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Topic: Elco 70 FT. Color Photo |
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Will Day
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Mar 1, 2011 - 6:58pm
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I think part of the I.D. problem is the foreshortened camera angle on the bow numbers. I think there might well be a "1" after the "PT".
Will |
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alross2
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Mar 1, 2011 - 7:35pm
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If you look closely at the deck, you'll notice at least three different colors: the deck inboard of the toe rail has a greyish tint, outboard of the toe rail a more reddish tint, and the rub rails are somewhat lighter and tend more towards yellow. This is consistent with the materials used for the deck construction. Frame 254 of the 70' microfilm indicates that the outer decking was teak, laid in a chevron pattern; the covering board (the area between the toe rail and hull side) was mahogany; and, the rub rail was oak and spruce. This, and the two-colored charthouse, suggests to me that the boat was still in ELCO hands and not yet finished.
Al
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alross2
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Mar 1, 2011 - 7:35pm
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Frank J Andruss Sr
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Mar 2, 2011 - 6:34am
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It amazes me that Elco would go through so much Labor to get the boats completed. Why they would run the boats than bring them back to be repainted is a mystery. You drop the boats into the basin, run time trials, than bring them back, take them out of the water and paint them seems so labor intensive. When you watch the Elco Factory Film "Giant Killers" you get the feeling that the boats were ready to go once dropped into the water. Granted they most likely pieced the film together, but why paint later on. I'm sure they had the specs as to color schemes before hand. If this was the standard procedure, where were they painted, back at Elco? I have no evidence (photo's) that show any of the Elco boats being painted in other locations except the Elco Factory. I am going to call a friend of mine that worked at the old Elco site, to see if he knows anything.
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Gary Szot
MASTER
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Posted on: Mar 2, 2011 - 6:55am
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To me it looks like a 2 after PT. Could be PT 20-26, 77' ELCO
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Frank J Andruss Sr
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Mar 2, 2011 - 7:11am
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Gary
I have blown up the photo to roughly 400% and I have to agree with you. It sure looks like the numeral 2, although the boat has all the curves and lines of the 70 Footer, per Al Ross's drawings.
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TED WALTHER
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Mar 2, 2011 - 8:08am
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Frank;
I don't feel this response is not within the time period of your photo here, but I do know that Fife's Shipyard in Glen Head, Long Island did paint some of the boats(However, my info here is mainly camoflage schemes), in addition they also installed the mufflers on alot of the boats, from the 77' Elcos until at least the 500 series 80' Elcos. I have also read in another source that they installed all the mufflers on Elco boats.
Take care,
TED
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Frank J Andruss Sr
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Mar 2, 2011 - 8:35am
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Ted
I knew about Fife's, but like you, I thought they worked on the later boats and not the early ones. Why would they install Mufflers on the boats so far away from Elco. I have documentation that Mufflers were made for the boats from outside companies, but always thought they installed them at Elco. It makes no sense to bring the boats to Long Island to install Mufflers, but one can never say never, as we are finding out.
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Will Day
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Mar 2, 2011 - 11:41am
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...and why is the forward part of the superstructure a different color? Is this another indication she was still at ELCO?
Will |
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TED WALTHER
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Mar 2, 2011 - 12:44pm
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Frank:
The 70’ PT's and PTC's and early series 77’ Elco boats(PT 20-44) did not have mufflers. The second-series 77’ boats(PT 45-68) and the early 80’ Elco's had them added at Fife's because, I seem to remember the first company that made them was a small marine manufacturer and boatyard near Fife's boatyard at Glenwood Landing, Glen Head, Long Island. maybe in Hempstead or Freeport I sort of want to think that the mufflers were an after thought, as a result of the British experiance in the English Channel. Our guys were not practicing on sneaking up on anybody at that time. They where firing practice torpedoes at targets in Narragansett Bay in true "They Were Expendable" fashion.
Look at the photo of PT 103 with Dick Kersey at the wheel, idling away from the Elco dock shortly after its launching, May 16, 1942. She has no mufflers. I believe this fell into the fitting out period which was after boat commissioning/squadron commissioning
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