TOPIC: Cosmic12 Flying fish

Hi Mark,
Here are some pics

hole next to the leaves

hole from the bottom
light sockets and looks like a flip vent ?
a spot under cracked under the fin cap

there are some foot long gouges in a few spots, but nothing thru.

Thanks Chuck. A bit worse for the wear and alittle more so than I was told by the seller but hey its a start.
Again I can't thank you enough.

Chuck, minor details

The Herters I rebuilt had over 347 holes in it.
Here is what I did to the bow light(s)
First I added an onboard 12 gallon fuel tank under the bow and put the filler under the bow light, hinged it.
Picked up some LED nav lights from ebay, made up a mahogany fill piece where the vent was and installed the lights.

I bought LED lights to put into my old lights. Worked great.

Again Thanks Chuck, Was it heavy? as in water logged? Did you get the cover? In you opinion what is the over all condition? Worth it or not?
I feel much better having it a bit closer to me LOL.

Hi Mark,
When I picked it up for you, the PO had the transom sitting in some
small sized gravel, mid ship the keel was supported by a tree round.
We un-coupled the trailer. moved it in place and lifted the trailer tongue. The PO's son held the trailer up. We lifted the transom and started pushing the boat onto the bunks. It was heavy at first but Two men can do this, but someone else has to keep the trailer trailer tongue up till the boat is on far enough to push the rest of the way.
Was it worth it ? I think so ? It's a solid boat.
The pictures above are the highlights of any fiberglass damage. The deck will probably need some Chopped mat in spots to cover the cloth print that the weather exposed from year sitting in a field.

The hardware ? looks like all the side trim is there. You already know the Flying Fish glove box face is missing. the only other Flying Fish trim I see missing are the tail fin Flying Fish Script names.
There are some generic boat hardware pieces missing or broken. A port side generic boat step pad is missing. A starboard side cleat is broken off, and the Kainer light pole socket is bent up. There was no steering wheel, and the handle for the trottle control is broken off, but I found it in a pile of leaves in the front seat. I tried to knock on the transom to listen for any dull thud ? But the transom plate and splash well prevented me from doing that ?
There are rusted pieces of angle iron with rusted thru bolts in the transom. so I'm sure the transom will be suspect ?

For the most part ? If I didn't have so many boats, I would have picked it up for the price you got it.

I just can't thank you enough Chuck and I can't wait to see it.
Was that engine cover still in it?
What boats ya got?

Cosmic 12,
None of the Herters Flying Fish have any wood in them except some small pieces behind the dash, and the floor is the bottom of the hull so there is no foam. There is flotation foam stuffed up in the fins and the back of the front seat, but it's closed cell and stays dry.
The transom is a aluminum casting that is about eight inches high and spans the back of the boat and is bolted to the tail fin castings for support.
The angle iron and bolts already tell the story. As most all Herters transoms do, your's has probably cracked. Before they break, they usually bend, then crack, so if you want to keep the boat original it will need welding and possibly straightening. I have repaired the transoms on two Herters and it' a challenging job. I have attached pics of repairs I did to the current boat I'm restoring, a 57 Herters.
If you are not going to keep the boat original you can replace the aluminum casting with a wood transom. Some owners have had heavy aluminum "splints" bent or machined to support a broken Herters transom. So, either way it looks like you will need a transom repair.
Also check the aluminum structure that provides rigidity to the hull. Pieces are often cracked in it also. They can be welded if they are removed from the hull.

Flying Fish wrote:

Cosmic 12,
None of the Herters Flying Fish have any wood in them except some small pieces behind the dash, and the floor is the bottom of the hull so there is no foam. There is flotation foam stuffed up in the fins and the back of the front seat, but it's closed cell and stays dry.
The transom is a aluminum casting that is about eight inches high and spans the back of the boat and is bolted to the tail fin castings for support.
The angle iron and bolts already tell the story. As most all Herters transoms do, your's has probably cracked. Before they break, they usually bend, then crack, so if you want to keep the boat original it will need welding and possibly straightening. I have repaired the transoms on two Herters and it' a challenging job. I have attached pics of repairs I did to the current boat I'm restoring, a 57 Herters.
If you are not going to keep the boat original you can replace the aluminum casting with a wood transom. Some owners have had heavy aluminum "splints" bent or machined to support a broken Herters transom. So, either way it looks like you will need a transom repair.
Also check the aluminum structure that provides rigidity to the hull. Pieces are often cracked in it also. They can be welded if they are removed from the hull.

Thank you for the info. I have been reading up on the Alum transom thing I did not and probly still don't understand it yet really. Also I thought I saw another Alum. piece on the bottom center, is that so? How did they adhere the alum to the glass, that baffles me. I am not real sure what I will do with it and won't know till I get it home and spend some time with it. I am still searching for info on them and really appreciate any all that comes my way.
Thank you.
Mark

Cosmic, The transom on my Herters was total trash, pieces missing, cracked, corroded etc. I don't have the means to make or buy a new original piece so I went old school and put in a 1 1/2" wood transom. Laminated two 3/4" plys with fiberglass resin, did the usual mat and cloth overlays and then roughed up the inside of the old transom with stiff knotted wire wheel, Installed the new wood transom. The rear splashwell had to be modified to fit the new 1 1/2" size. Came out "almost" perfect, I'm not a professional. I used glass mat and 'peanut butter fiber' to rebuild the splashwell and then put two drains in.

Yes the motor cover is in it.
I have a 17ft 1939 Chris Craft Deluxe runabout
a 15 1/2 foot Shepherd outboard
a 1956 ? Whirlwind 13 footer
A 50's amusement ride boat from Lesourdsville Lake 10 ft
A home built plywood rowboat 12 ft
a 12 ft MFG corry 1959 ?
a 11 ft Correct Craft outboard ? The trailer has the old faded correct craft script
A 1959 15ft Seafury
A fiberglass canoe
A cedar/canvas old town canoe

Chuck you need to post some pics. Would love to see the amusement ride.

Saber, thanks for the input. I will wait to see what I have before I make u my mind. I have a Tig welder so the alum isn't a big deal but I am still not clear on how they combined alum and glass, kinda baffles me on that one.

Cosmic 12,

I’ve attached five photos that should help you to see how a Herters Flying Fish attaches the aluminum transom and support structure to fiberglass hull.
To make the boat rigid without any cored floor or stringers they used a heavy extruded aluminum external keel strip from the front to the back of the boat, together with an internal aluminum support structure. The support structure was on the inside and 14 stainless bolts made an aluminum sandwich with the two aluminum pieces and the fiberglass floor in between. Thin rubber washers sealed the bolts.
The aluminum avoided the rotting wood problem, but introduced a few new ones.
As the boats aged, and especially if they had heavy outboards and were used and abused for water skiing, wake jumping etc., they started to leak through the bolts used in the floor.
14 bolts to hold the keel and support structure, six more bolts held the aluminum transom protectors on, and four more in the floor drain flange. Add six more bolts for the keel fore-piece and you ended up with 40 holes through the floor. Leakage was inevitable.
Reassembling the boat using 5200 or 4200 and some care can usually keep them dry for moderate use after a rebuild.
Breakage of the aluminum castings has also occurred on many surviving Herters and many of them have deep gouges in the floor as the support structure loosened and started rubbing the fiberglass.
To keep a restored Herters dry requires a good job sealing the bolts and occasionally checking the tightness, or just say the hell with it and use a Scott Atwater outboard with Bail-amatic to keep it dry.

Photo 1 This is a typical 57 Herters transom before restoration and shows the PO modifications. Half-inch steel rods were run from the transom to the rear panel of the back seat through a 2 X 4 the PO glassed in. A 2 X 4 was also added below the transom and bolted through the fiberglass to add stiffness, and a number of through bolts were added to the transom. The crack is not visible in this photo because it’s under the motor vibration pad.
Note the knee brace. 56 and 57 Herters have this, but Herters removed it on 58 models, never to reappear again.
At the same time, they increased the width of the transom by about two inches. All transoms kept the extension for the knee brace even though it wasn’t used and you can fabricate a knee brace for yours or get lucky and find one.
The transom was simply bolted to the fiberglass forming the boat transom and had a number of 1/4 inch bolts going through it as well as being bolted to each fin casting.

Photo 2 This is an unrestored support structure. You can see the position of the 14 bolts and the fiberglass patches the Po used to stop leaks. This structure supports the front and rear seats and the floor of the pass-through, or looking at it from a different perspective; you could say the decks support the floor. Another pipe forward supports the front deck. You can see the cracked forward floor casting, and one end of the seat supports is broken off.

Photo 3 This shows the support system after restoration. You can now see the front deck/floor support post.
The original thin wall pipes are mushroomed over and I have replaced them with double wall pipes to prevent that in the future. The new ones aren’t cut to length yet, that will get done when the deck is refitted.

Photo 4 The restored support is being mocked up in the finished hull.

Photo 5 Restored transom is mocked up.

Don

Flying Fish, Thank you very much, great info!!! and detail. This has got me rethinking this whole project and I will have to wait till I have the hull in my grimy hands to make any decisions. From what you have shown me and the info I have gathered from the web I am wishing I had done a lot more research before I bought it, I just see a pair of nice finns and gotta have it,lol. Time will tell and if all goes well with Chuck from cinn. I will get my 1st look around the end of the month.

Hi Mark,
If you go to "search forum" in the top tab above. Don't fill anything in the search, just hit "Go" you will be sent to the "advanced search" page.
For the search there. Type in "Lesourdsville" or "boat flipper"
And change to "older than one year". and you will find pictures of the amusement ride boat.

I paid a lot for it, but doubt I'd find another one ?

Chuck, I tried but got nowhere. Don't know if its me doing something wrong,not real good on the computer. But I tried a few times.

Here ya go Mark;
www.fiberglassics.com/fiberglassics-forums/home/main-forum/lesourdsville-lake-amusment-park-ride-project#75934

Thanks Mark, Chuck did ya finish it? That is cool as hell.

I have not started on it yet. I'm hoping to start this spring. Wife has me doing house projects, Which is taking away from the boat budget.
I have been buying deck hardware, when the wife has her head turned.
I made the boat flipper already so I don't have to do tons of bending over. or bashing my shins on a trailer.(poor man's Rotisserie) fiberglassics.com/fiberglassics-forums/home/main-forum/flipping-a-hull-with-the-deck-off#104004

I also have a power plant that'll need going thru and adapted to the hull ( 1988 jet ski motor)

Next is glassing supplies. then it'll be time to make dust

I understand believe me, more projects than I know what to do with.
The wife is on my case almost daily for a new kitchen for which I have all new $4200.00 worth of cabinets sitting waiting to be installed.
I ain't get'n any younger and the days seem to go faster by the day.
Somehow someway I am getting my 52 Chevy on the road this year come hell or high water!!! The kitchen can wait, lol
Please post pics when you get it started, it is just so cool.

Besides the boats I have ? I also have a 1965 Ford Econoline 5 window Pick-up truck. That truck is me.... Ugly as sin, but the more you look at it, the cooler it gets. It's also a plain Jane no options
work horse. I pass on wine and cheese. And go for beer and wings.
My wife even named it FUGLY.
So when the time comes, where it has the ford script across the front.... It will read FUGLY in ford font