's in such great condition and the motor itself is basically mint! When I bought it 2 years ago, it had the original spark plug factory painted in (it was obviously installed before the Evinrude blue paint was sprayed on the head) and still started with 1-2 pulls.

Thanks again for the info so far and if anyone else has any input, I'd love to read it!

Fiberglass Engineering & Products Co. was incorporated on 21 September 1965. So they may have been making "Forester" boats for the 1966 model year. Forester Boats, Inc. was dissolved in November 1991.

Andreas

Ok, so basically it could be anywhere from a '65 to a '72 is what it's boiling down to? I guess I just want to find out what it is so I can find out capacities and such.

Debating on selling it so I can get a beater aluminum fishing boat with a slightly more powerful motor. 2 adults and a kid in this one and it plows water big time. Unless of course this thing can handle more H.P. but then I worry because of the age, will a heavier motor end up pulling the whole damn transom off the back of the boat? First Fiberglass if you can't tell. lol!

Me again! Does anyone have a general idea of what the max weight of a motor this can carry? The '71 Evinrude 9.5 on there now weighs about 60#. My brother-in-law has a '97 Johnson 9.9 that weighs somewhere in the 80# range that I want to try out. Thoughts on that?

Thanks guys!

I don't believe 20 pounds more will make that much difference. (6 gallons of gas weighs more than that!) The newer outboard will be prop rated HP as opposed to the flywheel rated older model, should make a noticeable difference in the performance. Just my two cents worth......