Bill, a crazy idea occurs to me--you might conceivably have the original, first, prototype Dirigo 17. That might explain the absence of a rudder or even a fitting for a rudder, the absence of a serial number, and maybe the effort to redo the way the deck was attached to the hull. The early photo I referred to previously of a rudderless Dirigo (white or off-white) could well have shown the first boat, being test-paddled by somebody--there is no attribution or caption, but I'll try to find out more.