All photos and Company History courtesyof Denise Goodwin

Angler Boat Company

Penn Yan, New York

WARDS 5hp SEA KING OUTBOARD BOAT MOTOR 5 HORSEPOWER You are bidding on: Montgomery Wards 5hp Sea King Outboard Boat Motor. Model 54GG-9011 Serial # 17230. Motor was untested, when put in storage it was working, has not been tried in years. 1953 53 Montgomery Ward Sea King 5hp Outboard Recoil Rewind Pull Rope Start Cove $1-41 Vintage Gale Sea King Omc 5 Hp Outboard Motor Gearcase With Propeller. I have tried to do research on it and I think it's a Montgomery Ward/Sea King 14' V Hull boat. All the data tag gives me is a serial number, max 14 hp, 3 persons and not to exceed 600 lbs total. There is no decals indicating a manufactor, but it does say Outboard Boating Club of America on that data tag.

Montgomery ward sea king boat serial number identification

The name Penn Yan is well known inboth the antique and contemporary boating communities. However, fewer peopleare acquainted with the Angler Boat Company, which produced thousands of boatsin Penn Yan, NY from the early 1950’s to the early1960’s. Angler was founded by the owner of the Penn YanBoat Company primarily to supply Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward, America’stwo largest mail order companies of that era, with outboard motor-poweredboats. Angler operations were housed in the old two-story Penn Yan boat plant on Keuka Street, which CharlesHermann built in 1924 after his Champlin Avenue factory burned to the ground. The nameAngler appeared on only a small portion of the company’s boats. Most of theoutput of this factory carried the names “Elgin”(for Sears) or “Sea King” (for Montgomery Ward). The following history wascompiled by Howard Frum, who served as GeneralManager of Angler during most of its operating life. While documenting theAngler story, Howard contacted several of his former colleagues at Angler andthe Penn Yan Boat Company, including Jim Alexander,Rodney Stone, and Tony Pizzenti, who also contributedsignificantly to this history.

The two-story building at the corner of Libertyand Keuka Streets in Penn Yan,which housed the Angler Boat Company, had a long history before it was razed.The plant was built in 1924 to replace the Penn YanBoat Company’s factory that burned in 1923. During the 1930s, after Penn Yan’s boatbuilding operations were transferred to thelarge, new Waddell Avenueplant, the facility was used by Penn Yan Bus Bodies.During WWII the plant constructed racks, etc. for army trucks. The Penn Yan Boats Co. secured the plant and a franchise to buildSterling Diners. The diner business never materialized and Penn Yan Boats started to build inboard boats in this location.Both the Penn Yan Boats Co. and the Angler Boat Co.were owned by Mr. Cooper Schiefflin of Long Island, New York. Penn Yan Boats was managed by Ralph Brown and Bob Stuart. Mr.Brown designed boats for both Penn Yan Boats andAngler. During 1951-1952 the Angler Boat Company was established at thisfacility to build boats for Sears and Montgomery Ward at this location. TheGeneral Manager of Angler Boats at the time was Joseph Collier. Shortly after startingup the Angler operation, Mr. Collier died. After his death, Howard Frum, a Senior Industrial Engineer from Sylvania ElectricCo., took over as General Manager.

The boats built for Sears were labeled Elgin Boats. Thosefor Montgomery Ward were labeled Sea King. A number of the boats were sold toFirestone and independent marine dealers under the Angler name.

Angler built only two sizes of boats – a 12-foot hull and a14-foot hull. One was a completely open boat with very little hardware. Thesecond design had a forward deck, which would take a steering wheel. The thirddesign, or deluxe model, had a forward and rear deck as well as seat backs andchrome hardward. The only difference between Elginand Sea King boats was the color scheme and in some instances, hardware.

Each year after a prototype design was agreed upon, thebuyers from Sears and Montgomery Ward would give an estimate as to what theyear’s requirements would be. Production would start on these units, most ofwhich would be warehoused. Late in the winter and before boating season began,some of the larger Sears and Ward stores would order a number of boats fordisplay and early promotion sales. These boats were usually delivered to thestores by Angler trailer, which was driven by employee Harry Bell. As springapproached and the orders started to increase, production at the Angler plantwould accelerate greatly. Some of the large Sears distribution centers such as New York City, Philadelphia,and Pittsburgh would place orderslarge enough that the boats would be shipped in railroad freight cars.

The boats built by Angler were ribbed boats with two layersof cedar planking with a sheet of vinyl sandwiched between. The boat forms werecalled male forms and were covered with stainless steel strips, which served as“buck” strips for clinching the brass nails.

The first operation was done by an employee known as the ribber. This person fastened a pre-machined keelson andinside bow stem along with the pre-assembled transom. The oak ribs, which weremachined on four sides, were placed in a steam box where the hot steam softenedthem to the point where they were very pliable. The ribberthen nailed them to the keelson and to the bottom of the form. Each rib waslocated over a stainless steel buck strip.

The next step was the nailing of the cedar planking on theribs. The first layer of cedar was tacked with a galvanized tack, which wasdone only to hold the planking in place. The entire boat was then covered withone piece of vinyl. The second, or outside layer of cedar planking was nailedin place. The employee known as a tack spitter wouldplace a number of brass tacks in his mouth and feed them out one at a time ashe drove them. The tacks were sterilized because of this procedure. The tack spitter used a shoemaker’s type of hammer with a convexhead. This was to sink the nails without breaking the wood fibers.

The outside of the hulls were covered with paste type fillerand sanded when dry. This created a smooth paintablesurface.

At this point an employee called a railertook over and removed the hull from the form. The keel and outside bow stemwere installed and the transom trimmed. The boat was turned right side up andthe railer would then trim the rib tops to the properlength and install the rails along with the transom knees, bow block or deck,seat risers and other items as dictated by the model.

FLBM Collection

The boat was then sent down to the finishing departmentwhere the unit was painted and varnished as needed. Any hardware or finaloperations as needed were handled at this point.

The packing of the units was done by spreading a largesection of burlap on the floor and covered with straw. The burlap and strawwere brought up around the boat and fastened together in an envelope fashion.At this point the unit was ready for storage or shipping.

Molded Mahogany

During the late 1950’s, Sears bought boats from a companycalled Yellow Jacket based in Texas.These boats were made from molded mahogany veneers. Their distribution of thefinished boats from Texas to theNortheast posed quite a problem and Sears asked Angler to assist in theprogram. Yellow Jacket shipped train carloads of molded mahogany “skins” toAngler

Montgomery Ward Sea King Boat Serial Number