Owens Concorde

[Doogie Diver]

Originally Posted by USFREIGHT

Does anyone know anything about Owens boats? I know some were plywood but I have seen a listing of a 40ft Concorde with twin power that says it's fiberglass......Is it just over the plywood and if it's a decent boat at all? It is a 70 model....Thanks

I have owned a 1972 Concorde 35. It is a very nice well built boat.
All fiberglass...no fiberglass over wood. Twin 350's. I am attaching a photo. I have replaced the old galvanized water tank, added a bimini over the back deck, and of course it is a boat and always something to do to it. Hope to take it to the gulf after retirement. I keep it on Lake Barkley in Ky. Hope picture is attached.
Safe Boating... doogie

[Doogie Diver]

Originally Posted by Capt. Willy

Greetings.

Having recently acquired a 1970 Concorde 35, I starting doing some research on the vessel. There is not much info online, as the people participating in this thread seem to know.

I've not been able to confirm the existence of two kinds of Concorde motor yachts, only that the Concorde brand changed hands through twice between 1960 and 1970 - first from the Owens Yacht Corporation to the Brunswick Corporation in a stock-for-stock transaction, then Brunswick sold the division to the Test Corporation out of Florida, approximately 1969. Brunswick originally used the "Owens Concorde" name before transitioning to just "Concorde" some years later. The Test Corporation only used Concorde (and as a footnote, Test Corporation went bankrupt in the early 1970's and all assets including construction documentation, engineering literature and design specifications were liquidated at that time. Such a pity!)

I have seen references to Owens Concordes as "budget" boats of fiberglass over plywood, and Concordes as "well built tanks" but the available information is sketchy. I do know Owens built wooden motor yachts for a number of years. I do not know that there were ever transitional models that were fiberglass over plywood and don't think they built any yachts with that construction (although they did build smaller boats - less than 30’ - that had plywood hulls and mahogany superstructures and larger boats were double planked wood hulls with many mahogany appointments. The boats at that time were branded as “Owens.”)

So, what does this all mean?

In my opinion, there likely are not two 1960's - 1970's built "Concordes", but simply a lineage of vessels constructed over about a ten year or so period. Earlier boats were "Owens Concordes" and in sometime in the latter portion of the 1960's, they dropped the Owens moniker to become "Concordes".

Based on my boat, a 1970 Concorde 35 is a grand motor yacht featuring solid fiberglass hull construction and balsa cored decks. It is indeed a tank of a yacht, and has beautiful lines. I switched out of a 1975 Chris Craft Catalina 35 Dual Cabin - a great MY - and the Concorde is every bit of what the Chris was and, I believe more. Time will, of course, tell on that...

I would be very interested in hearing from any other fiberglass Concorde owners.

Calm seas and blue skies, all...

Cheers,
Capt. Willy
Rochester, NY

Hello Capt. Willy, I am attaching a picture of my 1972 Concorde 35. It is a great boat and plan on keeping her. Hope to retire next year and make a trip to the gulf. Enjoyed your article on the concorde.. Boat Safe Doogie Diver

Not sure if I am attaching his picture right, hope you got it..

[River Cruiser]

Beautiful boat! There is a 47' aft cabin in the marina across from me also a nice looking boat.

[Capt. Willy]

Dear River Cruiser,

Your boat is beautiful! I am a bit biased, of course, as I have the same boat, except it's a 1970. Interesting to see the minor production changes from the different model years. Do you have any of the original documentation for the vessel? If so, I would be very interested in speaking with you about it.

In any event, I am pleased to make your acquaintance and welcome you to this discussion!

If you have any more pics or info, I hope you will feel free to share!

Thanks!

Calm seas and blue skies, all...

Cheers,
Capt. Willy
Rochester, NY

[River Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Capt. Willy

Dear River Cruiser,

Your boat is beautiful! I am a bit biased, of course, as I have the same boat, except it's a 1970. Interesting to see the minor production changes from the different model years. Do you have any of the original documentation for the vessel? If so, I would be very interested in speaking with you about it.

In any event, I am pleased to make your acquaintance and welcome you to this discussion!

If you have any more pics or info, I hope you will feel free to share!

Thanks!

Calm seas and blue skies, all...

Cheers,
Capt. Willy
Rochester, NY

Capt.Willy the Concorde here belongs to a friend. I've thought about trying to make a deal on it but I'am pretty happy with my 3870 Bayliner. It's big enough for me & the Concorde is a aft cabin & I don't want to climb steps to get on to a boat even one as nice as it.

[Capt. Willy]

Hi River Cruiser. Right you are! I should have directed the last post to Doogie Diver.

Your 3870 is a nice vessel - there are a few here in the Rochester NY area.

Thanks for getting back to me - and please invite your Concorde friend to the forum discussion!

-Capt. Willy

[River Cruiser]

I will do that next spring when he comes back.

[vivelo]

Hi, I came across this posting and thought I'd add my experience of my Owens Concorde 35 sedan. Mine was a late 1975 powered by twin Windsors 351 and they was put in it in 1994. The boat was solid and was well cared for by the previous owner, the only thing I updated on the boat was new carpet, Fridge freezer and shower head. One of the engines had a tapping noise when I bought it (I bought unseen!), as the boat had stood unused for some time I assumed it was a dry lifter (I'm a Mechanic!), after changing them out the noise was still there. It turned out to be the exhaust manifold blowing and causing the tapping noise, so I wasted $$ on the lifters and it cost near nothing for the exhaust gasket. I guessed it wasn't the lifters once I had them out as they were free and had no signs of wear.

I sold the boat a couple of years ago for $11,000 which was probably too cheap, but I'm from the UK and it sat there unused on Long Island.

If your interested the pictures (41) of the boat are here Galley to Forward Cabin Door | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

There are no photos of the engines on there, but the bilge, engine bay and engines were spotless, it was the driest boat I've had. She was on her original gel and paint.

She is now on a lake in West Virginia.

It might be of interest, mine was build by a company called Canadian Canoes according to the HIN, also there was no branding of it being an Owens (except from the old owner and docs). The master Switch/fuse panel was white and just had the Concorde name and logo on it.

Enjoy your Owens, they was build to last.

[Capt. Willy]

Vivelo,

Thanks for your story. I'd never heard any mention of the Canadian Canoes connection, but that's the kind of stuff I love hearing about. I went and looked at your pics and your boat sure was a Concorde! I'd imagine she moved pretty well with the Windsors. But no one owns one of these to win any speed contests!

Any idea of what Canadian Canoes' story was? Perhaps they purchased a few hulls and topsides components after Concorde Test was liquidated. then assembled and sold them. Who knows.

I any event, I'd say your boat was very rare, possibly unique. That's just me talikng outload though...

Calm seas and blue skies, all...

Cheers,
Capt. Willy
Rochester, NY

[vivelo]

Capt. Willy.

She did go well, luckily she had full tanks of gas when I bought her. I've no idea how much gas she would hold, but the tanks where approx 6' x 3' cylinders. She always seemed more comfortable when the tanks had more fuel in them.

She was all original when I got her, hydraulic trim tabs, 4.5k Gen set and reverse A/C. She was like a small condo being open planned and all the controls on the flybridge. I did try having her shipped to the UK, except the shipping company I paid went broke, I got my money back for that and kept her on Long Island for 3 years, I spent a few months each year on her.

The Canadian Canoe company stopped trading a long time ago, I tried finding the history, but couldn't find much. She was very heavily laid up, the fiberglass was very thick and there was no soft spots on the decks or blisters on the hull.

I search google from time to time to see if my old boats get resold or I can spot them, hence I read this forum. I've never seen another with an extended cabin, the rear deck was small and maybe only 3', but that made the main cabin & flybridge huge, it had seating for 5 up there and a couple of friends put a couple of chairs as well. Another nice feature of the concorde was the moulded seating on deck.

For sure we don't get cruisers built like that in the UK, my brother's cruiser shows light through the fiberglass, its that thin.

I'm onto a steel Dutch Cruiser now. I would love to spend more time in the US as the choice of boats is amazing, but 3 months is the limit.

[Capt. Willy]

Vivelo,

I had seen the extended configuration before - very nice and roomy I'm sure. Mine has the standard configuration with the lower station and small single bench seat flybridge.

Is your new vessel similar to the steel hulled houseboat conversions I've seen in Amsterdam? I've had the pleasure of staying aboard a few of them and they are quite comfortable!

Sounds like you still have a bit of a soft spot for the Concorde though...

Calm seas and blue skies, all...

Cheers,
Capt. Willy
Rochester, NY

[vivelo]

I do have a soft spot for the Concorde, I had a lot of fun on her and met a lot of new friends. I think I have more pictures of the flybridge on my old laptop, It had the bench seat at the front and behind that was the console which had seats facing backward and obviously the helm.

The new boat is more sports Dutch cruiser, centre cockpit and has a flybridge, I think that's the best way to describe her, she's just a painted hull with windows at the moment and has been that was for 15+ years. The hull has been epoxied and painted really good, you would think she's fiberglass. She's a De Groot, the hull, windows and paint was done by the factory and the guy was going to fit it out himself, but it got put in a shed and not touched.

Yeah, I miss my old concorde, it was a solid safe boat and ready to go!

[Wavewacker]

There is an aft cabin Concord on Yacht World that I looked at. Looked nice and it was cheap, but I couldn't help thinking it would need to stop at every fueling pump. Much more power than I desire, I think.....

[River Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Wavewacker

There is an aft cabin Concord on Yacht World that I looked at. Looked nice and it was cheap, but I couldn't help thinking it would need to stop at every fueling pump. Much more power than I desire, I think.....

Show a link, the one in the marina where I keep mine is for sale. It has DD power & should be efficient for her size 47' I think it was priced around $75,000. Being freshwater it's in pretty nice shape, may be cheaper now, the guy that owns it had a stroke last fall.

[Wavewacker]

Sorry, I'm technologically deficient, I'd need a kid to do that and don't have one....but it was 19.9K I believe and it's the only one in that price range for Owens, that's how I find it again. Sorry!