Hello, I’m trying to find an S class boat or anything on it, that my dad raced and owned in Seattle from 1958-1960.
Ford Flathead V8. His name is Ted Van Decar. Here’s a few pics, not the greatest but all I have.
Thank you
Callaway Van Decar
Many thanks to Alan Ganger (1st two pics) and Calvin Sallee for the great photography!
Check out 659 more pics on Chris Denslow’s Digital Roostertail’s Facebook page.
Hi
I live in New Zealand and I am building a replica vintage hydro from the Alter Ego plans.
This is my 3rd boat building project and I have a website showing details and progress (actually just a good way to ensure I take photos as I go – which I didn’t do enough of on the first 2 projects) and thought that this site and stuff may be of interest to your website visitors. The link is www.bootlegger.co.nz
I would really love to find an original type rudder setup for the boat and maybe one of you may have one lying in the corner of their shed – well you never know. I do have a cast transom bracket and quadrant – Glenwood marine – and could have a rudder bracket and blade made but a genuine one would be the one to have. Please send me an email if you can help me out.
Regards,
Greg Roy
Editor’s Note: I highly recommend that you surf through Roy’s website (link above). He is a very talented builder (great air brush work as well). One other item I would like to point out — Neat that Roy is framing his latest boat build in Kauri. If you are not familiar with this wood, worth reading up on it.
I work at a wood shop and I’ve seen the “old-growth” Kauri wood. Not talking about wood that’s been around since just BC…we’re talking 50k+ years old trees that fell into the great peat swamps during prehistoric times in NZ. These prehistoric bogs are usually farm fields or ranch lands today. They dig them out and sell them. They are available in the US at a facility in Ashland, Wisconsin. (http://www.ancientwood.com/). Also – Google “Kauri” images on the wood species and you see some of the most impressive beautiful slabs (huge chunks) of wood ever.
Anyways Greg replied back with more info on the woods available in NZ:,
“Yes we still can get the odd bit of Kauri milled here. They exported all the best logs a couple of hundred years ago, dumped or left the stumps and those are now being pulled from the ground for all sorts of uses. The Kauri is protected as such but they allow some land owners a certain number to be cut each year. The other great native timber used in boat building in NZ is Kahikatea, and this is a bit more readily available and I will use this for the deck battens if needed. We also can get Fijian Kauri which is a nice wood”.
PRESS RELEASE – Upcoming Sports Event
(For Immediate Release)
R. Harsin, 9-5-2016
Announcing the first annual “Madison Vintage Thunder” – hydroplanes in Madison, Indiana.
Dave Johnson wanted to honor two special friends that passed away recently and so he assembled a few vintage hydroplane owners forming a club called “5ToThe5”. This group will put on the first annual “Madison Vintage Thunder”. With support of the Madison community as part of the state bicentenial celebration (followed one week later with the Madison Chatauqua of the Arts), the group obtained the A.P.B.A. sanctioning necessary to sponsor vintage hydroplanes on the Ohio River. The event sponsors are expecting between 30 to 50 hydroplanes to provide spectators with hours of hydroplane action on the water.
Honored at this event will be former Vintage Class Owner-Driver Billy Cousins, owner of the “River Rat” hydroplane. Billy Cousins started his hydroplane racing career in the late 50’s driving a hydroplane owned by Marion Cooper, the first driver of the Miss Madison in 1961. Billy had a long career in both limited hydroplanes and auto racing before his retirement. Several years later, Dave Johnson managed to talk Billy to come out of retirement and bring his “River Rat” out onto the water again to the delight of many spectators. Billy lost his battle recently with cancer but his “River Rat” hydroplane will be on display in Madison. The other driver honored at this event will be the former unlimited “Miss Madison” driver Jon Peddie, who also recently lost his battle with cancer. Jon drove two different Miss Madison hulls as well as having a long career in auto racing.
Everyone is invited to Madison, Indiana on both Saturday and Sunday, September 17th and 18th. Admission is FREE to the public (donations will be accepted). For additional information: http://www.5tothe5.com or https://www.facebook.com/5tothe5vintagehydros/ or by calling 812-571-0330
Yeah, I know it’s not vintage (wink, wink…send me some pics), but I am a HUGE fan of when folks dream up ideas and proceed to built a race hydroplane to see if those ideas will work. This E class hydro was spotted at some west coast races. No word was given to us on who’s design it is or how well it performed. My personal, non-engineer view of it is – not seeing a conventional tunnel (or air trap), but instead relies on “wings” between the sponsons and the boat to attain lift.
Interesting to say the least.
Julie Sparrowgrove send me an email and tells me the neat boat, E-24 Miss Demeanor was built by Jim Hill and is campaigned by Hill Family racing.
Below is nice photo she took at 2015 Manson Hydro Fest.
Julie Sparrowgrove’s website.
Neat photo of the boat on Jim Hill’s facebook page.
Footnote: Dan Ellison who designed and built the boat originally sent me some pics of how the boat looked when he finished building it. As you can see, the team that acquired her made quite a few modifications. Dan states he has other plans on the drawing table and states the designs will be fast. Dan can be reached by email.
Doug Brow driving his Dad’s Miss Vitamilk H-10 at Black Lake. Doug found the boat in a warehouse in Seattle and had it restored.
Doug’s father Bill Brow was billed as the “World’s Fastest Milkman” and drove the Miss Burien, Miss Bardahl, Miss Exide and was killed in 1967 driving the Miss Budweiser in Tampa FL. Photo Credit: Julie Sparrowgrove
Jim and Al Retif’s Miss Nehi racing team also based out of New Orleans. All of the Nehi’s were first class and very competitive. The naming of the hydros was not random. The Retif family owned the RC Bottling Company in Baton Rouge and the Nehi brand was one of the sodas bottled at their plant. I’m not sure if there was any sponsorship money involved but the Nehi brand sure got a lot of great exposure. Two great Louisiana race teams, both with a unique soda pop connection.
From Joey Nolan posting on Facebook
