1972 Silverline Comoro 17T / 165 OMC

southkogs

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In August of 1959 Moorhead Plastics began producing two boats: the austere "Free Way" fishing boat and the sporty "Silver Line" runabout. By 1960 when the sales brochures were printing, the branding of the company had become Sliver Line boats by Moorhead plastics, and over the course of the 60s (by 69) the brand moved to just be known as Silverline.

In 1970, Silverline began offering the Comoro boats in their line up. I believe she was designed by Jim Wynne as he was contracted by Silverline in 1969 and I know he was responsible for the Nantucket and the Aruba. The Comoro was available both as a V-Hull (Wynne's signature) and a tri-hull, and was available in a range of sizes (15' up through 19'). She was billed as a match between (according to the 1972 literature) "brawn and beauty." And over the years the marketing copy laid it on pretty thick.

Silverline was billed as a high quality boat (though it really competed with the Glastron / Larson range market), and the Comoro was highlighted as a wide, stable cruising boat built for safety and comfort. When it came to the tri-hull, the 1970 literature says it combines a "jaunty profile with an interior that's got all the stretchin' room you need." And of course the benefits of the tri-hull were loudly shouted because of the "keen-edged outrigger hulls" that would give one "Captain's Authority" in a turn (I have no idea what the devil that means). On the plus side, the V of the center hull does run all the way down the keel making her more of a cathedral hull and smoothing out the ride in choppy water.

The Comoro was produced all the way through the selling of the Silverline boat company (and consequently it's end) in 1980.

The Comoro I have is a 1972 17T that I purchased in 2010. Originally in 1970 it was the 16 1/2 Comoro, but by '72 they called it the 17T. And it is fairly "beamy" at 88" across the cockpit and 85" at the transom, giving it a nice roomy layout. Supposedly the hull design is supposed to give her a great hole shot, but my experience has been that getting on plane is a bit laborious for the boat. A gazelle she ain't; more of a rhino. Which fits the weight, 'cuz she's a chunky monkey at 1,850# according to specs (by 1980 it was more like 2,400#).

The outboard version of the Comoro 17 was rated for a Max HP of 140 and the sterndrive version was rated for 165HP. I have the sterndive version with an OMC 165 Electric Shift Stringer. For all of the goofy flaws of a Stringer, she has some redeeming qualities. For one thing it’s pretty quiet. I regularly get compliments at the ramp on how quiet it is. The other big benefit is instant short burst of power. The way the coils engage the screw when energized allows me to tap into gear for a second and tap back out with nearly no delay in application. It makes docking real easy. Not a perfect drive system by any stretch, but it ain’t the worst either.

This is the boat when I brought her home:
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Looked worse than it was. She needed a bunch of cleanin' and some stern drive work. I got a lesson in OMC, that's for sure. Interior was in very good shape, and just needed some cleaning:

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One of the first steps was replacing the helm: Cable let go on it, and it's one of those awful through-the-transom steering gigs.
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The dash wound up lookin' like this:
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southkogs

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Over the following year, I worked on the trailer and the stern drive. I actually was able to find a very well cared for 165HP ES stern drive for a pretty reasonable price and swapped it in. That gave me a working drive and sort-of working drive. I found a donor boat later that year, scrubbed some parts from it and made a spare "Franken-drive" that is waiting ... just in case.

Along side of that, one night while tearing into a winter project in late 2011 my daughter (who's my main boatin' buddy) pipes up asking, "hey dad! What's all this under the seat?" We open up the drivers lounge seat to find 3 propellers looking only slightly used. I now send her into all of our closets and boxes, just to see what she can find :D

2012 was a rebuilt starter and trim motor, and a head gasket (let go about mid-year).

Anyway, by the spring of 2012 the boat looked like this:
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And she runs fine:
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I haven't yet fixed the SelectTrim on the boat. That motor has to be rebuilt, and I'm not sure if I've got a problem on the jackscrew or not. That's a project for later this year. On plane with 5 on board we top out at about 30MPH right now. With just two of us on board we gain a few miles an hour, but I have yet to see 35MPH out of this boat. The suggestion of a few websites is that this should be a 40MPH boat, but I don't know really what to expect. And most of the time, I cruise at around 25 so it's not a big deal really. We'll get the trim sorted out, and probably deal with the dash (I'm not sure the tach is working properly) before we do anything else.
 
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southkogs

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2014 saw a re-finished swim deck. The old teak was lookin' kinda' grungy and rough:
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I was tempted to build something altogether new from plywood (I'd seen a couple of nice pieces done) but BobVT, Fishrdan and Woodonglass talked some sense into me and walked me through refinishing the platform. So, 2014 saw a pretty "new" lookin' stern:
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Overall, she's a great boat and a nice setup for a family runabout.
 
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southkogs

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A little followup on something that I have been impressed with this year: We've taken some longer runs this year as the boat has been running more consistently. As a tri-hull you kinda' expect a little bangin' around when you run across choppy water. To my very pleasant surprise, the Comoro doesn't feel like a typical tri-hull (I've had a couple). We've gotten in some pretty choppy stuff (2', maybe 3') and the boat handled it really well. The occasional bang, but not much worse than a V hull and in many cases she's been breakin' though really gently.

The Admiral even felt like she was being rocked to sleep one day when we were out. :D
 

boatnut74

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Glad to hear you have got most of the kinks worked out and are enjoying her. Someday, just someday I'll be able to take my Silverline for a ride.
 

southkogs

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To bump this thread, and close out a story - A little over five years after purchasing her, I've just wished the Comoro a fare well as she's on to her next home. This year I got a call from my folks asking if I wanted their boat, and I decided to take them up on it.

I was fortunate that a very good friend of mine was interested in the boat. He actually went with me to look it over when I bought it (he's better with engines than I am). He's seen what I've had to do with the boat, and understands the issue of having an OMC Stringer.

Aaaaaaannnnnnnd ... he's close enough that I'll get to take a ride on it every once in a while :)
 
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