Help with identifying my boat?

Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Often the HIN is stamped in and not a plate. If the boat has been painted a few times, it might be hard to see it. For example,

1626977731293.png
 
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Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
So I just now did a google on ASTRON and Astron Marin came up as a manufacturer of boats. I'm guessing that is what you have.
 
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Jul 22, 2021
22
O' Day 14 Auburn
yeah, I did that as well.. was hoping to find my boat, but no luck yet.
Thanks for looking!
 
Jul 22, 2021
22
O' Day 14 Auburn
The mystery of this boat continues...
I just removed the transom motor mount to look for anything... nothing but smooth paint.
I did just snap a bunch of pics, of the undersides of the bow, gunwales, and stern areas, if anyone is interested.
The Styrofoam is troubling me:
1) When did Styrofoam come into usage aboard sailboats?
2) What maker would ever leave it exposed as shown?

My first sailboat! – The Goose Report
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Well regardless of what she is, she looks well built. Maybe they went out of business quick because they did not "build" enough margin into their designs.:beer:

The snaps around the coamings implies some sort of cover. Might be worth investigating that as well.

r
 
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Jul 22, 2021
22
O' Day 14 Auburn
I had the same thought about those "tie points", or whatever they're called.. a great way to secure a cover..
Glad to hear your comments about her being well built.. that's at least encouraging..
And, I have a cool Viking head logo built into the fore deck!
:) :beer:
 
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JRacer

.
Aug 9, 2011
1,331
Beneteau 310 Cheney KS (Wichita)
The Styrofoam is there for floatation. Back in the day, there was no "encapsulated" foam. Lot's of older built dingy's had plain Styrofoam inside for floatation. I also seem to recall some sailing dingy's built entirely of Styrofoam, name escapes me at the moment.

From Wikipedia:
The Snark is a lightweight, two-person, lateen-rigged sailboat manufactured and marketed by Meyers Boat Company of Adrian, Michigan. The Snark was initially marketed by Snark Products, Inc. of Fort Lee, New Jersey and has been marketed with numerous slight variations, most prominently as the Sea Snark, Super Snark and Super Sea Snark.

The sailboat was marketed heavily in numerous co-branding campaigns. The New York Times reported that the Sea Snark outsold all other sailboats in 1970[1] and that over 48,000 Sea Snarks were sold in an 18-month period in 1971 via a mail order campaign with Kool Cigarettes.[2] By 1973, over 200,000 Sea Snarks had been sold[3] and The New York Times reported that by 1976 that Snark had built more sailboats than any other manufacturer.[4] The manufacturer currently estimates that nearly a half million[5] Sea Snarks have been manufactured since 1958.[6]

Noted for its 11' expanded polystyrene hull and marketed as "unsinkable", a 1971 Popular Science reviewer doubted there was a sailboat "more foolproof".[7] Originally, the purchase of a Sea Snark included a 16 page booklet on "how to sail",[8] and a 1975 Popular Science article described the Sea Snark as the least expensive and lightest sailboat on the market.[9]

Early Sea Snarks featured an unclad one-piece injection-molded EPS hull and weighed a total of approximately 30 lbs.

More here: Snark sailboat - Wikipedia
 
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Jul 22, 2021
22
O' Day 14 Auburn
The Styrofoam is there for floatation. Back in the day, there was no "encapsulated" foam. Lot's of older built dingy's had plain Styrofoam inside for floatation. I also seem to recall some sailing dingy's built entirely of Styrofoam, name escapes me at the moment.
ok thanks for that info!
Don't spose you know of any way folk can encapsulate it somehow, to keep it from falling apart gradually?
Some kinda spray poly...? I dunno..
 

JRacer

.
Aug 9, 2011
1,331
Beneteau 310 Cheney KS (Wichita)
ok thanks for that info!
Don't spose you know of any way folk can encapsulate it somehow, to keep it from falling apart gradually?
Some kinda spray poly...? I dunno..
The Optimist Class uses airbags for floatation. Google "Optiparts airbag" to see what's out there.
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,039
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
My Anchorcraft runabout just had some foam - presumably sprayed - in different places. Under the bow deck, under the dash, maybe under the transom deck if I remember. It was some self expanding foam - you could tell from the lobular shape.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I’ve used spray foam on sailboats before. Not for floatation I was filling in spaces that liked to trap water. If you go that route I’d use firebrick foam. It is more dense

If you want to add floatation, I’ve used the pink foundation foam sold at Lowes

to encapsulate your existing foam an epoxy based paint will work well… but a polyester based paint will dissolve the foam.
 
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Jul 22, 2021
22
O' Day 14 Auburn
ok, well I just eliminated these guys as a possibility:
VIKING YACHT COMPANY
VALHALLA BOATWORKS
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
This has become an unexpectedly interesting thread. :beer:

I confess I did a google image search using a cropped image of your sail logo. Google thinks it is a bison...:biggrin::kick: