TOPIC: 59 Herters Flying Fish

Hi everybody, we just picked up a 1959 Herters Flying Fish and was curious if anybody had any info on where to pick up a windshield. We are in the NY fingerlakes area.
We are also looking for a steering wheel. This is our first restoration project and we could use any advice that you could offer. We picked up the marine paint and have been doing reseach on the body work. There is a marina down the street from us and needless to say...they have never seen or heard of a Herters before. Lol So, information is limited. The previous owner is a member on here and he has been a great source of information. Thanks cosmic12! Looking forward to talking with everybody...thanks for looking.

Hi Chris, Thinking maybe this should be in the main forum, I texted you this morning. member cc1000 might be able to help on the windshied.
Post some pics of the progress please.

You have really come to the right site. Some Herters owners here that are brimming with advice. I did one a few years back and will share anything I can on "how to" or how I did it. Mine was a total wreck at the start.

Hi Mark, this is Wendy. We've been working on the trailer first...will send pictures as soon as we can. Chris got your texts. Thank you for the info, we'll get in touch with cc1000. Talk to you soon!

Everybody, we're already debating about painting it...husband insists keeping the trim on and I say take the trim off. It makes sense to me to take it off, I think he's concerned about losing pieces and not putting it back on in the right position. I said mark it on the back! So, the forum is going to be the decision maker. On or off? LOL

Wow, awesome...hope ours will be just as great! Thanks, first debate, take trim off or leave on when painting it?





63 Sabre wrote:

You have really come to the right site. Some Herters owners here that are brimming with advice. I did one a few years back and will share anything I can on "how to" or how I did it. Mine was a total wreck at the start.

Remove all the trim and take the deck off!!!!!! Tell him to call me

Wendy,

If you leave the trim on it's difficult to sand and fair the gelcoat for repaint close to the trim and that can lead to paint problems, usually peeling, in those areas later.
The flip side is that most of the trim on a Herters is held on with aluminum fasteners and some invariably break when removed. Then you either need to find aluminum fasteners (they are available) or replace them with stainless. Also, the deck to hull trim is held on with aluminum rivets which will also have to be replaced with bolts.
It really gets down to what you intend to do with the boat. If you want it to look original and possibly show it, you should really remove all the trim for repaint.
If it's going to be a user and fun boat, masking and painting will save a lot of time and effort.
Look the boat over closely, especially the trim and fastener systems and then decide what you want the boat to look like when you're done, and then decide.
You may decide to remove some trim, but not all. Deck trim is usually easy to remove looks better when painted under. The tailfins and nosepiece aren't too bad to remove. It's the deck/hull pieces that are the challenge.
If you do drill out the rivets the deck and hull will stay attached because there is another set of rivets under the trim.
So, look it over and feel free to ask more questions before you decide.

Don

Yes, it will be fun user boat. We've already decided we want to remove the nose and tailfins. However, removing the deck and side trim is a whole different story. Of course we want to do it right and not have any problems down the road...we'll make that decision when we come to it.
We have a question about the trailer...do you see many of the Tee Nee trailers around. We have one we're trying to fit to it...but it has a strange design where the hull sits on the rollers?





Flying Fish wrote:

Wendy,

If you leave the trim on it's difficult to sand and fair the gelcoat for repaint close to the trim and that can lead to paint problems, usually peeling, in those areas later.
The flip side is that most of the trim on a Herters is held on with aluminum fasteners and some invariably break when removed. Then you either need to find aluminum fasteners (they are available) or replace them with stainless. Also, the deck to hull trim is held on with aluminum rivets which will also have to be replaced with bolts.
It really gets down to what you intend to do with the boat. If you want it to look original and possibly show it, you should really remove all the trim for repaint.
If it's going to be a user and fun boat, masking and painting will save a lot of time and effort.
Look the boat over closely, especially the trim and fastener systems and then decide what you want the boat to look like when you're done, and then decide.
You may decide to remove some trim, but not all. Deck trim is usually easy to remove looks better when painted under. The tailfins and nosepiece aren't too bad to remove. It's the deck/hull pieces that are the challenge.
If you do drill out the rivets the deck and hull will stay attached because there is another set of rivets under the trim.
So, look it over and feel free to ask more questions before you decide.

Don

If you want to do it right completely strip all the trim off, sharpie the back with the location, take lots of pictures before you remove anything. Drill out the rivets, measure the inside width because when the top is separated the hull will spread out. Best to take some 2x4's and put bracing across the hull before removing the top. I didn't and ran into many fitting problems when trying to put the two back together.
Some of the trim is easier to remove after the top is popped. Once the two pieces are separated you can flip the hull and do any repairs and paint without problems.
I'll be following your progress either way you decide.

Hi Wostrow,
Does your boat have an Evinrude Simplex outboard control with a broken handle ? If so ? I have a spare if you want it ?
I know that boat. I towed it up from Kentucky for Cosmic12.

Enjoy your project !

I'm kind of starting on my first fiberglass project. Stripping paint ! Exciting stuff.... put on citri-strip wait 45 min. go scrape it off.... yawn ! mine is a little MFG Corry Utility.

Wendy,

I have had a couple of TeeNee trailers. TeeNee made a number of different models and sizes over the years. Many of them did use the trailer tongue roller system. Usually a Herters works well on the rollers because of their aluminum keel.
I attached a pic of the rollers on my TeeNee. I assume yours has rear rollers and side supports like this.
It would help if you could post some pics of the trailer so someone more familiar with TeeNee's than I am can identify it and advise you if it's the right size for your boat.

Don

Hi, Yes, thats it... but Cosmic12 gave us one when we picked it up. Thank you for offering.
It's going to be interesting and fun for sure. All the best, W-




Chuck in Cincinnati wrote:

Hi Wostrow,
Does your boat have an Evinrude Simplex outboard control with a broken handle ? If so ? I have a spare if you want it ?
I know that boat. I towed it up from Kentucky for Cosmic12.

Enjoy your project !

I'm kind of starting on my first fiberglass project. Stripping paint ! Exciting stuff.... put on citri-strip wait 45 min. go scrape it off.... yawn ! mine is a little MFG Corry Utility.

good enough ! Mark is a great guy. But if you see him ?
Tell him he still owes me a beer and a ride in one of his boat when I come up and over that way, for bringing up to the Buffalo area for him... Ha-Ha-Ha !
I know it's a hour and a half hike to Buffalo, but I'll be driving up, boatless, for the ACBS Niagara Boat show the weekend of Aug. 26 thru 28th. if you make the trek there let me know. I'll stop by to say hi !

Hey, Chuck, I am hoping to maybe have the Grumman or the Jet Streak going by that time so ya might get that ride after all!! LOL.
If I get the Jet going I may have to tow it to that show and you could get a ride then but that's a long shot. Also I need to get a hitch on the car because I had to part with my truck but time will tell. Either way I hope to make that show and have some cash or the trailer if ya need it back.
Going to the Clayton show/auction this week end.
Wendy, you and Chris going to Clayton?