The Vintage Hydroplanes

Photo courtesy of Larry Jennings

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 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

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.

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