Ever Heard Of Sea King Boats, No Not That Sea King, The Other Sea King? The One In Rome NY? Anyone? Anyone?
The tag in da boat, was Sea King the name? Or the name of the maker? Was there a Sea King other than Monkey Wards? Steve has so many questions
Fellow Woody Boater Steve Weaver has a Sea King boat, and is trying to find out more about it. Or what its all about, or is about to find out about it?
Here is a puzzle you might find interesting.
Maybe in Rome they could build them in one day? No? Ya you guessed it, I got to make up the captions.
When I was a kid (early fifties) this boat was on a lake near me. I would see it (and hear it) when boating with my family, in a small outboard powered runabout which represented about 95 percent of the boat population then. However, this beauty was one of the few ‘big boy boats’ that owned the lake, and it was named ‘Dagmar’.
So it was called Dagmar?
Years later I bought a project boat to restore, and it turned out to be the same boat that so impressed me then. I finished the restoration about 1992 and ran it on the same lake for one summer, then put it in dry storage where it sat until this past summer. My daughter is having it brought back to usable condition and plans to keep it as a family heirloom.
The Sea Princess? The Heir to the Sea throne?
Here is the puzzling part. It was built in 1941 and features a 1941 Buick engine, transmission, steering wheel, gearshift, gas tank, and even accelerator and clutch petal. Since these items were current year to the boat manufacture, and the manufacture tag has a serial number, it makes sense that this was not a one-off built in someone’s garage, but one of several purpose-built boats. However, I can find nothing about a Sea King company in Rome, NY.
Is Fireball really a good name for a boat engine? The marketing dept, may have wanted to test that name? And yes I know its a car engine name. And I bet this engine is smooth as ever. Straight 8’s are the ship!
To add to the confusion, Montgomery Ward used the Sea King name for their line of boats and boating equipment, but I can’t find that they ever marketed anything this big or expensive, since they offered only outboard type boats, skiffs, and canoes.
Have you ever run across one of these before?
Thank you all for your time.
Steve Weaver
Never heard of one but it looks like a well built and very unique runabout. The builder must have been fond of Buick!
Very cool!
At least it looks like the wood workers were more capable than the metal stamper. It looks like the guy stamping the plate tipped back a couple before making that plate.
Is “Sea King” of Rome, NY mentioned in any of Bob Speltz Real Runabout books?
Looking at the tag, I would assume the Serial Number (SN) 41-27 was their method of noting the year and boat production number. So the 27th boat or 27th of this model in 1941? That makes it seem like Sea King must have been a pretty big operation.
Never saw a boat with a clutch pedal, but I guess with a manual automotive transmission you would need one.
I got nothing….but what a cool boat…love the engine and that steering wheel… boat coming of the hard from bottom paint…GOING BOATING…John in VA
Didn’t Sears also use the Sea King name? Definitely a unique boat. I hope someone comes up with some information on it.
Sears used Elgin for their early boats.
Didn’t know Buick had an overhead valve motor that early. I’d like to know more about the use of the transmission. Assuming it’s an automotive three speed, can you select a gear to run in? And does it make any difference?
Here is a link to a YouTube video of 1963 fiberglass Sea King
Great video. Enjoy that boat!
Buick has overhead valves from the 1920s.