Where is the 4TH FOUNTAIN FERRARA?
06-23-2018, 07:01 PM
#22
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06-23-2018, 07:23 PM
#23
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Very nice boat, good to read about these limited production Fountains.
May I ask....? You have a highly regarded surname, presumably a relative?
RR
.
May I ask....? You have a highly regarded surname, presumably a relative?
RR
.
06-23-2018, 07:34 PM
#24
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Didn't know anyone was looking for my boat...
I just learned about this thread last night, a friend sent a picture of this thread 06/22/2018.
If anyone knows Blondie put us in touch. [email protected] cell 516 650-6363
These 12 Meters with Arnesons were amazing boats, rocker bottoms riding on the pad.
It is no wonder Blondie wants to collect them, very unique boats and rigging.
Dennis Ferrar was ahead of his time, particularly when he left Hustler and the 32 foot surface drive boats for the better combination of surface drives and the modified bottom on Reggie's 12 Meter. No more U turns at 100! Dennis taught Reggie how to go fast!
If we would have had steps we would have been doing 160 back then. In fact before Dennis closed his shop a Norwegian manufacturer brought Dennis a step bottom boat, the first I ever saw. As I recall Dennis set that boat up with surface drives and a pair of his big blocks.
It was fun driving by race boats at the time.
The fast guys were running about 80 at the time and we would drag race them in a pleasure boat doing 100.
One day in the Hudson we drove right by Don Johnson in his Miami Vice Flat Deck Scarab like he was standing still.
It was a blast! Those were fun times.
Driving this boat in the ocean with big power and the Arneson Drives it ran like a limousine. Super powerful and responsive.
Never ever a drive issue or transmission issue after I traded my 1985 12 Meter with TRS Drives and switched to my current 1987 with Arneson Drives.
Never an issue getting on plane, comes right out of the hole. Between 50 and 80 she throws a Rooster tail 20 Feet high 80 Feet long.
Between 80 and 100 it is like a sling shot, the rooster tail lays down and the boat just goes from point A to point B. Straight and easy, nothing stupid in any water from a flat bay, nice chop or 20 foot waves in the ocean.
Greg
I just learned about this thread last night, a friend sent a picture of this thread 06/22/2018.
If anyone knows Blondie put us in touch. [email protected] cell 516 650-6363
These 12 Meters with Arnesons were amazing boats, rocker bottoms riding on the pad.
It is no wonder Blondie wants to collect them, very unique boats and rigging.
Dennis Ferrar was ahead of his time, particularly when he left Hustler and the 32 foot surface drive boats for the better combination of surface drives and the modified bottom on Reggie's 12 Meter. No more U turns at 100! Dennis taught Reggie how to go fast!
If we would have had steps we would have been doing 160 back then. In fact before Dennis closed his shop a Norwegian manufacturer brought Dennis a step bottom boat, the first I ever saw. As I recall Dennis set that boat up with surface drives and a pair of his big blocks.
It was fun driving by race boats at the time.
The fast guys were running about 80 at the time and we would drag race them in a pleasure boat doing 100.
One day in the Hudson we drove right by Don Johnson in his Miami Vice Flat Deck Scarab like he was standing still.
It was a blast! Those were fun times.
Driving this boat in the ocean with big power and the Arneson Drives it ran like a limousine. Super powerful and responsive.
Never ever a drive issue or transmission issue after I traded my 1985 12 Meter with TRS Drives and switched to my current 1987 with Arneson Drives.
Never an issue getting on plane, comes right out of the hole. Between 50 and 80 she throws a Rooster tail 20 Feet high 80 Feet long.
Between 80 and 100 it is like a sling shot, the rooster tail lays down and the boat just goes from point A to point B. Straight and easy, nothing stupid in any water from a flat bay, nice chop or 20 foot waves in the ocean.
Greg
06-23-2018, 11:14 PM
#27
Gold Member
Gold Member
OK, sorry.
Tullio Abbate is a fairly well known high performance boat designer/builder/racer. Better known in Europe. Your surname adorns quite a few nice boats but mostly in Europe.
Sounds like you've got a fair bit of knowledge around the offshore stuff, nice to read your input. Thank you sir!
RR
.
Tullio Abbate is a fairly well known high performance boat designer/builder/racer. Better known in Europe. Your surname adorns quite a few nice boats but mostly in Europe.
Sounds like you've got a fair bit of knowledge around the offshore stuff, nice to read your input. Thank you sir!
RR
.
06-24-2018, 10:10 AM
#28
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RR,
Thank you...
Yes I have heard of Tullio. I didn't make the connection when you asked. We are not related that I know of.
I was big into the offshore in the 80s and early 90s One of the first to have a boat like this on Long Island. My 85 was the 5th 12 Meter Fountain out of the mold.
I met Dennis when I started to try to figure out how to do 70 MPH all day long without breaking anything. Dennis was into simple, normally aspirated, big cubic inches, low compression motors that would make huge torque, run all day on pump fuel and Arneson drives. All about the prop making the boat go forward instead of lifting the boat, hence modifying the bottom and change the pad to include rocker effect. Incredible combination.
Today that is accomplished in part by the step bottoms but the the rock solid ride of the deep V and pad combined with Arnesons can drive through anything.
I have pictures somewhere of when we introduced Dennis's big motors and complete drive train at the Boston High Performance Boat show. I will try to find them and will post them.
At that show Mercury and everyone else learned what was up when it came to making reliable power and unbreakable drive train. I tried to convince Dennis to go into mass production at the time but he was making so much money building custom motors and rigging boats for wealthy clients at the time and he felt that there was no way to quality control mass production. He was probably making 40 or 50 pairs of motors per year at the time.
Dennis had a point to prove when he left Hustler. Paul Fiore owned Hustler, Scott Shafiroff Drag Race Engines and High Performance Pump Gas Crate Engines engine builder and from what I hear Dennis 7 Times National Nascar Drag Champion were the first guys to ever get a Deep V over 100 MPH. They did that with KAMA Drives.
Dennis felt that he did not get enough credit for his effort and left Hustler. He approached Reggie, upgraded the KAMA Drives to Arnesons and the first 100+ Ferrara Arneson 12 Meter was born, Instantly Reggie got to easily go 20 MPH faster or more in his own boat.
What followed were the next two 1987 Ferrara 12 Meters with Arnesons complete with Ferrara 100 PLUS Graphics out of the factory with Matching Upholstery.
After those two, the deal was that Dennis was to order a special 12 Meter hull to include my own custom design elements, to be rigged with Monster Motors and Arneson drives. I had traded my 85 12 Meter Executioner with 600 HP Motors and TRS Drives, a Brand New Pair of Anesons in the box and a pair of Dennis's biggest motors at the time for the new boat. It never happened, Dennis never got the hull ordered from Reggie and after a long story I wound up taking Dennis's personal boat.
Within a year or two Mercury and everyone else was building big motors and the rest is history. Mercury was so invested into the shape of out drives that they did everything possible to make their shape perform like a surface drive. They are still fighting the beauty and simplicity of the Arneson ASD8s and Dropbox transition from motor to shaft.
Soon after Dennis had difficulty providing personalized service to each and every client he had up and down the coast, in the Caribbean and who knows where else.
In my opinion Dennis was a genius when it came to mechanical engineering but missed the opportunity to cash in on the wave of business that followed because he was not willing to relinquish his secrets to a large production facility and make the transition from Drag Racer, Transmission Expert and Engine Builder to large scale Business Manager.
I tried to convince Dennis to make the switch but with so many people throwing money at him at the time it was hard to get him to focus on the end game.
It has been amazing to watch the Offshore Evolution, ever increasing need for speed, many great innovations, designs, colors and attention to details by all of the folks in the game.
Nice to make your acquaintance... Evidently you know a little something about something when it comes to boats! ;-)
Greg
Thank you...
Yes I have heard of Tullio. I didn't make the connection when you asked. We are not related that I know of.
I was big into the offshore in the 80s and early 90s One of the first to have a boat like this on Long Island. My 85 was the 5th 12 Meter Fountain out of the mold.
I met Dennis when I started to try to figure out how to do 70 MPH all day long without breaking anything. Dennis was into simple, normally aspirated, big cubic inches, low compression motors that would make huge torque, run all day on pump fuel and Arneson drives. All about the prop making the boat go forward instead of lifting the boat, hence modifying the bottom and change the pad to include rocker effect. Incredible combination.
Today that is accomplished in part by the step bottoms but the the rock solid ride of the deep V and pad combined with Arnesons can drive through anything.
I have pictures somewhere of when we introduced Dennis's big motors and complete drive train at the Boston High Performance Boat show. I will try to find them and will post them.
At that show Mercury and everyone else learned what was up when it came to making reliable power and unbreakable drive train. I tried to convince Dennis to go into mass production at the time but he was making so much money building custom motors and rigging boats for wealthy clients at the time and he felt that there was no way to quality control mass production. He was probably making 40 or 50 pairs of motors per year at the time.
Dennis had a point to prove when he left Hustler. Paul Fiore owned Hustler, Scott Shafiroff Drag Race Engines and High Performance Pump Gas Crate Engines engine builder and from what I hear Dennis 7 Times National Nascar Drag Champion were the first guys to ever get a Deep V over 100 MPH. They did that with KAMA Drives.
Dennis felt that he did not get enough credit for his effort and left Hustler. He approached Reggie, upgraded the KAMA Drives to Arnesons and the first 100+ Ferrara Arneson 12 Meter was born, Instantly Reggie got to easily go 20 MPH faster or more in his own boat.
What followed were the next two 1987 Ferrara 12 Meters with Arnesons complete with Ferrara 100 PLUS Graphics out of the factory with Matching Upholstery.
After those two, the deal was that Dennis was to order a special 12 Meter hull to include my own custom design elements, to be rigged with Monster Motors and Arneson drives. I had traded my 85 12 Meter Executioner with 600 HP Motors and TRS Drives, a Brand New Pair of Anesons in the box and a pair of Dennis's biggest motors at the time for the new boat. It never happened, Dennis never got the hull ordered from Reggie and after a long story I wound up taking Dennis's personal boat.
Within a year or two Mercury and everyone else was building big motors and the rest is history. Mercury was so invested into the shape of out drives that they did everything possible to make their shape perform like a surface drive. They are still fighting the beauty and simplicity of the Arneson ASD8s and Dropbox transition from motor to shaft.
Soon after Dennis had difficulty providing personalized service to each and every client he had up and down the coast, in the Caribbean and who knows where else.
In my opinion Dennis was a genius when it came to mechanical engineering but missed the opportunity to cash in on the wave of business that followed because he was not willing to relinquish his secrets to a large production facility and make the transition from Drag Racer, Transmission Expert and Engine Builder to large scale Business Manager.
I tried to convince Dennis to make the switch but with so many people throwing money at him at the time it was hard to get him to focus on the end game.
It has been amazing to watch the Offshore Evolution, ever increasing need for speed, many great innovations, designs, colors and attention to details by all of the folks in the game.
Nice to make your acquaintance... Evidently you know a little something about something when it comes to boats! ;-)
Greg
06-24-2018, 10:41 AM
#29
Gold Member
Gold Member
06-25-2018, 12:16 PM
#30
Registered
RR,
Thank you...
Yes I have heard of Tullio. I didn't make the connection when you asked. We are not related that I know of.
I was big into the offshore in the 80s and early 90s One of the first to have a boat like this on Long Island. My 85 was the 5th 12 Meter Fountain out of the mold.
I met Dennis when I started to try to figure out how to do 70 MPH all day long without breaking anything. Dennis was into simple, normally aspirated, big cubic inches, low compression motors that would make huge torque, run all day on pump fuel and Arneson drives. All about the prop making the boat go forward instead of lifting the boat, hence modifying the bottom and change the pad to include rocker effect. Incredible combination.
Today that is accomplished in part by the step bottoms but the the rock solid ride of the deep V and pad combined with Arnesons can drive through anything.
I have pictures somewhere of when we introduced Dennis's big motors and complete drive train at the Boston High Performance Boat show. I will try to find them and will post them.
At that show Mercury and everyone else learned what was up when it came to making reliable power and unbreakable drive train. I tried to convince Dennis to go into mass production at the time but he was making so much money building custom motors and rigging boats for wealthy clients at the time and he felt that there was no way to quality control mass production. He was probably making 40 or 50 pairs of motors per year at the time.
Dennis had a point to prove when he left Hustler. Paul Fiore owned Hustler, Scott Shafiroff Drag Race Engines and High Performance Pump Gas Crate Engines engine builder and from what I hear Dennis 7 Times National Nascar Drag Champion were the first guys to ever get a Deep V over 100 MPH. They did that with KAMA Drives.
Dennis felt that he did not get enough credit for his effort and left Hustler. He approached Reggie, upgraded the KAMA Drives to Arnesons and the first 100+ Ferrara Arneson 12 Meter was born, Instantly Reggie got to easily go 20 MPH faster or more in his own boat.
What followed were the next two 1987 Ferrara 12 Meters with Arnesons complete with Ferrara 100 PLUS Graphics out of the factory with Matching Upholstery.
After those two, the deal was that Dennis was to order a special 12 Meter hull to include my own custom design elements, to be rigged with Monster Motors and Arneson drives. I had traded my 85 12 Meter Executioner with 600 HP Motors and TRS Drives, a Brand New Pair of Anesons in the box and a pair of Dennis's biggest motors at the time for the new boat. It never happened, Dennis never got the hull ordered from Reggie and after a long story I wound up taking Dennis's personal boat.
Within a year or two Mercury and everyone else was building big motors and the rest is history. Mercury was so invested into the shape of out drives that they did everything possible to make their shape perform like a surface drive. They are still fighting the beauty and simplicity of the Arneson ASD8s and Dropbox transition from motor to shaft.
Soon after Dennis had difficulty providing personalized service to each and every client he had up and down the coast, in the Caribbean and who knows where else.
In my opinion Dennis was a genius when it came to mechanical engineering but missed the opportunity to cash in on the wave of business that followed because he was not willing to relinquish his secrets to a large production facility and make the transition from Drag Racer, Transmission Expert and Engine Builder to large scale Business Manager.
I tried to convince Dennis to make the switch but with so many people throwing money at him at the time it was hard to get him to focus on the end game.
It has been amazing to watch the Offshore Evolution, ever increasing need for speed, many great innovations, designs, colors and attention to details by all of the folks in the game.
Nice to make your acquaintance... Evidently you know a little something about something when it comes to boats! ;-)
Greg
Thank you...
Yes I have heard of Tullio. I didn't make the connection when you asked. We are not related that I know of.
I was big into the offshore in the 80s and early 90s One of the first to have a boat like this on Long Island. My 85 was the 5th 12 Meter Fountain out of the mold.
I met Dennis when I started to try to figure out how to do 70 MPH all day long without breaking anything. Dennis was into simple, normally aspirated, big cubic inches, low compression motors that would make huge torque, run all day on pump fuel and Arneson drives. All about the prop making the boat go forward instead of lifting the boat, hence modifying the bottom and change the pad to include rocker effect. Incredible combination.
Today that is accomplished in part by the step bottoms but the the rock solid ride of the deep V and pad combined with Arnesons can drive through anything.
I have pictures somewhere of when we introduced Dennis's big motors and complete drive train at the Boston High Performance Boat show. I will try to find them and will post them.
At that show Mercury and everyone else learned what was up when it came to making reliable power and unbreakable drive train. I tried to convince Dennis to go into mass production at the time but he was making so much money building custom motors and rigging boats for wealthy clients at the time and he felt that there was no way to quality control mass production. He was probably making 40 or 50 pairs of motors per year at the time.
Dennis had a point to prove when he left Hustler. Paul Fiore owned Hustler, Scott Shafiroff Drag Race Engines and High Performance Pump Gas Crate Engines engine builder and from what I hear Dennis 7 Times National Nascar Drag Champion were the first guys to ever get a Deep V over 100 MPH. They did that with KAMA Drives.
Dennis felt that he did not get enough credit for his effort and left Hustler. He approached Reggie, upgraded the KAMA Drives to Arnesons and the first 100+ Ferrara Arneson 12 Meter was born, Instantly Reggie got to easily go 20 MPH faster or more in his own boat.
What followed were the next two 1987 Ferrara 12 Meters with Arnesons complete with Ferrara 100 PLUS Graphics out of the factory with Matching Upholstery.
After those two, the deal was that Dennis was to order a special 12 Meter hull to include my own custom design elements, to be rigged with Monster Motors and Arneson drives. I had traded my 85 12 Meter Executioner with 600 HP Motors and TRS Drives, a Brand New Pair of Anesons in the box and a pair of Dennis's biggest motors at the time for the new boat. It never happened, Dennis never got the hull ordered from Reggie and after a long story I wound up taking Dennis's personal boat.
Within a year or two Mercury and everyone else was building big motors and the rest is history. Mercury was so invested into the shape of out drives that they did everything possible to make their shape perform like a surface drive. They are still fighting the beauty and simplicity of the Arneson ASD8s and Dropbox transition from motor to shaft.
Soon after Dennis had difficulty providing personalized service to each and every client he had up and down the coast, in the Caribbean and who knows where else.
In my opinion Dennis was a genius when it came to mechanical engineering but missed the opportunity to cash in on the wave of business that followed because he was not willing to relinquish his secrets to a large production facility and make the transition from Drag Racer, Transmission Expert and Engine Builder to large scale Business Manager.
I tried to convince Dennis to make the switch but with so many people throwing money at him at the time it was hard to get him to focus on the end game.
It has been amazing to watch the Offshore Evolution, ever increasing need for speed, many great innovations, designs, colors and attention to details by all of the folks in the game.
Nice to make your acquaintance... Evidently you know a little something about something when it comes to boats! ;-)
Greg
