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I placed a call to Boston Whaler to see if Chuck Bennett (my go to resource when asking questions about my hull) had insight regarding the dimensions of my fuel tank (I recently contacted Florida Marine Tanks). Several changes in the tank design over the years. Well. in our chatting he mentioned his retirement in the next week or two. I always found him accommodating to any questions about my classic 1979 hull. I will miss him. I am also saddened by the fact that the heir apparent to knowledge about the older hulls is non existent. None of the younger generation of employees took interest. To me a generational thing. Grey haired, hands on, craftsmen (I will include myself) appear to be a dying breed. I do try to teach when possible. My best Chuck.

Garris W Chuba

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It is an end to an era, that is for sure. Wow.

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Great guy, helped me a lot with my questions. He has been with Boston whaler 40 years.

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Chuck has helped me on many occasions with my two Whalers. Happy retirement, Chuck! Well deserved!

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I recently put a call in requesting info about the vinyl caulking spline around my Menemsha windshield.

Chuck was kind enough to leave me a voicemail saying there is no info available. That was a scary answer but at least he answered.

I'm sure he has been a great help to many others over the years.

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Chuck was the best. I found out a couple weeks ago when I sent in my stencil for review and it was kicked back undeliverable. Does anyone know who his replacement is? I would like to find out where my Outrage came from or should I say went to.

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Try Sabas Ganiban, he is the International Customer Service guy but he probably knows where to look or who to pass it to...

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Wow, I wish I saw this earlier....Chuck always found time for my most inane questions. He was a walking Whaler data base of knowledge! I hope that Whaler realizes that they have to put a resource in place that can at least come close to Chuck's unbelievable customer service abilities!

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I just talked with Customer Service.

With Chuck's retirement, they are only able to help with models that are 10 years old and younger.

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Phil, a good reason for supporting this club. I had a very nice chat with Chuck before his retirement, no "passing of the torch". Sadly mentor ship if not sought after from one of the youngsters, the knowledge goes with it. Hopefully an archive is available somewhere.

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Imagine all the info that is going to be lost to history.

Maybe he will have time to be bored and pop in here to share his brain files occasionally.

I am doing my best to log info about my Menemsha as I refurbish it. In my retirement (coming soon) I will learn how to post it all up.

All my 40 years experience in my field is going to the trash when I'm done too. Nobody fixes stuff anymore, just replace.

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Phil....what are they gonna do with the archives? I doubt they are just going to shelve 60yrs of hull numbers and info. When I saw your other post I thought that was for parts, not trying to trace a stencil #.

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I don't know. This is what Katie told me.

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Once when chatting with a machinist a young fellow who had work done earlier was there and the topic of exposing aggregate in concrete came up. During the conversation I replied "what the old timer's did....."and prefixed a procedure amongst other knowledge. When the younger fellow left the machinist said to me "........did you see the amazed look in that kids eyes, who are you kidding, you are the old timer.....". I never thought of it that way. James Thurber (I writer I enjoy reading) once wrote ".......I do not know when it happened in life, but when bumping shoulders with a fellow his comment changed from.........what's your problem to........are you all right sir.....". At some point hopefully some young "old soul" at Whaler might pick up the reins and pepper Chuck with questions, maybe too late. We need to rely on those who have done, and are willing to share. Finnegan and Weatherly (among a whole lot of other contributor's who I hope I did not offend by naming only two names) in the club continue to contribute. I own a 1977 23' Penn Yan tunnel drive and am fishing it commercially.....I am getting parts and advice from the last owner's son of boat the building company. He is in his very late 50's. His son has no interest, When TJ goes......??????? . The nature of things. To me boats made in the 70's will always look new to me. I was a young adult and looked at the hulls wistfully from the factory floor. I actually loved the 50's and 60's hulls then, derelicts I saw lovingly imagining them in their earlier state.

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I hear a fellow named Tom at Whaler is a worthy replacement. I am working on a contact for him.

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Sabas didn't work? In my mind he was probably the last guy who could help. I thought maybe Chuck would give him the books I gave Chuck... Hopefully they are sitting on a shelf and someone will think they are worth saving... With the age of computers, space where bulky file and drawing cabinets use to be are no longer there and the corporate boating world only cares about new product and profits, not history... That's just my opinion of course, but I think it's a pretty valid one. I just wish I had gotten more of them...

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I e-mailed them via Phil's link with my stencil #. Within a couple hours a person named Tony King(Danny) replied with the same info. Chuck would have given me. Mine was delivered in Jan 1986 to Seals Marine in Tampa.

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I had to review the column from two years back in order to get updated on this subject..
Again great job from Chuck toward the mixed members of the Classic owners crowd..
Religious or not,red or blue Chuck was not known to be chinsey with data when a classic hull was inquired about.
After having retired for a while I have had friends that have come back on a part time basis and done volunteering work for the communities involved..
There is hope that perhaps Chuck could start his own info data site..
As I feel that his style and presence is still needed among our numbers.
In any event enough said.