WOW!! Got the little hydro up over 80!

[Winger Ed.]

After I launched it off a wave last fall, and rode it into the lake like a yard dart. Going along at about 60-something one second, then looking up at the surface of the lake about a millionth of a second later was a real rush.....<br /><br />Doing that nearly ripped the transom off the back of the boat when the engine came back on it's downstroke after flopping forward and crushing in the top of the cowling, and smashing the 2 steering shafts. <br /><br />Anyway; got that all fixed, and sent out the heads & had .010 shaved off while I was working on the hull. I also raised the engine up another inch to put the centerline of the prop about a inch above the bottom of the hull. The surface drive prop is still working well up there without cavitating.<br /><br />Then last month I took it to a rally on the Brazos River and got to talk to some old gu-ru boat racers who took a interest in it. <br />(These are guys with some monsterous boats. One had 3- 300hp Merc. drag motors on it and would cruise at 130mph) One told me, "You're triming it like a V-Hull. It ain't a V-Hull,, you need to do this, this, and this",and made some recomendations. <br /><br />I did what he said. <br />I got it back in the water last Monday. WOW!! It accelerates like you're being fired out of a sling shot, and will run (with my 250lb. self in it) at 83mph/6400rpm. <br /><br />Even accelerating from 50 to 80, it sticks ya right back in the seat.<br /><br />We didn't get any pictures of it at speed, but my buddy says its 'working'. Coming towards ya almost the entire tunnel is above the water, you can almost see air all the way under it, and only the back 3-4 inches of the sponsons are touching the water. Not quite 'Flying', (it is more of a ground effect vehicle than a boat) with almost no hull in the water, about the only wake it leaves on smooth water is the churn from the prop/exhaust.<br /><br />I'm hoping we can get back in the lake Thur. and take some pictures of it at speed that I'll post on my webshots site by next weekend.

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: WOW!! Got the little hydro up over 80!

Hi Ed,<br /> Good looking boat! Having driven a much smaller 3-point hydro at nearly the same speeds, I can concur that there's nothing like the rush of speed just inches over the water. The one I drove was a Class D hydroplane (about 11-feet long) with an old Merc Mark 55H. It would top out around 76 mph. That lake got real small in a hurry! The boat I drove was literally flying with absolutely nothing in the water but the tip of the turn fin and the bottom half of the gearfoot and prop. Not bad from 40-horses! It was a former national champion rig and was really set up beautifully. <br /> Of my own hydros, the fastest one is an older 25SS hydro. It tops out around 62-64, but offers the same thrill in a smaller package (less than 10-feet using a 25SS, 22 cui Merc!) That one 'Pops' around 55 where the tunnel between the sponsons and air traps is packing enough air to lift the boat free. It was a little disconcerting the first time, but after a few runs I got the hang of it. Once it pops up on the cushion, it'll hang like that all day, lazily rocking from sponson to sponson, just enough to kiss the water and keep it stable. Plus, that boat would turn on a dime and give you back 9-cents change! Crack the throttle, come off the cushion and crank the wheel - and hope you stay in the boat!<br /> I gotta get one of my toys out...<br /><br />- Scott

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: WOW!! Got the little hydro up over 80!

Ed - that thing is wild! You have to have a really big set to do 80 in that. My hat's off to you!

 

[Boomyal]

Re: WOW!! Got the little hydro up over 80!

Originally posted by Ralph:<br /> Ed - that thing is wild! You have to have a really big set to do 80 in that. My hat's off to you!

I'd say extra large would be about right. Whew!

 

[Winger Ed.]

Re: WOW!! Got the little hydro up over 80!

Thanks guys. One of my life long buds also has similar 'pair' comments, but I never took him seriously. The new wife just thinks I'm crazy. <br /><br /><br />

Originally posted by Chinewalker:<br /> a Class D hydroplane (about 11-feet long) with an old Merc Mark 55H. It would top out around 76 mph.

Back in the mid 90's I built a Alum. 'D' from the Glencraft or Norriscraft (I forget which) plans for their 'Ben Hur'. I hung a old rebuilt stack 4 50hp Merc. on it. Its a hoot too, but being foamed solid, and with me in it, its so heavy I never got it much over 45mph. <br /><br />A combination of me getting weary of a 'knee buster', and jet skis running circles around the 11' 'D',,, I built the 16 footer last year.<br /><br />With twin air traps in addition to the turn fin, they both turn sharper and harder than you can hang onto them before they start to tip or dump their air cushions.<br /><br />I built both so that more or less anyone who could drive a regular boat could drive the hydros. But after the accident last Fall, and last week getting it totally airborn--- but still in level flight for several yards while it was accelerating up & over a large swell, I've greatly shortened the list of who I'll let drive the 16 footer with the hopped up Merc. 150. <br /><br />On this 500 pound hull/400 pound engine combination, with a very generous airfoil that develops a few hundred pounds of lift (even) at about 50mph, on both ocassions, while accelerating real hard from about 35 to over 60, it sort of launchs itself into the air when going up the backside of a 2' or so tall wave or wake from another boat.