Eltro?

What’s an Eltro? This is the question I am most frequently asked by wooden boat enthusiasts. They’ve heard of Chris-Crafts, Gar Woods, Hackers, Lymans, Higgins, and a host of others. But an Eltro? Hmmm...they’ve never heard of one of those before. So, just what is an Eltro?
 

The Eltro Boat Company was a small (tiny), privately owned company that was located in Islip, Long Island, New York, near the shores of the great South Bay. They remained in business from approximately 1958 until 1968, or “thereabouts”, according to former partner and president of the company, John Iveschich, who is now retired and living on the West Coast of Florida. “We never kept much in the way of exact or precise records,” he explained. “We were too busy just building the boats.” He estimates that the company produced about 600-700 boats during the twelve year period they were in operation. They did make a handful of fiberglass boats during 1969-70, but ceased operation for good in early 1971.
 

The Eltro Boat Company came to exist due to the efforts of four men: John Iveschich, Bob Daigaignon, and brothers Gene and Bill Reinhardt. All lived on Long Island and gained their boat building experience from several boat building companies that were in the area at that time. One such company of note, explains Iveschich, was the Raveau Boat Company. The four men decided they could improve on the Raveau boat and knew they could “build a better mousetrap.”
 

They then took measurements from the Raveau boats, got their tools and equipment together and started building boats in a small garage, while still working for the Raveau Company. “It was on-the-job-training,” explains Iveschich. “We learned by trial and error as we went along, and kept improving and refining.” This was in 1957. Shortly thereafter, they moved the operation to a small, concrete building located next to the Long Island Railroad tracks in Islip, resigned from the Raveau Company and began building boats full time. “It was 7 days a week and 12 hour days, sometimes even longer.”
 

One of the problems they faced was the smaller horsepower outboard motors that were in production at that time. “We knew we had a great boat,” says Iveschich, “but we didn’t have the power we needed to show what they were capable of.” He points out, for example, that the 19’ model had an eight foot beam - quite substantial for a boat of that length. It needed horsepower that wasn’t there.

Eventually, however, horsepower did increase as did the performance of the Eltro boats. Around this time, they decided to join the outboard racing circuit and did exceptionally well for a relatively unknown boat. “I know it’s difficult to get the point across, but this little company with four partners and no employees, later to become two partners and no employees, was beating multi-million dollar corporations in their best racing efforts,” recounts Gene Bianco, a former Eltro racing driver who currently resides on the shores of Moriches Bay on Long Island. He went on to say that “all of the ‘hot guns’ from Florida and Texas recognized the Eltros as exceptional boats, and we earned this respect by beating most of them more often than not.” In 1963 Bianco won the 234 mile around Long Island Marathon in record time with an average speed of 41 knots piloting a 19’ Eltro with two 100hp Mercurys and again in 1966 with a low profile, 19’ Eltro powered by two 110 hp Mercurys.
 

Walter “Sonny” Werner, another of Eltro’s very successful race drivers, credits the design work of engineer Joseph G. Koelbels, Jr., who helped design the Eltro’s classic lines. Werner, who still resides on Long Island, said that the Eltro “was a very fast boat.”
 

John Iveschich says that much of their racing success was due to the step-V bottom that they improved and continued to work on, eventually adding strakes for more lift. “It was a delicate balance trying to get the correct angles, which continually changed form bow to stern,” he points out. He also credits some of the V bottom success to Ray Hunt of the Bertram Boat Company.
 

In the end, it was lack of working capital that more or less ended the Eltro’s famed racing career. “Racing is a very expensive business,” Iveschich says, “and we simply did not have the funding to compete on a national level.” There was also no sufficient funding for a successful advertising campaign, he points out. This, plus the increasing cost of building wood boats and the increasing use of fiberglass spelled the end of the Eltro Boat Company.
 

During their twelve year career the company produced approximately 600-700 boats. Included in the lineup were a 16’ model, a 17’model – which was the most popular, a 19’ deep-V model – the next most popular, and a 22’ model. All were made of one-half or five-eighths inch marine plywood, teak and mahogany.
 

As previously stated, the company did very little advertising. Instead, they depended upon word of mouth and their excellent reputation – a system that proved to be quite successful. They sold their Eltros through a network of only about a half-dozen dealers located in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island. Their best dealer, the Islip Boat and Motor Sales Company, was located only a mile from their factory.
 

Where are the Eltros today and how many are left? This is, of course, an impossible question to answer. I personally know of the existence of about two dozen of both the 17’ and the 19’ variety. My own Eltro is a 19’, deep V bottom model which, other than a new deck and windshield, is in pretty much original, unrestored condition. A close friend, Gerard Voege, purchased the boat new in 1967 and owned it for ten years. I purchased it from Gerard in 1977 and have owned it since. I have used the boat for the past six seasons in Lake Winnepesaukee, New Hampshire, where my wife Margy and I live.
 

About a dozen or so of the 19’ models were purchased by the South Bay Water Taxi Company, which serviced the communities of Fire Island and Long Island on the Great South Bay. They were stripped of their mahogany bright work and teak decks and converted into work boats where they served admirably for many years and were U.S. Coast Guard approved. Other Eltros are privately owned and still in use. I see them in marinas every now and then when I return to Long Island for a visit. Sadly, however, most have disappeared, meeting the same fate as so many other early wooden boats. They were left in back yards during the winter, often uncovered. Owners neglected to remove drain plugs. You get the picture. As all wooden boat owners and enthusiasts know, it doesn’t take very long for a wooden boat to deteriorate under these conditions. I recently learned of two 19 footers that were found and lovingly restored by Eltro enthusiasts. Maybe a few more will be found. Who knows?
 

If any of you readers own an Eltro or know of any, I would like to hear from you. I can be reached by mail at: Box 330, Mirror Lake, NH 03853. It would be great if I were not the only Eltro owner listed in the current ACBS directory!