How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Surface drive......

It even had a beak...........but it's no Fountain....long before Reggie.

1968........

Say What????????

T2x

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Is the other guy behind him or on the side of him???

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Or falling off the back :eek: :eek: :drink: :drink:

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

what is it??? is the motor in front? looks to me like the guy in back is on some kind'a frame work. Anymore pics" :cool:

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

The boat was too short to compete in offshore races at the time,hence the grafted on beak and the tubular transom extension with seat installed made it legal. It was Bill Cooper in his 20'Formula,but I think boats were required to be 21',hence the modifications. Kind of ironic,I guess? :D Name of the boat was "Spooky",guess the guy in back named it that :drink:

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

so thats where Reggie got the beak from and why. Race with a smaller boat, Big power small haul beat'em every time. :evilb: :D

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

that is awesome!

I think Fountain got the beak idea from Hydrostream. That is the style of boats he was around the most and I believe that is where the idea came from.

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Now that's real offshore racing!

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

:cool:

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

The best part of the story is that they came in second in the race.....the race from Long Beach to San Francisco!!!!

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

T2X would probably know the answer.. What is the actual name of that type of bow?... I've heard it called a "recurve style bow"... a "clipper style bow"... "clipper style with flare"... ? I know they have appeared on ships for over a hundred years. This isn't anything Reggie invented... he just made it his trademark style.

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

mike how right you are hydrostream . :D :D :D :D :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink:

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

That's not even good enough to be considered a bad photoshop job. :cool:

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

The technical term was, I believe, ABSATCAL (A B*ll Sh*t Appendage To Create Artificial Length). It is still in use today under the newer name BEAK (Baloney Ersatz Addon Kontraption)....:D

T2x

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

My Allison had it years before Hydrostream even existed.....

Since Allison is only a few miles from North Carolina, and also developed the first pad bottom........ and Benny Robertson raced them.....

My money is on them as the Fountain "Inspiration".

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

P.S....

Magic Float is correct about the driver. Bill Cooper was one of the greatest boat racers in history. He won in everything he raced........ from outboards to Offshore..

Remember guys...we're talking Long Beach to San Francisco.

Not Pickwick Lake.

T2x

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Yep probably is! Thanks!:D

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

I think Paul Allison put a 16' deck on the 14' Allison hull to create the 16' Allison. Never ran as well as the 15' that started as a 15'. I may have my facts a little off but T2x will remember and will correct me I hope.And I agree that Reggie was influenced more by Paul and Darris than by Howard Pipkorn(Hydrostream)

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

I agree with the Allisons. They were winning eveything with the pad bottom, and the first to do it. Then the Hydrostreams and early Checkmates (from wild Bill in Ohio) followed. The 15' Checkmates were a favorite around west Detroit. Anyone know where Sammy is now?? He sold the Checkmates on Warren Ave. I cannot remember the name of the dealer.

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Don't throw rocks at our little slice of heaven Rich !

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

What rocks????

I love Tennessee and the Allisons that came from there.....

Good 'ol Rocky Top.......Rocky Top Ten-a-seeeeee.

T2x:p

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Steve Stepp (Velocity) got his pad bottom idea for offshore boats from these style of boats too.

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Thanks for the straight answer buddy....... :p

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

A buddy of mine recently purchased a new Allison... It's fast, but above 50 it becomes a balancing act to keep it on the pad. Not fun to drive at those speeds. You are constantly jabbing the wheel to the left to keep it on the pad, and if it falls off the pad... it goes into a super scary chine walk..... :mad:

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

That's true....and he admits it.....

Steve also built a wood and fibreglass composite Velocity prototype hull in 1981, that he and Gene Whipp raced at the Key West World's. I was so impressed with it and the strength/weight ratio, that we used an improved version of that construction concept in all of our Conquest Cats..... and I freely admit that as well.

Good 'ol Rocky Top....... Rocky Top Tennesseeeeeeee

:D :D

T2x

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Reed I always thought that was what was so fun about those boats.... :D:D

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

We all went through that ..........it takes a delicate and subtle touch.

FYI...... My Allison race boat pictured above.... had two right hand rotation engines...... That rig made a single engine version seem like a walk in the park.

T2x

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Sad thing is when Checkmate is mentioned..... "Wild Bill" Combs is always credited...... yet the company was founded and conceived by he and his equal partner.... the late Bill Downard...who was both a creative and stabilizing influence during the company's formative years.

T2x

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Howard Pip is held up on a pedestal that is somewhat like Reggies....... everyone thinks he is an innovator... when in fact all he is, is a marketer.
Pip, got his bottom from Allison.......The pad on a V-King.... is 100% 15' allison.........
The HST is a Stoker

....... from someone that was there:evilb:

RT

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

I always thought Reggie's beak idea came from Hydrostream, I wonder if it's true?

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

the "beak" as everybody calls it was origanally designed for bow lift. I know a guy who worked for hydrosteam for years.

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Found this shot in Searace - that guys got a lot of b*lls to ride back there!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

Engine was a Holman and Moody 500hp.

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

That's what my father in law says about them too...he could really keep them balanced throughout those long marathons.
The guys who could do it, reeeeally loved it!
Same is true today.

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

That is what I miss about my hydrostream. The other thing that people do not realize is that you can go over some decent size waves WOT because you are so high in the air that the only part of the boat that hits them is the very back couple inches. Then the stern lifts a bit and clears all the rest of the waves and settles back down.

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

The beek works well dropping the wife off at the dock.

Re: How much innovation could one boat stand?
 

I was in that Long Beach-San Fran race in 1967. I busted George Couzens' "Donzi Blue Devil" in the Long Beach-Morro Bay leg. Cooper took me for a ride in Long Beach. Free douche. Darryl Jenkins was his perrenial rider. One tough MF.