TOPIC: Introduction and 1959 Larson Advice Request

Greetings!

I am new to this site this evening so I thought I'd introduce myself and fish for some tips and tricks for my current project. I live in south central Georgia and I have a 1959 Larson All-American. It was built about 20 miles from me in Nashville, GA and I am the second owner--the original owner pulled it off the factory lot and kept it for 48 years. The pictures are from right before I purchased the boat on its 1979 Gator trailer.

I have the original motor--a 1958 Lark 50hp V-4. I believe it's the "Starflight" (sp?) model as it is dark metallic blue. The motor had never been removed(!).

The boat is the two-seat version and is medium blue over white. I've repainted Interlux Largo Blue over Blu-Glo White, so it's a little darker than the original color but the same paint scheme. (It's very faded in the photos.) Yes, the stripe has been restored!

The boat has been totally stripped and the restoration will be somewhat modernized to provide for serious saltwater fishing. The electronics and steering will be modern, and all lights will be LED to minimize power consumption. The trailer has already been rebuilt with all new wheels, hardware, and lights.

I do have a few particular requests for assistance. First, I need a new windshield and frame. Anybody know where to get them? Ocean Dynamics will do it, but for a very high price.

Next, does anyone know the exact decal style and placement for a '59 All-American? The factory publications seen to show the red Larson name (no teardrop?) near the stern, but what is the decal at the "v" of the stripe?

If there's anything else you'd like to share that might help me, please feel free!

Thanks,
Chris (BrotherShoe)

Welcome to FiberGlassics, Brother Shoe. I just sold a 58 Cutter Tornado that was built by Brunswick Boats out of Nashville, GA! (It even used a teardrop style Cutter logo on the side.) Seems like I remember reading something about Larson in the Cutter history section of the library here, you may find it interesting and helpful. We have several very knowledgeable historians who frequent this forum, I feel sure someone will be able to help with your quest.

www.fiberglassics.com/library/Larson

Nice find! Welcome aboard.

One thing I would consider is getting another motor and using it for salt water. You have a classic motor in probably in great shape and salt water can do a lot of damage to a motor. The vintage ones did not necessarily have the parts that could stand up to it. Keep the original, but get a second one for the ocean. Chain hoists are great for removing and replacing motors. Do it all the time by myself.

I have a boat with a 1964 Johnson 40hp in excellent condition. I have run it in salt a couple of times, but I always take it up to a lake and run it for a half hour or so to flush it out. On the other hand, my other boat, which I use in salt water has a 1986 50hp Johnson that has a little more protection. But that gets flushed in the yard after every use.



A 1959 Tomahawk with a 1986 outboard

Turns out that my 1958 50hp Lark isn't is such good shape after all. I had it rebuilt 3 years ago and supposedly the compression was "perfect." I had another shop inspect the motor and found out that apparently "perfect" means half of what it's supposed to be. The Lark will be sold "As-Is" (it does run) and I am pursuing a 1986 60hp Johnson.

chris,i think you can get the larson decals here in the glassifides,glassifieds are at the top of the page ,just click on it.then click on boats,they are made by garzon studios.

Nice Larson! The decal near the V in te stripe said "All American" The "larson" decal further aft is a diffeent style than the teardrop style that is readily available today. Maybe someone else knows where to find the right style decal for you.

My Dad's first boat was a 59 larson 14' Pla-Boy. Replaced it in 1969 with a new Larson Volero 177. 41 years later we are still having fun with the '69!

Garzon Studios can reproduce just about anything you can get a picture of, and I can vouch for their quality of product and customer service. I've used them before and was very satisfied with them.

Nice All-American!
When we redid our '59 All-American back in 2000-2001, we were able to order decals through a Larson boat dealer (I called Larson headquarters and they had a part number for it: 0570001). A bit pricey at $29,95 a piece, but they did look 100% original with the silver, red and white. (I have seen some decals sold on e-Bay where the silver is substituted for black.)
Our teardrop decals are still holding up today 10 years later, but I'm sure nowadays there are many more sources to get good decals then when we bought them.
I have seen the "All-American" script decals for sale as well.

If you're venturing into the salty seas, make sure you use Salt Away and hose all your harware real well!

Here's an update, though I'm a little behind. This is after two coats of primer have been applied and each sanded off. I hired out the primer work, but my wife and my brother helped with the finish coats. Here, my brother is checking drawings of the sweepspear in case we had to recreate it from scratch. (It turned out that you could just barely see the stripe under the white topcoat so we didn't have to redraw it.)

I just removed the remaining pieces of the Larson decals from my 1959 All American. The Larson decal had silver and red in it and was located just under where your for sale sign is on the picture you posted. The All American decal was located above the "dip" in the side stripe.

However, I have enclosed an ad with a different placement. See attached.

Alan

Here she is today! Very nearly finished--just the install of the permanent deck repair to go. (We've been using a temporary cheap plywood deck during repairs. I bought an early 60s windshield from another member here. It has a much stronger frame then the 59 vintage and it mounts forward of the original. That allows for a little more room behind the wheel while keeping the same style. I decided to go with modern LED lighting (including 2-mile fronts) instead of refitting the original fixtures.

This boat actually did not have a decal in the sweepspear "dip." However, in the bright sunlight you can still see the ghost of the rear decals at the stern--even after the restoration and new paint.

The paint was brushed on with my wife and brother doing the final coats. (I did the primer and sanding work.) The color scheme is authentic and the colors are very close to the original medium blue and white. The graphics company my brother works for did the name and custom 4-inch numbers. The name font is "Blackadder" and the numbers are the typeface of the British Royal Navy, including authentic dropshadows.

Two penny coins are epoxied inside the hull, one 1959 and one 2012. The gauges are Faria "Chesapeake" with grey and white faces. My wife picked them and they look perfect. The radio is a compact Standard Horizon with an 8ft silver core Shakespeare antenna.

The motor is a 1984 70hp (the cowling lies!) Johnson. It's mounted bolt-through with 1/4 Lloyd's rated sapele under 1/4 stainless steel plate on each side of the transom. The permanent deck repair is 3/4 okoume.

She really turned out nice Chris, awesome job sir! I'd love to get a chance to check it out in person sometime, we'll have to get together sometime soon.

It Looks great. Don't leave it bother you about taking a couple years. I've been working on my Winner about 4-5 years and it's still not done.