Photo courtesy of Larry Jennings
Violator M-5
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.
If you have any photos of this boat, please contact me. I am lacking photos for research.
Keith Brayer
Buccaneer
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
Mason’s project
Editor’s Note – for some reason I had these pics and no info to go with them, but I thought worth publishing. Reply if you have any info to add.
why not have a fast lake racer too
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
Hydro Art Prints
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
Flying Dutchman
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
looking for info on IFA Wartburg
Hello, a year ago I stumbled over some pictures of an inboard hydroplane on the internet. I forgot to add the site to my favorites 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 (2007)
Thank you for the best Hydroplane site on the internet.
Best regards, Magnus Nybom from Sweden