Aronow 39ft cigarette cat
 

I found this on ebay and though its cool

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

LOL I saw that on ebay last night too. Pretty cool, pretty much just looks like a 38 cig from the profile.

Blue Thunder
 

Don Aronow designed this cat by taking a 38 foot flat deck and splitting it down the middle, adding a tunnel between the hahalves. As cats go they are not very efficient. They were called Blue Thiunders and were heavy and slow. The main customer was the Customs Service. Some were built with Lambo V 12 engines.

Wannabe

why they are slow
 

According to what I have heard,they were very fast when they hit the water,however became slower after they were in the water for some time.Maybe Bronnie can confirm that the problem was the balas core absorbed water ?

Its a floating brick by cat hull standards. Will barely keep up with an equal length V bottom of the same size and power.

A true job with photocopier Agfa....

This is my buddies boat. not comparable speed wise to say an older cougar or ocean express, but this boat handles rough water better than a 38 V bottom cigarette in my opinion with similiar speeds. Very stable. Solid as a rock.

I actually got a email today from a guy who ran this particular boat in the Round Britain race in 1984. He also agreed of its rough water handling. He also noted that they were unable to finish the race because during the second leg, they busted a motor mount due to the water conditions. Boat originally had 600HP sabre diesels and ASD surface drives.

The one Mark Mcmanus re-rigged with 800SC mercs and 3A's was a low to mid 80 mph boat and that was a full pleasure version and plain old fiberglass, so Im sure it was quite a bit heavier than this one being kevlar and a race layup. I'd like to see how this one would run with some 800-900HP mills....

Most refer to the 39 aronow cats as Blue Blunders, pigs, etc. But they really arent a bad boat, just not really a true cat, nor a true V. I always liked the gigantic molded in swim platforms on his along with the huge rear deck area.

1984 Aronow Cat
 

That Round Britain boat virtually fell apart.The owner Sherman Whitmore was so incensed by it`s failure, that he wanted a letter highlighting the horrors to be sent to Aronow,but it never happened.Willie Meyers also crewed the boat.

35 not 38
 

You are correct except Don used a 35 Cigarette as the base for the plug, not a 38.

Blue thunder
 

Thanks OC, i knew he used a Cig as a plug. I just assumed it was a 38 since it's close in length. I saw one of the US Customs boats at Cat Cay in 1988. It had the Lambo engines and when it idled in the docks vibrated. The Customs guys were upset the new boats were going to be center consoles with 3 OB's hung off the back. The cost to repair the Blue Thunders was to high. Apparently they would sometimes ram the smugglers boats to disable them.

Wannabe

39
 

For some reason people like to knock them because of the speed, but I have heard a number of Customs guys say they loved the boats because of the stability of the platfom. Back in the late 80's there was a heavy set fellow named Joe (last name may be Rupert or something like that, I think) that ran poker runs in a 39 called 'Boss Hog'. (He later tried to buy Fort Apache) I've seen the boats run in sloppy water and they ran straight and level.

There was one up here for sale 10 years ago or so. I was thinking about buying it but for the wide beam, which makes trailering an issue.

I still think they are cool boats. What a great boat they would be to run back and forth to the Bahamas.

Was it this one?

Think so.

39
 

The color of the hull in your picture appears blue. If I remember correctly, the one up here for sale on Kent Island was white. I do remember it had 540's and #3 SSM's and they were asking $60K.

hmmmmm
 

Didn't some ole boy have a Seals version stripped hull on e-bay for the longest. The cabin and gun tubs would have to go:drink:

Oh they were wave crushers. The weight alone made them a stable platform. Aparently the Lambo engines had issues with parts, since the Customs guy told me they were installing Merc 575's (540 in motors) in the last ones built. He had a Glock 9mm stapped on. Apparently the Center Consoles replacing the BT's were going to be Fountains with triple Mercs on Brackets as I recall. He said the Customs service was going to sell the BT's. This was in the heydays(late 80's) of smugglers in these areas. The pleasure version of these BT's were often built with the TRS drives which slowed them down further being fully submerged and adding drag.

Wannabe

Man I love this boat , If I had the dough I would be there right quick trying to buy her , I had a 27 Aronow Cat thats on Ebay now too ,Everyone said it was a pig except people who saw it running in person, It was a great boat, I like this race version with the 3 man bolster, Seems like its riding O.K in the pictures that have the totally Flat water.

yea...very cool boat. I was going to buy one and put O/Bs on it before I started the Midnight.

I found one about 5 years ago that was made into a center console. The entire top deck was modified , it was a HUGEEEEEEEE Center Console and done really nicely. It was beautiful.

It had twin 225 Optis on it . Owner said it would cruise at 25 -28 and top speed was around 35 mph.

Not bad considering minimum HP for such a big boat. Would probably run really nice with twin 350 Verados.

..................next project:snide:????