Hardy Truth II

[Wolverine]

Big Daddy's original 95' Mirage Ski-racer. This one disrupted the Mercury party at Hardy for quite a while. Brad Collins built 4 seater -- lightest to ever come out of Texas -- fully rigged without a driver weighing in at 1153 lbs. Bob Kottman built Yamaha -- 2.6 liters of rompin' stompin' hell. I had a lot of fun with my mercury buddies with this one. It made for some interesting conversations at the sandbar. We still argue about it. Must have made a lasting impression!;) ;)

[sms]

Gettin beat by a Yamaha is tough enough, now when you add pink stripes it's insult to injury!

[Wolverine]

Magenta -- Just a manly man word for the feminine color of damn near pink but not quite purple either. The women love it and the insecure guys won't admit to liking cuz it might imply that they're girly or something else. Manly men don't care -- it's just a cool color!
Many boats wearing black were injured by the mighty Kottmaha!! :eek:

[sms]

Yeah, thats it! My Lavey also has those awsome MAGENTA stripes. I feel better already. We no longer have to call it the girls boat.

[Fulltilt]

Magenta's a manly color??!!!! That's a relief!!!!!!!;)

[stylishskier]

thats got to be some of the best gelcoat Ive ever seen on that mirage, what is that? 10 different colors? 12? That is some insane striping in the gel

[Wolverine]

It was great to be the Big Dawg until I made the biggest boating mistake of my life. I let a buddy (no longer)-- who was a wannabe racer / prop builder and self proclaimed innovator of the Stinger Racing Propeller-- drive my boat. He knew everything there was to know about driving a Mirage -- so he thought -- since he owned one with a 260 himself.
This was my last memory of the ol' boat on the water - kind of. A hard ( and expensive ) lesson learned. Don't be too quick to let somebody else drive your boat unless you are willing to accept the possible consequences.

[Fulltilt]

OH MAN THAT HURTS!!!!!!!!!!:( I told a buddy last weekend that I'd let him drive my boat, because it loses about 10mph with 2 people. He's not that good of a friend!!!!

[stevek]

That really bites. What did he do, blow it over or what :eek:

[Scott Gilmore]

Originally posted by bigdaddyhognuts
It was great to be the Big Dawg until I made the biggest boating mistake of my life. I let a buddy (no longer)-- who was a wannabe racer / prop builder and self proclaimed innovator of the Stinger Racing Propeller-- drive my boat. He knew everything there was to know about driving a Mirage -- so he thought -- since he owned one with a 260 himself.
This was my last memory of the ol' boat on the water - kind of. A hard ( and expensive ) lesson learned. Don't be too quick to let somebody else drive your boat unless you are willing to accept the possible consequences.

NO MORE , skipster / driving lessons ............nice.........very nice . Scott :confused:

[sho305]

Oh Big Daddy, that must have been one of the biggest wtf did I do:eek: moments ever! I mean, jeeez that thing was nice but I'm sure you know that.

"If I just trim it all the way up it will go faster?".....:confused: That water does not look that rough...

[Wolverine]

He blew it over. I guess he wasn't ready for the big power of the ol' Kottman Yamaha. He was used to a mere 260. I'll give him credit though, he always wore his lifeline race jacket whenever he got in a boat. It saved his life this time. Even with it on, he broke a few ribs and collapsed a lung. It was a terrible day for me with him getting injured and the lose of my boat , but it would have been much worse had he not survived. Boats can be replaced and engines rebuilt.

[Jim Morris]

rob
get yourself a new yamaha,and super light boat and be top dawg again
jim

[sho305]

Yeah, does nothing for you to dwell on it and sometimes 'stuff' happens anyway. Can't really say someone would do that on purpose. So what are you planning next....:cool: Don't remember any stripes on your boat...

[Wolverine]

I really wish that I could afford to do that. Don't get me wrong, I do like my drag, but it was more fun racing you guys with something other than a merc.

[Wolverine]

Sho, those pics are from 99'. The boat you saw was my white 2000 Mirage.

[sho305]

Just wondered if you were thinking of a cool color scheme for it:cool: Though it would be hard to make one look bad whatever you put on it. If I can get around to doing one I think I'll do a version of that breakout look. Really want to flake one but not sure I want the hassle.

[Wolverine]

No colors, just all white. That's how I like it -- clean. The interior has just enough color in the seats to accent the rest of the boat.

[sho305]

Well it looked nice to me when I saw it:cool:

[C/E]

Just an update on my Mirage with the Yamaha. I got it in the water with the RH 5 blade. Set at 1 1/4 above the bottom. Ran 86.8 with just me. Took it out again yesterday. It ran 86.6 with 2 people and a full tank of gas ( 25 gal ) and an additional 5 gal can of gas and cooler and 2 helmets, lifejackets, bumpers tools etc.
Should get my merc 30 today. Won't be able to test for a while as boat goes in tomorrow for the back seat upholstry and I have to re-seal the lower.

[C/E]

Looks like the engine is just unable to breath heavy enough to get above 6800-6900 RPM. This 5 blade seems to carry the weight well, and that is what I was after for a general running around prop. Guess I'll have to start making engine mods if I want more RPM.

[fullthrottledps]

try a smaller pitch prop 3 blade spin to win 24 or a 26

[C/E]

The 5 blade is a 14 x 28. Don't think the stock rods in this old rice burner are going to like too much over 7000. I've heard that the engine in stock form has breathing problems at about 7000.

[C/E]

Check this out. What do you think?
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=65570

[Wolverine]

Frank, it looks like the shop did a real nice job for you, gotta be happy with that! Looks great!
I see that you got the old Yamaha approaching the triple digit mark. Not bad for a stocker. Who said it had to be black on the back? A Promax 225 would be hard pressed to run that well!

[C/E]

The number I posted today ( 96.2 GPS ) is with the prop I bought on e-bay. It is a non lab merc chopper I, pressed hub ( Big Ear ) 14 x 30 with a couple small nicks in it. I got it up to 6200 rpm and was running out of room, so I had to get out of it. So far I haven't run a decent speed prop. With more room I think this combination might have a honest 100 in it.

[Wolverine]

How far did you run before you had to back out of it?

[C/E]

I probable was runnin about 40 MPH when I nailed it and ran about 1/2 to 3/4 mile. Just a guess. I was running toward a manatee zone and had to shut down.

[C/E]

This prop has quite a bit of bow lift and I haven't run the boat enough to know how high I can carry the bow safely. I was almost flat. I trimed up to get thru the porpose and then trimed back down.

[Wolverine]

That's the right way to drive a Mirage. Fly it just high enough to get past the porpoise range then bump it back down. Many people don't figure this out and end up blowing it over. Probably why the Mirage hull has a bad reputation for blow overs -- it is unforgiving if not driven properly. Flat is fast!
Have that 30 chopper made into an ET and you'll accelerate harder, gain some rpm's back, and run faster. Money well spent.

[BLADETWISTER]

Will Scott Gilmore show up and give me the beating he promised earlier this year? I hope to be at the sandbar early. I'll be waiting Scotty!

[Scott Gilmore]

Originally posted by BLADETWISTER
Will Scott Gilmore show up and give me the beating he promised earlier this year? I hope to be at the sandbar early. I'll be waiting Scotty!

Stop it you little polesmoker................pitiful & sad. Keep hiding, you're good @ it. Scott :D

[fullthrottledps]

RUT ROW GEORGE THIS COULD GET UGLY

[Wolverine]

What's happening with the Bushwacker and the Kibbles boat? I heard it has two names on the title and one of em don't want to sign off. If it has a lein on it, just pay it off. Since it no longer has a lein on it, does the second party have to sign off on the title or can just one sign it? Does anyone know the proper procedure for this? Jeff, I imagine a call to the local Secretary of State would answer the question. Who's name is the boat registered in?

[Wolverine]

Scott, I don't think any one of us needs to stoop to his level of intelligence. He's kinda like that pesky little sweat bee in the spring. Don't pay any attention to it and it'll fly away and leave ya alone. He's not worth your effort to swat at.
Are you going to Hardy Party?

[Wolverine]

Allison - Glastron --- It's all good. Looking forward to seeing ya. Hopefully we're not talking in the rain this time.

[Wolverine]

Well, I finally hit 120mph at the sandbar today. The first pass was at 119 mph and the second at 120mph. Mr. STV - aka Dangerous Dan - was there along with Denny and Guy. We were the only tunnels at the sandbar today. It was a beautiful day. The hydros were running in front of Brower Park all day and it was no wake from corner to corner - that's a long ways to idle a 2.5 .

[KIBBEY]

just saying hi,not alot to say..

i am loooking for a short shaft mid,and a sportsmaster lower for next summer tho.
got my frist drinking and driving,i blew .083,just over the limit.the limit is .080,****y day..
still waiting for the day to make up river with the ol'lightning.other then that lifes the same:) :)

[ken medendorp]

Where did you get caught

[KIBBEY]

i was the d-d had a half a beer as i left the bar..good call

[2fast4u2]

half a beer? and blew .083, I thought it took more like 3-4 full beers to get your BAC that high?

[KIBBEY]

i had about 2.5 beers over a 2-3 hour time,it was that last half that screwed me

[KIBBEY]

so did you guys find out who bladetwister is..:confused:

[Scott Gilmore]

Just a little girl hiding behind a $100 computer ! Scott :o

[KIBBEY]

dame those little girls and there $100 computers:D