Hot Singles ! - Pictures

[T2x]

I do take exception to the demise due to the advent of power trim. The main cause for demise was actually the lack of power trim. If you did not know how to corner the boat by moving your body weight around in the cockpit, the boat would literally cartwheel in the corner. Many drivers learned that lesson the hard way.

Sounds like a great design...... Can't imagine why they didn't make more of them......

Actually the concept has been resurrected today in Offshore racing with a 32 foot cat called "Deep Vee Cats". It is basically the Scat Craft with a bigger, higher lift wing spanning between two hi dihedral symmetrical sponsons.... The whole trick with that boat is to get the entire thing out of the water for speed as the hulls themselves are simply drag. The sponsons also have been modified with flat bottoms and steps. The boat has been "flown" to a couple of kilo records.....but I submit that the speed was achieved in spite of the sponson design, rather than because of it.

[400hpV8johnrude]

T2X in your opinion what hull design would be better? this is kinda like the switzer shooting star w the cockpit moved back. Looks like a better design than a skater imo

[400hpV8johnrude]

Sorry i ment switzer wing!

[T2x]

T2X in your opinion what hull design would be better? this is kinda like the switzer shooting star w the cockpit moved back. Looks like a better design than a skater imo

The wing is a 4 point hydro....NOT a catamaran......so there is little similarity other than the extreme airfoil and lift built into the DVC. The sponsons on the Switzer wing....are flat and designed for speed. The sponsons on the Scat and the DVC are simply a pair of narrow vee bottoms connected by a tunnel roof..... Which may have some merit in very choppy water but limits the speed potential and turning (see comments in earlier posts above) when compared to assymetrical (Molinari, Skater,...etc) tunnel hulls. There's a reason that tunnel hulls replaced not only the wing, but the earlier symmetrical cats (Power cat, Stylecraft, Craig, et al) and that was basically because of precise turning and better overall handling. The Deep Vee Cat in my opinion is old technology (See Aronow's ungainly attempts with a similar consept), re-packaged as "all that and a bag of chips". The hull has done okay, as did the Scat Craft before it....but it is not leading edge technology...rather it is a second tier, older design that benefits from newer materials, a lot of lift, and a pretty good budget. If I were racing in that class I'd run a Doug Wright or a Skater......which are much more state of the art...... Again, this is only my opinion and what do I know anyway?

T2x

[GalaxyTunnel70]

[QUOTE=T2x;1916905]Sounds like a great design...... Can't imagine why they didn't make more of them......

That hit it head on. Actually the "Prop Job" is the original 13' Soles hull. Imagine the 105BP and then the Chrsyler 135 on the back of this 13' hull.

When people like Critchfield and Titus extended it to 16' it became a wonderful marathon boat, if the course was 100 miles long, with no turns. Truly handled well in rough water, because of the V's once it came up out of the water and was "flying". But once you hit that first left, if you weren't aware of the cartwheel problem, it was quite a challenge.

Soles' boat has the flat spot for about 2' forward of the transom. It also has a step about 2" above that that ran about 4' forward of the transom.
If you think of it, with a perfectly flat center tunnel, it was actually compressing the air and in corners would actually "blow" the air out under the outside sponsoon. If you thought you had to lean into the corner, like a V-bottom or hydo, you were doing exactly the thing that would start the "cartwheel" in motion. After that point there was no way to recover.

The other problem with the compression tunnel design is when you are truly "flying" the hull and the engine cuts out in a straightaway. There is nothing to hold the front end up in the air, thus the inevitable "nose-dive".

I think product liabilty might have "killed" this design back then. Maybe better forever with the other issues you have mentioned.

My best memory of "Prop Job" with Bobby was at Miami Marine Stadium. Bobby had one of the 135 Stackers on it, but had fabricated an extended bracket to set the engine further back from the transom, which was basically flat across the width of the hull. He was screaming down the front straightaway, the engine poviding that beautiful whining sound. Then suddenly there was a "wump" sound. I've never seen a boat stop so fast. The bracket had broke, and the only thing keeping the engine from being on the bottom was the throttle and steering cables.

The transom and hull were intact, and that was shortly before I picked up the hull from Bobby in W Palm Beach, and took my turn.

It was a "wild time, and a wild ride".

[GalaxyTunnel70]

Just a quick note to see if I finally goy my avatar to work. sorry for any inconvenience. This was my big Chrysler boat.

[280power101]

Awesome post

[GalaxyTunnel70]

Thanks. Glad you like the avatar. Just Kidding.
Apreciate the feedback.

[Ronster43]

The 2x4 story is true. That was the original "Prop Job" that I have here in Atlanta. The original had a plywood center with a angled flat front. The pictures referenced had rounded cowls. I eventually converted "Prop Job" to a rounded cowl.
After nose-diving a couple of times as the Chrysler BP105 cut-out, it went on the trailer, eventaully I removed the wing, and the 2 hulls were shipped to Atlanta in 1981.
I will have some race-trim pictures shortly. Got to dig them out and digitize them.
I do take exception to the demise due to the advent of power trim. The main cause for demise was actually the lack of power trim. If you did not know how to corner the boat by moving your body weight around in the cockpit, the boat would literally cartwheel in the corner. Many drivers learned that lesson the hard way.

These were great hulls. I didn't mean to imply that power trim lead directly to their demise. My father stopped running them because he could not compete into the wind against tunnels with trim. He was faster downwind and through turns, but he saw the writing on the wall. He and Bill Critchfield then built the larger sit-down version with trim in '71, but it was terrible. After that, tunnel hull development advance rapidly and left it behind. The Scat Craft Pickle Fork remains my favorite boat of all time.

[GalaxyTunnel70]

My father stopped running them because he could not compete into the wind against tunnels with trim.

I never had the chance to run with trim on the Chysler BP105 with the overdrive lower unit. My only trim was body weight.

I really think that a sane engine (SST45, or SST60) with trim would be an excellent option with this hull for new members into our sport to compete at a reasonable cost. I think the 13' and 16' models with the 105 and 135, and above, were out of control for the typical driver.

I'm not sure why Bobby ever let me have "Prop Job", but I had a blast with it. Once you knew how to corner it and how to run into the wind it was a ride you could never imagine.

My father promised me that we would co-drive a Switzer "Wing" after the 1966 Gold Coast Marathon. I have pictures (which I offered to Dave Craig) of us passing the "Skyway Marine", and then him passing us once he got aired out and revved. It was "AWESOME" to have him blow by us like we were standing still. The noise and the moment were something a boat racer lives for.

Unfortunately, my father never kept his promise, and my mother was left trying to fulfill my need for "speed". She is no longer in this world, but she is still with me everyday.

Gary Peacock took aim at me in Key West one time when my mother was there. We were at Boca Chica Bay running a timed race. I made the mistake of cutting a corner too close as I headed for the offshore leg in the twin engine rig finally running like it should have. Like Carl Edwards, Gary let me know that I cut him off after the race at the clubhouse(Gary is over 6', I am about 5' 6"). My mother later let me know that she had been ready to "clean his clock". So much for moms and racing. There are rules, I'm sure, to disqualify racers whose mothers invoke physical violence on a competitor.

I have dozens of similar stories as someone who was trying to race with the "big boys" who were trashing you every step of the way. I guess they never realized that they were trashing the future of the sport every time they made fun of one of us "little guys". I can't explain how humiliating it was to have race films shown at the local race club, and have the "big guys" make fun of your efforts to show up and race.

There were always a few people, like the Titus's, who were always there to help and encourage new players and treat them like they really had a place at the table, a chance to compete and possibly win. I hold those people as close to my heart as my mom.

[LightNBug]

The Scat Craft Pickle Fork remains my favorite boat of all time.[/QUOTE]

Ron, here is mine from 1973-74 era. Made at the old Jax outboard club. I think it's the only pic I have of it.

I ran it at the local races and had lot's of fun. As you can see I had put a seat in it and had trim.I did that after running a couple of 1 hour marathons on my knees. I blew it over in Jax with this 3 cylinder on it. On the back stretch and was fighting like hell trying to get my head above water. Finally put my feet down and stood up in knee deep mud. That didn't hurt bad enough, so I put a in-line six 140 with a speedmaster on it. Blew it over testing and it hurt bad enough that I never raced again. I still have problems with my neck and shoulders that are directly related.

[GalaxyTunnel70]

What a great picture. Looks like yours was one of the 13' models.

I think you reinforced the point from my last post.

Anything over 80hp on this hull was a ticket to big trouble.

Sorry for your pain, my doctor told me a while ago that if I ever flipped again while racing, I might not walk again. So I took up snowboarding. Just Kidding.

Thanks for sharing.

[Ronster43]

Thanks for the pic Sam...good stuff.

[jackie wilson]

Anybody ever see the 4 pointer Ron Jones built for Phil Rolla around 1969. Looked a bit like a frog !!!!! or a coffin with 4 flippers. Do believe you could guide or steer all four sponsons. last time i saw it was in the French maritime museum before it shut down. Phil offered to lend it to me for the Windermere record runs, but it was another of the road to hell things.
Another thing ,it's time to bring some life back to Willa's thread. "Hot Singles"

[Bob V]

Anybody ever see the 4 pointer Ron Jones built for Phil Rolla around 1969. Looked a bit like a frog !!!!! or a coffin with 4 flippers. Do believe you could guide or steer all four sponsons. last time i saw it was in the French maritime museum before it shut down. Phil offered to lend it to me for the Windermere record runs, but it was another of the road to hell things.
Another thing ,it's time to bring some life back to Willa's thread. "Hot Singles"

Hi Jackie...The four point technology still lives today and has been perfected in the Top Fuel Hydro class.