Chris Craft dash boards

[nam58]

Did the old Chris Craft Runabouts have standard Dash boards? My 58 Capri has a gear selector (?) and throttle on the dash board, most of the boats I see have a floor shifter.

[pcford]

Did the old Chris Craft Runabouts have standard Dash boards? My 58 Capri has a gear selector (?) and throttle on the dash board, most of the boats I see have a floor shifter.

That is the style for Capris.

[nam58]

Hello PC, When you say that was the style for Capris, are you saying the setup I have was the norm?

[pcford]

Yes...I did a Capri once...the owner remarked that the throttle worked opposite of a plane. I think in a Capri you pull it...

[nam58]

Here is a picture of the dash with all equipment removed. The slot all the way to the right is were the throttle was and the next space to the left was were the selector was. The throttle was moved to the right to provide more gas.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq133/nam58/HPIM1408.jpg?t=1229574698 (javascript:void(0);)

[The Bigfella]

Uh oh - it looks like a Dalek has taken control of your boat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalek

[pcford]

Ok. Those look bogus. However, the Capri I recall was a '56...at the end of the 50s and the beginning of the 60s the manufacturers did some weird styling touches.

Like I said the throttle on the '56 pulled out...like the choke on a old car.

You really need to get stuff from the Mariners' Museum...if you can't get a number off of your boat...just get info for a '58. There are also books...Speltz's books for example.

[AndreasJordahlRhude]

And contact the Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club. Post questions on their forum. www.chris-craft.org (http://www.chris-craft.org)

Andreas

[nam58]

I just joined the acbs and have had a little luck there, will look at the CC boat club and see what I can find. I am spending more time tring to find hull numbers and various infromation than I am working on the boat. Hopefully a hull number will appear and I will be able to move back to the shop to get back to work. Just to throw another line out, is there a place or a way to trace back Chris Craft part numbers, such as the ones on various hardware (shaft log, flag post hardware) to determine what year boats it was used on, kind of a reverse reference?

[AndreasJordahlRhude]

There are 23 1958 Chris-Craft Capri's listed in the 2008 ACBS Directory.

Your best bet is the forum at the Chris-Craft Anrtique Boat Club.

Andreas

[nam58]

I dug out the old floor boards out of the rack and found that there was a hole in the fore section a bit to the starboard side of center. I am guessing that these are the orginal floor boards and that this hole was for the floor shifter that I see most often in the Capris. I have contacted (emailed) all of the 19' 1958 Capri owners in the ACBS directory with some replys but no definte answers yet, but it is the holidays, hopeing for more infromation after the new year.

[pcford]

Capris had a floor shift. Post war Customs had a dash shift or better said, an under dash shift. At least some Capris had dash throttle, but not like yours.

[nam58]

Thanks for your reply PC. Hope I'm not driving people nuts with my constant questions on this boat. I have had several people look at pictures of the boat from the ACBS, all replying they thought that it is a Chris Craft Capri. I am working to verify what the boat is because it will detrime how I reconstruct the boat, That is orginal or not. The way I understand it, if it is a Chris Craft Capri and restoreed properly it is worth a lot more than say a Kit made to look like a Chris Craft Capri or even a Chris Craft kit. I did some research and it looks like Chris Craft ended their kits about 1959 and all of the kits offered were outboard. Not sure if this is correct yet because I have not found muliple sources stating the same. I spend a lot of time cleaning various of peices mentioned on this and other sources looking for numbers. What are your recommendations on removing many many coats of paint from these peices to expose numbers? I have been useing Bix stripper and then once I get close to the wood I inspect and then use light sand paper to slowly remove any left over paint. I am thinking that the numbers should be filled with paint and when I get down to the wood the numbers should show because they will still have paint in them.

[pcford]

Bix stripper should be fine...

[pcford]

Here's a Capri....the dashboard looks nothing like yours.

At this point I am not sure what you have.

http://www.carolina-classic-boats.com/common/icon.asp?w=400&inc=1&filename=257_2560541034.jpg