Hot Singles ! - Pictures

There is a picture (probably in Bob Hammond's collection) of a rare photo shoot on Lake Travis, Austin Tx. I managed to get the 21' twin in an almost blow-over status, brought the nose back down and the darn thing was running on the lower units with the hull a couple of inches off the water. Always wanted a copy of that but didn't get one. Our company photographer was good and got a lot of neat shots like that.
Funny TRUE story !!
Harold Wilkerson who set up the Glastron boats and ran the race division and I were testing at lake Travis. I'm telling Harold the boat is doing whatever and he says "I can see what its doing" and you are wrong. So I says, Harold, get in !! Big mistake, Harold puts on a life jacket and climbs under the cowl behind my seat and off we go. After showing what I was talking about, he concedes and says lets go back. Well ------- I says to Harold, remember how I run the boat on the lower units ???, he says take this boat back to the #@*^%@# ramp. I hit the trim and up we go. Ninety something MPH flying down lake Travis, one driver being beaten on the head by one pissed off boss. We didn't blow over but I couldn't resist. By the way, he never questioned my comments of what the boat was doing again nor ever got behind the seat for another ride.
Harold was an excellent mechanic and setup guy. I'm lucky he didn't kill me, I think Jackie & I are a lot alike in many ways. :D

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Originally Posted by willabee

Nah, nothing like you at all. Very tall, thick head of wavy black hair, great gift of gab and drove a race boat really fast. :reddevil:

Here's a shot of him in his Switzer.....he set a 102 kilo mark in it with stacked 1100's in 1967. Kitson, using 1250's,held it when Jan blew over trying to get it back.....then he built his own boats. Here's a couple of shots of the Dutchman hulls. A few guys had some success with the tunnels, but the Wings were bad news. Far as I recall, they only ran Parker one year and beat the stuffing out of the drivers before breaking apart themselves.

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O.K. So i was never Tall, NOBODY fills all the slots All the time

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Originally Posted by jackie wilson

O.K. So i was never Tall, NOBODY fills all the slots All the time

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:D :cheers: :D .....nice save!

Jan was the first guy to set a kilo record over 100 MPH in his "pleasure" boat Switzer wing. Newspaper article here if you scroll down - http://www.retroboats.net/forums/sho...hp?t=32&page=3 I have the official Mercury banner stating that fact that I think was sent out to the dealers stating this claim. Mr. K spanked Jan a little for saying he liked the 1100's better than the 1250's which just came out. Mr K wanted to sell the new 1250's....pumping up the old stuff wasn't good for business. Jan claimed the the 1100's spun higher RPM's and with twin 1:1 speedmasters his wing would run faster on the top end. Also, there was some dispute from folks about a wing getting classified as a pleasure boat. I guess a pleasure boat had to have two or more passangers.....so the wing passed the test....wink wink nod nod.

I believe that last NOA record Jan set in a wing was 106.509 MPH...March, 1968. He blew over on his last attempt because the wing was low on fuel....AKA ballast. To make the second run he couldn't do anything to the boat....like add fuel. On the return run he hit a roller and went over.

Willabee who at Mercury would have tweaked Jan's 1100's. Someone there did all the wrenching on them and they would run very high rpm's. Anyone have any good pictures of the 1100 style Mercury stackers ???? It was reported only a few sets were made. Not sure if that is fact or fiction.

I think Quincy made stacks for them, I'll look at their old ads. It may be true that very few were made at Mercury

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

Jan was the first guy to set a kilo record over 100 MPH in his "pleasure" boat Switzer wing. Newspaper article here if you scroll down - http://www.retroboats.net/forums/sho...hp?t=32&page=3 I have the official Mercury banner stating that fact that I think was sent out to the dealers stating this claim. Mr. K spanked Jan a little for saying he liked the 1100's better than the 1250's which just came out. Mr K wanted to sell the new 1250's....pumping up the old stuff wasn't good for business. Jan claimed the the 1100's spun higher RPM's and with twin 1:1 speedmasters his wing would run faster on the top end. Also, there was some dispute from folks about a wing getting classified as a pleasure boat. I guess a pleasure boat had to have two or more passangers.....so the wing passed the test....wink wink nod nod.

I believe that last NOA record Jan set in a wing was 106.509 MPH...March, 1968. He blew over on his last attempt because the wing was low on fuel....AKA ballast. To make the second run he couldn't do anything to the boat....like add fuel. On the return run he hit a roller and went over.

Willabee who at Mercury would have tweaked Jan's 1100's. Someone there did all the wrenching on them and they would run very high rpm's. Anyone have any good pictures of the 1100 style Mercury stackers ???? It was reported only a few sets were made. Not sure if that is fact or fiction.

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I never saw an 1100 factory built Stacker. I have often wondered about the motors on the "7000" wooden Switzer, that apparently never raced. The motors look like 1966 vintage 1100"s even though the photo caption says 1963. If they are 1100's as I suspect...and the picture was taken in 1966...as I also suspect...then those could be the mystery set of engines.

I also recall that the 1250 and the 1100 shared a block, so who is to say that Jan's "1100 Stackers" were not, in fact, pre-production 1250 Stackers?

Just my .02....

Willabee?

T2x

They might have evolved into the 1250 stackers but the 1100's are one piece and longer. Also, in some pictures the stacks seem to sweep down at a slight angle. I "thought" the 1250 block was taller than the 1100....I don't believe the 1250 stacks will fit on a 1100. I can check this evening.

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

Willabee who at Mercury would have tweaked Jan's 1100's. Someone there did all the wrenching on them and they would run very high rpm's. Anyone have any good pictures of the 1100 style Mercury stackers ???? It was reported only a few sets were made. Not sure if that is fact or fiction.

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As I mentioned in the story, Jimmy Kubasta was building speedmasters for selected drivers and he had access to a few stacker kits. He was the only one I knew of that was working on that stuff. The kits were rare and treated like gold. I don't know who made the pipes for the kits.

Parker 1968, Schoonover pulls into the pits and parks next to the Merc service truck "Day Tripper". He is pulling the Switzer Flying Dutchman with the 1100 stackers. Jan gets out and starts shooting the breeze with Garbrecht and others. With my young zealousness, I jump out of the truck with a handful of wrenches and proceed to attempt to unbutton the engine cowling. I'm going to check the powerheads over and set the timing, etc. When he heard someone messing with his stuff, he turned to see what was going on. We had never met and he gave me one of the coldest stares I have ever seen. I guess the Kiekhaefer Mercury shirt I was wearing was the only thing that stopped him from killing me.

With that, Jimmy walked over to me and softly said "what ya up to?" I said I was going to check all of the settings. Jimmy said "don't ya think you ought to know what the settings are before you check um?" and gave me a big smart ass smile. Embarrassed, I had to admit I didn't realize they were different than what I had been working on. Jimmy told me not to feel bad, he said he built those engines and was the only one that knew how to adjust them. I picked up my stuff and whimped back to the truck. :o

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

They might have evolved into the 1250 stackers but the 1100's are one piece and longer. Also, in some pictures the stacks seem to sweep down at a slight angle. I "thought" the 1250 block was taller than the 1100....I don't believe the 1250 stacks will fit on a 1100. I can check this evening.

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How is your wing (or wings?) coming along?

My memory is fading but I believe the 1100('66 & later) was the first engine on the "new block" and the last 1000 ('65 and earlier) was the last motor on the "old block" (89 cu. in.)

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Originally Posted by willabee

As I mentioned in the story, Jimmy Kubasta was building speedmasters for selected drivers and he had access to a few stacker kits. He was the only one I knew of that was working on that stuff. The kits were rare and treated like gold. I don't know who made the pipes for the kits.

Parker 1968, Schoonover pulls into the pits and parks next to the Merc service truck "Day Tripper". He is pulling the Switzer Flying Dutchman with the 1100 stackers. Jan gets out and starts shooting the breeze with Garbrecht and others. With my young zealousness, I jump out of the truck with a handful of wrenches and proceed to attempt to unbutton the engine cowling. I'm going to check the powerheads over and set the timing, etc. When he heard someone messing with his stuff, he turned to see what was going on. We had never met and he gave me one of the coldest stares I have ever seen. I guess the Kiekhaefer Mercury shirt I was wearing was the only thing that stopped him from killing me.

With that, Jimmy walked over to me and softly said "what ya up to?" I said I was going to check all of the settings. Jimmy said "don't ya think you ought to know what the settings are before you check um?" and gave me a big smart ass smile. Embarrassed, I had to admit I didn't realize they were different than what I had been working on. Jimmy told me not to feel bad, he said he built those engines and was the only one that knew how to adjust them. I picked up my stuff and whimped back to the truck. :o

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Huh !!!!! so you were "whimping" even before i met you.???

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Originally Posted by willabee

As I mentioned in the story, Jimmy Kubasta was building speedmasters for selected drivers and he had access to a few stacker kits. He was the only one I knew of that was working on that stuff. The kits were rare and treated like gold. I don't know who made the pipes for the kits.

Parker 1968, Schoonover pulls into the pits and parks next to the Merc service truck "Day Tripper". He is pulling the Switzer Flying Dutchman with the 1100 stackers. Jan gets out and starts shooting the breeze with Garbrecht and others. With my young zealousness, I jump out of the truck with a handful of wrenches and proceed to attempt to unbutton the engine cowling. I'm going to check the powerheads over and set the timing, etc. When he heard someone messing with his stuff, he turned to see what was going on. We had never met and he gave me one of the coldest stares I have ever seen. I guess the Kiekhaefer Mercury shirt I was wearing was the only thing that stopped him from killing me.

With that, Jimmy walked over to me and softly said "what ya up to?" I said I was going to check all of the settings. Jimmy said "don't ya think you ought to know what the settings are before you check um?" and gave me a big smart ass smile. Embarrassed, I had to admit I didn't realize they were different than what I had been working on. Jimmy told me not to feel bad, he said he built those engines and was the only one that knew how to adjust them. I picked up my stuff and whimped back to the truck. :o

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Thanks for the input.....Jimmy must be the guy then. It jives with what I heard only one person worked on the Jan's 1100's. Something about them really worked on a wing. He had to have a special tac that went up to 10K because of the high RPM's. Claimed the 1250's had better bottom and mid range but wouldn't pull the RPM's like the 1100's. I'm just reporting the weather, but would love to know.

Is Jimmy still around ???

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

.....Jimmy must be the guy then...... Is Jimmy still around ???

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.....:nonod:.....

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Originally Posted by T2x

How is your wing (or wings?) coming along?

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Good question......right now I feel like a junk collector and dreamer.....in fact at the moment that is exactly what I am. Also been struggling with my business which is way off due to the economy.

Anyway with that being said......With the two 18's my idea is to use the Wing on a Stick's deck as a plug for a mold to fix/replace both deck the 18's decks. As far as I can tell they were both at one time owned and raced by Bob Massey......Bob owned the 20 briefly as well but never raced it. Been kicking around the idea of making a carbon fiber deck to put the wing on a diet so it'll fly. Been building carbon fiber building nostalgia funnycar bodies. Scroll down - http://www.retroboats.net/forums/sho...hp?t=37&page=2 These bodes are very light typically around 65 ~ 75 lbs. I think one of the reasons Kenny's wing doesn't get with the program is the weight it gained on the rebuild. It's very hard to keep things light rebuilding. Everybody I talk to says weight is super crtical on a wing. 18's need to be down around 900 lbs bare. Got enough parts and pieces to build three T1's and two stackers. Did I say I was junk collector :eek::cool:

Waiting to hear how your 20 is doing to figure out the power on my 20......do tell. I still think there is an issue with the bottom design that causes proposing. Does yours have that problem ??

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Originally Posted by willabee

.....:nonod:.....

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Heard from Pruett many years ago that "Kubes" caught the dreaded Big C. Must have been the early 80/s. Willabee will know for certain.
Ritchie Powers was the guy who always seemed to be working stackers. I know he did Sirois's motors for the old ' UP UP AND AWAY'. Bill got Ritch. to do my engine for Havasu. Nothing wrong with the engine, Just had dreams of grandeur and it was me that got carried up and away.
The doors open Willa------

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

Good question......right now I feel like a junk collector and dreamer.....in fact at the moment that is exactly what I am. Also been struggling with my business which is way off due to the economy.

Anyway with that being said......With the two 18's my idea is to use the Wing on a Stick's deck as a plug for a mold to fix/replace both deck the 18's decks. As far as I can tell they were both at one time owned and raced by Bob Massey......Bob owned the 20 briefly as well but never raced it. Been kicking around the idea of making a carbon fiber deck to put the wing on a diet so it'll fly. Been building carbon fiber building nostalgia funnycar bodies. Scroll down - http://www.retroboats.net/forums/sho...hp?t=37&page=2 These bodes are very light typically around 65 ~ 75 lbs. I think one of the reasons Kenny's wing doesn't get with the program is the weight it gained on the rebuild. It's very hard to keep things light rebuilding. Everybody I talk to says weight is super crtical on a wing. 18's need to be down around 900 lbs bare. Got enough parts and pieces to build three T1's and two stackers. Did I say I was junk collector :eek::cool:

Waiting to hear how your 20 is doing to figure out the power on my 20......do tell. I still think there is an issue with the bottom design that causes proposing. Does yours have that problem ??

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Very good question.........

We elected to set the trim before each test and not touch it while underway due to lack of proper trim indicators.

Test #1........engines tucked well under and almost bottomed out on the trim rams (negative 20 degrees). The boat had a vicious lope (porpoise) which I could not drive through or control with the aeleron. After two or three attempts the aeleron broke off. Put on the trailer and back to the drawing board for major repairs

Test #2....... engines tucked under 7 degrees....... Boat planed and accelerated to 95+ mph without one lope or porpoise and ran approximately 1.5 miles downwind........ Lost one engine (minor fuel issue).......Restarted and returned to trailer with both motors running (temporarily) averaged 80-85 mph over small cruiser wakes and mixed chop into the wind...... boat never got out of shape or porpoised..... Aeleron damaged again however.

My impression is that the props (DeWald 4 blade Champ boat cleavers) REALLY hooked up and "carried" the boat much better than the old style wheels would have. I think some of the old porpoising problems were either a "power lope" like we experienced in Test #1 or a prop slip lope from the small blades letting go back in the day as the big hulls transitioned from hydrodynamic to aerodynamic lift with little power. Contrary to Bob Switzer's concern, I believe the 20 footer loves v-6 power...... I'm not so sure about the 18 footer however.

Next tests due this month. It will be at the Switzer Regatta in Illinois in July.

T2x