WOW...that's cool as hell, Brett!!! How long has your boss had that and where did you guys go with it?
Here's pics. of my 1957 Reinell Jetabout I bought this week. 14'/ Mercury 400(40 or 45 hp?). Looking for info. on Reinell boats,all I know is they made these big fin boats 57-60, then went out of business. Too bad I don't have a 57 Chev., also made one just like the 59 Chev. Guess I'll have to pull it with the 46 Dodge pickup/241 Hemi. Reinell was located in Marysville,Wa. Thanks , Milton Weatherford,Tx.
I thought I was the only sick one. We have a 24' Lyman(made in sandusky ohio) Company built boat for around 100 years,but out of buisness now. I grew up on lake Erie and the lyman was top shelf. No pictures now it's covered up for the winter. later Russ
My '74 Sanger Flatbottom, TR2X,660 holleys, Joe Hunt Mag etc workin on trailer in pic I also had a old nice wood Cracker Box with a flat head ford I should have never sold...
I've been working with a boat historian to try to identify mine. He thinks 1928 to 1932 and potentially an inboard originally. The back looks to have been chopped off for the outboard. Here are a few more pictures I took last month.
Being from Central Cali originally, those Sanger style flatbottoms were a staple around there in my youth (the 70's). Dryhose1 that thing is gorgeous, yours too JD. Those things reek of blondes, string bikinis, Olympia beer, and Big Block Chevys!!! LOL
Some pics of my boats: my 1970 Sanger flatbottom, blown, injected, quadruple turbocharged small block Chevy lake boat My son's 1964 Laveycraft 4-point hydro, 426 Wedge powered my 1970 Sanger maiden voyage with the blown / turbo set-up My 1954 Hudson Hornet I tow my Sanger with
Damn... This really makes me want a boat, are these old boats hard to keep up? I have a few friends with boats and they are always complaining about how expensive they are to up keep. I've never owned one but always enjoyed looking at them and always wanted one.
In my experience, vintage boat engines are no harder to maintain than vintage car engines. Easier in some aspects. Since the entire engine sits at chest level, there is no leaning or crawling under anything. I have a '63 Evinrude Big Twin, and I was able to rebuild the carb and replace every ignition component for just under $100. Just don't let them sit unused, the carbs clog pretty easily.
hey guys, I have a '58 Dorsett. Do any of you know where I can get a windsheild for it? The one that is on it looks homemade and is broke in two. Thanks, Larry
There are threads on boating forums about making a new windshield out of Lexan or Plexiglass. Never tried it, but it doesn't look like rocket science. But, as far as finding an original, not really sure. eBay, or maybe on a boating forum with a classified section. I doubt seriously that anyone manufactures it anymore.
Thanks, I've tried on the vintage fiberglass boat forum with no luck. Do you happen to know of any other forums by chance? Larry
Might try screamandfly.com It's a performance outboard site and I know there are few guys on there that have vintage stuff and may know where to hook you up.
http://forums.iboats.com/forum.php has a Restoration section where some guys may be able to help you out.
This saturday at the Buffalo Launch Club, Grand Island NY: 35th Annual Antique and Classic Boat Show& Raceboat Reunion. Boat swapmeet and sale, car show too.Vintage Raceboats will be running all day in the Niagara river just like the old days. Hosted by the Niagara Frontier Chapter ACBS www.oldboatsbuffalo.org
Larry, what model Dorsett do you have? I have 3 bridge windshields for the Dorsett Catalina............
Anyone have the itch for a Fiberglassic here's a big fin 1959 BellBoy Banshee, sale or trades! Maybe Wood? 19' Mystery Woody of unknown maker or year, sale or trades! 15' Ford Flathead powered Cracker Box style woody, built in the '50z? Sale or trades! All are projects worthy of saving! PM if interested in any or all!
bigrat, ours is the small 14 footer. I can't remember the name right off the top of my head tho. its red and white. I'll post some pics when we get back from Boise with our new aquisition, a '51 aljo camper. Thanks to all of you that responded to my question. I'll do some more research and let you know what I come up with. Larry
Just don't have time or energy for the old woodies any longer so I picked up a classic century ski boat.Most people get real close before they say WOW I thought that was wood.Low maint,best of both worlds
This is Mimi, a 1928 Hubert Johnson in her better days. I've restored it twice and now it needs to be done again. Lotta work, that old girl, but, you can't get mad at her.
brigrat, I've talked to you a few times through the years here and over on fiberglassics I think. I grew up in the boat biz down here in so cal, worked in it from 60's through the mid 90s, can't even count the number of boats I built and this one you have is still on my top 5 list of all time favorite hulls. God Damn beautiful...
flyin-t, Since your from SoCal maybe this write up will ring a bell as to who, what and where of the 19' Mystery Woody; I sent pic's of both boats to Dave Triano a CSI kinda guy on 20th century boats and here's his reply; As a professional Marine Designer and a student of 20<SUP>th. Century antique boat design, this boat struck me as something special from a stylistic viewpoint it was a boat that employed style cues that did not belong to the time of its construction, and got me very curious as to what I could find out about it. The boat has elements of a few different influences, dating from the immediate Pre-WWII era to the mid 1950s. This amalgam of style influences, along with the likely Ford Flathead power, the Stewart-Warner instrument panel, and construction techniques firmly placed the boat in a 1938-1955 time window. The flat termination of the hull shape at the transom also hinted at this timing, similar to Pacific One Design and Crackerbox hull shape terminations that originated in the same era. The cockpits are placed extremely far forward and every attempt was made to satisfy the strong aesthetic of the boat, which to me points to the builder of the boat and the designer being one in the same person. The extreme curvature of the sheer coupled with the heavy curvature built into the decks of this boat are not associated with any well-known designer of the era, but the stem shape and side profile are reminiscent of some works of the Apel family (Ventnor) and Walter Leveau (Dodge, then Ventnor). The construction of the boat was something of a hybrid. It used cedar for the topside planking (the sides of the boat), traditional framing of white oak on wide 24" centers, and Douglas Fir for the stringers which were all traditional building materials for equally traditional batten-frame construction. But, it used plywood for the decks, and for the extraordinary compound curved transom. If you are not a professional boat builder you may not fathom actually how difficult it is to build a transom like this, but trust me: it is EXTREMELY difficult. The plywood was then covered with a traditional canoe technique, white lead and canvas. The use of an S-W instrument panel and cluster indicated to me that this boat was the product of a private builder, certainly not a production boat manufacturer of any volume. A few months later, we received a note from an admirer of the boat that said: "The boat appears to be a Johnson Boat Works inboard, designed by Buster Johnson in the 40's. He designed a speedster with a stepped hull and this larger one like you have. He made at least one larger one like you have for Mr. Archer owner or Archer-Daniels Midland, the grain and flower company. I have seen the plans and they are now with the White Bear Area Historical Society. The maker is no longer in business and was Johnson Boat Works in White Bear Lake. MN. They were makers of famous scow style sailboats. I contacted the White Bear Lake Historical Society, who helped me obtain a copy of the Buster Johnson pre-war design plan. However, it was not drawn by Buster Johnson, it was drawn by his father J.O. Johnson. It was a basic side, profile, and section plan, and the boat was 60% like any other pre-war large runabout in the Hacker-Smith vein. However, what had stuck in the admirers mind, and was a very clear connection to the Mystery Woody, were the aft sections of the boat, and especially the transom shape. That same compound curved transom was clearly evident, and its proportion was identical to that of the Mystery Woody. As a designer, I could tell instantly that the red and white boat was indeed penned by the same man as the boat that J.O. Johnson drew, or at least by someone intimately familiar with his work (like his son). None of the products of the Johnson Boat Works looked like this boat, but the construction materials used agreed with traditional scow-style sailboat methods. The final part of the puzzle was still lacking, and honestly has never completely fallen into place, so I am left with a bit of supposition. In my research I found evidence of another builder that could have made this boat. In the post-WWII years there was a company in San Diego, CA. called Koehler Craft that ended up making some flat-bottom racing boats. Lon also has one of these boats, and it shares a curved transom of less complex construction, but certainly a very similar aesthetic, to this boat. Also painted red and white, with similar construction methods .. So here is where my supposition comes in to play (I freely admit when I am taking a somewhat educated leap of faith!) .. I think that Buster Johnson, son of J.O. Johnson, from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, began an association with Koehler Craft after W.W.II. It was then that he designed and built the Mystery Woody using so much of the aesthetic influence that he had learned from his father, and that Koehler Craft began using that same aesthetic in a few of the racing boats that they produced. Did Buster move to San Diego? I do not know. The connection of Lons boat to Mr. Archer has never panned out. We may never know the rest of the story of this fantastic boat, but I am reasonably confident that it is indeed the product of Buster Johnson. I wish I had space and time to acquire the boat, it is a special time capsule that deserves proper preservation and continued research. Respectfully David Triano Triano Marine Design, Inc. </SUP>
^ Interesting post. My old college roommate had a Johnson scow sailboat, and we went to the Johnson boat works a couple times to get parts for it. The place is long gone, I think they're building an apartment complex on the site now. I wonder if the White Bear Lake historical society got their hands on any of the records from the Johnson Boat Works, it may be worth giving them a call: http://www.whitebearhistory.org/ There are several wood boat restoration companies in the Twin Cities area that may have some knowledge as well; http://www.classicboat.com/ and http://www.mahoganybay.net/ are two of them.
Stuart, Dave Triano made his assesments from a couple boat plans that were donated to the White Bear Lake Historical Society, drawn by J O Johnson, Buster Johnson's father ............................
The Jalopy Journal
