Hull Numbers on a 20' Bertram

[Pete Fallon]

Faithful,
A fellow( Ed A) from PR called me last night, he's trying to figure out the Hull number on a 1965 -1966 20' Sportsman with a repowered Volvo I/O. The only numbers that he could find is 203. There should be 3 or 4 numbers after the 203. I had a 1968 203-1128 sportsman anyone else have any idea on what a 1965-1966 20 should have for numbers. Any help would be appreciated.
Pete Fallon

[Tommy]

Pete, I'll check when I get to my office for the numbers on my brothers '69 Sportsman. The numbers are stamped on a stainless steel badge on the console. I'm pretty sure that the Sportsman was only manufactured for two years: '68 and '69.

[Tommy]

Pete, I checked and the factory stainless steel badge on my brother's 1969 20' Sportsman is: 204-1099. Eddy had it at the NC Rendezvous in June and Mike O posted some pics of it (dark blue hull with white Bimini). According to a factory marketing brochure titled Bertram 20, the four models were in order: Moppie, Bahia Mar, Baron and Sportsman. I assume the hull numbers for the Moppie started with "201", Bahia Mar with "202", Baron with "203" and then Sportsman at "204" (similar to the way the factory assigned hull numbers for the 31). I will keep looking for the article that refers to the two production years of the Sportsman being 1968 and '69.

[Rocket]

My 1967 20' Baron is 200-1122.

[Tommy]

Thanks for posting, Rocket; obviously my assumption was wrong about Bertram's system for hull numbering on their 20' models.

[John F.]

My 1967 20' Baron is 200-1122.

Huh. My 1968 Moppie is 201-937.

[Rocket]

Are you sure its not 201-1937 ? The 201 Makes sense to me, but not the 937. I have the original metal plate and just re-checked it. That or maybe mine is a 1969? I am not sure where I got the 1967 idea from....

[John F.]

I just checked and its 201-937. She was registered in NY as a 1968 when I bought her, and is registered and titled in Maryland as a 1968. I have no idea if the "1968" is accurate, but that's what was on the registration when I got her in about 2010 (which is 32 or so years after she was built with who know how many owners).

[tokyosencho]

Just came back to this on a search and this may have been answered since.

example 201-1234 (20 1 - 1234)

20 = the hull size designation (on a 25ft bertram it would have been 25*-***)

1 = Model designation - Moppie (0 was Baron, 1 was moppie, 4 was sportsman, 6 was bahia mar)

1234 = the hull number. This counted upwards as they built each hull, regardless of the model that hull was going to - all hulls were the essentially the same. So the three numbers 937 is before they hit the 1,000th hull.

btw - model designation numbers 2,3 & 5 one of these must be for a Hard Top. Whichever 2 numbers were left over, Im not sure. Maybe they had an idea for 2 other 20 models that never went into production.

[Tony Meola]

That is similar to the format for the 31 also. I am sure Bertram used the same formula for all of its models.