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Hi guys

We just picked up what we think is a 1987 11' Whaler to tow behind the Commander and explore islands and shallow inlets, beaches, etc., but so far i have mot found any info on a model that small/early.

It is very clean, was sitting in a garage next to a Lincoln Continental, with a 25 evinrude.

Hull stencil 4A6575

Hull tag 4280 K 687

Evinrude model
E25TEEUM

I will post photos soon.

Regards,
Paul

(EDIT: corrected year to 1987)

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47...age-91.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47...age-92.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47...age-93.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47...age-94.jpg

Could not do photos here w the iPhone, here is a link to my photos, should make it easier for now.

Clean little boat!
Should tow well

Can anyone help confirm year and model?

Paul

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That is not a 1968.

Based on the bow and stern design, I would guess 1988. It is not unheard of for owners, titles etc to have typo's.

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Hi Phil,

Thx for the note, the boat looks almost new, i'll bet it could be a typo but the numbers don't seem to make sense yet.

I will do some research and may add mahogany trim and seats if this was an option on the boat.

Regards

Paul

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The second number which is the HIN number, would make it a 1987 year model.
See our article here:
http://www.whalercentral.com/articles...icle_id=61

Your full HIN would be something like this:
BWC?4280K687
Manufactured in November of 1986 as a 1987 year model.

View other 11' owners and their numbers here.
Click on model length in the table heading and then scroll down to 11'
http://www.whalercentral.com/boat_lis...st/bl1.php

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25-hp on an 11-foot boat, ha, good fun.
30-mph on GPS with two people aboard !!

Maybe i need a speed prop?? Just joking, I'm happy.
I may add rails


Paul

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47.../image.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47...mage-1.jpg

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Hey many thanks for taking the time to help a newbie. I appreciate it, and I like the tone of this forum, very helpful. We could not wait to take the little boat out for a spin yesterday, even though there were thunderstorms all day. We saw an opening in the radar and off we went, had a great introductory run, like the way the hull performs, got back under cover and never got a drop of rain on us.

Very solid feel, much more so than anything without foam panel construction like that. Crossed some large wakes (Cumberland River near Nashville) and of course we had to throttle down, but impressed with the stability. This is our first Whaler, and I suspect we'll be getting another one someday.

I am going to try for some reasonable but Whaler-correct upgrades, such as rail and mahogany trim, done exactly as research photos will indicate (I'm an architect and a boat guy, and appreciate faithful originality and restraint).

About the ID numbers. Although you have mentioned the numbers should look like this or that, the numbers I have posted are the "only" alfa-numeric identification on the boat, either in tag twice or stencil once. I do agree it is most likely a 1986, as it would be easy to transpose the 6 and the 8.

Regards,

Paul

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Paul, those are cool little boats. They did indeed come in a configuration with mahogany - the sport or supersport models. There are some nice pics in member's personal pages.

Tim

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I will be looking at those photos with great interest.
I also added the early photos of our boat to the personal page, to assist with the documentation of this model. I know it's an entry model, but we sure had fun yesterday. :-)

Edit Update: Just looked through the photo section, did find some good stuff in the personal page section. I'm calling the mill today, mahogany time !! I like the low profile rail too, not too crazy about the tall rail on such a smallish boat, but the low one is cool and would be quite useful. After yesterday, I may also (eventually) opt for the steering wheel/console mod. The outboard tiller thing is fine, but a wheel would give so much more stability control for me anyway.

best,

Paul

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The HIN on your metal tag would have 12 characters exactly although some might be slightly worn.
I suggest to many people to get a magnifying glass and a flashlight and look at it from different angles so they might see the missing letters or numbers.
Also, there are no spaces even though some may look more apart then other characters.
See these examples of HIN plates:
http://www.whalercentral.com/articles...cle_id=103

So your 1987 should look like this.
BWC?4280K687
Note: the ? is most likely the capital letter L .

Your title may also have the full 12 digit HIN number as I show above.
Let us know what you find.

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Some of the numbers are stamped into the HID plate, but all are not. The printed numbers/letters have all been missing due to years of exposure and use on both of my whalers. In both cases, I have found original identical HID plates still intact in another location that is hidden and unexposed.

This problem with the printed characters being lost on the external HID plate led directly to this article about my transfer of ownership on the 1986 Outrage 18 into TX from FL.
http://www.whalercentral.com/forum/vi...d_id=13556

When I purchased and transferred ownership of my 1989 Whaler 27 a couple of years later, I got the information I needed about the second HID plate location, and I used photos of it to completely eliminate any problems in registration.

I do not know if your model has a second HID plate hidden somewhere on it, but somebody here on this site should know, and if it does, should also be able to tell you where it is located.

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47...32e1ab.jpg

It blows my mind that a company would emboss PART of the serial number and then print the rest, lol, that's just nuts. And now armed with this fascinating information, I do see a ghost of a printed letter or two on the id plate. The boat has two such plates, both look like this one. The stencil identification is still intact.

And now looking at the number, seeing the numbers "68" side by side and then "87" I suppose this lead someone to think it was a 1968, now we know it was likely produced in 86 and sold as a 1987.

Interesting find, you learn something every day, thanks,

Paul

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There is a requirement by law that another HID ID had to be hidden on your boat somewhere by Boston Whaler when they manufactured it that is not exposed. The second HID plate has to be on your boat somewhere.

Surely someone can help you out here? Anybody got an 11 footer?

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Paul,

We know absolutely that the first 3 capital letters are BWC.
All HIN numbers have this and stands for Boston Whaler Corporation.
What we don't know positively is the fourth capital letter.
However, it is most likely a capital L as other 11' foot models of your year have this.

K6 is the date of manufacture = November of 1986
87 is the year model = 1987

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This was posted to me in the thread I linked above:

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Yes, indeed, the boat has two tags and they both look and say the same. No printed text anywhere to be seen, just bare aluminum as in the photo. I think there is enough there to draw conclusions.

Also good comment about other 11-foot owners. Looking at the files, there is nothing in the way of specs I can find so far in the archives, regarding lentth, beam, weight, etc., as it all starts with the 13-foot model. In additiion, there are few (by comparison) 11-foot boats registered, both making me think this was a low production and low sales model. Maybe they just did the production and identifying in a certain way for this model ? Oh well, part of the fun with an older boat.

regards,
Paul

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On a sidenote, I called the local hardwood supplier here in Nashville today and was advised there is no more Honduran mahogany being imported, has been this way for the last 6 to 8 years, due to the rain forest situation. Translated, this means every other country in the world is still buying it, lol, but not we here in the USA. African is still available.

This will affect my small project, but it's going to put a real hurt on anyone in the antique boating business.

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Dogsharks,

Where is the second HIN plate?
Bow Locker?

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Yes, at that location facing forward. I will take another very close look at that one too. The one I photographed is on the transom, starboard side of the motor.

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In looking at your pictures, your boat was originally a supersport model.

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Hey Dave,

Interesting comment. What is it you are looking at that gives you that notion?

I just pulled up some images on a google image search for "11-foot Boston Whaler Super Sport" and I'll say right up front, I am a newbie with Whaler-culture, but it appears that model has a lot of wood. I don't recall seeing any drill holes in the interior area where the side wood pieces would have been installed. I have a near phobia about drilling new holes in a classic boat, and consider these older Whalers classics. I do, however, want to put the proper and stock/standard non-customized wood trim on the boat, responsibly done, and have enough mahogany in the shop to do the job.

There are some drill holes in the transom, looks like a previous owner had a speedometer or more likely a depth sounder on the transom, and some sort of something else bolted back there. The sins of the previous owner, we all have to deal with that, lol.


Comments welcome, thanks,

regards,
Paul

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The rear section is different. The sport and tender had a molded in seat with mahogany cover vs the supersport had a smaller raised deck.