Who Built My Boat?

This is the most commom question of us by new Thistlers. You might need this info when you order, or you may just be curious. We'll list the builders, some general background, and then some identifying details on the boats built by the main builders. This discussion will apply to factory-built boats - rebuilds, major repairs, and kit-builts will obviously change some of the observations. The class has had 14 builders over its 48-year life. One builder constructed wood boats only, two built in wood and fiberglass, and the remaining 11 built

only fiberglass boats. Of the fiberglass builders, 7 designed interior tanks, modified details, and built their own mold sets. Five of them built 50 boats or more. The other builders either built molds under license or bought molds when one of the major builders (or successors) disposed of the molds. As an aditional identifier, all builders of boats since 1972 are/were required by Federal law to display an identifying serial number on the transom - either molded in or on a nameplate. The builder of a boat constructed after 1972 should be identifiable from its nameplate or serial number.

Builder Type Mold Years Number D&M W F D 45-78 lots Schock W F S 56-76 lots Clark F C 66-75 lots GMW F G 75-93 275 Fox F F 79-84 50 Fox River W - 47-49 10 Ellie F D 65+- 10 Filip F D 61+- 10 Aleph F A 76-78 5 Northwest F D 73-75 10 McLaughlin F C 79+- 2 First to the Mark F C 78-80 20 Spens F C 86-90 10 McCartney F A 92-93 2

Some of the major distinguishing features of the major builders: Interior surface - all D & M had roving as interior surface. Interior spatter pattern - D & M used dot pattern; GMW, Fox, Clark & Schock used spatter. Rail / hull joint details & thickness of rail - Schock rails were 1" thick, others were 3/4". thru-hull appearance - Schock, GMW & Fox did not show hull edge. Bow tank appearance / size - Clark had molded- in Thistle emblem, Clark and Schock had lip at aft edge. GMW has drainage grooves running parallel to hull-tank edge. Clark and GMW used max-height tank(14" from rail). D & M used same color and texture as hull interior. Stern tank arched - late D & M; full stern - some Schock; no tank - some early D & M, some Schock; pair - some D & M, all Clark Crossthwart / seat joint - Schock has 5" lap, others 11" lap, GMW and Fox had curved ends. Knees - Clark used hollow, wide knees; early D & M used thin FG with flanged edges, late D & M used gel-coated wood.