Barn Find-ish? Barn-I Knew It Was There Find? Dee White Hull #1 Prototype

Barn? Storage find.

A huge thanks to fellow longtime Woody Boater Gary Michael from Inland Boat Works for sending us in a cool find. Dang, Gary sure can find some cool stuff. WOW, as Gary says, not really a barn find, but I will say if its been in a barn and you see it? Is it a bard See? A Barn I knew about it?

The Haul. Love the old outboard on the pavement.

Picked up a 17′ Dee Wite model 9 hull # 1 prototype with running Van Blerck Jr engine. Prototype with outdrive. This was in the Heinzman collection in Bristol Ct. Not really a barn find but would come under worth having a look at

Ahhhh, love the colors on those two boats. Like finding two beautiful paintings.

The Van Blerck Engine

The Engine again. These were quite the Engine to have back in the day and very collectable.

An ad for the Jr

A Huge thanks, AGAIN and AGAIN to Gary for his ability to dig and find such treasures. You can Parooz Garys website HERE! 

And if you want more info on Van Blerck Engines, Here is a long history. CLICK HERE to Gas Engine Magazine.  

 

 

14 replies
  1. Bob 3
    Bob 3 says:

    Cool boats! Mr. Van Blerck visited Lake Hopatcong a number of times. I’m sure he found more than one of his engines in use

  2. Greg Lewandowski
    Greg Lewandowski says:

    Wow what a find. Does that stern drive mount to the bottom of the boat. I see the big hole in the transom for the shaft, but am a little confused about the rest. Did the stern drive come with the boat? Is that the thing behind the engine in the back of the truck?
    That soft chine skiff on top of the truck also looks like a nice boat. What is that all about?
    We need the rest of the story!

  3. Andy C
    Andy C says:

    Any pictures of that outdrive? I have what is supposed to be one that is a kermath but have never found anything about it

  4. Randy
    Randy says:

    Boy, that stern drive with the ‘puller’ prop is not suited for waters with any amount of floating debris to deal with!

    • Richard Dow
      Richard Dow says:

      Tell that to Volvo… 🙂 Cool boats and an interesting look at the innovations that were being tried at the time. I hope it gets restored as built!

  5. Briant
    Briant says:

    That four banger was $390 smackers. In 1930 dollars that is $6600 in today’s dollars. Yet a 2021 model 90hp Mercury outboard is $9500.

    I think today we are just getting the ol prop shaft.

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