Conquest cats
 

How many were built and are they all still around?

Re: Conquest cats
 

Few the hulls of the Conquest.
The first one, was by the way the only 35,' designed by George Linder and it was the more famous; It was Jesse James of the brothers' Lavin in 1986, and that it also brought the mark of the Chris Craft.Jesse was powered with a couple of Mercruiser and raced in Open 1.
The same year they also raced the 39' Maxon powered with Mercruiser of Tim Ciasulli that it participated both in the Superboats and in Open. In Europe, the other 39' Rocky-Euromarche' of the Frenchman Fruitier.In 1988 always in Franch it appeared a 32' with outboards, the Cote D'Azur of Bouttler.
In 1989 the Rocky was sold to the Frenchman Berthault that call it Est, that in the 1990 footstep to Kersenti as Cecico.The motors were always the Lamborghinis V12.
Finally in 1989 the biggest Jesse James Superboat of Chris Lavin of 48' powered with three Batten.
To notice that in 1985 a first Conquest of 39' was rigged ready toi race called White Heat II that never raced and it had put in sale, perhaps becoming Rocky.

Re: Conquest cats
 

Here the only one still around that I know; the 39' Rocky-Est

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6822/000008120nd4.jpg

Re: Conquest cats
 

I forgot all about the 48', I remember seeing it testing on the St.Clair river years ago. I don't think they ever got it to run real good with the power plant selection. The 39' Rocky is in our shop right now, I've been through just about every sqaure inch looking at how it's put together, VERY impressive work. Does anyone know if the 35' Jesse boat still exists, I still have the Wooden Boat magazine it was featured in back in 1986.

Re: Conquest cats
 

Okay here goes...These are all of the Conquests

All of the following are separate individual hulls all built between 1983 and 1988 by my company Conquest Marine, handcrafted by Ken Adams and designed by George Linder.

1. White Heat at 39 feet...last seen in Florida

2. Rocky at 39 feet...currently in Michigan

3. Rolling Thunder at 32 feet..sent to Europe

4. Chris Cat 37..at 37 feet..currently in New Jersey

5. Jesse James at 35 feet...in a rice paddy in Japan

6. Recovery at 35 feet....also in Japan

7. What-a-Package at 32 feet ...in Michigan

8.Captain America at 32 feet...last seen in California

9. Conquest Kitten plug at 11 feet...(Never produced)

10. Checkmate Cat plug at 24 feet...(modified beyond recognition by Checkmate)

11. Jesse James 48' ...somewhere in the Southwest

Th--th--th--thas all folks. :p

T2x

Re: Conquest cats
 

Here's a few

Re: Conquest cats
 

and a few more

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P.S. Black Tornado:

The 35' Jesse James was not the first Conquest......... It was the 5th.... built after White Heat, Rocky, the Chris Craft 37 Maxon, and Rolling Thunder.

T2x

Re: Conquest cats
 

Many Thanks T2x! You have made things clear on your Conquest (I didn't know that you have builded them).
They sincerely seemed me some few the built hulls but that it was all of this' that I had as information.
Among the Jesse James 35' I believe it was one of the best and beautiful cats that have raced in offshore.
I believe that the Lavins made to go crazy of anger to the Copeland that he was systematically seen passed by that small cat with two motors against his whale Popeye's , even if Jesse James didn't race in the Sperboats.
Sinned that there was the tragedy of Mark Lavin.
Thanks still!

Re: Conquest cats
 

Triumph and tragedy run side by side sometimes...... On Tuesday, Mark Lavin was celebrating beating everyone at Key West including Popeyes.....

That "small cat" ran amazingly well even outside of the reef.

on Thursday , he was killed tragically........

We'll never know how good he and his brother could truly have been...... but they were something special...something very special.

Ciao bene'

T2x

Re: Conquest cats
 

Here some others images of the Conquest cats.
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/870...eheat85gj4.jpg
That Terry Philips are you T2x?
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8...dazur88sg1.jpg
Cote D'Azur 1988 It was the former Rolling Thunder?
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/198...7aresizht8.png
Maxon - Key West 1987. T2x you didn't speak about it nothing.Why? It wasn't really a Conquest?
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/519...87resizyg1.jpg
Rocky - Winner of the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes in 1987.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3347/est88gw9.png
Est,former Rocky,1988

Re: Conquest cats
 

T2x, that Jesse James was the same with the canopy of 1987?
http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/6271/keywest87af2.jpg

Re: Conquest cats
 

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/2935/jesse86abp8.png
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/188...86resizle2.jpg
http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/102...ckpit86om6.jpg
Key West 1986 - In Memory of Mark Lavin.

Re: Conquest cats
 

1. The "Cote D'azur" outboard hull is , in fact the Rolling Thunder after it went overseas.

2. The Maxon pictured is the 37' Chris Cat.. I mentioned above....This was a plug that Chris Craft commissioned but decided not to go to market with shortly before they backed out of the cat market completely. The plug was never meant to be raced....and was constructed of materials not suited for marine use.

3. The canopied 35' Jesse James is , in fact, the original 35' as it ran...after..Mark's death. There is a long story around those canopies...but the gist of it is...We had them ...in the shop....before Mark died. Key West, November '86, was to have been the last race without them....and they would have saved his life.

T2x

Re: Conquest cats
 

Unbelievable and damnedly cruel the destin.

Re: Conquest cats
 

Thanks Black Tornado for all the photos and Thanks T2x for the history lesson, I'm a big fan of all your work.

Re: Conquest cats
 

Billy, How's it going back at the shop? Are you comming on down to Destin? :drink: :drink:

Spark

Re: Conquest cats
 

Things are going smooth, my Dad is in from New Orleans till monday so we're doing Thanksgiving dinner this sunday.
Good luck racing and as always be safe.

Re: Conquest cats
 

The white heat is pretty much no more. Last pictures I saw of it ItHad about ten feet cut off of it from the transom fwd.

Re: Conquest cats
 

I remember seeing a picture a year or so ago with white heats transom cut off I think it was for sale on screamandfly.com .
Billy, We are rolling out of Destin in about 10 minutes, I will see you guy's in the morning.
How is the 17' progressing ?I have some stuff I wan't to talk to you about and I have alot of pic's on some cool stuff for some idea's ! :D

See ya in the morning!

Spark

Re: Conquest cats
 

So what your saying is...
This hull was never ment to see water?
It was to be used to make the molds?
Was it a dangerous thing to have in the water?

Re: Conquest cats
 

Molds were never made....

The hull was not so much dangerous...but, it was constructed with non marine plywood.... so it is positively amazing that it lasted through racing and years of pleasure use.

T2x

Re: Conquest cats
 

Did it win any races how long did they race the hull?

Re: Conquest cats
 

It was in maybe 3 or 4 races over a couple of years. The very first race it left the entire US open class fleet in its wake for the first 10 miles or so at Cape Coral, Fl...I think it had a mechanical failure at that point. We have the video and it was a very impressive display....especially for a boat that was nothing more than a running plug.

Who knows if Chris Craft had stayed in the game and actually built the hull, things might be quite different in terms of cat development history.

T2x

hi T2x,late response ! the 37 chris craft hull is for sale at the moment do you now anything about the condition ,i like to now if it is worth restoring it?

many thanks jef.

I might buy that as a box for one of my Flight Marine cats!

That boat could still be used as a plug for a mold.... beyond that... I have no opinion.

Proof positive that in many cases the package is worth more than the contents.:p:p:p

T2x

I thought i remembered seeing one for sale in the back of powerboat mag...Had outboards i think...

T2rex, Dang! Got me again! That on pick reminded me of our reunion: "Coots d'azur..........

found this today....

http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/marine...id=356032&img=

That's the 37' Chris Cat plug built in 1985....... it was never intended to be more than a running plug.....

It's a tribute to Ken Adams, our builder and a world class craftsman, that it still exists at all.

T2x

Looking at the Jesse James boat and such, What speeds were those boats able to acheive back then?



Darrell.

I think the Jesse James 35 footer ran something like 133 mph. I remember seeing that on one of the videos I bought last year.

thanks TX2,do you now the beam from the boat?i live in thailand,they build all the speedboats here from plywood they are really good in that and the labour is cheap so a restauration wont cost to much as long as the stringers and bulkheads are still ok.

The beam was close to 10 feet.

You may have all the plywood guys in the world in Thailand but that won't help you rebuild it. The Conquests...aside from the Chris Cat 37 foot plug were all made from a wood and fibreglass composite...and I doubt that you have the craftsmen there to duplicate the process. In fact a Conquest had as much glass as a Shadow or Chris Cat.....plus a lot of Akoume plywood....in layers.

T2x

P.S. the last I heard the 35' Jesse James was in southern Japan....laying in a rice paddy.

T2x

were the conquest cats considered light for their size verses say a same size glass, aluminum, or all wood boat?

..that's sitting @ Kurts Marine, at least it was...right?

No we were never overly concerned with weight, but emphasized strength and performance over all other considerations. Remember, back then, you built for long distances and big water. The Shadows and Chris Cats were also built on the heavy side as well.

At that time the designs were inherently faster than most of the competitors so we didn't have to shave pounds. Materials, race length and water conditions have all changed quite a bit since then.

T2x

Correct.