Hull #71's history

[Eddie Offermann]

Bob Mitchell asked me in a PM (I'm greatly paraphrasing, there was more to it) if I knew where my particular Newporter was constructed.

I decided that the history was interesting enough, and something that I'd want to have convenient reference to apart from my logbook, that I'd place it in a blog entry.

 

I was curious about the origin and past of this boat - and fortunately, I have a LOT of documentation on her - previous owners have done a pretty good job of preserving her history. She was definitely constructed in Costa Mesa as is reflected in very early survey documents.

In July of 1959, an FCC license was issued to Charles J Hughes of Denver, CO for the marine telephone which is still present on Hull #71 currently called SoNice but originally named "Escape".

On February 27, 1975, Edwin G Richter of Tucscon, AZ sent a letter to the USCG marine Safety Office that he had sold the vessel, which at that time was a USCG Documented vessel under the name "Escape" with San Diego as her home port. I have a copy of the survey that was performed at the time of the sale, as well as the original bill of sale.

It was purchased at that time by Mr. William T. "Tommy" Moxley & Particia L. "Patty" Moxley of Redondo Beach, CA.

There were a couple of brothers in here that owned her - I'm not sure of their exact dates - I need to ask the previous owner about that. I believe they're the ones that relocated the vessel from Redondo to Long Beach.

Herb Hughes bought her in, I believe, 1993, and I purchased SoNice from him in 2011.

There are all sorts of wonderful bits and pieces from the time of origination - For instance, I have a *large* blueprint of the wiring diagram for the Metal Marine Pilot Model 420 (The Wood Freeman that she came with and which is still present on the boat - currently not working but I've directed my mechanic to look into it while he's doing the engine replacement) and manuals for nearly every piece of equipment ever installed, all in pretty good condition apart from natural aging of the non-archival paper.