Is this the fastest Power Cat ?

[Powercat]

The deck and hull both turned out into a "duckbill flange" from the bow to the tip of the rear fins. These mated together so the inside rough surface of both joined together. They were pop riveted in place to hold in position, then glassed on the inside all the way around. Then the aluminum rub rail was bolted on to cover the joint using t-bolts.
The back of the fins and waterwell were rough mated and filled in with glass and filler with a lot of hand work done to finish off. This model was one of the earliest versions we made in glass and later we learned how to eliminate a lot of the hand work from the assembly process.

Danny

Thanks for sharing. Nice rides. Can I ask a technical question? How is your 18c's hull to deck joint attached exactly? thanx

[FUJIMO]

Gotcha. What type fiberglas was used originally, to bond the hull to the deck? If I'm not mistaken, there was basically only woven roving, matt, & aircraft cloth(also called boat cloth or surfboard cloth, a 0-90 material) available then? Yes/No? Has your deck & hull ever been separated?

[lilabner]

I don't ever remember seeing a PowerCat deck separate. They were pretty tough. Even the bubble cats with a wood deck were tough. The right hull split on this one and I went straight to the bottom. Two weeks before it had been in a pretty violent spin, but with 1000 Fleetmasters. This was with 1000 Speedmasters. A totally different animal..

[Powercat]

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/boa/5266363807.html
One on Craigslist in California right now...

Thanks for the info, I now feel the need for one!!!

[Bob V]

I don't ever remember seeing a PowerCat deck separate. They were pretty tough. Even the bubble cats with a wood deck were tough. The right hull split on this one and I went straight to the bottom. Two weeks before it had been in a pretty violent spin, but with 1000 Fleetmasters. This was with 1000 Speedmasters. A totally different animal..

Butch - Do you have any pictures of that boat before it was damaged?

[lilabner]

only the ones with Charlie Wolff running it a couple years later. The other are of Bako's early bubble here for a race, Gold Coast I think in 60. He hit a marker. I also ran the boat in the same race I stuffed in a year earlier. I won the Unlimited Class with 800 Speedmasters, but got beat by an American Marc for overall, It was pretty rough.

[Bob V]

Great Pictures...Thanks...!!

[Sunburnt]

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=WS5YHsMwS2k

Crackle.... Crackle.. Twin Bridgeports, 1959 18C! perfect Match!

[FUJIMO]

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=WS5YHsMwS2k

Crackle.... Crackle.. Twin Bridgeports, 1959 18C! perfect Match!

Nice rig. Runs excellent. Hoping an ignition kill switch is always in use.

[velox]

A bubble cat with 800 speedmasters was a pretty good setup, but still it took a ton of skill to drive one. To get on a plane, the driver had to lay down on the deck with his feet pointing to the front while steering with one hand and working the twin throttles with the other. After shooting water a hundred feet back from the boat with the engines screaming, the pitch of the sound would start to change. At just the right time the driver slid on his belly back into the cockpit releasing the jack plate so the nose would not submarine and pull the throttles back to control the speed to maintain the planning while not going too fast. Once on a plane while going slow the boat would porpoise with the nose traveling 8 to 10 feet vertical on about a 3 or 4 second cycle. Once you gave it full power it was a thing of beauty. To this day, it was one of the coolest things I have ever done!
Once the 100s came out, they were really a little too much for the little Bubble cats.
Thats why the larger but much slower Cats started to do better. While they were slower, they could be driven much easier and prover to be more dependable in finishing races.
For about a year a kid name Steve Malone won everything with an American Marc powered by 100s.
George Griley and I got an old wooden cat from Art Deroache. It was a real tub and was slow with 800s. We put his hundreds on it and for a season George won a lot of races with it.
It was no good with 800s but great with 1000s.
Soon the deep Vs came out and that was that for a few years. Other than the wings the Cat age was over. Within a few years the tunnel hulls came out completely changing the game.