Baker Custom Boats- History?

[racer]

Yes

[Ron Hill]

"YES" meaning a Stoker SST with a light lay up would run well in Super Sport or "YES", my Baker history is close or "YES", splashing the third time loses a few degrees....???

Found that picture of Tim Soares building the "PLUG" for the "DARTH BAKER", Spring of 1983.

[Ron Hill]

This is a colored picture of the first Lavey Mod VP....Yamaha powered driven by Bob Wartinger and RoD Zapf (APBA 5 Liter Inboard Hydro National Champion 1985 and TWA CAPTAIN, now retired....

We ran this rig seven hours and when the race was over, we took all the kids and anybody that was around for a ride....We only won one race with a Yamaha...the one time we "FORGOT" to take off the cheater heads.....See there were people that made the rules that didn't really like the JAPANESE playing in MOD VP....

Broc Glover, and the guy that ran in the IRL,......(Jeff Ward) These guys wanted to race MOD VP.......These guys liked racing with no engine rules... When Merc could have .100 off heads and Yamaha had to run stock heads, these guys lost interest MOD VP......

This is WHY SUPER SPORT will make a great class!!! (If they make noise)...

[racer]

Yes to all.

[inspectorlance]

I am looking for some info on a 1986 Baker Tunnel. I am helping a friend out that has one of these. This boat is a jet, and the hull looks very simular to a stoker. Are there many Baker jets out there ? I thought that most of the Bakers were outboards.
Just looking for some history.

Lance

[Laker]

Ron And Racer
Thank the maker that you guys help and give here!!!!
Super Sport will make it when they allow 225s with open exhaust and nose cones.
It will be like Mod VP all over again and the manufactures will be pooping all over them selfs to be the top dogs.
Can you say Mod VP again?
Nobody cares about the 150s any more as they are not the top dog like they they were years ago when the bass boaters limited the HP to 150
The 225s are closer to the big dog motors..
Close enough to be really cool and offer braging rights.
The 250-300s are the untimate and would be by far the most fun to watch but I still hate the Idea of a no mods class. Mods are simply what outboards are about and why Mod VP was SOOOOooo Freakin cool! SOOOoo much the Coolest class of outboards Ever!!
My favorite?... Since I was 9 years old? STOKER 235

[Ted March]

Them was the days. You have pretty good memory after ALL THESE YEARS. Not too bad. And Laker, you are right in there.
Alphabetical order and for no other reason. Bowden, Bush and Stoker. And one other, at that time a young man, Castelli. Nipping at their transoms every race. And of course, Rusty.

Them sure was the days.

[Ted March]

i helped rig that blue boat. even tho i hated the color. but that's neither here nor there. we had fun.

and i remember when we were at parker and testing, prior to the race. castelli, bruce, Pat Murphy and me. and Pat's statement was: "you can buy an omc and put $5000.00 into it and hope you can be competitive". or... you can buy a merc and go racing.

mercury screwed up mod vp racing. if they would have left every one to their own devices, it might still be here, in one form or another. that's a maybe yes or maybe no.

Statement: Pat said it all.

and that was 19 years ago.

[Tango]

Gosh... Here I was seeing you are from Texas and thinking you were talking about David Baker!!

I would have to say he is a craftsman and also builds an awesome boat! Repairs them really good when you hit stuff or blow them over too!!

Just be sure to bring lots of Corona!

[cstarnes]

I recently acquired a Jerry Baker custom 18 foot runabout with a 140 hp Erinrude motor in Bonita, CA and towed it home to Tyler, TX. I'm 72 years old and not too steady on my feet so it only took one outing on Lake Tyler to convice me that it's way too much boat for me. Does anyone know if there is a dealer or Baker enthusiest in the area who can maybe give me some pointers on handling such a boat?

[ReAPer928]

Hey fellas,this is my first time here and posting,my question is have any of you heard of a baker rst tunnel hull built with a ford v8 power plant and a berkley jet pump? If so i would like some more info and history on this boat as i have resently baught one and am very interested in what i have, Its a very custom looking boat and very fast, It kinda looks like an old trans-am in the front any info would be helpfull< Thanx, Also it looks like the hull was made for an outboard aplication but was customized for the jet pump and ford power plant.

[DMR]

Bakers are great boats I wish we held onto ours. It needed major transom work and was water logged.

[BuckCamp]

Did "Hardin-Marine" out of Mira-Loma, CA ever splash the Baker or Stoker Mod-VP hull? I have a 1988 20.1' "Caribbean by Hardin-Marine" (Mod-VP-Hull, 1,350# dry-weight w/o power, seats 6-7, left-side-steer, 2-aluminum-saddle-tanks-24-gal-each). Coast-Guard plaque is there, but is blank, nothing stamped or written.

I have been trying to research this hull for about a year now & still drawing a blank. Sold with O/B power only & was originally rigged with a Merc 2.4L 200-V from 1989. I am the 3rd owner, boat was bought new in Anaheim, CA; back in 1990. Then went to Sparta, MO in the early 2000's. I brought it to NE-OK in November of 2011. Blew the old Merc & now have a 225PM hanging off the back - 4-hole-CLE, 20"-Mid is drilled/relieved, 12"-set-back w/ Hydrodynamics-manual-jack-plate. She is getting a 1-pc-plate, dry-stacked & dyno-tuned through the winter.

Any info would be GREAT!!! I am trying to get her set-up before Spring!!!

~Buck

[Michael Martin]

post some pictures

[BuckCamp]

Here are three -->

one of the Pad, Under-Bow & the Stern w/ the old 2.4L 200-V still on it. Didnt think the top made any difference, as the cap could have been changed. Can post some of the top if you would like. Also more pic's in my profile.

THANKS!!!

~Buck