Great Moments In V Bottom History

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01-23-2013 | 02:53 PM

#481

T2x

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Allergic to Nonsense

Joined: Aug 2001

Posts: 5,007

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From: Granite Quarry, NC

Quote:

Originally Posted by spectras only

T2x, thanks for your efforts posting here the evolution of performance boating in great detaill. May I ask you a question myself too, were you affiliated with Luhrs boats in the past? Always liked the sport fishing models and wondered how the Luhrs compared to let say a Buddy Davies or Rybovitch in ride quality ? Going back to performance boats , what do you know about Sonny Levi's 'Barbarina' ,powered by four Lamborghini engines. Was it a good handling hull ? In my pictures ,it looks like running pretty high with very little vetted surface ,but can't tell if it was chine walking without lowering the tabs.It had fixed tabs.

The Luhrs Boats folks are distant relatives....and the distance is very great.

Sonny Levi's boats were beautiful to the point of being unique works of art. The first one I saw was "GhostRider", an English built Souter hull, in the mid 60's raced (virtually unbeaten)by Jim Wynne. Later Barry Cohen bought it and has it to this day.

I raced (in a twin Evinrude x115 powered wooden 18' Eltro) side by side against a 21' Levi designed Souter hull (OMC factory hull...see picture below taken a few months later) from Milwaukee to Chicago and back on Lake Michigan in 1968. We were nose to nose for miles and that (big for its time) boat handled rough water beautifully while always seeming to be floating over the waves. The Eltro was no pig either (it was the basis for our 21 Challengers and Shadows) so the performance of both boats in moderate Great Lakes conditions was very impressive. The Levi/Souters did chine walk a bit but it was nothing that couldn't be controlled with tabs and good driving skills. The boat in your picture appears to be one of the Italian built versions of his designs...and is absolutely bellissimo!

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Last edited by T2x; 01-24-2013 at 07:36 AM.

01-23-2013 | 03:17 PM

#482

spectras only

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Joined: May 2004

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From: Okanagan Falls BC. Canada

Quote:

Originally Posted by T2x

The boat in your picture appears to be one of the Italian built versions of his designs...and is absolutely bellissimo!

Barbarina was a one of and I think it's gone. Don't know the exact cause.

Here's one more picture of it I found. Looks like Levi set it up with the props turning out for stern lift and had rudder off the transom for better handling and water cooling, no scuppers on the bottom, less friction.

Last edited by spectras only; 01-23-2013 at 03:23 PM.

01-23-2013 | 03:27 PM

#483

spectras only

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Joined: May 2004

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From: Okanagan Falls BC. Canada

What do you think of the Switzers? They've been around for a while.

01-23-2013 | 03:54 PM

#484

offshorexcursion

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Joined: Mar 2008

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From: Traverse City MI

Tuff 28 is a good example of how a non step boat runs about the same as a step 29 OL. Both sweet boats but amazing how fast the Tuff is when the "industry" tells us we need steps to go fast.

http://www.tuffmarine.com/

01-23-2013 | 04:40 PM

#485

Mr Gadgets

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Joined: Dec 2000

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From: Holland, Mi USA.

Very interesting reading!!

01-23-2013 | 05:37 PM

#486

spectras only

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From: Okanagan Falls BC. Canada

If I was going for a single engined 28 , the Tuff 28 would be a serious contender with BB power.
It would probably be suitable for twin 6.2's . Can't find specs for deadrise on their website.

http://www.tuffmarine.com/Boat_Pages...28_inboard.htm

Last edited by spectras only; 01-23-2013 at 05:43 PM.

01-23-2013 | 05:57 PM

#487

thirdchildhood

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Joined: Oct 2005

Posts: 5,825

Likes: 612

From: Clarkston, Michigan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Gadgets

Very interesting reading!!

Yes it is. Especially since I run an old school, deep V, non-stepped hull that is very predictable and forgiving on the Great Lakes.

01-23-2013 | 06:56 PM

#488

EXCESS ENERGY

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Joined: May 2007

Posts: 709

Likes: 15

From: S.E. PA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by t2x

i think a pad bottom is preferable to a standard vee (all of our 21 footers had pads). We found that full flat pads were faster, but slighly vee'd pads rode better and were a bit more forgiving. On the other hand the vee'd pads required a bit more steering correction (wheel "sawing")at extremely high speeds. To me the allison pad bottom (see below) is still the fastest monohull design extant...and has no steps forward. The closest hull design to that in the offshore arena today is the velocity and steve stepp raced allisons prior to starting that company.

The biggest change between the earlier challenger and our later shadow 21' vees was the addition of a notched transom. We found that this improved both speed and handling with no loss in rough water ride or capability...a "win-win" modification for us. As i stated much earlier in this thread some years ago when we experimented with forward steps on those hulls (some ventilated, some not) we found no top speed increase ( i agree there is an argument to be made that steps create reduced drag at mid range speeds), but a much more "slippery" handling boat in turns. I believe that stepped hulls are more prone to spinouts because of this and if i ever owned one (and i really like the cougar rib designs and layouts) i would most certainly put some form of anti skid fins on the aft hull surface, strakes, or trim tabs. I know all the mumbo jumbo about trimming differently for steps versus non steps blah, blah, blah when turning, but the average shmo shouldn't have to go through a process checklist if something unexpected (diver, crab trap, etc)pops up immediately in front of him at high speed.

Hope this helps.......

T2x

x2, velocity