Jonathan Larson's 16ft 1955 AeroCraft CC

Oct 26 2009, 10:04 PM

I recently inherited an old aluminum Aerocraft boat. It is 16 feet long, 6 feet wide at the center, very deep V, enclosed bow. Tag says it's a model C.C., manufactured in St.Charles, Michigan by the Harwill Co. How can I find out it's age ? Can you help ?

Serial number is only 5 digits. Does that mean "OLDER" ?? Father-in-law used to take this boat on Lk. Huron. Very stable in big water.

Thank you-
J.D. Letts

This is a 1950 16' AERO CRAFT boat. You are buying just the boat & trailer. This boat was manufactured right here in Michigan and I believe it has been here for the last 62 years. The MC registration numbers end in AA which means it was registered here when it was new. With aluminum scrap prices so high I was going to go ahead and scrap it out and sell the trailer. But the reality is, it is not in that bad of shape. It is missing the original cabin and someone mounted a windshield on it. The aluminum body is in really good shape for its age. They did not start putting Hull ID's on boats untill the early 70's but the serial number on the nameplate is 12011. If you are looking for a show piece, this is probably not it. But with a little work and your outboard motor, I am sure this boat would attract a lot of attention on the water.

Beam: 6'

Ended: Jan 30, 201208:23:59 PST
Winning bid: $700

This is a 1950 16' AERO CRAFT boat. You are buying just the boat & trailer. This boat was manufactured right here in Michigan and I believe it has been here for the last 62 years. The MC registration numbers end in AA which means it was registered here when it was new. With aluminum scrap prices so high I was going to go ahead and scrap it out and sell the trailer. But the reality is, it is not in that bad of shape. It is missing the original cabin and someone mounted a windshield on it. The aluminum body is in really good shape for its age. They did not start putting Hull ID's on boats untill the early 70's but the serial number on the nameplate is 12011. If you are looking for a show piece, this is probably not it. But with a little work and your outboard motor, I am sure this boat would attract a lot of attention on the water. My contact information is below if you would like to come and check it out or call me with any questions that you might have. Marc Finkbiner Marc's Marine 13504 W. Grand River Eagle, Mi. 48822

February 5th, 2012, 03:06 AM #1
1973Chieftain

Look what followed me home Friday! Since y'all are such fine fellows, and there is no Aero forum, I thought I'd start a thread to share and get ideas for restoring this classic craft. I found that the PO's half- *****ed everything... including a car radio/ CD player with a full car antenna sticking out of her fore deck! Also, a terrible conversion from a short shaft to a long shaft- using all regular steel bolts..... rust stains everywhere! The original transom high appears to be 14.5" on the vertical, and there is basically no splash well on the inside.... odd. Will this work with my standard 16" short shaft engine? Despite all of the issues, it does have a new mechanical steering system and the hull appears sound. One thing that surprised me was how DEEP the hull seems! Its dimensions are 16'x72"x37" but it would dwarf my Jet, and the Jupiter's I have seen! Now to acquire some elbow grease and Shark Hide......

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1955 Aerocraft CC-16 barrel back runabout

February 8th, 2012, 01:25 PM

Here are a couple pics now that the abomination of a windshield is off. Today I pulled up all the flooring and the side panes (PO used treated ply) and found small areas of severe corrosion. The aluminum was flaking away, but it appears that its still strong as a swift kick with my boot resulted in no movement at all. I also removed the seats and found that there is foam in the benches. Its sealed in, but I poked around with a wire coat hanger and it sounds nice and squeaky so I'm guessing its not water logged. Its amazing how fast one can strip a simple tin boat! I also looked at the place where the old transom was supposed to be, and although there is nothing there at the moment, it looks as if all it was was a 2x6 about 31" long. Perhaps thats why its only rated for 50 HP compared with similar sized boats in the 60's that were 75+.

Restoration thread

Photos taken 2/15/2012

Photos taken 3/21/2012

My most recent progress, the new dash and transom in! The blue is Rustoleum Marine navy blue. Surprisingly, the transom is only 31" wide on this boat instead of the full width. However the aluminum skin is almost double the thickness of the transom on my Starcraft.

April 24th, 2012 1:17AM

I splashed her today! I had hooked up a 33 hp Evinrude that I had and took her out to check for leaks (and just have fun). The fastest that the 33 would move her was 17mph, and I noticed that it was almost impossible to go in reverse without water coming in over the low transom. I'm thinking of building some sort of decent looking aluminum splash well that goes higher to fix the problem or trying to convert it into a long shaft again. Problem with that is that it looks ugly since its would be obviously not factory! Also thinking of a short shaft Mercury 650....

April 26th, 2012, 06:17 PM
Got a new engine! Now to hook up the Merc 500 and resplash it April 27th, 2012, 01:47 PM
Here she is on the AC... dang the Mercury control cables are a PITA to hook up! The 'rude takes under 30 seconds to hook up both... spent about an hour doing these! Hopefully Splash II will be this evening. I'm going to try it without the two through hull bolts on the bottom, just using the clamps to see for proper height before drilling.

April 28th, 2012, 10:43 AM
Took her out this morning with the 500... engine ran great! Got it up to 25 mph though... ill have to play around with the tilt a bit to see how much that helps.

Here is my Aerocraft, a '55 CC-16 powered by a Mercury 500

Owners' copyrights apply to all images.

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