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Thread: stevens drag boat
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12-16-2007, 09:14 AM #31
hey benji,sounds like a good time,most people get a kick out of biting a wave now and then,last couple of days winter has delivered a real smackdown,snowing right now,i am on my way to alaska on moday for a couple months so this is more like a warm up for me,no biggie
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12-16-2007, 10:12 AM #32Junior Member
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alaska!!!!
Pancho, Alaska sounds great! We are heading to oregon and N. Cali road trip down the coast in april. Cant wait.. Going to rent a cadilac dts to run the coast! I wish I could bring the boat to crater lake, it looks sweet online.
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12-16-2007, 10:55 AM #33
that sounds sweet,i love road trips,we just drove down to the outer banks(carolinas) last month and really enjoyed it,the alaska deal is all work,kinda hard to see the beauty when youre working 16 hour days and no land in sight,its all good,backyard lake is froze and snow piled up,kinda cool view out the back patio with a good cup of java and a warm home,lights flickered a few times got my fingers crossed
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12-16-2007, 11:26 AM #34Junior Member
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You gotta work to pay for those toy's! Have a good trip!
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12-16-2007, 11:45 AM #35
thanks,will do,my stevens has ended up costing more than i planned so yep back to work,take care Benji
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01-17-2008, 07:50 PM #36Junior Member
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Hi Bondo Billy, Stevens (Mack and Mary) started the business in mid 50's. They were the home of the SK trademark. In '56 they initiated the glass covered wood decks. I picked up my first hull in 1961. They operated out of a quonsett hut in Gardena California on W. ElSegundo Blvd. Many of the other custom builders were working out of their backyards. I sold a few of their boats in Ct. and moved to Jupiter, Fl. in '67 when during the week, you could run at 86mph from the Jupiter to Stuart Inlet. Good old days.
The held the National SK title in both 62 and 63 with SK 45. Also had the speed record of 132mph for unblown fuel for years. Good Luck. BillLast edited by cbgann; 01-28-2008 at 05:24 PM.
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01-22-2008, 08:30 PM #37
good info, a close friend got his dragboat start in a 17 ft stevens, 454, dart intake & holley dominator, would run 80ish on radar,installed 150 nos plate system,punched it & blew plastic nuted pump inspection cover off inside boat & put it on the bottom of lake!! after repairing ,would run 89 to 90 .fun solid boat,until need for more speed got him,he moved into a curtiss 501 drag hydro,, ran 8 seccond class, then got into a top fuel hydro for a time, still wishes he had the stevens!
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01-28-2008, 04:19 PM #385000 RPM
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Spike
Bondo,
I'm the guy who owns the Stevens Boats website (STILL not up).
Bill's reply about Stevens Boats is accurate. Stevens was a Major player in hot inboards throughout the 60's and 70's. I do personally own four of them, (I had five once), which include the company's flagship blown gas hydro "Too Much", which was owned by Bill and Mary-ann Dirksing, as well as the "Mortician", a wood decked flatbottom that set five world records and held unblown fuel (not gas), for many years, going 132mph with two 327 Chevys inline, injected, on 70/30 methanol/nitro.
For now,E-mail anytime to talk about your Stevens needs at this e-mail address skippyandeeyore@sbcglobal.net
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01-28-2008, 05:33 PM #39Junior Member
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Spike, Thanks for the clarification on Mortician. Unblown fuel it was. Look forward to your website. Bill
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01-28-2008, 11:47 PM #405000 RPM
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Hello Bill !
Glad to hear from you!
It's interesting that you mention SK-45. I'm a fan of that Stevens as well.
SK-45 was a 17' SK-Skier Model with a wood deck, most likely done by Harlan Orrin. The owner/driver was Don Towle, an employee of Edelbrock at the time, and the boat ran a dry sumped Edelbrock 392 Hemi with six strombergs on a Edelbrock Ram-Log manifold, complete with (for then)state-of-the-art Bill Morse "dry stacks".
It was named "Haf Gast Too", and yes, it won many SK championships. Don Towle's son Bobby and I have spoken off and on, and I'm told that the boat was a handfull to drive.
I wish they still had SK class racing. It was a class where the average working stiff could afford to compete.
SK(ski-kilometer) rules mandated that you use a ski boat hull (weight perameters), seating for two, a production cast iron american V-8 with a 400 cu.in. limit, carbureted, and cavitation plates fixed (adjustable on the trailer, not under way), running pump gas.
Ah, the good old days.......... Spike
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02-25-2008, 06:55 AM #41
Please keep this thread alive!as a Stevens owner and two more in the family we hang on every piece of knowledge out there,would love to know about the early company history and whatnot,what seems like everday conversation to most is very cool for us,thanks
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02-25-2008, 07:18 AM #42
to answer the naysayers out there yes we run old heavy wood flats and would gain alot by picking up new lightweight runner bottoms,but thats not what we are about,money is not an issue,wish i had a dollar for every time i heard someone say imagine how fast it would it be in a lightweight,a friend of mine is restoring a 67 SK and shoving a nailhead in it,wont be the fastest boat out there but i can assure you it will be fun,PEACE
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02-25-2008, 02:38 PM #435000 RPM
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The older boats
Pancho,
Granted, I'm admittedly bias towards the older boats, due to my personal involvement, but I agree wholeheartedly with you.
It seems that there's an entire segment of this hobby that hasn't experienced what kind of FAMILY FUN a hot inboard ski-boat can be, or that owning one is more that just having the money to buy one, it's akin to building a classic deuce coupe or '57 chevy.
Most ( 90+%)of these boats were bought and used as ski boats and were powered by every make of engine available. All were put together differently and were truly custom. As opposed to today, hot inboards came with metalflake or/and wood decks, or custom paint jobs. Todays boat comes out of the mold with factory "graphics" for the most part and are powered by "crate" motors.
How many sixties hot boats have you seen with 392 Chrysler Hemis, ...LOTS, and the 392 was only made for two years in '57 and '58, so brand new boats were being built with older, used, sometimes wrecking yard engines. Nail-heads, buicks, olds', same story. The "new" engines in the mid-sixties were the big block Chevy 396 and 427s, as well as 427 Fords and late Mopar Hemis and wedges. The guys getting into hot boats today only know what a 454 or (buzz word)"468" is.
When "T-Decks", "runner bottoms", and "gullwing", etc, boats were being developed, they were developed for straight line racing, and at a time when the heyday of hot inboards was closing , and are not representative of what was REALLY happening every day on the local lakes and rivers. It was straight-deck, "flat"bottomed flatbottoms, seating for four, big polished engine "water hot rods", if you will.
We all raced each other for fun, but we didn't have a race boat. The addage still applies today: "Race boats make crappy ski-boats, and Ski-boats make lousy race boats"
Spike
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02-25-2008, 03:12 PM #44
well said sir!
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02-25-2008, 03:13 PM #45
whats new with the website?patiently waiting,thanks for the reply