TOPIC: herters and cutter,we got both,woo hoooo

i know the red one is a cutter hardtop,but what year and model?
the white one with the fins ,i dont know what it is,it has amber taillights i have to go back for the pic of the cutter,john

J: A side profile may give more info , BUT my 1st educated guess would be HERTERS flying fish . Should be lots of prior posts here.

thats kind of what i was thinking,these boasts arent to far from me,here are two more pics,john

thats kind of what i was thinking,these boats arent to far from me,here are two more pics,john

there is a herters flying fish in a lot near our house in delaware are they good boats to restore?

starcraft yes they are,they are a very disireable boat,i know of one that was pristine and sold for 13,000 bucks ,but it was compleate on a tee neee trailer in great condition.

this looks a bit like a herters but im not sure of the model,its not a 56 flying fish thats for sure,maybe a newer model,john

J: I would say 1958 .. or a 59 , as the tail lens are copy of a 58 Chevy .? . If this is close to you,, I would be down there making a offer . .. Brian Lawson in Albany knows all about these models.

The '58 Chevy didn't have fins.

I believe he was making reference to the tail light lenses themselves. The non Impala Chevy's had a very similar hooded housing without the upper fin portion. The Impalas were 3 individual housings and lenses and my guess the lenses on the boat pictured were red at one time and have faded.

Melanie

im going to take ed and look at it tommorrow,he might buy it and i will restore it,john

Oceans2 wrote:

I believe he was making reference to the tail light lenses themselves. The non Impala Chevy's had a very similar hooded housing without the upper fin portion. The Impalas were 3 individual housings and lenses and my guess the lenses on the boat pictured were red at one time and have faded.

Melanie

You are absolutely right and I must apologize. For some reason my brain said "fins" when he obviously wrote "lens". Mea Culpa.

john, which one, the hard top?

John , you better grab both of those... and then look for a second employee,,, you're budding boating business will be taking off!

John,

I believe that the red one is a Cutter Avon; maybe 58 or 59. Very cool boat. Needs to be restored. A nice partner for your Jet DeVille?

well,we got both of them,the herters is here at eds on the lowboy and sunday or monday we will get the cutter hard top,pics to come soon,john

NICE SCORE !!! Make me want to go scrounging the back roads of N.E. PA to uncover other vintage glassics.

CONGRATS, CONGRATS, Now were are talking spring time.. Soon you will need a round business logo / medalion.. !!!
Sure throw up some more pics, & Year id. . Did the owner know any history .?

i have to thank robert lorrigan,he sent me the cl listing,thanks bob,ed bought both boats ,we plan on restoring both and MAYBE?sell them,but darn they are really cool,we just might keep them,lol.
the owner said he bought the herters 20 years ago or so and didnt know anything about it.
same for the cutter.heres some pics,most of the boat is there,except one lifting handle and a couple of lenses,john sorry about the blurry pics,im not used to eds camera.
did you notice its a port side steering,i was so into looking at the boat that i missed that,lol,ed pointed it out to me,lol,john the transom was cut down but it looks like a not to bad of a fix. check out the coat of arms on the nose piece,it has a stag standing on the left and a horse on the right.

That is an awesome looking boat. It will be stunning once you restore her. I am jealous. Love the ornate nose piece. Great find John.
Andrew

thanks andrew,they are cool boats,the nose piece i really like,i wonder if the holes in it are for 58 chevy taillights too,like clear back up lights?john

They are nostrils of course!
Love the tail lights. Should not be to hard to find replacements for them.
Andrew

That nose piece is where the original bow lights were installed.
They used the ones that were powered by
"D" cell batteries. I think somebody added the bow light that is on it later down the line. Does that boat have the split deck. If not it is was built prior to 58..

I once owned a 58 Flying Fish Duofoil. and my cousin owned a 58 Rocket with double bubble windshield.

That transom looks modified. They came with 15 or 17" transoms.

John,

Very nice find! The best moments are making these types of discoveries. The fish looks pretty solid - I like the shape of this one more than the others that I've seen. The fins flow with the boat better. On the earlier models, the fins look like a complete afterthought.

Bruce

elgindave wrote:

That nose piece is where the original bow lights were installed.
They used the ones that were powered by
"D" cell batteries. I think somebody added the bow light that is on it later down the line. Does that boat have the split deck. If not it is was built prior to 58..

dave do you know of anypics of the owlight on this year and model?
yes it is a split deck in one of the side pics if you click on it to enlarge it you can see the 2 handles to help get through the split,john

SWEET find John, congrats to you and Ed!

bruce thank you, and thats what threw me off at 1st, the boat is different then the ones i have seen,dont get me wrong i love the herters flying fish,but this one is very different ,the front deck is not smooth its has a design on it and it looks a little longer and sleeker to me,and the fins are definatly differnt,john

thanks mark,and i just remembered the bow light lenes i have for you,lol,im sorry my memory sucks,john

Congratulations on your Herters find. Your model appears to be a 1959 Deluxe Flying Fish. It is a Deluxe because it has a built in rear seat instead of a bench seat, and it would be a 1959 because the 1958 Deluxe had tall fins while the Standard had the low fins.
All 59 Herters models, the deluxe, the Standard, and the Mark III had low fins.
Confirmation would be that your boat has the rear drain out the transom, not through the floor, and it does not have the aluminium knee brace supporting the transom. In the side view it does look like it has the earlier pass through grab handles found on the 58 models, but I have seen a few 59's with the early grab handles.
John, before you get too far into putting that boat back into the water you should check that transom very closely.
The stock transom height was 15 inches, with options of 20 inches for a long shaft, and 16 1/2 inches for a Mercury. Supposedly the boat was two to three mph faster with a Mercury set up and extra 1 1/2 inch above the standard 15, inches!
Your boat looks it was originally a 15 or possibly a 16 1/2 inch and someone cut it even lower.
Building up a transom in a Flying Fish could be a very expensive, difficult job because it's aluminium.
Without the knee brace in 1959 the transoms were prone to cracking (I have had two 15 inch Mark III transoms that were broken) and cutting the transom down even lower would weaken it even more.
Repairing a cracked transom isn't too difficult, it can be done externally or internally, but raising it back up to stock height could be a challenge.
Replacement with a wood transom is possible, but the rear tailfin castings are bolted to the transom for stabilty and support and that would have to be taken in to consideration.
To remove and work on the transom you shoud really remove the deck and taifin castings and unbolt the transom, but with all the fiberglass repair you will need to do to the transom area anyway, it might be quicker just to slice off the transom skin to at least get a look at it. I have done that to repair a transom on a boat that I didn't want to pull the deck off. You still can't get the transom out, but you can repair a crack from the back.
You might keep an eye open for a parts boat as a transom donor, but make sure to measure the width of your transom as the Mark III, although it looks lake a Flying Fish is three inches narrower through the stern and the aluminium transom may be narrower also.
A Flying Fish is definitely worth some time and money to resurrect, just giving you a heads up on what you might find in the transom area.

wow,i thank you flying fish for all the info,and yes i looked pretty good at the transom,im hoping to get the outer plate,tailfin plates off and maybe the inside skin,to see if it can be welded and strengthened,i think after hearing from you i will go one step further and add a knee brace,maybe 2.
its cool to know what we have for sure now,where there many of this year and model made?because this is the 1st one i have seen,john

Yep, Our Flying Fish came with the 16.5" transom. The first motor we had was a Mercury Mk 30. Then we put a 66 Merc 500 on it.
Raised the transom to 20" for that 500.
{ John: No I don't have any photos of the bow lights of that model.}

Kept breaking transom brace bolts on the floor after putting the 500 on.. Had to go to the next bigger size. That took care of that problem.
Sold it in 76. Got a good 28 years use out of it.

the 1st thing i noticed as we walked up on it was the transom butcher job,i could see down in it and see the frame work inside,so i figured it could be put back together,not going to be easy but i think its defenatly doable,i hope,lol.
my father in law was a welder in power plants ,im going to get him to weld the alumium.
im glad you guys are here to help me along im not a hearters expert,by any means,lol,thanks for all the help guys,john

Glad to help what I can. I only know about the Duo-Foil and the Rocket from memory. "Flying Fish" is very knowlegable about these Herter boats. The Fish I had ,had the steering wheel on the Port side too.

Should i try and see ithe guy would sell it and wolhat would be a good price to pay for it it looks a little different has a split cockpit the front handle says duofoil flying fish than herters on the side looks like its in good shape and hasnport side steering also

STARCRAFT,CAN YOU GET ANY PICS OF IT,IT DEPENDS ON THE CONDITION ITS IN,AND HOW MUCH YOU CAN AFFORD,,opps sorry about the caps!,my wife always uses caps,lol.
dont forget it is going to take alot of money to restore ,but if you can get it cheap,jump on it,john

John- Those are cool boats, and will be even cooler once you've put your 'touch' on them- I can't wait to see them done!

-Andrew

thanks andrew,but my head is spinning with ideas,lol,between ed and i,we have 7 boats ,5 that need restoration,one im giving away,and the 59 thunderbird is for sale.
i cant sleep with all the boats and what i want to do with them ,going through my head,lol,john

Good luck John. I sleep better now I just have the Power Cat to worry about.

Frank

john, i was anxious to get one done. i can't imagine 5.