TOPIC: Thunderbay boat ..

Has anyone ever seen a Fiberglass "Thunderbay boat" made in Colombia City, In. before ?? I found one reference in the library here but no information about them.. this one is said to be a 1959.. looks to be in really good condition !! said to be a true barn find... looks to be in really nice shape !! I can't find anything else about these boats...

Very cool but not familiar sorry,


Bob

Waterwings wrote: Very cool but not familiar sorry,


Bob

Thanks Bob. I seen it advertised for sale, seller states everything is 100% original including the Johnson motor and trailer.. I can't find any info or history about these boats other then the one advertisement here in the library..

Cool boat. The motor is 1958 Johnson 35 HP.

I did 10 minutes of research and here is what I found: Meyers Marine, Inc. was formed in January 1954 at Columbia City, IN by Bill Meyers and Thomas Bennett. Both were 1946 graduates of Columbia City High School. Both graduated college in 1952. Their intend was to make fiberglass boats and other fiberglass products. In March 1954 they displayed a fishing boat and two runabouts at the sport show in Fort Wayne, IN. They also advertised that they would cover old wooden boats with fiberglass cloth. In November 1956 they were offering 100 shares of stock in the company for sale at $100.00 per share. In 1957 and 1958 they were being sued by many companies such as Pettit Paint, Aluminum Machine Hardware, Columbia Printers, and Byron Beaber. My guess was for non payment. Norris Marine Sales of Knoxville, TN was a dealer in 1955 and MoBar Sporting Goods of Bedford, IN was a dealer in March 1956. This is all I could find.

There was a Columbia Fibre Glass Corp in Columbia City, IN starting about July 1957. It was purchased by Bell-Boy Boats in January 1958. Riviera Cruisers were also built in Columbia City, IN.

Andreas Jordahl Rhude

WOW !! you found a lot of info in 10 minuets !! lol... what you found was interesting !! with all that suing going on in 1957 & 1958 it would seem sort of unlikely it would be a 1959 model.. there probably can't be many of these around.. especially in original unmolested condition !!