My Resto Project

[aex]

Jammin' it worked ! Here's my story .
The hull's almost stripped out .
Next the boat goes to Itchiban in Bristol , RI . They are subcontracters for Eric Goetz and just moved into their new facility directly across the street from Outerlimits .
My hull is foam cored and like all Chris Cats has a sloppy heavy laminate . Chris Craft used balsa bulkheads and gridwork , the stringers and transom are also wood . I intend to replace all the wood with various density foams attached with a fiberglass , carbon , epoxy laminate . A reinforced 4 man F - 16 canopied cockpit is also in the works . At their facility the hull will then be primed in Awl Grip 545 and off to rigging .
I want this boat to be as clean a Barrett Jackson BB Vette .
My brother said by the time I'm done I could have had a fourty foot Skater . My reply " hey how am I going to tow a fourty foot Skater with my Vette ? "
Seriously , I believe the old Shadows , Chris Cats , and a few others may be COPOS of the boating industry and deserve to be preserved .

[Ryan Beckley]

AEX was this an old race boat? Which One? What ever happened to th "RODEO" molds?

[aex]

Ryan , Yes she's an old race boat that was never popped if you get my drift . The Rodeo molds are all over the place . I still have the 31 mold though it's beat after 15 years of weather .
Do you remember my 31' Rock & Roll Rodeo ?
That boat was fast ! Too bad we built it dangerously light and busted her up in Virginia that was 1992 or 93 I believe .
Back then money was tight coming out of the RI bank crisis and all , that loss hurt .
We had 500 inch Big Chiefs in that baby , D Class rules allowed a single carb , cast exhaust and no blowers , otherwise anything was game . I put titanium valves in the suckers , huge cams and spun my then secret bore , stroke , rod combo 7800 - 8200 rpm .
That boat ran , and I'd put it up against any comparable boat of today , even the Chris for that matter although they suffer a weight penalty , that's why mine is on a diet !

[Dude! Sweet!]

Originally Posted by aex

Seriously , I believe the old Shadows , Chris Cats , and a few others may be COPOS of the boating industry and deserve to be preserved .

That's a great analogy. Every time I see a '69 Z28 sell at BJ for $200k+ I shake my head. Not that they aren't great cars, but heck they made 20,000 of them and if you got a Year One catalog you could build a new one... Even the ZL1 Camaros, there were 69 of them. Heck it's not like Scaglietti hand formed every '71 Hemi 'Cuda! (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE muscle cars, but the prices are absurd).

I've asked Pepe about the number of 28 Panteras built. He said around 300 would be his best guess. I asked Martin Sanborn how many '35 Canopy Fountains... 2. How many Apache 41s? 47s? Cougar Cats?

CUV V-hulls, 12 - 14 boats (Marco, I know I still owe you an email!). And in my mind these boats are the Ferrari GTO of offshore race boats.

This old heavy metal is RARE stuff and it's great to see people taking an interest in preserving these boats before they are all cut up, sunk, scrapped and made into Center Consoles.

[Jammin']

It's clearly not like that with boats and I wonder why. Perhaps they are just less accessible. In general, you can't have one in you garage for the occasional Sunday drive. Insurance doesn't make sense either. Cheap agreed value classic car insurance with annual inflation adjustment is easy for cars. Classic muscle boats? Forget it.

Originally Posted by Dude! Sweet!

That's a great analogy. Every time I see a '69 Z28 sell at BJ for $200k+ I shake my head. Not that they aren't great cars, but heck they made 20,000 of them and if you got a Year One catalog you could build a new one... Even the ZL1 Camaros, there were 69 of them. Heck it's not like Scaglietti hand formed every '71 Hemi 'Cuda! (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE muscle cars, but the prices are absurd).

I've asked Pepe about the number of 28 Panteras built. He said around 300 would be his best guess. I asked Martin Sanborn how many '35 Canopy Fountains... 2. How many Apache 41s? 47s? Cougar Cats?

CUV V-hulls, 12 - 14 boats (Marco, I know I still owe you an email!). And in my mind these boats are the Ferrari GTO of offshore race boats.

This old heavy metal is RARE stuff and it's great to see people taking an interest in preserving these boats before they are all cut up, sunk, scrapped and made into Center Consoles.

[glassdave]

Originally Posted by aex

Jammin' it worked ! Here's my story .
The hull's almost stripped out .
Next the boat goes to Itchiban in Bristol , RI . They are subcontracters for Eric Goetz and just moved into their new facility directly across the street from Outerlimits .
My hull is foam cored and like all Chris Cats has a sloppy heavy laminate . Chris Craft used balsa bulkheads and gridwork , the stringers and transom are also wood . I intend to replace all the wood with various density foams attached with a fiberglass , carbon , epoxy laminate . A reinforced 4 man F - 16 canopied cockpit is also in the works . At their facility the hull will then be primed in Awl Grip 545 and off to rigging .
I want this boat to be as clean a Barrett Jackson BB Vette .
My brother said by the time I'm done I could have had a fourty foot Skater . My reply " hey how am I going to tow a fourty foot Skater with my Vette ? "
Seriously , I believe the old Shadows , Chris Cats , and a few others may be COPOS of the boating industry and deserve to be preserved .

If you are planing on adding a canopy contact Rich Luhrs (T2X) or George Linder (GHL) here on the board. They have done extensive work on using the F-16 canopy and have developed a set of guidelines for safety. I got a copy last year and they are very useful, alot has gone into the development.

Keep the pics coming

[aex]

That's a great idea I'll contact him , thanks for the suggestion .
George designed the running surfaces and tunnel for our 62' M2 Cat .
The engines are enroute and arriving tomorrow am .
I'll post some photos of these soon . Also I'm having second thoughts about selling my 540 EFI's , they are original to this boat and one of those could have a temporary home in my 67 Camaro pro tour . I'll just need to shorten up the bells for hood clearance .
I'd rather give up a little torque than advertise .

[aex]

Here they are .
Anyone with any history or tech info on this engine model please forward it .
They are Merc / Eickert 510 Big Chief , dry sumps with EFI Tech Boxes .

[KNOT-RIGHT]

Nice project!


I look forward to seeing it as it unfolds.
Please post the project pictures.


Good to have some older cats up here

There really are not that many cats period here.
Fall river poker run had only two.
Skater and a Motion.



Gerry

[aex]

Ah u doin' Knot right ? Your Skater is awesome .
I'm from Cranston .
Today I got good news , the hull & bulkheads are all dry and solid the bad news the engine beds were bad ( I knew this ) and the transom is wet and partially delaminated ( suspected but now confirmed ) .
No big deal I guess , We're going to replace them with foam / carbon / epoxy . This will take some weight off the rear of the hull . I'm going to have to shorten the driveshafts to maintain CG .
We know this hull came from Chris with #4 drives and Y pipes because the rear is all original , unplugged and uncut . The Merc tags on the 540's match up .
Notice today I cancelled the engine classified ad . My brother thinks I should use the 540 EFIs instead of the Big Chief EFI motors I just bought .
Any thoughts on this out there , speak up ! Now I'm suddenly undecided . I like the fact the newer engines are super exotic , performance wise there's probably little if any difference and either way I'm running #5 drives with crash boxes . Do you think the crash boxes will hold up ?