First, I've got to tell this story; 2nd, I want to ask for some assistance from my fellow sailors. Some of you who may have read my postings here and on some of the Catalina sites will have deduced that my wife and I own a Catalina 30, "Amity," which we sail out of Long Beach, CA. I guess I'm the more avid sailor of the two of us, and my wife, Pamela, is particularly reluctant to spend a whole lot of money on the boat, even for things that we really need, like rigging, and line (always, more line!), and to fix the Norcold icebox conversion so I could have some cold beer. You also may have read a while back that we lost our hard dinghy while towing it to Catalina this past spring. Pam "authorized" me to buy another dinghy, used, which I've been fixing up ever since. Well, I still harbor the dim hope that our old dinghy might have been recovered, so I make the rounds of swap meets, drop by Minney's every once and awhile, etc. Yesterday the Long Beach Marine Dept. held its annual auction of seized boats, and so I ran over there in the morning to see if maybe our dinghy was there. As an afterthought, Pam came along (probably to make sure I didn't buy anything). By they way, I recommend this auction -- you can get some great deals there, if you don't mind fixer-uppers. Anyway, when we arrived Pam saw this really cute little runabout, about 17', built in the 50s -- pink, complete with fins! We'd seen it before, tied up on the city's dock at the marina, and apparently it had been abandoned and now was up for auction. Well, blow me away, Pam just had to have it, bid on it, and got it! So even though I can't spend $30 bucks on Amity on a new airhorn (or line!), now we own a new boat (and of course a new slip for it!). OK, so here's my question -- can anyone provide any information on this boat, or direct to any good websites for classic powerboats that might be of aid? We don't have the paperwork yet (the city won't give it to us and allow us to take possession for 10 days), but the auction list shows it as a "Madson BT), 17', and it has a McCullough outboard, which from size and age I'd figure to be 20-30 hp. The boat seats 5 and has the name "Holiday" on the dash -- there were also apparently nameplates on the fins at one point (that's fins like a Cadillac, not like our fin keels or Flipper) but they're gone now. Pam's already pointed out that this looks just like the type of runabout that came as a Barbie accessory in the 60s, hence its new name, "Barbie Boat." Any help is appreciated! Maybe this means I can buy that beer cooler... Ken... er, Mike Turner S/Y Amity Runabout Barbie Boat Long Beach, CA