1957 bellboy

[vetteguys]

I found a guy who has a 16 foot 1957 bellboy with the cabin up front. It needs a full restoration. Has a rotton floor and transom. Everything else is there. no motor or trailer. All windows and trim. Does anyone know how much it might be worth? Is it rare?
Need some help to know if it might be a keeper.
It looks like the one in the photo but is not the actual one.
All help is appreciated,

Ron

[Tim_Mattson]

Ron,
I`m working on a 16`1957 for a neighbor,it was pretty rotten too but easy to remove stringers ,Floor and such,transom was kinda tough from various patch jobs of Silicone,5200 and other "Wonder" cures.
The pcs are easy to cut out under the deck (with a utility knife cutting right thru the cloth) on both sides of the original stringers.
The shape is pretty easy to cut pcs for and they only have a 4` wide floor,so one sheet will cover the cockpit.
We had to dispose of the old splashwell and now are facing the mock-up for the Shortshaft Mercury.Really tight and lots of lost space if done to fit as before,we may even use an Armstrong Bracket ,then put a simple shelf or just corner seats.
I`d say it isn`t rare but not too common either.
Prices usually never match what it takes to totally do one so it either needs to have a good engine and trailer and/or some other like new stuff to make it worth considering.
Materials have risen alot,so unless getting huge deals or having materials already paid for on hand ,then it maybe worth proceeding.
Don`t want to discourage anyone but do pencil out all you can think of and do some price checking.
I`ll try to post the pics I just took,might be too big but here goes....seems to be working,check out the Rideguide Bezel,as my kids would say,"Epic".
That item plus the newer Merc 60 hp and the like new Galvie trailer sealed this deal.
Tim M

[John Berg]

boats are free motors are expensive

There are a lot of these boats out there that are free or next to nothing . When they are done you wont be able to get your time and expenses out of it. You restore these boats for the love of doing it, not profit. The value is mostly in the motor. If you decide to get the boat and fix it up its best to find a zappo, nothing special runabout that runs good and is on a good trailer and use it for a donor boat. tranfer motor with controls to the Bellboy. Put it on the trailer. Adjust it out. And if your lucky and you wait for the right boat you will get depthfinders, horns, Bow light, stern light, downriggers, bilge pumps and all the rest of the stuff that can nickel and dime you to the poor house. Have fun. JOHN

[Helmar]

I found a guy who has a 16 foot 1957 bellboy with the cabin up front. It needs a full restoration. Has a rotton floor and transom. Everything else is there. no motor or trailer. All windows and trim. Does anyone know how much it might be worth? Is it rare?
Need some help to know if it might be a keeper.
It looks like the one in the photo but is not the actual one.
All help is appreciated,

Ron

I would be more interested in what he did with the engine on the back of that boat.

Those 16 footers also had Glass over Wood stringers in them.
Most cases the stringers that I have seen looked to be something like 1x4's, pretty cheesy.

Full up resto on those, like any, is not cheap unless your able to do it all yourself.
Some of the boys can Rough things in for you whereas you can do the finish work yourself.

(Did I speak out of line here??)

57 Bellboy

I replaced the stringers on my 57 Bellboy Convertable with 2x4 cedar . It was somewhat difficult because the outside ones were curved and beveled. I also replaced the floor and transom. I run a 64 Merc. 650 short shaft motor. I would like to find a cabin boat like that one too.

[slo-mo]

Yes vote...

Hey Ron,

A restored '57 Bell Boy is worth a million in compliments from everyone, including sailers, kayakers and cute girls. Unfortunately ultimate value isn't very strong locally, but may be more desirable as they get rarer-from the center of the Bell Boy universe (your neck of the woods).

As Helmar mentioned about doing it yourself, I'm sure a dude going by VetteGuys can handle some glass work and paint. Just don't expect the hull to require much Hp and you'll be stylin'.