F Harvey Bowley
Builder 3rd generation
a friend recently picked up a thompson sport boat in (pristine) condition
serial # dx4373 anyone have serial # info ?
serial # dx4373 anyone have serial # info ?
Thompson sport boat
- Thread starter F Harvey Bowley
- Start date
Dave Osborn
LIFE MEMBER
Harv,
Drop an e-mail to forum member, Andreas. He is the leading authority on Thompson Brothers Boat Company. He may be able to tell you something about the hull number.
Dave
Drop an e-mail to forum member, Andreas. He is the leading authority on Thompson Brothers Boat Company. He may be able to tell you something about the hull number.
Dave
Hopefully, Andreas will chime in with a more definitive answer, but the number might be interpreted thusly: The D and X are the codes for the guys who built the boat (Thompson assigned each of the workers a letter). The leading "4" indicates the year of any given decade (e.g. 1944, 1954, 1964), and the "373" would be the 373rd boat built that year. Since the Thompson Sportsboat was only offered in the 1955 catalog, it would seem to indicate the boat was built in 1954, if I am interpreting the number correctly.
Attached is the 1955 catalog page showing the Sportsboat, so you can determine if you have the model identified correctly.
Cheers,
Dan
Attached is the 1955 catalog page showing the Sportsboat, so you can determine if you have the model identified correctly.
Cheers,
Dan
Attachments
Dan's intepretation of the hull code is correct. There are NO records from Thompson, so it's difficult to say what is what. The first number of the hull ID is the last digit of the year of manufacture. The "4" in your hull ID would therefore indicate 1954 or 1964. Thompson began using hull ID's AFTER World War II, so that narrows down your search. They didn't make any woden boats after 1970. In 1964 all Thompson boats were lapstrake hull designs, no strip built boats.
Oh, by the way, this applies to Thompsn Bros. Boat Mfg. Co. of Peshtigo, Wisc. ONLY. It does NOT apply to the Cortland, NY operation. They had their own unique hull ID system!
To come up with a complete ID I will need much more than just the hull ID. I need pictures! along with detailed description of the hull construction, seating set-up, deck or no deck, and lots of measurements. Look at the "What Do I Have" icon at www.thompsondockside.com and get ALL the requested information to ME and I will see what I can do to help narrow the search.
What makes you call this model the "Sport Boat"?
Andreas, email: thompsonboat@aol.com
Oh, by the way, this applies to Thompsn Bros. Boat Mfg. Co. of Peshtigo, Wisc. ONLY. It does NOT apply to the Cortland, NY operation. They had their own unique hull ID system!
To come up with a complete ID I will need much more than just the hull ID. I need pictures! along with detailed description of the hull construction, seating set-up, deck or no deck, and lots of measurements. Look at the "What Do I Have" icon at www.thompsondockside.com and get ALL the requested information to ME and I will see what I can do to help narrow the search.
What makes you call this model the "Sport Boat"?
Andreas, email: thompsonboat@aol.com
MikeCav
Restorer/Videographer
Andreas - Do you have any information on the Cortland NY Thompson plant? We spend Christmas there each year and I'd love to be able to visit the old plant site or do some local library research while in town. In fact, just about any boat related activity would be a welcome break from setting around with my in-laws! 
Mike
Mike
The wooden boats were made at 127 Elm Street. Apparently the buildings still stand, obviously ocupied by something other than Thompson Boat. The "original" Thompson complex of buildings were destroyed by two fires in 1932 and 1942, so the facility at that site was constructed after 1942. The fiberglass Chris-Craft/Thompson Corsair boats were made at a facility built in nearby Homer in 1963. That plant built boats until circa 1974. The Cortland Historical Society archives have a newspaper clipping file on Thompson and Chris-Craft. Apparently the library has nothing.
