(See also Toy boats inboard and outboard pages.)
Fleetline Marine, Inc.,
was a company based in California that imported the K&O Models,
Inc., toy outboard motors from Japan into the USA. They also
sold their own line of toy boats that they had manufactured in Japan
and brought to this country. The first boats started coming
here in the early 1950s and were of poor quality. They were
made completely of wood, including the hull, but were often
defective. In fact, it's said that about 30% of the early all
wood boats that here had to be thrown into the garbage because the
wood would separate and the boat would sink if placed in the water.
Soon, however, Fleetline started making
much better quality boats that were either all plastic or had
plastic leak proof hulls with wooden decks. These were far
more successful and millions were sold. To me the nicest of
these boats were the Marlin, the Sea Rocket, the Zephyr and the
Wizard and Wiz Twin boats.
Most of the Fleetline boats are not hard to find, especially the
Dolphin and Marlin, but there are some exceptions like the Sea
Rocket which is very rare. These boats were not made for
display but for kids to play with so many are found in beat up
condition. Still, they are fun to own and to display your
motors on.
Unfortunately, after the 1962 season Fleetline sold it's business to
the Craftmaster company. The Craftmaster company then made
much cheaper looking boats and motors. The motors were no
longer die cast metal but plastic and the quality of the boats
suffered too. Craftmaster still used the Fleetline name on
some of it's toy boat packages.
Click on an image to enlarge.
1. Fleetline Marlin.
An outboard cabin cruiser. This is one
of my favorites. It's one of the best looking of the Fleetline boats and
pretty close to scale. It was very
popular and many were sold. Not very hard to find but you will pay a
premium because collectors like this boat, especially if it's mint
in box. It has a real canvas bimini top, takes 4 batteries,
plastic hull with wood deck and cabin. There are a few variations
but most look the same. Some have an on/off switch in the stern. Later models came
with a neat rope ladder, fender and coiled rope on the bow. Be
careful of missing horn, bow light, mast, etc., fitting's pieces on the deck and cabin, and
also the
removable wood flooring and seats inside are often missing. It looks best with one of
the big K&O motors like a 6 cylinder Mercury or four cylinder Evinrude
or Johnson. Neat boxes. The green and red box is the
older box and the light blue and white box is the newer styled box.
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2. Fleetline Dolphin. This
may be the easiest Fleetline boat to find. They were very popular
and millions must have been made. Unfortunately, they are not scaled
well and the hull looks too big for the deck, windshield and interior as
well as too big for the motors. There were several variations of
this boat called the Dolphin II and the Vagabond. The Vagabond is
the best looking of the three. Often the seats or floor boards are
missing. Scott Smith makes excellent reproduction seats and floor
boards for it. |
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3.
Fleetline Sea Babe inboard boat.
Not an easy boat to find but for some unknown reason people just don't
care for this boat and they usually sell very cheap. It's a plastic
hull with wood deck and the bow light works. These should sell
better but don't. |
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4.Fleetline Sea Wolf. This
boat is almost identical to the Sea Babe above. The only difference
I can see is that the Sea Wolf has more fittings on the front deck,
including two working lights. Again not a highly sought after boat
even though it's well made and good looking. |
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5.
Fleetline Sea Rocket.
According to the son of the one of the owners of Fleetline Marine, the Sea
Rocket was the least produced of all the Fleetline boats making it the
rarest boat they made. This is an especially nice looking boat with
it's futuristic tail fins and great shape. It came in two different
colors, a bright red and a beige color. The beige is much rarer than
the red one with probably less than 500 to 1000 ever made. |
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6.
Fleetline Thunderbolt. The
Thunderbolt is a very simple looking and not particularly scale looking
outboard boat, especially with it's almost flat bottom. They were
almost always packaged as a combo with the K&O Hurricane toy outboard
motor and you usually find them together. These must have been
played with a lot when bought because most of the time you will find them
damaged. |
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7. Fleetline Fiesta Queen.
One of the earliest of the Fleetline boats. All wood
construction. Not a particularly well made or good looking
boat. Not rare but hard to find in mint condition. |
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8. Fleetline Holiday. Another
early boat by Fleetline. All wood with a little cabin. Not
that easy to find, especially in mint condition. |
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9. Fleetline
Viking. Plastic
toy outboard boat. Pretty decent looking for a plastic boat.
Small size but pretty scale. They were usually packaged with a toy
outboard motor like the K&O Sea Dart or the plastic 1960 Johnson 40
HP. Easy to find. They came in a few different colors with
different color hulls and cabins. This is really the same exact boat
as the inboard Sea King below except that they added a small outboard well
to hold the motor onto the transom. Pretty efficient! |
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10. Fleetline Sea King. This
is the inboard version of the Viking above. Pretty much the same
boat except for the small outboard motor mount added to the Viking.
It came in several different colors. |
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11. Fleetline El Captain. As
far as I can see the El Captain is the same boat as the Viking
above. Almost always sold with the Sea Dart or 1960 Plastic Johnson
40 HP. |
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12. Fleetline Commodore.
All plastic indoor cabin cruiser. Kind of neat looking boat with
it's classic lines and flying bridge. This is a very rare boat. I've
only seen a few during my many years of collecting. |
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13. Fleetline Wizard and Wiz Twin.
This may be my favorite of the Fleetline boats. It's got classic
outboard runabout lines in a nice scale. These are not rare and easy
to find. Unfortunately, many have broken or missing parts. The
Wizard came in two colors red and the rarer green color. The
Wiz Twin is exactly the same boat except that the battery box was
wired for two motors and packaged with two motors. The motors usually
combined with these boats were Mercury Merc 22 HP, Sea Darts, and the 1960
Plastic Johnson 40 HP. |
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14. Fleetline Zephyr. Neat
looking outboard speedster. The Zephyr is almost always found in a
dark brown color but was also made in the blue color later as can be seen
in the pictures. Always packaged with a K&O motor, usually one
of the tin Mercury Merc 22 HP motors. This blue model is packaged
with the very rare plastic black Merc 50 HP. |
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15. Fleetline Sea Siren Hydroplane.
This is a really neat looking toy boat. It's got great lines and fun
to look at and run. The were usually packaged with the 1960 plastic
Johnson 40 HP motor. This is a hard boat to find, especially in mint
condition and very hard to find with a box. |
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16. Fleetline
Capri Inboard and outboard versions. A very
hard to find boat. The first one is an inboard boat with a great looking metal
top reminiscent of the famous Century Coronado boats of the 1950s.
The second is the outboard version of the same boat. Batteries are stored
in a secret compartment under a bow hatch. Both are Very rare. |
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17. Fleetline
Ranger: This is one of the earliest boats made by
Fleetline. The Ranger has an all wood hull and not the usual plastic
hull you see on the later boats. The reason is that the early boats,
like the Ranger, were put together in Japan and often came to the USA in a
defective condition or leaked. This one to the right is in MIB
condition. The motor in the picture is probably not original to the
boat. |
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18.
Fleetline Sea Spray: This
is one of the early Fleetline boats. It's all wood and not the
plastic hull that they used later on. Kind of neat for it's age with
the rear driving compartment and long bow. Looks like an early race
boat. These boats often came with the K&O Tornado outboard motor
on them, which is shown in the pictures. The Evinrude instruction
sheet doesn't belong to that motor. Not too rare but hard to find in
good condition. |
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