Hooniverse Motorboat Monday – A 1969 Schiada Flat Bottom Boat, with a Monster L88 427

Jim Brennan

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Welcome to another edition of Hooniverse Motorboat Monday, in which I find (or in this case, tipped) an interesting piece of boating history, and bring it to your attention. The Motorboat Monday Features have not been as regular as I would like, but this should make up for it. This is a unique and interesting boat that can be described in one word…. Dayem!


I’ll let the listing do all the talking here.

A barn find flat bottom vintage nostalgic gasser / I have been a collector and enthusiast of these old flat bottom boats for many years now, needless to say they don’t endoure well if left out in the elements for any length of time, this is a 1969 Schiada that I aquired from the original builder owner (George Davis a well recognized sprint car engine builder and long time friend of Schiada) this was his pride and joy unfortunately health issues didn’t allow him to get much use out of it and it was stored in a climate controlled garage since built and has remained untouched since the early 70’s. 

The story as told to me it is one of eight checker board patterns built by Schiada four were in red and four in blue. In 1969 George went to the local Chevy dealer and bought a new 427 L88 in the crate the dates and codes are (block 3955270 date 1/6/8 head #s 3919840 dates G/31/8 A/28/9 / stamped CE951412 ) The flat bottom is 100 % original and period correct in every way down to the gel coat , upholstery , fire extinguisher ,gangues etc. its in almost unbelievable shape for a 40 + year old boat A true find.

The flat bottom has not been run in nearly 40 years the cylinders were oiled and the rocker arms backed off, it has been properly stored and currently rotates smoothly by hand, it was put away with no mechanical issues . Its time to pass this one on to some who can put it back in the water and to be admired for what it is a true survivor. Im willing to sell the engine and boat separate ( it seams sacrilegious as it is a matching #s unit in the classic boat world ) I have clear Ca titles on the boat and the trailer in my name in hand. I have done no cleaning , detailing, waxing etc. what so ever to doctor this boat up for the photos this is the way it has presented its self untouched for over 40 years its museum quality ( photos taken 3/11/2011 )


The Buy-It-Now price is $12,500 for the boat, engine, and trailer. Is this worth the asking price? See the listing here.

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Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

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9 responses to “Hooniverse Motorboat Monday – A 1969 Schiada Flat Bottom Boat, with a Monster L88 427”

  1. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    Seems like a pretty good deal. He is willing to sell the engine "long block" (don't know if that includes the carbs and intake) for $6,000.
    It seems like back in the 1970s and early 1980s these big block jet boats were everywhere. Now you hardly see them. I remember at the time they were really loud, usually with a straight exhaust that didn't exit into the water. At the time my parents and grandparents hated them because they really didn't make for a quite getaway to the lake. Now I would kind of like to find one cheap.

    Reply
    1. dukeisduke Avatar
      dukeisduke

      I imagine a lot of those engines were yanked out to go into some drag racer, while the boats went to the dump.

      Reply
      1. P161911 Avatar
        P161911

        Actually this got me to searching Craigslist and I found a few. About half of them were without the motor.

        Reply
    2. coupeZ600 Avatar
      coupeZ600

      There's a whole club of guys that pull boats like this up to Lake Powell all summer behind these absolutely decadent bus conversions. And when you get four or five of them all WOT in the same side canyon, I swear you can see the dust falling from the rocks shaking.

      Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous
    Reply
  3. OA5599 Avatar
    OA5599

    Nice boat, but I call BS on the seller. A 69 L88 would have aluminum heads. The ones on this engine are cast iron, and the part number listed is indeed for a cast iron head (would have been an L71 or L72 option in a 1969 Corvette, depending on the number of carburetors).
    There used to be a "barn find" boat at my old office. It had very low hours on it when a storm flipped it over while it was stored. The boat didn't suffer much damage, but the trailer was no longer usable, so the boat sat for decades. It still had the original engine: a Holman-Moody prepped 427. Restoration had begun, but wasn't completed by the time I switched jobs. I wonder what it looks like today?

    Reply
    1. Jim-Bob Avatar
      Jim-Bob

      I think you are thinking of the L89 option which added aluminum heads to a big block car in 1969. It could even be had on a 396 Camaro and a small number of L-78/L-89 cars were built. It was a rare option and the heads were left with their ports in a fairly rough cast condition as it was expected that the end user would pull them and port them.

      Reply
      1. OA5599 Avatar
        OA5599

        L89 put aluminum heads on what was otherwise a L71 Tri-Power engine designed for the street.
        L88 had a 4 bbl carb and upgraded internals, including 12.5:1 compression (except after they switched to open chamber design, which dropped it to 12:1), and was intended for the track.
        Heads should have been p/n 3919842 (closed) or 3946074 (open), not the 840's atop the boat. http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/specs/l88/l88…
        The L72 (or whatever the boat's engine really is) undoubtedly is a high performance powerplant, but not the Holy Grail L88.

        Reply
  4. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    Very taste full styling compared to just about everything else from the era.

    Reply