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| In this
section, I will post
any raceboat related news that arrives. Many of the emails I receive, I do not have a specific category to post this info on the website. But it is vintage raceboat related and none-the-less, I feel it needs a place on the web. So here it goes.... the latest and greatest projects, acquisitions, vintage raceboat news, and just plain, old neat stuff. If you have raceboat related news that you would like to share, please address it to: The Vintage Mailbox Last Updated: October 7, 2006  Buccaneer E-101 Picton, Ontario 1979  Buccaneer E-101 Tonawanda, New York One of Ron Jones best boats ever. Winning more races then just about any boat ever built by him. Brent Franklin
Hello, I sent a few pictures of my cabover just when I had bought it a couple of years back. Since then I’ve done some restorations and a few test runs. I’m planning to participate in an exhibition cup for classic hydroplanes this summer, maybe I can send you some more pictures of that if you like. Magnus Nybom from Sweden    Merlyn Culver, famous Yankee Doodle owner/driver, in his Lauterbach that he got in trade and put a Mercury outboard on. The hydro started out life as a 266 cubic inch class with a flathead Ford. You can see where the exhaust holes were patched up. When Merlyn got it, he was retired from racing and the Ford was shot. He converted it to outboard himself for fun. This might be the only outboard Lauterbach ever. Keith Brayer In about 1958 I picked up this boat in Urichsville, Ohio. It was in a barn. It belonged to Lou Butler and another man from Zanesville that owned a Floral business. This was their next boat after the Wicken's Barracuda. There was no engine but the boat was complete and on a high wheel trailer. I put a 256 cu.in.Stude V-8 engine in it but never ran it in competition. It was tail-heavy with this motor placed to use the existing shaft, engine rails etc. At about 85 MPH it wanted to ride too high. This was our first hydro after years of runabouts. The following spring I took the boat to Merlyn Culver's boat house ( BRAD'S) on Indian Lake next to his cottage. He stripped away all of the cowlings, shortened the afterplane about 6" and added the high transom for the big 6 cylinder Mercury outboard. It was another of his fastest boat on Indian Lake projects. Merlyn was one of my mentors in boat racing. The following year Jon Culver and I bought a pair of 18' Raysoncraft Sk runabouts. His had a 383 Plymouth and mine had a 392 Hemi. Merl then parked the Lauterbach and raced everyone on the lake with the SK Rayson. He was the ULTIMATE hot rodder with fast boats and faster cars. The hydro is pictured in front of his cottage. Rob Kaufman Can't Wait SK-169  Classic Hydro Fans, I have a new website, http://www.hydroartprints.com, that features highly detailed prints of Classic Unlimited Hydroplanes. If you like the old boats, take a look. There is always a new rendering in the works, so you might see one of your favorites appear. Thanks! Alan Ameel   Saw this boat last week, thought you might like the pictures Greg Lindstrom I Owned "Dutchman Enterprises, Inc." Lima Ohio..... Check this out... If you would like some additional information on the "Flying Dutchman".... Hurry, William M. Blough, Sr. 225.667.1950     Hi, My name is Kim. My father built and manufactured The Flying Dutchmen Racing boats in Miami, FL in the early 1960s and later moved to Ohio. He raced professionally for many years. We have 100s of pictures and movies. My Dad is in bad health now at the age of 65. He was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease this past year. I just wanted to locate some old pictures of his boats and possibly someone still has one stored away somewhere. It would make him feel so good to see that somewhere across this United States that someone still has pictures or even an original boat. Please let me know. My Fathers name is William M. Blough SR. and he owned Aqua King Boats in Miami where he also Designed and Built The Flying Dutchmen. Thank You, Sincerely, Kim Seal Hi guys, Eddie from Bundaberg QLD Australia. Top site keep up the good work. Noticed you have Brett with WASP on your site now even though I race against the guy how about you show areal HYDRO mine; THE BUNDY BARON...yeah Brett and I compete against each other and we have a big event coming up in Sept which will be televised. We are good mates just a bit of state rivial going on....GO QUEENSLANDER!!! Built in 1961 powered by a 350 chev; deve;500hp@7000rpm and still all ply,spinning a 2 blade menkins prop, through to 112mph. hope you like my pride and joy ED CROFT.      Hello, a year ago I stumbled over some pictures of an inboard hydroplane on the internet. I forgot to add the site to my favourites and now I can’t find it. It had a rather unusual engine (even for us Europeans) a three cylinder 2-stroke engine from an IFA Wartburg, which is a German car from the era when Germany was divided. This one was manufactured in East-Germany. I haven’t seen this type of engine in a boat before, or in another context either for that matter. I had hoped that someone knew of the website, and could give me an address. I am a member of The Classic Race Boat Club in Sweden, and I am restoring an outboard hydroplane that was made for the Crescent Race Team in the sixties. I haven’t got my hands on a Crescent engine yet so I will make do with a Yamato for now. I’ll attach a few pictures of my boat and a sister boat I saw at a classic race this summer. I won’t race this summer but I’ve taken a license for next year Thank you for the best Hydroplane site on the internet! Best regards, Magnus Nybom from Sweden |
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 Photo courtesy of Larry Jennings |
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 This is a photo of my father's first F-service runabout VIOLATOR M-5. It was a modified 1947 Chris Craft racing runabout with a 392 Hemi and a V-drive. It raced in Buffalo, NY, St. Petersburg and Miami, FL in the early fifties. It is my next model project and I am lacking photos for research. If you have any photos of this boat, please contact me. Keith Brayer |
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 Randy Wold returns to racing! At drivers meeting we had two "rookies" in the class and myself as a "returning racer" as well as 4 others. The ref asked when the last time I raced and I told him 31 years ago................he had a surprised look on his face and said something like, "That was before my time". Editors note: Randy owns the vintage hydros, Cumon Baby A-15 & the Hilton Hyperlube A-555. He retired from work, bought a new (used) current raceboat and has started racing again! Had a great time at Black Lake racing this weekend. It was the Western Divisionals on Saturday and I placed 4th in the 1st heat and 5th the second heat (after missing a buoy and going back and picking it up). Sunday at drivers meeting the referee made mention of my picking up the missed buoy and not disturbing the patrol boats or any other racers. I used the "2nd" propeller that was not reworked for the 2 days. Will try the other one later. Today, I jumped the gun and broke in the first heat. I epoxyed the morse cable bracket to the hull similar to the way it was after relocating it and buying a new longer morse cable...well it came loose but it didn't matter as I jumped the gun. I secured it with three screws and all was fine for the second heat. In the second heat I placed 4th and was finally able to see the cockpit clock and getting it to work correctly....haha...I had been programming it for 5 hours or 3 hours instead of minutes!!!! Got a few new stress cracks and one small chunk out of of the left sponson bottom near the inside edge. Otherwise, everything was all right except for my Full Face Air helmet. I had a terrible time with it as it has a rubber neck bladder and I wear glasses (special sport glasses) and I was very hot and steamed up waiting for the heats to start. Need a battery powered fan to circulate the air. I wear a neck/helmet harness which limits my head movement but I'm glad I had it. I can see all right and the mirrors do not vibrate at all. The next race is six hours away this weekend but I don't think will be going as I have lots to do around the house. I had a great time, renewed old acquaintances and had lots of admirers of a beautiful boat. My daughter-in-law has a professional camera and took over 400 pictures......mostly of my boat. She burned them onto discs tonight so they wouldn't get lost or destroyed. She brought one to the race today. There are two photos showing me hitting and destroying a bird who swooped down into my path. There were some feathers on my left sponson tip. This is to my friend who went with me to pick up the boat in Indiana (DUANE...you'll like this one). Remember the guy who stopped us and wanted to know if we could shoot ducks out of that boat on our trip back and I told him we'll just grab them on the way by!! We had one accident in the 5 litres with no injuries except the drivers air mask was knocked loose and he got a scare. His boat was badly damaged. Another photographer got the sequential flip photos. |
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| Hello History Hydro Fans My dad, Jim Perine, was a Class E Runabout champion in 1934. The known information is that he raced in the state of Washington. I believe he won this championship on the Sammamish Slough. The trophy I have is about 8 inches tall and has a silver (International Silver markings) runabout and driver with a wake and water. The base of the trophy is black and the plaque reads: "AAR 1934 " (top line)"NATIONAL RUNABOUT" (2nd line)"CHAMPIONSHIP" (3rd line)"CLASS-E SERVICE" (4th line)"DIVISION 2" (5th line)"WON BY" (5th line)"JIM PERINE" (6th line) I have no idea about the speed. My 2 sisters each have a ribbon and pendant award from different races he won in the runabout. If anybody has any info on this they could share, please contact me. Cheers to the real races! Jaimie Perine Jones |
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| Hey; Hydro History Buffs!!! Want to know about inboard racing - from The Orange Bowl to Valleyfield? Track down Don MacDonald, who lives in Gananoque, Ontario, Canada and let him bend your ear with tales of the Past. Don is a Lifetime Vice Commadore of CBF, started racing outboards about 1929 then switched to Inboards. His boat was called Colourflame and it was one of the fastest 150's on the circuit. Don was the flagman at the 1960 and ' 61 Harmsworth Races and for years campaigned the Miss Canada, a 7 litre Hydro. For several years he lived in Picton Ont. and was a dedicated supporter of the Prince Edward Gold Cup. He has won just about every National and International award and has his condo filled with placques, trophies and memories. He was an experienced racer when I started announcing in 1954. Al Lytle |
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| Hi, I thought you may be
interested in a
new Yahoo group dedicated to people who are interested in modeling famous raceboats and record breaking boats. The group is brand new (just started today), so the content is limited, but hopefully it will grow as more people get to know about it. The group can be found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Scale_raceboats It is open to anyone who is interested in these boats, and particularly to those interested in modeling them in either static or fully working RC form...Eddy Matthews |
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 I finished up a Mk55 last Spring and used it on my Wild One II which I finished the fall before. Got a 10hp Wizard and a 1929 Johnson K45 that came with a pointed nose cone as though maybe some body raced it way back. Went to Quincy in the Summer for the OF Chrisner Memorial, was a great trip.
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 The attached photo is from 1961. It is my father in his hand built outboard hydro, testing in the IntraCoastal Waterway, in Jupiter, Florida. He set a UIM World Record for Outboard Pleasure Craft /Outboard Unlimited on December 31st, 1961. Ted Jones told him that if he could "Fly" the Transom as high as the Bow, he'd really have something. Dad told me "It never would "Prop Ride", but Carl Kiekhaefer's Factory boys could not touch him in OPC SU. Hugh Entrop set many Outboard "X" World Records, but Frank G. Brown III set the UIM World Outboard Speed Record for OPC SU. Dad still has the original UIM Certificate. It states: World Speed Record, December 31st 1961, Boat # U5, Hull: Homemade, Speed 72.89nm, 117.30km, SU Single Motor Pleasure Craft. Frank G. Brown IV  Can somebody tell me what "nm" equates too in mph? Phil S. I don`t know what nm stands for in the UIM certificate but 72.89nm is close to 117 kph since 100 kph is 62 mph. Benoit L. Concerning the OPC record by Frank G. Brown III... Normally one would think of Nautical Miles when confronted with "nm" but in this case it appears that the speed was 72.89 Statute Miles Per Hour which equals 117.30 Kilometers Per Hour. Statute Mile = 5280 Feet. Nautical Mile = 6080.20 Feet in USA; 6080 Feet in the UK Kilometer = 3280.8 Feet. so the conversion from KPH to MPH (Statute) is .62136 and the conversion from KPH to NMPH is .5396 Note: 1 NMPH = 1 Knot. So the OPC did 63.295 Knots! Bob F. |
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 In Australia displacement hulls were the most popular and during the 40's, to the early 70's one of Australia's best builders of clinker constructed boats was Frank Lewis in Sydney. I have attached a shot of a 17 ft Skiff of timber construction showing the graceful lines of this type of hull performing as designed, that is riding high and clean on the water. The shot also shows the Lewis finish that had the deck and cockpit finished to cabinet making quality. This boat was built in the mid sixties and was being driven by a well known driver in Australia during this period Russ Neville, at an Australian Championship event. I hope you find the photo as interesting as I. Regards , Graeme Morley. It is a beautiful boat......I really like the way it's deck is trimmed out...Phil S Thanks to all of the above persons for sharing your news with us! Home |
