Critchfield 16ft Tunnel Hull Mold

[mr fun]

The red boat in the pic is indeed a wood boat. Danny hardly ever lost a race in that boat. Looks like that pic was taken at the J.O.C. site. If anyone has anymore pics from the old J.O.C races I would be interested since I raced there several times.

what did you race and when? we were members there in the 70's and made alot of the races. I have one of Danny in his Osborne w/65 merc.

[mr fun]

nice find and all the best of luck with the endeaver! I'm in jax beach and want to watch your progress, possably even have one one day , I can help you with materials and such, would love to see one up n runnin Keith out

[78GT150]

Just got off the phone with Lonnie, he said he is pretty sure he got it from Charlie Lyons from River Marine. Lonnie said he has owned it for over 20 years. He was told it was one of Danny's boats

[Mark75H]

Congrats, that's a rare piece to find these days

[78GT150]

Congrats, that's a rare piece to find these days

Thank you very much, now if i could just find out what it is so I know what to call it! haha

[78GT150]

Correction! I just measured and the boat is 17ft, not 16

[mr fun]

Correction! I just measured and the boat is 17ft, not 16

have a 140 rude, 150 towa o powa , 2 liter v6, so power is no problem. all of those would be to much but silly powerful enough to have a good time.

[78GT150]

"Danny and Charlie

I grew up in the auto electric bis and met Danny at Haskells Marine.We rebuilt stuff for Buddy Haskell who also raced at Jax Outboard Club down the road from my house.I knew Charlie before that from Pottsburg Creek where my dad skied with Larry Teague whos oldest daughter Charlie eventually married.Danny was a great guy and very outgoing to me.They both loved to race and just have fun boating.I think things got a little rough at work and they weren't getting paid.This led to them going their own directions in the boating business.Charlie started River Marine which he still owns.As far as Dannys boat Jerry Hastings had the Allison with sponsons added that he got from Dannys dad I believe and eventually sold it to Sam (Spanky) Jenkins after he bugged him to insanity lol.I am not certain exactly what boat Danny blew over.I have a mold for a 15ft roundnose tunnel open capsule boat that is a Critchfield but im not sure if it was the boat he was driving.I do know that you won't find many people in your life as good as Danny.He left his Vest on the dock for a quick ride,forever.If there could ever be any good from it let it be a Lesson.

ps 2us70 Charlie recently lost his wife Debbie and I've never seen him so lost and I worry about my Bud and I pray for him. "


This is a post in another thread I found discussing the Critchfields and all of their friends. This happens to be Lonnie (Racemore) posting. He mentions having the mold I bought from him. It is underlined

[Ronster43]

Talked to Jeff Titus about this....here's the whole story. The molds were made by Ray Parker in Ft Lauderdale around 1975 from a Stinson like the picture posted earlier. Ray made some small changes to it to make SJ hulls. The molds were very well made and are probably still pretty straight. He does not believe that Danny ever owned them. He never made a 17' tunnel. Jeff's SE pictured above had the cowling and cockpit made from these molds.
Jeff's SE was sold to Ion Bolton in 1977. Ion sold it to Danny in 1979 or 1980. They both blew it over. Danny's wreck damaged the hull. Rather than repairing it, he finished the SE hull he was building which is the red boat pictured above on the trailer. The deck and cowlings were made from Burgess molds. Danny sold Jeff's SE to someone in GA who made some changes to it to run SG.
The boat that Danny was killed in was his Mod VP design. It was a 20' Allison V-bottom to which he added sponsons. He had just rigged it for a customer to use as a drag boat and was sorting it out on Jullington Creek.

[kb5050]

The boat danny blew over that day was an 18 v bottom that was cut down, with a tunnel v deck, cut down on it. it was built very light, he had a motor from dick o'dea on it. He was breaking the motor in, he had some time on it and decided to run it up, Jerry and I were watching from Jerry's dock he was headed east in julington creek, we saw the boat blow over and we jumped in a boat And went to get him, we got to the boat but couldn't find him, He was found the next day lodged in the silt on the bottom, he was a huge advocate of wearing your life jacket, but didn't have his on. He was really a great guy, I still miss him.

[78GT150]

Talked to Jeff Titus about this....here's the whole story. The molds were made by Ray Parker in Ft Lauderdale around 1975 from a Stinson like the picture posted earlier. Ray made some small changes to it to make SJ hulls. The molds were very well made and are probably still pretty straight. He does not believe that Danny ever owned them. He never made a 17' tunnel. Jeff's SE pictured above had the cowling and cockpit made from these molds.
Jeff's SE was sold to Ion Bolton in 1977. Ion sold it to Danny in 1979 or 1980. They both blew it over. Danny's wreck damaged the hull. Rather than repairing it, he finished the SE hull he was building which is the red boat pictured above on the trailer. The deck and cowlings were made from Burgess molds. Danny sold Jeff's SE to someone in GA who made some changes to it to run SG.
The boat that Danny was killed in was his Mod VP design. It was a 20' Allison V-bottom to which he added sponsons. He had just rigged it for a customer to use as a drag boat and was sorting it out on Jullington Creek.

This makes sense now, as MN4V already stated, it does have the lines of a Stinson. I would definitely say this matches the description of the mold as it is very heavy duty. Very thick and very heavy. Thanks for your help

[78GT150]

Does anybody have any info about Ray Parker of Ft Lauderdale?

[Ronster43]

Not much to say about Ray Parker's involvement in boat racing. He grew up in Ft Lauderdale hanging around Jeff Titus. He helped at races and eventually started driving. I remember he had a yellow Glas/Moli then these Stinson pops. He made only a few of them for SJ. Ray drove one for a short time as did John Hansen. John's was 2-tone blue if I remember correctly. Ray ran PRO hydros for a short time then stopped racing in the late '70s. He made some pleasure boats called SeaRay which were like a North American.

[Mark Poole ModVP]

Mr. Fun, I raced there in 1985 if I remember right. I had raced there twice in one of Danny's new cabover 13's. It was red and white number 101. At the time it was the most popular class. There were quite a number of us from Ga. and S.C that would race in Jacksonville.

[mr fun]

Mark, I left the JOC scene in about 76. saw a number of great racers there including Jim Hunt, Danny Critchfield, Charlie Lions, Buddy Haskel, Billy Cesery, Frank Fogarty, Andy Albrittan, in the early years. then later, Mike Seebold, Earl Bentz (my favorite, don't ask me why ) then the inboard guys,,, ,,, Terry Frahs, Hugh James, who by the way had a GN that was like a freightrain and kicked everybody's ass in the "run whatcha brung" oops, can't forget the "BOBCAT" Bob Terry, the owner of the Mercury dealership on Main st. (that got his franchize revoked for running Carl Kiekafers son off the race coarse and where Buddy Haskell cut his teeth )

I went to school with Debbie and Teri, went to neighborhood parties at Charlies and the big dude (parts guy at haskels) Ray, that was name I belive. these guys were my gods to a degree, pottsberg creek n all (.)(.) sandy bottom