OK, now that I am thinking about it, it might have been a 32 Skater, but it was all orange.

RT

We did build Dea Won...It was originally Joe Detores boat.....and the Stickers said "Team Shadow", but we were called Image Boat Co. at that time......

The later company that leased the molds, I think was called Team Shadow....... Upon further reflection...even I am confused.

Please don't start a "What's in a name" thread.

T2x

Of all the boats you built, what was your personal favorite besides big Jessie? Where is it now?

Do you ever get a chance to run in any of your old boats? If not, would you take the opportunity to run one if you could? If not, why?

Figure out when Darren and Philip are dragging you to sushi in the city????

Do you ever stop asking questions?:p :p ;) ;)

No. I was even chatting to my fellow masochists during the Marathon. Boy did that irritate people! :D

Besides, we know how social T2x is and how much he enjoys answering unsolicited questions... :eek: :p

That being said........

T2x,

Where were you born?
When?
WHY WERE YOU BORN?:p
Do you like boats?
Why?
Why not?

:D ;)

This is my all time favorite...When last seen it was on the French Riviera.....


T2x

Rolling Thunder was the only Offshore boat in history to use 4 2 liter Formula One Tunnel boat engines...complete with SSM's.... It was a legal Modified class boat (8 liters O/B or twin small blocks I/B) at that time (1984/85).... The Modified record was 101 MPH held by the 30' Chris Cat Jesse James..and it was "common knowledge" that no outboard could stay with an inboard, of the same class, in Rough Water. I believed that tunnel boat motors with their high rev limits and small props would provide the smoothest, most dependable propulsion available, and an outstanding power/weight ratio.....

Rolling Thunder tested at Lake X..... first launching...only one set of props tried because the crew was in a hurry to leave with the boat.......... speed with four people( myself and George Linder included)on board and a half load of fuel....... 117 MPH. The boat was laughed at .....even by the owner's crew , who loved inboards...and considered an oddity by many others.... sort of "T2x's Folly". In hindsight the choice of owners should have been an outboard guy....with all due respect to Vinnie Rinaldi...he was a died in the wool inboard believer...surrounded by a chorus of nay sayers.

At the race in Traverse City, Michigan later that year....The Rinaldi's ( in their second race in a cat ever) and the outboard Rolling Thunder hooked up with National Champion's Chris and Mark Lavin...in the Jesse James Chris Cat..... ( a fantastic rough water boat). The seas were BIG (3-5's).....and nasty, steep Great Lakes "chop".... There were two men in the Chris Cat...and three in the "oddity"....every thing favored the Lavins. The race started with Jesse James settling into the lead in class...as the rest of the competitors faded astern in the seas...... except for this black, seemingly possessed cat...which was tip toeing...over the wave crests as if suspended by threads........( A young video announcer/boat builder hung overhead in a helicopter babbling like an idiot)......... and then the unthinkable happened. Mark Lavin sensed the up coming Conquest Cat...and poured the coals to Jesse James.............. Rolling Thunder kept on coming.... relentless and inevitable..... like some kind of spirit...until they were side by side.

At the roughest part of a 20+ mile straightaway...Jesse James dove off a large wave and slammed down into the trough of the next.......

Rolling Thunder.....hit the same wave..... gave a little wiggle...and spanned to the crest of the next.... seemingly without effort...(See pictures above and below).

The point was proven.

Later the boat changed hands...had an engine fire in New Orleans....because of the one direct reversing powerhead.......but that's a whole 'nuther story.

The bottom line is that boat was the most revolutionery thing we ever did...... and nobody ever understood it.... The second owner took it to Europe ..sans Formula One motors..repowered it with three 2.4's and relegated it to an asterisk....but I'll never forget it.

We still have the original video footage.... and I treasure it.

T2x

The "Inboard killer"

T2x

And here's it's daddy.