TOPIC: What do I have ?

This is a molded plywood hull , not flat plywood . It's 14' 2" long and has a supercharged Crosley Aerojet Veedrive in it . Thanks for looking and any information . Scott

Scott W,

WELCOME ABOARD.

I have NO clue about your boat.

yours, satx

Welcome Scott,
It might be pretty tough to find if you don't have any history of the boat to work with. If you find out an approximate year and what part of the country it came from, it might help. Back then there were A LOT of boat manufacturers and a lot of people bought kits and built their own, my father being one of them. If you can trace it to an area you might be able to do some historical research for wood boat builders in the 50's and 60's.

Good Luck and keep us informed, it looks like a great little boat.
Bill

ScottW,

Have you called your state's Parks & Wildlife and/or Dept. Of Motor Vehicles and asked if either has information on your boat?

I'm sorry to tell you that you may NEVER know FOR SURE who built your boat, as there was so many "briefly in business", "small and independent boat-builders" that built a few boats in the 1950-1970 period & many of those small builders "folded their tent" without leaving extant public records.
(For example Texas had MORE than a HUNDRED "small boat-builders" & there are NO records left for at least 1/2-2/3 of them.)

BTW, some of the small companies only built TEN or LESS boats. Some built NONE before "going broke".
(One of my boarding school chum's family was briefly in the boat-building business in Texarkana, TX about 1957 & I've tried W/O success to get his mother to tell me what she remembers about the company & their "downright purty" runabouts. = All that I got out of a visit with her was a cup of hot tea.)

I wish you well on your search for information.

yours, satx

Scott, Ohio has researched two boats for me, the forms are online and the cost was cheap enough. They gave me make model year and last owner. You may want to go that route. I could venture several guesses as to make and model. I can tell you it is desirable. Should you want to give it up I will be in Ohio for a class reunion this summer and will be glad to get rid of it for you.

Al

Have tried calling Howard at oldtimeworld.com/ ? He is an expert on molded plywood classic boats.

more pics please Scott. the powerplant sounds really interesting.. thank you....

Pretty sure Yellowjacked used the Crosley V Drive on a handful of boats. Yes, molded plywood.

Theakston the Co that made hulls for Yellow Jacket also sold hulls to other Cos and anyone that wanted to buy a hull. There was even kits that one could order that used Theakston hulls.

The boat on the photo does not look to be a Yellow Jacket ...spray rail too high. Cannot see a toe rail or a kings plank Fins are missing and the motor cowling has too much of a curve (too high)

TallTexan,

UNLESS Theakston made something quite dissimilar to the YJ hull, that's something else.
(Doesn't really resemble the photos of Lamar or Holmes hulls either. - I figured if anyone here knew what that little 14ft is, it would be you.)

I've seen any number of the OB converted to IB drive by several builders, including TemCraft from here in TX.

yours, satx

Theakston hulls were flexible and were untrimmed. It could be curved back (some what one see on the Feathercraft Rocket). In fact after Yellow Jacket went out of business there was a start up co that made race boats call Stinger using the Theakston hull. it was curved back on the stern.

The thing that gets me it the spray rail on that boat. either it sat real low in the water or it was just for looks. That is what is making me think it is a bought hull and home made or a kit boat.

BTW one could order a Theakston hull with the # of ply one wanted. Helton used 5 ply. The strips on the inside of a 6 ply boat ran 90 degrees off the one on the outside

Here's more pictures .
Thanks for the information . Scott