Alcan as well as 10 or 20 other houseboat manufacturers came and went in the 60s and 70s. Some, such as Alcan, were better boats than others. In all cases they are now orphans with a very limited market.

The OMC/Buick combination was installed in a lot of boats but today enjoys little support. Parts and service are extreemly limited.

With this in mind if you like the boat and the price is right "go for it".

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OLD HOUSEBOATER

Email me a picture.

user973783@aol.com

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OLD HOUSEBOATER

Love our "House Cruiser",, NOT a "House Boat"...Ours is boat #33...Have been told that Alcan built thirty seven "Alcan 370" boats..
Still looking for other owners and history information...Found a place on the French River that had parts...Passed one other Alcan 370 boat on the Trent Waterway last year...

Hi Kawartha....would like to contact you about the parts dealer on the French River and also to talk further about the 370 Alcans...send me a reply
Thanks
Hutch 1

We have an alcan 197- 370 - bought it 3 years ago and love it. Ours is powered with two 165 hp volvo-pentas and have had no trouble getting parts. With regard to the boat you saw last year on the Trent-Severne, I know the people who own it. They are at Brockville, on the St Lawrence River (we are a few miles west on the St Lawrence, in Rockport). They have just repowered with 220hp v6 Volvo Pentas and they cruise at 25 mph. Top speed is around 40 mph. It's amazing to see. This year, I am installing trimtabs in the hope that this will allow me to plane comfortably. This and a rebuild of one of the engines should move us along quite well.

You mentioned that your boat is number 33. Where can I find the plate that has that number?

I would be very interested in maintaining contact and I know that the other boat owner would like to set up an Alcan forum.

All the best

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Burleigh Trevor-Deutsch

I'm looking for any and all information I can get on the Alcans.
Does anyone know much about the history of these boats?
Anything to watch out for?
I've found one 37' with twin 90hp Volvo diesels. Any thoughts?
Any leads on any for sale?
I've lined up a couple and one of them will be mine by next summer.

Thanks in advance,
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Terry
Cobourg, Ontario

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Terry
MasterCard III
http://www.alcanboats.com/mastercard_iii.htm

GOT ONE!

She's a beauty, lying in Georgian Bay. We'll cruise her down the Trent-Severn at the end of June to our home port on Rice Lake.
Now I'm even more excited about these Alcans than before so how about ramping up this or another forum on them?
What say you Burleigh, Kawartha, Hutch 1? A left coaster has contacted me with a copy of the brochure for the 370 and says he has more to share.

Bring on Summer!
--
Terry

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Terry
MasterCard III
http://www.alcanboats.com/mastercard_iii.htm

Our Alcan 370 has been in the family since new, 1965. I have a photo copy of the original sales paper, it's very interesting. If any one wants some information I'd be glad to send all the information I have. I've researched Alcan 370's since day one so ask away. Patrick

Hi,
We purchased a 1973 Alcan 370 this year. We love the boat and I have been trying to gather information about the history of the boats and see what other owners have done to theirs. I have a freind who manufactured 78 of these boats in the 70' after buying the plans and manufacturing rights from Alcan. He has lost touch with the people that were involved, but is trying to get some information for me. He thought that alcan only made a few of these before they took over.You said that you purchased yours new, I would love to see any spec sheets or brochures if you have them. Any thought whould be appreciated.
Thank you,
Jim White

Hi Jim

Hi Jim, I will get together both sales brouchures for the Alcan 370 and the Alwest 370. The history I have is Alcan needed crew boats for their Kitimatt smelter location on the British Columbia coast in the early 1960's. Later they decided to prove that a family cruiser could be built out of aluminium so the Alcan 370 was born. These rugged Family Cruisers were built between 1963 to 1969. Their are some hybrids in 1970 but a group got the plans for building these boats from Alcan and started building them out of Gimli, Manitoba in an old air force hanger. The difference between Alcan's and Alwest's are the Alcan is built totally out of aluminium and the Alwest has a aluminium hull with fibreglass over wood superstructure. Most Alwest's has a fly bridge, although some Alcan's have been modified to have a fly bridge too. So if my information is correct you might have a Alwest not an Alcan, although I been wrong before. One true way of knowing what you have is a true Alcan has the ball cap bow cover with support rails going down to the side rails and more importantly all Alcan's have a round bow from the splash guard up,(waterline), and Alwest's went to the v-shaped bow. Look at the picture Terry sent in, although he has a fly bridge you can see the ball cap bow and round bow. This information was given to me by a Alcan management employee back in 1985 when I started researching our Alcan 370 history. I'll send you some pictures via your e-mail as I can't seem to add attachments to this forum. I'm a Mac user. Hope this is helpfull, talk later. Take care, Patrick

Hi Fellow Alcan/Alwest Owners,

    I have a original Alcan 370 sales brochures and a article on the history of the Alwest 370. I've scanned them and made two PDF files out of them. They are 404 kb and 4.1 mg in size but I'm unable to post them. If you want a copy I'll e-mail them to anyone who wants them, just e-mail me at eboness@dccnet.com

Take care,

Patrick
MV Eboness

Hi Again Alcan 370 Owners,

    I think I've sorted out how anyone of you can get this sales brochure. Just go to this link and download the PDF file.

Take care & safe boating

Patrick
MV Eboness

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=57BAD3340FB52B0E

Hey Patrick,
Nice to see someone posting here after more than a year. We are just finishing our 2nd season on our Alcan 370 and loving her more every weekend.
We have met several other Alcan and Alwest owners and I keep promising to stay in touch and hopefully try to put together an Alcan regatta of sorts here in Ontario.
I would love to see all the info you have on these beauties as I think I have exhausted all my resources.
I'll try to round up all my contacts and send them the link for this forum. Maybe we can get something started.
Attaching files does seem to be a problem, so I'll copy this to an email and sent it to you.
--
Terry Robb
MasterCard III

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Terry
MasterCard III
http://www.alcanboats.com/mastercard_iii.htm