OzAK
New member
Okay guys, I know you are chomping for soft water. It's been a long winter and I figured everyone could use a diversion from the ordinary. Headed over to my friend Freds place today to get some pictures of this thing. It's been a work in progress for the last two winters (and summers too) but he says the hard parts are finished and it should get wet sometime this summer. I have a lot more pictures than there is space but I can keep posting as questions arise or just for fun. I've been invited to drive it after the open water trials are finished and have gone for a ride in it. How cool is that?Fred is a true craftsman with a keen eye for detail and is a builder of many fine things. He has about 30+ boat builds to his credit, most if not all of which have been wood and about half of those have been go fasts like hydroplanes. I believe this is his first aluminum boat and its looking good. Fred also builds a mean guitar, any style or type you may want. He makes his real $$ doing aerospace work repairing sheetmetal structures which is where I met him some 30 years ago.
Why a riveted boat you may ask? A couple of reasons, first of which is he doesn't weld. On the other hand he is amaster with aircraft structures and can scratch build like crazy. He just draws up a single page "set" of plans and elevations and commences building out of his head with the rest of it. Talented for sure! Reason #2 is weight. He wanted light and light equals thin, a bit thinner than most welded boats are. All rivets/fasteners are installed with 3M 5200 shot in wet with all seams, strakes, chines, and skin laps put together with 5200 as well. This boat will not leak nor will it be willing to come apart or work rivets loose very readily.
As you look at this artform keep in mind that anything you see is all scratch built, mostly out of his head except the powertrain. Certain parts in the drive are either built by Fred or highly modified to be better than stock. See the details below. Enjoy!!!
The details: The Hull
15.9' with an 18" afterplane. 95% of hull structure is 5086 aluminum with the exception of certain parts of the heavy structure of the transom. The keel area from ahead of the intake to the back of the afterplane is, like the rest of the structure, skinned with aluminum. Over that aluminum is a form fit cover of stainless steel, about .040 in thickness, should help with the rocks if (when) he encounters such things. Hull has a 10 degree deadrise outboard of the ride plate/afterplane. There are 3 floatation compartments and 2 fuel tanks for a fuel capacity of about 20-22 gallons.
The Powerplant
B18C Honda from a Honda Acura LS. This engine is 200 HP stock. What you see in the picture weighs 304#. It is missing only the starter and the exhaust system and the coolant. This sweet little engine won't weigh in at over 350# when it's ready to go. The exhaust is a Burns custom stainless header that will be scratch built as this thing comes together in the engine compartment. The dual tapered megaphone is the heart of that pipe and is a work of welding art. The header pipe lengths are or will be, as you would expect, equal in length. The telltale port aft of the jetpump will be used not for the silly and idiotic looking roostertail that some PWC have but for cooling the header and dampening the noise. This Burns exhaust is a bolt-on and is dyno tested as adding (extracting actually) 30-40 HP to the stock numbers. There is also the added bonus of an additional bolt-on unit, the Edelbrock Performer X Intake with larger injectors. It also adds an additional 30-40 HP to the numbers, so now we're pushing 260-280 HP out of 350# or less. This is reliable horsepower as there have been no mods other than letting the engine BREATHE.
The Pump
A 2002 Yamaha Waverunner XL 155mm Pump with a very trick and custom intake scratch made by Fred. The actual pump and stator is a Skattrak Magnum XL with a modified stator.
Finally, the finished weight. It's estimated to be about 600# dry, so add say 200 for the guy and another 120 or so for fuel. Rounded off , thats 950 pounds pushed by say 260 HP. Any estimates on how fast this scalded cat will be??
That's most of the specs I have for now, I'll keep snapping pics as needed. Hope you find this entertaining. As a gearhead and wrench I love this stuff. R&D is a hoot. I'll post more soon. This boat is also powered by adrenaline.
Have fun guys, Oz
