Jav-lyn Cat

[Powercat]

http://bakersfield.craigslist.org/boa/4882318524.html

1958 JavCat.. Wow !!

[lilabner]

Danny,
Greatly enhanced bat wings..Those boats were really popular in Fla. Our Jim Hunt worked on his share too. Rodney Thompson had a few cut down and stock.

First one is cut down, we had a lot of fun with it. I put a pair of Mark 58H long shaft housings on it.
Second one is Paul Saunders.
Kissimmee Start has 32, 63, and I think 105 is a cut down version. I can zoom in on these in MS Office Picture Manager very easy.

[olboatman]

Too bad he put Bed Liner on the jule!!!! Don't think it was born the way he restored. Resto-mod I suppose! Would be worth more if restored to original IMO. Gary

[lilabner]

They were the best looking cats made in their time, as were their runabouts.

[2us70]

Butch. What boat do you think is the bow in the lower right of the first picture? Raveau?

[2us70]

Brooke Russel had a JavCat that he cut down and pickle forked. They named it "Escape Velocity". He put a flap in the bow for trim control. He put a couple of 700drs on it and it was run in the around Key West race. It didn't do very well. I don't know who drove it. I think it had some sort of mechanical issue. I never saw it again or any other JavCat.

[lilabner]

Butch. What boat do you think is the bow in the lower right of the first picture? Raveau?

No Doubt.They were beautiful running boats, but would bite you if you weren't careful. Ask Gus and Charlie.

[lilabner]

Brooke Russel had a JavCat that he cut down and pickle forked. They named it "Escape Velocity". He put a flap in the bow for trim control. He put a couple of 700drs on it and it was run in the around Key West race. It didn't do very well. I don't know who drove it. I think it had some sort of mechanical issue. I never saw it again or any other JavCat.

Pretty sure that boat was the second picture. It went from Rodney Thompson, to Jim Sewares, standing on the deck, then to Richie and me, then I don't know where, but I'm sure Richie and Charlie had something to do with it. We named it Miss Carriage, sprayed on the deck. With the Mark 58's and KG9 Quickies, you could stand it up like an old 727 taking off and it wouldn't blow over. You could barely see where you were going. I think the only time we ran it like that was at the MOC. Jimmy ran one race with it with 700's or 800's and couldn't get it going. When we showed up for the six hour race the first time we saw it, Rodney was nailing the deck on it.

[velox]

No Doubt.They were beautiful running boats, but would bite you if you weren't careful. Ask Gus and Charlie.
The Raveau cat was a wonderful ride, right up to when it wasn't.
That's the boat I got hurt in. I had about 200 yards to go in a one hour marathon when lifted on the last turn and tripped and hooked, throwing me out, but my leg stayed for a while.
It was a little big and heavy for the 80's with Speedmasters, but was great once the 100's came out.
I think almost everybody drove it at sometime.
I played submarine with it and completely submerged it to a stop. It bobbed back to the surface with one engine still running, I got the other engine running and continued the race, Both aluminum faceplates looked like someone had smashed them with baseball bats! The steering wheel was bent forward about 3 inchis where I was holding it. This was a wooden boat and it did not suffer any damage due to nosing in. The fiberglass cats usually had the whole front end of the boat demolished when they nosed it.

[lilabner]

Brooke Russel had a JavCat that he cut down and pickle forked. They named it "Escape Velocity". He put a flap in the bow for trim control. He put a couple of 700drs on it and it was run in the around Key West race. It didn't do very well. I don't know who drove it. I think it had some sort of mechanical issue. I never saw it again or any other JavCat.

Pretty sure that boat was the second picture. It went from Rodney Thompson, to Jim Sewares, standing on the deck, then to Richie and me, then I don't know where, but I'm sure Richie and Charlie had something to do with it. We named it Miss Carriage, sprayed on the deck. With the Mark 58's and KG9 Quickies, you could stand it up like an old 727 taking off and it wouldn't blow over. You could barely see where you were going. I think the only time we ran it like that was at the MOC. Jimmy ran one race with it with 700's or 800's and couldn't get it going. When we showed up for the six hour race the first time we saw it, Rodney was nailing the deck on it.

[2us70]

When I started racing the cats were just becoming obsolete. By 1966 they had just about disappeared. The last one I saw raced was" Moon Demon" with Bob Lurch driving. I think it was a Magnolia with a couple of 100 with Fleetmaster lowers.

[lilabner]

When I started racing the cats were just becoming obsolete. By 1966 they had just about disappeared. The last one I saw raced was" Moon Demon" with Bob Lurch driving. I think it was a Magnolia with a couple of 100 with Fleetmaster lowers.

Moon Demon was Charlie Dunn's American Marc/SeaCraft cat. I had many hours working on it. They were great marathon boats. Charlie and Richie Baiz won the Six Hour at MOC with it. I was supposed to drive it, but Richie, who worked for Carl Mosley at SeaCraft, got mad and quit a couple days before the race. That left Carl without a co-driver. I told Carl and Charlie, Richie and I would switch seats. I drove the Wet Noodle, avatar photo, in the Nine and Six hour races. Both boats were maintained by me at Dade Marine, and we wanted both to run. Almost finished with a 1-2 finish but the reeds on the Noodle's engines gave up with 20 minutes to go.

[velox]

Moon Demon was Charlie Dunn's American Marc/SeaCraft cat. I had many hours working on it. They were great marathon boats. Charlie and Richie Baiz won the Six Hour at MOC with it. I was supposed to drive it, but Richie, who worked for Carl Mosley at SeaCraft, got mad and quit a couple days before the race. That left Carl without a co-driver. I told Carl and Charlie, Richie and I would switch seats. I drove the Wet Noodle, avatar photo, in the Nine and Six hour races. Both boats were maintained by me at Dade Marine, and we wanted both to run. Almost finished with a 1-2 finish but the reeds on the Noodle's engines gave up with 20 minutes to go.

Back in the day, I would go over to Dade Marine almost everyday and spend the afternoon with LilAbner. He was a great mechanic and I would hang and watch him work. His boss Kenny, finally told me if I was going to be there everyday, he would put me to work.
I said I would work on motors and he said no, Go sell a boat.
In about 15 minutes I returned to his office and completed all the paperwork for a boat sale! He paid me a commission and I returned everyday and sold boats. Within a couple of weeks I was making as much as Kenny!
Lil Abner left the job for a new one in Viet Nam with the Marines.
Him going to Nam was a great career move for me. That left a huge hole for young drivers for older boat owners!
All of my good rides came as a result of that hole.
Thanks, LilAbner

[2us70]

The last couple of times I saw " Moon Demon" it was running JJ class. Did you guys run it with Fleetmasters or Speedmasters? The " Escape Velocity" JavCat had some connection to either Dale Disher or Phil Young but I don't know how that deal came together. There was an amazing variety of boats being tried back then. I tested a few real widow makers in those days. Fortunately I never got so hard up for a ride that I actually tried to race one of those stinkers. Looking back I find it amazing that we thought it reasonable to run 6 or 9 hours in a 13' kneel down boat or a 4 point hydro with twins.

[GENE LANHAM]

The last couple of times I saw " Moon Demon" it was running JJ class. Did you guys run it with Fleetmasters or Speedmasters? The " Escape Velocity" JavCat had some connection to either Dale Disher or Phil Young but I don't know how that deal came together. There was an amazing variety of boats being tried back then. I tested a few real widow makers in those days. Fortunately I never got so hard up for a ride that I actually tried to race one of those stinkers. Looking back I find it amazing that we thought it reasonable to run 6 or 9 hours in a 13' kneel down boat or a 4 point hydro with twins.

Jim--sounds like this thread is turning into a 'South Florida' thread?? Bob Hewes had an old Magnolia laying in the yard for years, Mike Reguinti and I cleaned it up a little, I built a couple junk long shaft 100's and ran it in a few races---Lonny Todd had a couple of 1100's and I put SSM's on and ran one of the North Bay GCM's---ran pretty good---I finished 3rd behind Jan Schoonover and Ernie Threlkeld---1967

http://i60.tinypic.com/4izxc3.jpg

[2us70]

We used to be able to just throw something together and go racing. It was great. I will be in Keystone for the next few days trying out my old ski legs.

[lilabner]

The last couple of times I saw " Moon Demon" it was running JJ class. Did you guys run it with Fleetmasters or Speedmasters? The " Escape Velocity" JavCat had some connection to either Dale Disher or Phil Young but I don't know how that deal came together. There was an amazing variety of boats being tried back then. I tested a few real widow makers in those days. Fortunately I never got so hard up for a ride that I actually tried to race one of those stinkers. Looking back I find it amazing that we thought it reasonable to run 6 or 9 hours in a 13' kneel down boat or a 4 point hydro with twins.

We ran Fleetmasters. Didn't think the current Speedmasters would hold up with 100's. Dale or Phil were very possibly involved. We were one big happy family most of the time. I ran Phil's Raveau's, so did Richie. Dale worked for Phil and Barbara Disher, his wife ran his Raveau until splitsville. Then Treasure ran it and I ran it sometimes. There were a lot of boats we all shared rides in. I had a couple parked at my house for want of a better place.

[2us70]

Broke Russel had the "Little Treasure" Raveau until the bottom came out at a marathon at Lake Murray in South Carolina. They were running it with Brooke's 100 in I class I think.

[lilabner]

Broke Russel had the "Little Treasure" Raveau until the bottom came out at a marathon at Lake Murray in South Carolina. They were running it with Brooke's 100 in I class I think.
This was my last run in it. The boat was pretty loose but still ran great. Engine was loaned from the C I A, 100 hp powerhead on an 800 DR speedmaster. I was first outboard and about 10th overall in the Gold Coast when the swivel pin broke in Pompano. Ten minutes later, Sitting in a friends camper eating a tuna sandwich after tying the boat up, Craig came by in the Switzer. He won the north run.

[2us70]

Over the years I experienced almost all the usual Mercury mechanical failures. The one thing that has never happened to me was reed failure. Always expected it to happen, never did, wonder why?

[lilabner]

first and only for me too..

[Bob V]

Butch - This is a great picture of a time long gone. Not much technology was available, boats and motors were affordable and seat of the pants racing won races. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:



314764

[lilabner]

How true Bob.
No trim, on your knees in a marathon, no tach or speedo because they broke, no plastic water bottle, old racing jacket that came apart if you hit hard, no kill throttle or kill switch, just you against the next guy. I never got to test it with the 100 powerhead until I drove out to the start. It was rough and all over the place, i thought I had made a big mistake. I had more butterflys than i did in my first race. When the start flare went up i just pointed it toward the bridge and let her eat. It ran beautiful with all the extra power, smooth and straight. I was so bummed when the pin broke, only got about 15 miles and passed by no one. I did all the passing and don't think I ever ran it again.

[Bob V]

Yes, no trim, and not much else. Jack plates, and digital electronics had not been invented yet. Exhaust tuners were only theory on paper. Prop technology was just getting started. About the only tricks were a good prop and perhaps a few degrees advance on the distributor with hopes that you did not burn a piston. Like you said, just point her in the right direction and let her eat. That was racing.

More Memories of Great Days...


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[lilabner]

I have Marcel Raveau to thank for my prop education. A ball peen hammer and a trailer hitch ball. I did most of the fine tuning myself. The only prop I ran on a speedmaster single engine was a bronze Michigan OJ wheel. It looked like a Merc chopper prop. The boat really handled great with it no matter what engine I ran, 700, 800, or 1000. I am sure the 1000 was really spinning it, but we never used a tach. I just beat more cup in the trailing edge. After the 6 hour kilos, where I ran 58 in G class, there was another kilo set for 2 weeks later. Don Pearson and I really worked on the boat and motor a lot. We got it going over 65 on the same Keller speedo we had it running 58-59. As luck would have it, bad weather cancelled it. I feel certain we ran over 70 with the 1000.