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CC Hull
Numbering in General
The following text was
originally posted by Jim Wick of
LPX-Sales on April 29 2004 to
the Chris Craft Commander Club
mailing list.
CC had their own method of
hull numbering. These letters
and numbers and letter were good
ways of keeping track of what
boat was what.
After WWII the hull numbering
system listed a letter or two
followed by the size and then
the production number. These
went from 001 to 002 and on to
the last hull built in this
model. There were no year
designation. Looking in the hull
list at a C-30-001 thru 240, the
years of production were from
Aug 1947 to August 1950. If
someone had number 120, it would
be hard to figure out the model
year.
Then in 1960, (maybe new owners)
the letters went from 1 or 2 to
3. These coded model and the
"generation" of the run. If
there was a big change in the
decor or layout, the last letter
would change from A to B and the
third change would move it to a
C and so on. These letter
changes sometimes indicated a
year change, and sometimes they
did not. Take the 38' Commander
Express, FXA was used from '64
through '68. Then a major change
in decor instigated the FXB for
'69. Then next year it went to
FXC where it died.
Another example the 47 Commander
Double Stateroom that had the
letters FAA from '66 to the end
of '68 while the Single
stateroom was FAB during those
years. Cockpit was FAC for 2
years, then interior decor
changed them to FAD, FAE, and
FAF etc.
So if a model went basically
unchanged from one year to the
next, the second year started
out with 2001.
So that takes us up to the 1970
disaster. New owners, lots of
new ideas, major restyling
changes. And they couldn't give
the things away. Our new auto
industry imported executives
pushed for major production.
Sales didn't sell, and the
factory yards across the company
were full to overflowing with
completed boats. These 1970
model boats were built in '69
and '70 and were still being
sold for new in 1972.
And the Coast Guard stepped in
and said there had to be a
universal and easily readable
hull number that gave the year
and quarter of the year that the
boat was started. So, 1973 or
'74 CC had to comply with the
new system. CC kept their old
system and grudgingly complied
with the external Coast Guard
numbers. So, up to about '78,
you will find one number on the
transom and a totally different
looking number inside. Actually,
they do tell the same things. I
would love to have a $ for each
time I have had to make the
translation for a surveyor,
Coast Guard, bank, or boat owner
who is confused.
For example, a 41 Commander will
have the FAA letters in the CC
hull plate and on the transom
will be CCHSA and then the hull
number (56 for example) followed
by codes for the year and time.
One more point of interest, the
3rd letter designated the plant
where the boat was built, as in
the example H would be for the
Holland Michigan plant. In the
CC hull number, the H was the
last letter after the size and
hull number.
In the '80's, the only hull
numbers were the Coast Guard
ones. However, to make things
look better, hull #1 might be
#215 and go up from there. Not
exactly the way it was done in
the past.
Totally confused? Just ask.
Don't spend too much time
analyzing. With out the lists
and cross reference sheets, I
couldn't tell much either.
Jim Wick, LPX-Sales
31' Commander Example
The following
illustration comes from CCCC
Webmaster's personal boat site
and illustrates decoding of 31'
Commanders
Web
Commander carries the hull
number FXA-31 2013H. As in most
cases the hull number tries to
tell you story. The letters
"FXA" and the number "31" simply
states that it is Chris Craft
31' Commander. The "2" indicates
that the boat was built the
second model year (=1967). The
number "013" means it is hull
number 13 of this model year.
Finally the letter "H" means
that Web Commander was built at
Chris Craft's plant in Holland,
Michigan. It is interesting to
see the difference between model
year and actual manufacturing
year. According to official
records at Mariner's Museum Web
Commander was shipped out of the
Holland plant to a dealer in
Kentucky August 11 1966.
Alarik von Hofsten
Finding your
Hull Number
For those who
may still be looking for their
hull number, Carl Nicotera 18
September 2006 told members he
found serial number of his 31'
Commander Express in the
following places.
Bow:
o Hull interior, inside chain
locker, port side.
V Berth:
o Curved wood trim (6 ft long)
holds plywood top against hull,
port side.
o Curved wood trim (6 ft long)
holds plywood top against hull,
stbd side.
o Plywood under V berth cushion.
o Center wood trim (12 inches
long) separating glass facing
forward, directly over water
tank.
Main Cabin:
o Main floor board directly
under dinette table.
o Plywood panel directly under
dinette table, where the hull
meets the floor.
Head:
o Main floor board.
o Floor board under toilet.
Wheelhouse:
o Center Engine Hatch, etched
metal plate.
o Firewall above fwd part of
port engine.
Galley:
o Plywood covering hull, to the
left of dish storage rack.
o Bottom (floor level) shelf
directly under sink.
Note: Numbers on wood surfaces
are found on the unexposed side
and require removal of the wood
piece in order to inspect it.
Excluded: Any hand written
numbers (e.g. pencil or marker).
Carl
FXA 31 3098T
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41/410 Commander Hull
Numbers
30 January 2008 Jim Wick
posted the story below as a
response to a discussion on how
to interpret the hull numbers of
the the 41 Commanders/Flush Deck/410
Commander Yacht/410
Constellation.
In '72 the
41 Commander was built at the
Roamer plant (R) and the Chris
Craft hull numbering system was
used: F as in fiberglass
Commander, A for aft cabin,
A for 1st incarnation of this
mode, 0001 thru 0055 were the
first year of production. FAA
41:0011-R for example.
Then, in '73 the production was
moved down the street to the
Holland CC plant, and because
the Coast Guard was mandating
new hull numbering systems, CC
kind of used both systems and we
can cross reference them. Boats
after that time usually had both
hull numbering systems on each
boat. One change from the old
way, was to drop the change of
the 1st hull number change to
reflect the model year. So, a
'73 or '77 would have the CC
hull number of FFA-41-0056-H
thru 0166.
In '78 CC started using the
Coast Guard numbering system
only, and the 1st number of the
hull number reflected the year.
For example, a '78 would have
the hull numbers of 8167 and the
CG letters of SA and then the
month/year codes.
In '79 the model code changed to
DK and it stayed that way and
was built only in Holland MI
plant until '86 when production
was moved to North Carolina and
the name was changed to 410
Constellation Motor Yacht. Last
year was 1987 with few units
built that year.
I do not have number of hull
built during the '80's. I know
(because I was there) that we
were building them at 1 a week,
or 50 units a year from the '82
model thru the '85 model. So,
the last of the hull #'s in my
book start 1980 with hull number
208. The 2 years of '80 and '81
were NOT good years for CC and I
don't think many were built
those years. But, starting Dec.
1981, new ownership and good
sales made a real re-surface on
these and we were building and
selling as many as we could
produce. (1982 models)
Bottom line, I think there were
more than 400 of the 41's built.
Anyone in the club with a '86 or
'87 and could give us their Hull
number so that this could be
verified?
Jim Wick LPX-Sales
410 Commander Example
Fellow member Fred Catcott
illustrated how the numbering
works for his 410 Commander in a
post 29 January 2008.
Good afternoon from the Lake
of the Ozarks. The break down of
your 410 Commander hull ID #.
P M S “Pack My Stuff”
Chris Craft 410 Commander
Hull ID# CCHDK308M83J
Documentation# 659633
CC Chris Craft
H Holland Michigan Plant
DK 410 Commander Designator
308 Hull Sequence number -
Started at #1 in 1972 for 15
years
M83 Model Year 1983
J May – Month of production
Fred Catcott
Distinguishing (H) and (R)
Plants
Chris Craft
had to plants in Holland, Mi. In
the Hull numbers one is denoted
with an H the other with an R.
Jim Wick told this story about
the difference.
The Roamer
(R) plant in Holland, Mi. Roamer
Plant built steel and aluminum
hulls until '76 when they moved
the operation to Pompano Bch,
Fl.
However, the first year of the
Commander line, the 38's were
built at the Roamer plant, as
were many other 38, 42, 41, and
even ten 47' Commanders.
Why? The Roamer plant had a
younger work force at that time,
compared to the CC Holland
plant. The union was a lot more
flexible. (AFL-CIO vs. The
Christian Labor Association). I
kid you not. As I have stated
before, the Roamer plant was
pretty free in doing things a
little out of the ordinary, be
it edicts from CC headquarters
or job descriptions/union
problems. This probably was a
plus in our favor when new
things were done. We built the
biggest boats CC ever made.
Jim Wick, LPX-Sales
Using Hull
Number for Research
Once you
found you hull number it can be
used to retrieve lot's of
information about your specific
boat from the Chris Craft
archives at the Mariners Museum.
Visit the museum and order
copies of drawings, brochures,
price lists etc. |
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