Hearders Boat... Anyone hear of one???

[ShafferNY]

I have a 15ft. fiberglass boat, I've had people say "That's a Hearder's Boat" I think it used to be an old sporting good store, and they sold boats, maybe like BassPro??? <br /><br />I just like somemore information on it, maybe like weight rating, max. hp, etc.<br /><br />This boat has been through the mill, it has more battle scares than I can count, it's even been sunk once that I know of. It's the strongest boat I've ever seen.

 

[oldboat1]

Re: Hearders Boat... Anyone hear of one???

I think you mean Herters (at least I think that's the way it was spelled) -- mail order outfit from the '50s/60's. They were a bit like BassPro of their day. As I recall, they were out of Wisconsin. Sporting goods, incl boats, have some collectors' interest. You might try a Yahoo search and see if you get some hits.

 

[ShafferNY]

Re: Hearders Boat... Anyone hear of one???

I have no clue how to spell it and I think it was a mail order outfit.

 

[oldboat1]

Re: Hearders Boat... Anyone hear of one???

Herter's -- Try a search.

 

[DJ]

Re: Hearders Boat... Anyone hear of one???

ShafferNY,<br /><br />Oldboat's got it right. It was a mail order house and the name was Herters.<br /><br />I used to dream about the stuff in that catalog when I was a kid.

 

[rolmops]

Re: Hearders Boat... Anyone hear of one???

Hello.I own a 1957 Herters runabout.<br />According to the decals on the side this company has built boats since 1893 and they are/were located in Waseca,Minnesota.<br />www.fiberglassics.com/herters/index.html<br />There is a bit of info on this board as well.<br />Go to search and type in "Herters".

 

[Capn Mike]

Re: Hearders Boat... Anyone hear of one???

I ordered lots of stuff from Herters catalog, when I was a kid, including a couple of guns. They sold all kinds of sporting goods, almost all of it under their own name, and all of it titled "Herter's Famous.... (better than anyone else)." After the 1968 gun-control act cut into their mail order gun sales, they opened some retail stores, but were unable to compete and eventually folded. A company called Gander Mountain tried to replace them (at least they bought Herter's mailing list), but Gander Mountain was eventually absorbed by Cabela's, who probably have better quality, but certainly not the personality of Herters. You can still find their catalogs in old bookstores, and they make hilarious, terrific reading.<br />I found only limited pages about their boats in the two catalogs I have, and it's possible they sold them for only a few years....and guessing at the shipping costs, I'd be surprised if most of their primary boat customers weren't near Waseca. You have a bit of history!!