How fast has the Viper been? GPS speed?

[timw128]

The first Viper over 100 was back in the mid-70's. Sammy Naser of Action Marine, Dearborn Michigan, married a new mildly modified 1750XS to a new 15' Viper, with the windsheild on, at 107 mph on a Keller speedo. He did blow it over once, on the Detroit River, but he used it quite a bit. The name he painted on the deck sides was: "Mother's Worry".

I know this is an old thread. I just wanted to comment that Sammie was a friend of mine and he was responsible for popularizing the 'Streams here in Michigan. A friend of mine bought a VKing Comp from him with a special 2.4 6 carb OZ Merc from Oshkosh. I ran Vector Comp's with Baker modded pads and bottoms and Oshkosh 2.4 engines.
Sammie's mom had a fit over his Viper and the XS, hence the 'Mothers Worry'... here's a photo, although not the best. I have some more, somewhere, taken down at the Detroit River the day it flipped on him.

[Capt.Insane-o]

So glad I gave my boat away.

[CUDA]

Do you feel LUCKY ...
I ran a Viper back in 1977 with a inline 150, lots of fun
would not put a HP motor on one

[FUJIMO]

I know this is an old thread. I just wanted to comment that Sammie was a friend of mine and he was responsible for popularizing the 'Streams here in Michigan. A friend of mine bought a VKing Comp from him with a special 2.4 6 carb OZ Merc from Oshkosh. I ran Vector Comp's with Baker modded pads and bottoms and Oshkosh 2.4 engines.
Sammie's mom had a fit over his Viper and the XS, hence the 'Mothers Worry'... here's a photo, although not the best. I have some more, somewhere, taken down at the Detroit River the day it flipped on him.

Hey Tim...It would be great if you could dig those photo's up & scan them! Any of the Action Marine days/boats would be really fun to see nowadays. Sammie & his brother & mother had a huge following back in the 70's & beyond, in southeast Michigan. Thanx again.

[timw128]

Hey Tim...It would be great if you could dig those photo's up & scan them! Any of the Action Marine days/boats would be really fun to see nowadays. Sammie & his brother & mother had a huge following back in the 70's & beyond, in southeast Michigan. Thanx again.

Yessir!...I'll do my best, FUGIMO... I have 5-6 Xerox paper boxes of photos from back in the day. Shame on me for not putting albums together. Sammie/Action Marine pretty much put Hydrostream on the map here in Michigan. I'm from Detroit and once I retired from the GM Tech Center in Warren, MI we moved to Florida. Back in Michigan now, as my mom needed help in her final years.
Sammie and his mom were terrific people. Sammie's work ethic was tireless and he lived, ate, and slept performance boating. He and Action Marine were the go to place for hi performance boating back in the 70's and 80's. This world would be a better place if more people offered the service and customer care that Sammie did.
I never bought a boat from them, but rather bought my Hydrostream's from Matteson Marine in Gun Lake, MI (I've owned a few!) as I worked for GM over there, too. The guys I used to boat with in the Houghton Lake area all bought there Streams from Sammie. Man, were those the days. We all ran stuff out of the old Merc Hi Performance Div. in Oshkosh.
I'll post up photos when I come across them...it might be a while, as I've moved several times since those days.
Thanks for responding, FUGIMO... have a great evening.
tim

PS- here's a photo of my old Vector light lay-up special order hull... Ron Baker worked the pad and bottom. It was basically a Comp model with right side steering, a floor, and 2 bucket seats. Power was a Formula 2.4 Offshore.

[Frank Molé]

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

[olboatman]

Scribed! Gary

[JPEROG]

Yessir!...I'll do my best, FUGIMO... I have 5-6 Xerox paper boxes of photos from back in the day. Shame on me for not putting albums together. Sammie/Action Marine pretty much put Hydrostream on the map here in Michigan. I'm from Detroit and once I retired from the GM Tech Center in Warren, MI we moved to Florida. Back in Michigan now, as my mom needed help in her final years.
Sammie and his mom were terrific people. Sammie's work ethic was tireless and he lived, ate, and slept performance boating. He and Action Marine were the go to place for hi performance boating back in the 70's and 80's. This world would be a better place if more people offered the service and customer care that Sammie did.
I never bought a boat from them, but rather bought my Hydrostream's from Matteson Marine in Gun Lake, MI (I've owned a few!) as I worked for GM over there, too. The guys I used to boat with in the Houghton Lake area all bought there Streams from Sammie. Man, were those the days. We all ran stuff out of the old Merc Hi Performance Div. in Oshkosh.
I'll post up photos when I come across them...it might be a while, as I've moved several times since those days.
Thanks for responding, FUGIMO... have a great evening.
tim

PS- here's a photo of my old Vector light lay-up special order hull... Ron Baker worked the pad and bottom. It was basically a Comp model with right side steering, a floor, and 2 bucket seats. Power was a Formula 2.4 Offshore.

I like the CBX-

Joe

[timw128]

I like the CBX-

Joe

Well then, you'll love it's drag queen sister!...both '79's, both purchased new on the same day-

[JPEROG]

Did you run with any of the guys from Gun Lake? Where you in G.R. or Kalamazoo when you lived on the West side?

Joe

[CLIMAX]

I ran a Viper back in 1977, 78, 79 on the Trinity river most every day with a 235 that I sent to land and sea. I sat in the center, cable steering, and a six gallon drop can. Never had any numbers have a bunch of pictures at speed that I can post. We had no GPS and even paddle wheel would not work, was happy knowing no one was passing me.

[timw128]

Did you run with any of the guys from Gun Lake? Where you in G.R. or Kalamazoo when you lived on the West side?

Joe

GR, while at Diesel Equipment Div of GM... I remember a Joe Skullteddy(sp?) who ran a Skater, Gen2 without center pod-x18?- with a hopped up horizontal 2.4 225 and I knew Tom Earhart...Tom did some fab work for me. He was into racing anything that would go fast, including a hopped up CBX. Man, that was a long time ago!... I had friends over on a little lake next to Gun Lake, Selkirk Lake, where we partied and skied. This was back in the late 70's-early 80's.
We were back and forth from GR, Detroit, and Flint. We raced at Columbiaville.