I am in the process of closing a deal on a 1980 43' Nautaline. I am
looking for any information that's available on this particular
boat. I've been boating for many years mostly cuddys and
pontoons with either I/Os or outboards. I haven't found much
talk about Nauatline boats. Were there many of these made? How good
of a boat are they? I'm new to houseboats and inboard
drives so any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
From my research,(I am a Nautaline owner), it was top of the line. Older HB's need to be surveyed for problems like rot. Stringers and transoms were problem areas, and many are in bad shape. Our boat had this problem, so the stringers and transome were replaced, reglassed, etc. Now it is strong as a tank again. Great boats......
The Vintage Houseboat Club I believe was folded into this site. Back then there was a good bit of info out on the old fiberglass style boats of which I'd guess Nautaline's were the most common. Gibson's are still in production and much fancier today whereas I guess all the other manufacturers gradually discontinued operations.
The key as Jimg stated is to know what you are buying and pay appropriately. More of these boats had dual outdrives, some V drives, some single engines. Just keep searching all over online and you'll gradually run into some good info. I even found a good series where a guy restored an old steel houseboat on a Mastercraft website.
-------------------------
1973 Chris Craft Aquahome, 34' Lake Lanier, GA
OHB, was that Forum down for a while last year? I tried getting on it numerous times, and wasn't able to - so I finally removed it from my bookmark list.