+1.

It Defined raceboat right there... and can take on any Apache41 :angry-smiley-038:

i think jessie is still in new zealand,i saw it some 10 years ago still original and ready to race

No...sorry...you're talking about the 30' Chris Cat. The one in the picture is the 35' Conquest.

T2x

I too love that Conquest JJ shot. Does anyone know if there are any left or how many they made???? It sure would make a cool resto project:drink:

Not sure if this fits the topic. But I figurged I could post it. I'm proud of it.its a 1991 24ft Thundercat.http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...hundercat1.jpg

Without a doubt the last Jessie James.

Way ahead of its time.

Don't forget about the old power play stepped hull cat

Which one? The 32' Cougar?

We made two...the first JJ and a copy for Stu Hayim. Both are rotting in Japan.

Those were the only two identical boats that Conquest ever made. Every other hull was a unique one-off.

T2x

The last Jesse James was the 48 footer not the 36 footer.

T2x

Are there any 35 ft Conquests in the US left?

Wannabe

How about this one when she was a racer - driven by Geoff Purves, used to be mine - sold her last year

I often wondered if that bottom was of Malestrom descent. Good looking ride Justin.

I found some pics of me standing next to it on its tilt tralier the other day. I gotta scan them in. I look about 12 years old in the pics, so it was probably close to 20 years ago.

The Original Superboat

no

I'm not certain, but I believe the Aluminum Popeye's Cougar was the first functioning Superboat on the race course. I don't know when Gentry had the wooden hull built....or the aluminum version, but it was probably shortly after the Popeye's. In any case Copeland got on the race course first.

Brownie?

T2x

Construction was started on this one before Copelands was started. The Aluminum ones had a shorter build time.

Gentry purchased this boat.

Ok the 38 wast yellow drama then Benihana,then Satisfaction,then Al duro..Mid Ocean told me that when he bought it it was 70% rotten and eventualy went to the Dump...the 41 ft. was Satisfaction -Popeyes-Stiletto...then was in an accident on the highway and destroyed....

1960 Powercat 14C Twin 75hp flying Scotts

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...ckmate/62a.jpg

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...ower_cat_1.jpg

I believe we have a winner...........

AL Kropp and Jim Ariloa were owners/operators of this boat. "KAT" = "Kropp Ariloa Team" back in 1988/89 or so. They were from the Chicago area.

I bought this white 1995 35' Ocean Express for my next project.

Old school

but shouldn't the real winner have 2 "tower of power" Merc's???

at least T2x knows what I am taking about!!!!

VV I had an old vid with those guys really crankin it out and pushing the Chairman of the Board. That was a hot ride!

I remember that boat when they first got it. would love to see any of the boats from that area from back in the 80s, like al's RAMBO or beast, savage, billy the kid, the dealer and so on

I saw Jesse James while at the docks in Greenwich CT in 1985 or 1986(?) at an NPBA race. That's what got me into Cats! :ernaehrung004:

[QUOTE=Velocity Vector;3048773]AL Kropp and Jim Ariloa were owners/operators of this boat. "KAT" = "Kropp Ariloa Team" back in 1988/89 or so. They were from the Chicago area.

V.V.,

Did "KAT" then race later on as "BFI Systems" ?

C.B.

Screw the power...I'm talking about the boat. It's truly old school and beautifully restored. I had one of those 14's as well as a 15 footer back in the day. As a result of those great years, I searched for and found another 15 a few years ago. These boats are the real "Icons". All of the Offshore cats that followed (including our Shadows and Conquests), owe everything to the Powercats, Switzers, Craigs, and Stylecrafts that blazed the trail and proved the superiority of multihulls in choppy conditions. I'm simply honest enough to admit it. We started the Shadow Cat project strictly because of our own experiences racing with and against cats and tunnel hulls in prior years on marathon OPC race courses.

I can tell you straight up if you gave me almost any of the mid 80's Offshore cats today.....I'd probably give it back. (with the exception of a couple of Conquests of course... and just about any Skater:p)

You saw it there in 1986 or 1987, those were the only two years that she ran in that event. That hull inspired a lot of people it seems......

If that one was really built in the 90's it would have been built for the Late Randy Lienbach that died a few years back testing his MTI . The boat was never picked up there was a fued between my old boss Ross and Randy and it was still sitting around the shop when I left in the spring of 2000. The 35' race was the 33' race with a set of falseies added after the fact for ruleing at the time. That was one of there best working hulls .

Anybody know who built the first offshore cat in america???????

I know Active Marine (AKA Express marine AKA Ocean Express) always boasted that he built the first all composite offshore race catamaran which was built in the late 70's in Algonac Mi. just down the street from the oringinal Chris craft plant. When I worked for Ross at Express I tell you there was some great stories he used to tell of back in the day.

Didn't Betty Cook's husband Paul Cook have Ron Jones build a tunnel Hull for him in the early 70s? It was called Kudu. Don't think it did to well back then. Raced a few times.


Thank you
Jim

The earliest offshore races( early 60's)featured Powercat and Ted (Ron Jones' father) Jones hulls.......... just a little bigger than the one shown above in this thread.

The "Kudu"....designed and built by Ron Jones was the first "full size" U.S. offshore cat.....

Ross Focht, Alan Brown, and us (Shadow) all debuted our composite cats at about the same time (1980)....... The first two featured English Cougar licensed designs.....ours was 100% American. In any event....none of us was "first" as the fiberglass Powercats were 20 years earlier.

T2x

Ross Focht, Alan Brown, and us (Shadow) all debuted our composite cats at about the same time (1980)....... The first two featured English Cougar licensed designs.....ours was 100% American. In any event....none of us was "first" as the fiberglass Powercats were 20 years earlier.

T2x[/QUOTE]

Living on Lake St Clair I was able to see the Active cats evolve. I believe Butch Rayns Express was the first Active cat in 1979,1980 . Here on the lake she was known as the wooden shoes, because it wasnt very fast. By 1980 Ross went with the Cougar designs that worked, I believe the black 33' one was the first one to race by Gary Stewe in Sport class. This Active later became Bob Kehrigs [M-588 COUGAR, & M -17Magic] that won the Key West Worlds in 1983.
T2x was the Black Duck the first Shadow to race, or was it Love It ???

The first Shadow to race was mine...... "Shadow Cat" in 1980. Shortly after that the first Black Duck debuted along with "Erickson Racing" and "Luv-it". Then the avalanche followed in 1981. Butch Ryan can say for sure, but I don't think his boat was the first Active cat. There was an open boat (a 38 footer i think) with "Cougar" emblazoned on the sides that ran in 1981. I think that was the first Active Cat.

Active Cats
 

ROSS BUILT THE FIRST 33 FOR BUDD DRETTMAN, THE OWNER OF ACTIVE TOOL AND MARINE. BUDD AND ROSS RAN IT FOR A YEAR. I BOUGHT IT AND PUT MY TURBO MOTORS IN IT TO SEE HOW THEY WOULD PERFORM. THE BOAT WAS HEAVY AND HAD A VERY NARROW TUNNEL SIMILAR TO THE LATER CIGARETTE CATS. ROSS BUILT A NEW KEVLAR GRAPHITE CAT WHICH I BOUGHT , SWITCHED ENGINES AND THE REST IS HISTORY , THE BLACK COUGAR WAS BOB KEHRIGS CAT.

I believe it was a guy by the name of Hugh Doyle, and believe it was 30` something feet, Built in Osperey Fla. I would say it was 1964 ?????? Was built in collaboration with Kiekhaefer. Power I think was a pair of Mercruiser 427`s I forget who the designated driver was, but I do know that Odell Lewis was slated to drive it. Maybe Brownie will know about it as well. It was very top secret at the time, I was 19 yrs old and a Mercury test driver in Sarasota, we used to stop and watch the progress, at the time it seemed huge and mean.