STV History

[H2Onut]

Can someone give me the low down.

When were first production models introduced

what models


where have they been built

Looking for an STV History lesson here .....

[AnthonySS]

Here you Go...

http://stvowners.com/history.htm

written by the man (Roark) himself!!!

[H2Onut]

Thanks, that takes ya to 1996, then what ?

[AnthonySS]

Stil not happy:D

Mid 1996 the company was bought by the Carpenter Brothers in Mississippi,

Sometime around 1999, Mr. Lamkin of Triad Boats took over the rights of producing them to present.

Hows that???

[action17]

doesn't stv history go back to the mid eighties????

[Euroski]

Roark's predecessor was the LTV! Now I'm far from an expert but I think the LTV was a bit dangerous above the mid 80's from what others had said. Also if I was Roark then the STV was the next evolution in his boat building days. Any LTV owners around?

[Rusrog]

at Laser Boats in Roanoke Tx through the early to mid 80's. If I am not mistaken he was one of the founders of Laser Boats.....
Anyway... He designed the LTV and eventually left Laser to start STV (taking the LTV raceboat with him). Chris Bush made the STV needle nose hull a race winner and then Roark designed the STV Sprint boat and started his re-finement of that boat.
The old Laser LTV was a good running boat up into the 90's and I know of a few that ran over 100.

That's how I have always heard it anyway....

Russ Rogers
Ft Worth TX.

[gemini]

Roark came to Texas in the mid 70's , after a stint with Hydra Sports, to build bass boats with the backing of Sam Harris,a long time drag race trailer builder and bass boat enthusiast. They built boats under the Laser name in Grapevine and Roanoke and were very successful. Roark took over Laser completely in the late 70's and built the famous 19 V and a similar 15V race/ pleasure boats thru the early 80's. The LTV evolved in the 1982/3 period after the ModVP class got popular. Roark eventually sold Laser around 1985 and moved to the Nashville,Tn. area to build Stratos boats under Earl Bentz.

[Raceman]

"Roark eventually sold Laser around 1985 and moved to the Nashville,Tn. area to build Stratos boats under Earl Bentz."


How does his building of the STV's in Nashville fall into this time frame. Isn't he at Triton now and isn't that Earl's company also?

[gemini]

He went to Nashville from Texas to help design and build the first Stratos under Earl Bentz and when OMC bought Stratos he moved on to building STV's in the late 80's. I guess he and Earl got their sacks full at Stratos. When Earl started Triton he got ahold of his old friend Roark to help him with design and production at the new company. STV was sold and Roark is still with Triton. The interesting side bar is that Alan Stinson(who has lots of racing past) replaced Roark at Stratos. Stratos actually built a version or two of the original LTV as a pleasure boat when Roark was around. Even more interesting is that when Roark was still in Texas he got Bill Seebold to build a 23' IO plug version of the LTV. The plug ran OK but the molded version seemed to be heavier and was a bit of a Dud. I don't think it ever went into actual full scale production.

[Techno]

what got him to build a recreation boat?

[gemini]

Money, It's tough to make money selling only race boats.

[AnthonySS]

Although some don't come right out and say it...but the longer some of these guys build performance products... the higher the risks get... as boats get faster, and owners get greedy...which means more stress for the builder.

One performnace builder had someone sue him cause the boat did not go as fast as he claimed after the first time out...another got sued cause the teenage son ended up in the hospital, after driving daddy's fast boat....

Although they (the builder) got off in the end...who needs that hassle and the lawyers fees!!!

[11badknot]

I believe Chris ran the STV composite hull 1 year and at Augusta lapped everyone but Rusty, then the following year he asked Rusty to drive for him when Chris moved up to F1 with Chatfield then Rusty went on to win 6 or 7 world championships before he went up to F1 in a plug tunnel boat Roark had built and I believe Chris also ran this boat, damn thats close to 20 years ago now!

[JWTjr.]

Who remembers Chris's LTV "Fishin' Boat"?

JWTjr.

[11badknot]

I remember it, Once racing in Minnesota we were at Bush's house and he had a lake out back and would take anyone who would dare venture out with him for a ride, Billy Powell was the only one to ride with Chris and when he asked me to get in and I politly said " No thanks" and when he took off again he ran out of gas. Looked like Powell and Chris came by around 100 or so, you know he always ran without a seat cushion in the seat when I asked him why he said " So I can feel the boat more". I guess at over a 100 you will not be thinking about a cushion anyway. I was just thinking about those days and when Chris and Rusty both ran for Castleberry they both ended up with championships that year, Chris in F1 and Rusty in MVP.

[slowverado]

There are 3 things that contribute to Roark and the LTV/STV's success.

1) He had the greatest team of builders to every touch kevlar, fiberglass, or plywood

2) He employed some of the greatest drivers to ever touch the water

3) He is a dang smart guy that knew that to be successful he must surround himself with the best.

[AnthonySS]

Excellent info guys...keep it coming:)

[slowverado]

WE NEED PICS OF THE SUMMERFORD BUILT CHAMP BOAT.... I was there but to young to remember most of it.

[lazydays]

Yep...know it's an old thread. Still want to know if there is any info/ pics on Summerford Capsule race deck hulls ???

[Kcraft]

Yep...know it's an old thread. Still want to know if there is any info/ pics on Summerford Capsule race deck hulls ???
Bringing this old thread back up...http://i962.photobucket.com/albums/ae108/KENLARUE/photo.jpg (http://s962.photobucket.com/user/KENLARUE/media/photo.jpg.html)

[Capt.Insane-o]

holy **** that is sweet!

[baja200merk]

Looks like Bush's boat

[Hobs]

WE NEED PICS OF THE SUMMERFORD BUILT CHAMP BOAT.... I was there but to young to remember most of it.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

http://flint.craigslist.org/boa/5611321798.html

[Small strokes]

Did anyone ever come across any pictures of the 22 blast plug or prototype?

[Cseigneur]

I have one of Roarks 98 mod vp boats but the capsule went missing years ago. Cash reward for leads ....

[stallionss]

89*

I have one of Roarks 98 mod vp boats but the capsule went missing years ago. Cash reward for leads ....

[Cseigneur]

Thank you for the correction my friend.

[stallionss]

That's what I'm here for

[WaterZebra]

Summerford's champ boat made its debut at the 1989 IOGP race in San Dimas CA at the Frank Bonelli (SP?) State Park which was used for the pit area. Boat was set up in Castleberrys paint and graphics and was one of (2) boats to appear with a fully enclosed cockpit (canopy) that spring.The boat was doing extremely well against Seebold and LeeCraft race products until Chris managed to peel the port sponson off in turn 4 in front of the pits. Pictures of this race and the STV champ boat should be laying around somewhere. Also, there was a poster made by somebody for the 1989 IOGP season that might have an image of this boat as well.

[jim17]

I recently sold a 83 STV needle nose that Chris drove, it was bought by a friend of mine at the St Louis race from Roark and picked up after they were done racing it at the shop in Texas. I raced with a guy in 86 that had a pleasure STV needle nose, I cant remember if he picked it up in Texas or Nashville.

[croozin2]

I bought an 89 modvp capsule boat as well, but less the capsule. Roark apparently built two boats for a buyer and the buyer only took delivery of one. Solid white, single axle galvanized trailer, Nydahl cable & pulley steering, not one hole in the boat. Rigged everything from a blank canvas. Loved that boat. I’ll see if I can dig up some pics.

[Cseigneur]

What bottom did your 89 have?

[croozin2]

ModVp race bottom

[croozin2]

Pics right after rigging with 88 Pro-V 150. :)

Aaaaand, right after the first race (and wreck), repairs being made at Thomas’ house.:mad:

[croozin2]

And after adding some color and a merc for the modified class

[stallionss]

What class did you race?

[stallionss]

Nevermind you posted as I did..didn't remember that boat in modvp..makes sense now

[croozin2]

Anyone remember the 13 footer?

[croozin2]

Stallion, this was in DSRA (Deep South Racing Association)

[stallionss]

ok gotcha..thanks for the info..beautiful boat!

[wtsjr66]

Anybody got one of these 13 footers?

[croozin2]

RP Breaux of Breaux and Daigle Marine in Pierre Part, La. used to have a solid red one many moons ago. Ran a modified V4 Yamaha on it. IIRC, it hooked and ran into the trees during some testing and that was the end of that. I’m sure that little hull was a handful with that kind of power. Only one I ever saw actually rigged.

[Ronster43]

Roark built that for SST45. Reclining cockpit...almost laying-down. Was terrible as 45. Don't think he even tried to modify/improve it.

[99fxst99]

He went to Nashville from Texas to help design and build the first Stratos under Earl Bentz and when OMC bought Stratos he moved on to building STV's in the late 80's. I guess he and Earl got their sacks full at Stratos. When Earl started Triton he got ahold of his old friend Roark to help him with design and production at the new company. STV was sold and Roark is still with Triton. The interesting side bar is that Alan Stinson(who has lots of racing past) replaced Roark at Stratos. Stratos actually built a version or two of the original LTV as a pleasure boat when Roark was around. Even more interesting is that when Roark was still in Texas he got Bill Seebold to build a 23' IO plug version of the LTV. The plug ran OK but the molded version seemed to be heavier and was a bit of a Dud. I don't think it ever went into actual full scale production.
The Seebold was actually a 25. According to Billy, it was built as a modified tunnel such as the LTV, but it never worked right and they ended up cutting the sponsons off and making a true V bottom out of it. When you look at the boat you could see some of the Summerford / Laser influence in the lines

[Noah Burns]

The Seebold was actually a 25. According to Billy, it was built as a modified tunnel such as the LTV, but it never worked right and they ended up cutting the sponsons off and making a true V bottom out of it. When you look at the boat you could see some of the Summerford / Laser influence in the lines

Laser built a 20'+ LTV mold for Seebold, it was a standard LTV hull lengthened to whatever the final size was. There were pics of one on a facebook page a few weeks ago, they're great looking rigs. That one had twins on it... I've seen one with I/O setup, always heard it was slow, but it wasn't built as a hot rod either so who knows. I know Seebold didn't build any and those molds went to Canada after they decided they didn't want them.