TOPIC: What year is my Tomahawk?

I'm having trouble nailing down the year of my Tomahawk boat I just bought. I think it is a 1958, but I can't find any other one that has the same seats as mine. The backrests all bolt on and the benches are molded into the hull. All other boats I can find have the backrests molded in with the rest of the boat. The motor is a Mercury Mark 75 and that is a 1957 based on the serial number.

Thank you for any help!!

Trying to figure out how to post images in the post. Sorry.

Under Tomahawk in the glass if library, there is an old "blue book" listing of prices. They also list various dimensions. If you match the dimensions to your boat, it may give you a clue. This is how I determined tha my Spirit is a 1959.

Ah, I see! I was looking through those, but for some reason thought those were option prices. My brain is not nautical yet. lol

I always thought that was " knotical "

she's a beast, what size motor is that? 70hp? I'd say 58 59 ski mate, what's the length, also what part of wisconsin are you in or near if at all. boat reg tipped me off, I'm near the dells outside of mauston.

Hi from Chippewa Falls! I haven't measured the length. I guess a 14 or 15 footer. Motor is a 60hp Mercury Mark 75.

BTW this boat was last registered in 1989!

Nice, you ever get down this way, hit me up. 319-533-0984..

Here's mine, not sure what year it is, thinking 60 - 62

Yesterday I pressure washed the boat and motor. This evening I'll get out there worth a measuring tape and try to nail down the exact year. It's going to look sharp when it's done!

can you read the tag on the transom? It might have the model #. interested if you can give that. it is 58 or 59 with the flat bow. I thought 58 had the plastic emblem not the sticker but the seats and lack of splashwell have me stumped.

There is only one plate and it's under the transom clamps for attachment to the trailer. I believe it may have had a four digit number on it but it doesn't say anything about Tomahawk. I'll check when I get home and snap a pic

Ok before I put the new cover on, I took the tape measure out and compared some numbers to those in the Glassics Library. Though a few of the numbers weren't exactly the same, enough was there to make me sure that it is a 1958 Tomahawk Ski Mate.

Though, the thing that still is weird to me is the backrests. I still can't find a similar one online. Maybe I have a one off or something. Heh.

The plate that was on the inside of the transom was a capacity notice. Nothing regarding the model of the boat nor any mention of Tomahawk.

The other thing that is funny about my boat is the steering wheel and controls are mounted on the left side.

Here are photos of how the back rests attach. One of my five Tomahawks had original seats.

Greg Anderson
Wisconsin

I don't think your boat is a Skimate. I'm pretty sure it's a Spirit.
The first pic shows my 58/59 Skimate. Note that the kickup of the fins is much higher than yours. The front deck is flat as Eric mentions in his post indicating it's a 58 or 59, and the front seat seatback is molded fiberglass.
The second pic shows the transom of my boat. The transom is almost perfectly flat. Yours is more rounded. Info in the Tomahawk section in the FG library says that Skimates had flat bottoms.
The third pic is one I pulled off the internet and may possibly be a member's boat. I believe it's a Spirit. The transom is curved, the fin kickup is short, and the front seat does not have an integral seatback.
The reason for your left side helm is probably because of the reverse rotating Mark 75. Placing the driver to the left counteracted the torque of the motor.
There seem to be a lot more Tomahawks showing up on the board lately and it would be interesting if the owners could photo document their boat along with some dimensions and post it to give us a chance to sort out the models a little more.
The interesting items for comparison would be pics of:

Front deck - flat or sculpted

Front and rear seat

Side profile for fin kickup

Rear shot of transom - flat or rounded

Any manufacturers plates and Tomahawk logos

And measurements of:

Length overall on centerline from tip of bow to transom

Beam Width at widest spot

Lastly, include any info (registration, etc) that leads you to believe what model and year you have. I'll try to get mine done in the next few days.
It would probably good to start a new Tomahawk Model ID post.

Don

Still on vacation but managed to log on the site. An educated guess on your Tomahawk is a 1958 ski mate. Same as mine. "59 had the moulded seats and splashwell. Mine didn't have any seats or backrests so had to guess what they might be. I think '59 had a more radical fin protrusion on the gunwhal where the '58 was an inch or two shorter.

When are you back in town? I am in need of some mentoring!!!

Wow, you might be right on that. I may have been off on my measuring. I was trying to do it myself abs it seemed the numbers were in between the two models. I didn't know about the flat bottom on the skimate which mine doesn't have.

good catch on the fins. Spirit has smaller hump. it is longer too. you might well have a spirit of tomahawk.

MetalHed,

Your boat is definitely a Spirit, but the year is difficult to determine.
This is the only pic in the library of a Spirit in Tomahawk advertising and it’s from from 1961. It shows the lower fins of the Spirit, but the ad states the length is 15’ 3’. Earlier Spirits were all shown as 16 foot boats.

The next pic is from the FG library, but it is shown with a question mark as year unknown, but there are a couple of clues. The first is the motor is a 1958 60 HP Scott, and the second is the captains hat. Captains hats were very popular in boat builders advertising during the fifties, but seemed to disappear by 59/60.
The low fins indicate it must be a Spirit, and the hat and motor point to it being a 58 or 59 model.

At this point I’d like to add some information here on Tomahawk models and build years for new owners who are trying to identify their Tomahawk. Eventually I would like to see it put in the FG library Tomahawk section, but before we dig into identification we need to understand some of the problems about year models in the early fiberglassic boating industry.

Car collectors can easily identify the year their car was manufactured. Other than a few exceptions such as the 1964 1/2 Mustang, they were produced for one model year, the assembly lines were shut down, and the next year’s model started. The automotive manufacturers made it even easier as their advertising constantly referred to the “year” the car was built. We understand that the first production cars of a year model were produced in the year preceding the “model year”, but a 1957 Ford was a 57 even though it may have been built in late 56.
Early fiberglass boats however, are a different story.
Some of the bigger manufacturers used systems based on yearly models and produced new models each year, but some manufacturers models spanned a lot more than a year. If a model was selling well why shut down production and spend a lot of money in tooling and engineering just to make a yearly change. Just keep building them and change things on the fly that absolutely had to be changed. Many models spanning two or three years may have been all exactly alike even though they were titled with the year they were sold.
Also, many models had small production runs. A couple of months of building and then get‘em sold, then we’ll build some more. Between runs, if someone came up with a good change idea it was put into the next two month batch, so now we have a changed model with the same build year.
As Andreas and others have pointed out many times, the one thing that can not be trusted is the registration information.
Usually it was titled for the year it was sold by the dealer, not by build year. Many states did not require boat registration, but when they finally did all boats were registered for the year they they were first registered, possibly many years after they were built.
There isn’t always an easy answer for “what year is my boat”

To try and sort out the Tomahawks let’s start with their LOA. (Length Over All)
From Sheler’s Red Book:

1957 Spirit 16 feet (Spirits before 57 were not fiberglass models and were 12 feet long.)
1958 Spirit 16 feet
1959 Spirit 16 feet (chances are this is a mistake as Skimates were shortened 9 inches in 59)



From unnamed boat value chart info in FG library:

1957 Spirit 16 feet
1958 Spirit 16 feet
1959 Spirit 15 feet 3 inches (shortened 9 inches as were Skimates)
1960 Spirit 15 feet 3 inches
1961 Spirit 15 feet 3 inches
There was no Spirit listed in for 62 so the model was probably dropped.

Interesting. One book says the 59 model was 16 feet, and the other says it changed to 15’ 3’ in 59.
Looking at the Skimate in the same value books shows:

Sheler’s
1958 Skimate 15 feet
1959 Skimate 15 feet

Unnamed book
1958 Skimate 15 feet
1959 Skimate 14 feet 3 inches
1960 Skimate 14 feet 3 inches
1961 Skimate 14 feet 3 inches
No Skimate in 62

Same deal. It appears that both the Spirit and Skimate were shortened 9 inches in 1959. I just measured my Skimate and it’s 14’ 3” but it has a flat front deck so it’s probably a 59 or 60..
One more thing to consider. MetalHed, as I understand it your boat does not have a splash well. I believe 63 Sabre’s also may have an add on splashwell.
Most fiberglass boats from 57 back did not have splashwells. My 57 Herters Flying Fish doesn’t. I suspect that smaller motors back then weren’t causing much of a transom washover problem, but the 57 Herters and 57 Tomahawks, as well as other boats were being rated for 60 and 70 HP motors so the increased speed and weight of the motor were causing water entry, and so splashwells were added to the newer models.
Logic suggests that both the Skimate and Spirit had splashwells added in 58, but it could have happened in 59 when the boats were shortened.
So, without a splashwell your Spirit could have been built in 57, or possibly in 58. I’m sure that all Skimates had the tall fins so if someone has a 15’ Skimate with tall fins and a splashwell it would indicate that the splashwell was added to both models in 58 and yours would have to be a 57 Spirit.
Lastly, it would be nice to be able to pin down when the sculptured deck was added. Below is a pic of Greg Anderson’s beautiful Skimate with the sculptured deck. He lists the boat as a 1961. Tomahawk shortened both models in 59. I have a 59, and it doesn’t have the sculptured deck, so it had to happen in 60 or 61.
If anyone has any info that will pin down the change please consider adding it to this post.
Actually, feel free to add any thing that may help us to make it easier to ID the Thomahawk models.

One last picture from the FG library. It’s from the 1958 February issue of Boats magazine. It shows the 58 Skimate with its tall fins.
It also mentions the “The flared bow section and underbody lines were designed to give speed and maneuverability” indicating that was the flat transom. Also, if you enlarge the photo you can see the integral front fiberglass seat.
Note that the length is given as 15 feet.
This is why I feel that all Skimates had the taller fins, flat transoms, and integral front seats because the 58 model had them.

Congratulations to those who made it to the end of a rather long post
It’s probably more than was needed to answer MetalHed’s question, but ultimately I want to get this moved to the library after the Tomahawk enthusiasts and other interested parties get a chance for additions or corrections.

Don

Don,

You are the man! I loved reading about those fine details. I'm going to get my wife to help me document some more accurate measurements.

For the beam measurement, it's supposed to be the widest part of the boat. That doesn't necessarily mean the middle, correct? Just eyeballing it looks like the widest part would be fin-tip to fin-tip.

Fins don't count.

Gotcha, thanks!

I think your Tomahawk may be a '57 Spirit. My dad bought his Tomahawk Spirit in June of '57. It had no splash well.

Notes:
* Ignore the white wood runner along each side of the hull. My dad added them (probably to enhance handling) and later extended them all the way to the bow after he upgraded to twin 25hp Johnson outboards.

* The third pic shows how the back of the front seats went all the way to the floor, although my dad had clearly updated the interior by adding the shelves on the back of the seatrests (probably for support) and also added the middle seatback to support his growing family. I think he may have added flooring as well. The powerplant was a 60hp Scott Atwater in the third pic.

I think your Tomahawk may be a '57 Spirit. My dad bought his Tomahawk Spirit in June of '57. It had no splash well.

Notes:
* Ignore the white wood runner along each side of the hull. My dad added them (probably to enhance handling) and later extended them all the way to the bow after he upgraded to twin 25hp Johnson outboards.

* The third pic shows how the back of the front seats went all the way to the floor, although my dad had clearly updated the interior by adding the shelves on the back of the seatrests (probably for support) and also added the middle seatback to support his growing family. I think he may have added flooring as well. The powerplant was a 60hp Scott Atwater in the third pic.