Death of Runnin Hot
 

Last night my parents business caught on fire and my Active Thunder was inside.

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

OMG! VERY VERY VERY sorry to learn of this. You just got it perfected.

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

That's terrible !!! What happened??? I always loved that boat. I remember when it was first built. A past friend of mine owned it for several years. I liked it so much, that I started building another one just like it. Before it was finished, Bob Oetringer went belly up, and I never seen the boat again. :mad: Lost alot of $$$$$ on that deal with Bob O.
Did it still have the SSM IV's on it? Was it a 89 or a 90? It was built in 89.

Frank

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

After having the boat for 4 years we finally got the thing running good and then this happens. The vin. on the boat said its a 90 and we still had the ssm IV and 1000hp's. No one got hurt that's the most important thing. They don't know what started it yet. The plugs were in and now there is about 4 to 5 inches of water on the cockpit floor. Was this one of the first 32 at built?

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

sorry for your loss. runnun hot was an awesome boat. :(

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

Sorry to hear that, it was a sharp boat. I have pictures of it at Bobs shop and at Thunder Marines Poker Runs in the early 90's. Also have sales brochure from 1989 with Runnin Hot on it. Bob built me a 24 in 90/91 and I still have it. I think Bob built 2 or 3 before Runnin Hot, not sure though. Runnin Hot was a good name for it.

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

That boat was Ausome!!!!saw it several times in the 90's running with Kaama's ride in and out of SouthHaven and Saugatuck sorry to hear of its demise.....to damn bad. :(

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I will never forget that boat! It's a killer running machine and I was so impressed with it that I bought a 32' Active Thunder when I had the chance.

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

I know that there were a couple built before that one. One was a yellow one that had the name "MIAX" It stood for the owners names of his 2 sons Mike and Ajax. When Harris had Bob build this boat, he wanted a "one of a kind" show boat. There was alot of $$$ sunk into that boat to get it in the condition that it was in.
What kind of speeds did you see out of it? and what did you need to get straightened out? I remember the previous owner wanted to sell it cause he said that everytime he took it out, it came back broken, and he was tired of fixing everything.
I tried buying a extra set of props that he had for it but he said they will go with the boat. That was the landscaper guy from New Lenox Ill.
Can you post a few pics of the boat before the fire? and maybe a few of under the hatches? Did you still run the boxes on the ssm IV's? Does it still have the Stelling exhaust on it? If it does, those might be the same ones that the original owner "Harris" stole from me. :rolleyes: That's another story, go to the Chicago Powerboat Club section, and there's a thread about the loss of your boat. I kinda explained about what an azzhole the original owner was. (still is)
I don't know who you are, but I feel real bad for you cause that was a "one of a kind" boat. I hope that you had good insurance on it. Sad thing is that nomatter what it was insured for, they'll never be able to replace what you had. :(

Frank

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

thats soooo sad, like said above no insurance in the world can replace that boat. good luck

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

One of the original 32' A/T's built was called "ADRENALINE" and it also had extension boxes on it with either #3's or #4's SSM. It was built either in 1988 or 89 and I remember seeing it in the Chicago Boat Show of either one of those years back then and Bob Harris wanted one built just like it only he wanted it built a little differently.

Harris put some 588cid supercharged engines in it and it was a maintenance hog because he demanded that it have solid roller cams installed and it he was always pulling maintenance on it by replacing valve springs and lifters on a constant basis----he was extremely stubborn about the engines having the solid mechanical rollers cams because he felt the boat had a BAD azz type of reputation to live up to. He was always gunning for Jimmy Ariola's 38' Cougar.

There were times when he just didn't always catch the lifters/valve srpings in time and they would break. Pretty soon the maintenance saga caught up to Harris and he finally threw in the towel. He felt he couldn't just enjoy the boat with any less power that would give him more reliability so, he sold the boat. If he felt he couldn't go out and beat everyone (even though they weren't trying to race him), then it wasn't fun to him anymore. To Harris SPEED was everything and it was almost like he was constantly gunning after every performance boat big and small out on the water that he felt was a threat to him.

Some of these guys become so competitive with these boats that they can't seem to just go out and enjoy it with a little less power and turn-key reliability...so, they sell it! I don't quite understand it, but I guess speed can do some funny things to a person---it's very addictive and it can change you. Everyone is different and has their own reasons and that's the way Harris liked to do his boating when he owned that 32' A/T. Apparently, the 32' A/T I now own was built along side of Harris's boat with Harris's boat being finished first.

Bob Harris' boat was an awesome boat and I have rode in that boat a few times and Harris made A LOT of people mad with that Active Thunder of his, but one thing I DO know for sure....Harris knew how to drive that boat---that boy could DRIVE that boat!

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

The AT you're talkin about "ADRENELINE" was owned by Tom Orsino, who owned Pro Marine in Mokena Ill. That boat did have SSM IV's on boxes, and some bigger power than Bob's boat.

He was the J/OFF that dyno'd my engines, then "stole them from me along with all the trannys, SSM's drives and everything else we needed to finish rigging the boat.
I tried pressing charges against him, but the sheriff's dept. down there told me since I "willfully" gave the engines and trannys to him, he did'nt "steal" them. I explained that when I go over to his shop, he's always unavailable to see me, and when I call him on the phone, his secretary always says he's busy and he'll call me back. :rolleyes: The police also told me that it's not a crime to not take phone calls, nor is it a crime to not return them either.
That Fk'n azzhole moved his shop out of state in the middle of the night, and took "all" of the rigging from my boat, along with the powertrain too. He screwed alot of people around here by stealing their parts.
Then, he surfaced in Arizona, under the shop name "Pro Marine" again. I called him out there, and he screened his calls. So, I called again the next day, and gave a ficticious name, and he came to the phone. When he knew it was me, he said that he could'nt get ahold of me so he sold "ALL" of my engines and parts for the balance of the bill!!!!!!!!! :eek: I owed him around $4500 for the dynoing and some other misc work, but I could never reach him to pay him and take my engines and parts home.
My last sentance to him was that if I ever see him in Chicago, or anywhere for that matter, my face will be the last one he'll ever see. PERIOD !!!!!!!!! Another real P.O.S. just like Oetringer and Harris.

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

None of these boats were AT's.

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I believe you're correct. Back then, I think they were called "Thunder boats" Am I correct? Never the less, they were still some bad azz boats in their time. :D

Re: Death of Runnin Hot
 

Thunder Powerboats. I bought the last one before I bought the molds.

Oh, btw, they are still bad-azz :D

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OH YES, they are !!!!!!! :evilb: :evilb: :evilb:

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Was "Cannon Powerboats" ever the name. I thought I remember seeing that name on the NADA guides??

Sounds just like these 3 musketeers , hope i run into Harris one of these days :angry-smiley-038:u know just talk about ole times ...LOL

Wow Frank....I got taken to the cleaners too, but not near as bad as you. I was able to get most of my stuff back from the guy who ripped me off---but then I wasn't the only guy who he put the screws to. :rolleyes:

It's too bad why people feel like they have to rip other people off---but there are A LOT of those kind of people out there! One way or another, it is going to come back to them one day. You reap what you sow---that's the law of the harvest.