1st riot outing

[STVBOY]

My first trip with new boat

[Scream And Fly]

That sure is a nice boat! Keep the pictures coming!

Greg

[STVBOY]

one more pic

[Fl Boy in ILL]

Not a bad looking passenger either!! Hows the boat run.

Rick

[KaptainKirk]

mine steered on the left:(

Beautiful boat !
Hows she run(boat that is)?
What prop you running at what rpm ?

K.K.

[vishus]

share your numbers!!! us RIOT owners need to gang together!

GREAT looking setup!

sid

ps KK, why do you want LH steering? Doesn't RH help counteract the steering torque?

[KaptainKirk]

seen me drag race in rough water with a 20 pitch prop and a 2:1 gearcase you would know instantly.....I have put the Riot on the rubrail a few times I know it seems wierd but I have done it too many times for it to be a fluke.....(okay fellow racers enter joke here)
Would just like too know if that would help cure it.
I need to glass in a weight box on passenger side:) see if that helps....Or lose some weight !!

[STVBOY]

I really don't have any numbers yet. The boat came with a 26p but I plan to run a 24p most of the time. With 3 people full tank and an ice chest I took up to 83 without a problem and there was a lot more left in it was just been cautious the first time out. It did need a little wind chop so it would not porpoise.

[KaptainKirk]

being cautious.....theres alot of flat surface in front of ya in dat boat ta turn ya into a kite.
I prefer the 24 to 26 pitch range myself,then ya can run with a load or not....instantly:)
Have fun and keep the photos and news coming....
K.K.

[ProComp]

What are you initial impression compared to the STV?

ProComp

[Brad Zastrow]

My Riot ran with a 30' cleaver. 114 mph on radar. The first thing you will notice in a Riot is you will not get sprayed from the waves like an STV.

[riot280]

nice pics.....keep it flat and you'll runner plenty over 100 all the time. good luck and be carefull.

kevin

[STVBOY]

Thanks guys

The riot does take a little more seat time to get use to compared to the STV. The big difference so far is the way the boat reacts to wakes from other boats. It just kind of glides over chop when the STV would pop up and feel like it would try to catch air. The STV was defenitly easier to drive with not much seat time.

Do any of you know how the boat that flipped or barrel rolled that put Rapid Craft out of business. Just curious if the boat really did kite and go backwards.

[rev.ronnie]

A local guy here in Mn. flipped a Riot at a race some years back. His name is Marv Jorgenson, he used to be a R/C dealer
(now he is a Allison dealer). Some of you may remember his 197 MPH snowmobile with 3, 2.4 Merc EFI engines, JAWS 3.

My friend was at the race and he said it went right over backwards through the lights, and when it hit the water it exploded into bite sized pieces. Really, not one part was more than 20 pounds.

After the crash, when they were hauling him away on a stretcher with a broken back, he was askin' my buddy " how fast did it run??
Marv is a real nut job, and a helluva nice guy.

I don't recall any lawsuit, but I know that after that you couldn't give a Rapid Craft away around here...still can't.

They were made in Park Rapids Mn.( or Grand Rapids I forgot)

I always liked them, and I think they got a bad rap compared to the Hydrostreams made here that were riddled with problems, both by design and manufacture. I love Streams, but most of them broke and fell apart and continue to do so. Both of ours did.

I don't think the Klegicel (sp) molding design, as opposed to a conventonal design, lent itself to impact resistance, especially from the inside out. They are very rigid however.

I was led to believe that they were kind of made like a casting in a mold, The old analogy was, that they were made like a sugar easter egg.

[rev.ronnie]

As far as the Hydrostreams falling apart I was referring to the 1990-91 and earlier boats NOT the new ones. The new ones are incredible. As soon as I get through with my new building, I am seriously thinking of ordering a Venom.


I have a friend who had a new Voyager built and he loves it. He took it off the transport and flipped it upside down and went to work blueprinting the hull that day. He widened the pad and some other stuff, the boat is said to be awesome with a nasty 2.5 on it. He did some similar work to his Vaserette that went well over 100.

[KaptainKirk]

He knows the story.....ever heard the one about a boat going through the side of another boat.....

Wasn't Marv running NOS?

A rumor has it in the midwest that once you hit 400hp in a Riot you have a death wish.....Then why has UT been running that and more for years with no problems??
Of course he is an acceleration guy not a top end guy:)
Also there was one or two others that have flipped....all reputed to be high HP boats.
A member of the PBCC has also done one good....can't remember if flipped or stuffed...but tore sponson and most of one side up,but the way I heard it most of it was in one piece,maybe one of their members(yammer) will read this and post the result:


Yes The Riot loves to go straight over chop and boat wakes with no bow rise....does like to bounce on the sponsons a little:) especially past 104 until you learn to keep it on the pad:):)

K.K.

[Hole$hot]

tells the story as I understand it...

[rev.ronnie]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Marv had that thing hopped up on the go spray when he pitched it, but then most everything he owns has a blue bottle on it.....:)

He was probably runnin' the lake racer class or something.

[KaptainKirk]

in A-boats:):)

Not disagreeing with The Rev.
Just there is a multitude of rumors and stories going around thought I would bring up that fact.

K.K.

[mikesufka]

Gentleman,

Does anyone know the Rapid Craft story? I have heard so many rumors. One was they got sued. Two was they weren't selling any boats and went out of business. Third was that Baker Marine was buying the molds and were going to start producing them. Then I heard that Baker's recently went out of business?

I've always like the Riot. It is one awesome looking boat. If I could find a good deal on one, I'd actually consider selling my Allison.

Mike Sufka
St. Cloud, MN

[KaptainKirk]

Whats a good deal to You ???

[STVBOY]

So it sounds like it has been more driver error than boat. Have any of the boats flipped while running low 100's or just on the real high end numbers. Brad you ran yours at 114 how scary or secure did it feel. Thx just trying to get a feel of the boats limits.

[mikesufka]

Hey KK

There's actually one up here that I'm going to look at in the spring. He just put it up for sale. And, it's in my color red, of course. By "deal", I should have said one in mint condition.

Later

Mike

[KaptainKirk]

Mint ones left....I know of 6 for sale right now and 3 of which are said to be mint and I only know of one for sure to be that way the other two I have never seen first hand.....was a blue one up your way that I lost track of, was for sale awhile ago...it was mint but I was broke at the time so I lost that deal....ended up with the Rat I have today:)

[Hole$hot]

Way back when, marv was saying that Rapid Craft was selling boats out the back door makeing it hard to sell his boats.

As for fliping... I was running side by side whith one driven by Mike Tate of M&M marine. I pulled up next to him and slowly gave it throttle. We got up to around 80 to 90mph when I looked over to see his nose go up, then go back down, then go WAY UP^!! He let off and the boat came crashing down. It scared me to the point that I dident want to race him again for fear that he would kill himself. Turns out I dident have to because he just went right over to his dock. (clean his shorts, LOL) What made it worse was that he had what looked like his mother and other family in the boat whith him.

[riot280]

That riot that broke the sponson belongs to dave haws of the pbcc. i believe he stuffed it in rice lake ( east of toronto ). don't believe he has it fixed yet. i kited mine ounce going alittle over 90 trying to do to much to fast. left a little stain. very strong boa
At speed ( 100 plus ) when you look down the front deck it looks like you have alot of up trim left. Don't until you see yourself on video. nice and flat, fastest speeds will give little rooster tale and a heavy mist type of spray.
That blue riot from mn look like this.

[riot280]

forgot the pic.

[Forkin' Crazy]

I like Riots too. Very clean looking lines. I was going to buy one, but the deal fell through (on his end). I was ready to buy it and looked at it very hard. The glass work and craftsmanship looked very good!

This one had a modified 260 with a 150 hp shot! That was really close. I had a cashiers check with me and was ready to take the boat back home....

I guess I was lucky, I didn't stray to the dark side...LOL!!!!:)

[hydrostream2]

I just bought one a few weeks ago with no power. the previous
owner run a 250 johnny with a bottle. He claimed some big speeds but I would have to see to believe what he claimed.I have
always owned hydrostreams & allisons and spent many years on learning to drive and the set up. now I guess I will start all over with this rig.LOL

Mine has the battery mounted up front ,he said it acted a little funky at speed and he moved the battery up front and solved the problem. said it was like a caddy on a sunday drive. wont know for sure till I get it rigged and some seat time.

[vishus]

I've had my RIOT for about two years and thoroughly enjoy the boat. I can run with an STV EURO and an ALLISON in the rough stuff (they both run more HP and can outrun me). I have taken it out in some rough lake and river conditions, and have always felt comfortable with it. We were in Laughlin two years ago (the last F1 races in Laughlin) and the river traffic was heavy with Lake Lice, big powerboats and Casino taxis, and the RIOT just glided over the ruff stuff. I remember my mother in law freaking about the water conditions and grabbbing the "oh ****" bar fearing the worst as we came up on some big rollers (coming off of the FERRY boat), the RIOT eased over and crested the rollers and we SMOOTHLY cruised down the river.

When I first got the boat, it had a Merc Chopper II and it had a bad porpoise in the 70-80 mph zone. I switched to a RON HILL drag and the porpoise dissappeared. I also found that the hull likes a bit of trim to get to the 70+mph zone, and then I trim down and run flat. I was running 90+ with a 28 drag @ 7000 rpm until the motor went south. This is with a basically stock 200. I really wanted to try my 15X30 Ron Hill cleaver, but I broke a rod (at the big end), and puched it through the side of the block. so now it sits waiting....


I have heard of a few issues with the handling on the BIG end at 115+. I haven't had mine up past 92 or so, but it was on cruise. I would like to repower with a strong 300+HP motor, but I am interested in acceleration, not big numbers on the top end. I want to hit a 100 or so, but get there FAST....

IF anyone has any ideas on the "handling" issues, please express them. It appears that the RIOT like ANY high performance hull has its idosyncrises(sp), and if not setup right, can and will bite you if you don't respect it...

just my .02

SID

[STVBOY]

Sid

I had the same problem the boat wanted to porpoise at speeds above 60 but it also had a big eared chopper which is definetly the wrong prop for the boat. I am glad to hear it stopped when you changed props. Does it porpoise at all with four people in the boat with the hill prop? I am also more about acceleration and plan to run a 24p at about 8500 which should allow around 96mph.

[KaptainKirk]

Its not a rumor....Baker Marine is closed.

[mikesufka]

KK

I can't believe Baker's closed. That's too bad. I always liked talking to Sam, the few times that I've met him. He gave me my first ride in an Allison SS2000.

Later

MIKE

[BrentShaw]

I talked to Sam and Jeff Baker both about a week ago and they said they had to relocate due to thier landlord making some changes, but they never said they were going to close?

Brent