1940 Elco 57
Jan Hadley
January 20, 2021
Owners Story
This is the story of our Elco 57 restoration. Back in 2004, I bought a 1940 Elco 57 in LaConner, Washington, (7 built, 3 extant) and had it shipped by truck to western South Carolina. I got it cheap but it needed close to a total restoration. The idea was to restore it and operate a wine and cheese cruise business here on Lake Keowee. The hull and framework was sound, but everything above the waterline had been let go for several years.
The boat had nearly sunk at one point and the (non-original) 392 Palmer gasoline engines had been under water. However, liability insurance would have been impossible to acquire with gasoline engines so they were discarded at the local landfill and eventually replaced with twin running take-out Cummins VTM 903 V8s and 2.5:1 Twin Disc transmissions, which I found in Martha’s Vineyard on Ebay for $5,000!
The boat had nearly sunk at one point and the (non-original) 392 Palmer gasoline engines had been under water. However, liability insurance would have been impossible to acquire with gasoline engines so they were discarded at the local landfill and eventually replaced with twin running take-out Cummins VTM 903 V8s and 2.5:1 Twin Disc transmissions, which I found in Martha’s Vineyard on Ebay for $5,000!
The width and depth of the engines meant that they needed to be installed offset port and starboard to allow space between them and dropped about 4″. This was done by fabricating new steel I-beam stringers which were then installed upside down with welded steel support pads for the new motor mounts. The offset transmissions were then connected to the propeller shaft flanges using custom made adapters and 24″ double universal joint torque tubes. I installed a pair of 24×24 four-blade wheels.


A lot of time was spent just disassembling: hardware, engines, bad wood and tearing out the crew’s quarters in the bow. I decided to begin at the bow and work my way back. We had no use for a crew’s quarters and the galley was tiny and basically a mess. Remodeling was an obvious necessity. We needed space…a lot of it. After the crew’s quarters was removed, I designed a galley that would accommodate three workers, all the food we would need to prepare and cook/heat, plenty of cold beer and maybe 150 bottles of wine: two sinks, three cutting boards, two refrigerators, a gas cook top, microwave, a 60 bottle wine chiller and several wine racks which held 88 bottles.
Getting to the bridge deck from anywhere required climbing 3′ straight up from the catwalk. People had been doing it for 65 years! That had to change. I removed the L-shaped settee, tore out the port side of the helm and built stairs from the salon with a door and hatch. That worked great! The master stateroom at the stern was stripped and became a huge walk-in closet for cushions, oriental rugs, mops, brooms, vacuums, 30 life preservers, lines, fenders, cases of beer and wine, dishes, etc…everything needed to run the business. Sorry, no photo. It wasn’t exactly a showplace.
The salon ceiling/roof was a disaster. At one point, a giant hole had been cut to allow the engines to be replaced. The salon roof was then patched with what looked like 3/4″ C/D ply and then fiber-glassed. It looked like the work was done by a blind man. All that had to change. What was left of the ceiling headliner was removed and I re-cut a hole 6’x6′ so the engines could be replaced…again. I hadn’t realized how dark the salon was until that hole was cut and that gave me an idea. I built the required framework (using 2-1/4″ of laminated ipe) and moldings to allow the installation of opening and removable skylights which I made from two 15-light fir doors, stained mahogany. The fabric headliner was replaced with tongue and groove pine stained natural and varnished satin. The result was a much more useful and brighter salon.



The helm was the next major problem. Not much about it was right and nothing worked…that is to say, it was a disaster. The original mast had been replaced with a white aluminum sailboat mast that had been cut in half and hinged so it would fold. The original throttles/gearshifts were gone, gauges non-working, no helm chair, hardtop rotted, a lot of the bright work rotting, bare or scarred. A total revamp was needed. I located a pair of Elco throttle/gearshift handles from a different model. They weren’t the right ones but they looked better than what had been there. As I mentioned before, a hole was cut for stairs leading to the salon, the hardtop and control panel were discarded and several other parts were removed. I redesigned the entire area and added several personal touches. I opted for a bimini top and a 16′ mahogany mast I designed/built which raised/lowered with a hand winch.
The helm chair was a circa 1900 barber’s chair that I revamped. All of the rotted leather and horse hair was discarded in favor of new vinyl-covered foam cushions. The falling-apart wooden back framework was replaced with a curved mahogany back and vinyl cushion. All the rusted metal castings were sandblasted and painted silver. (The mahogany pieces on the sides are covering chips in the porcelain.) The chair was very useful and comfortable, especially since it was adjustable up and down, reclined, swiveled and locked in place with the large handle. Unorthodox but perfect.


We operated the wine and cheese cruise business for seven years. We closed the business and sold the boat in 2012.
Nautilus Marine Restorations