usa39
 

Hello all... I found this fourum through a link posted to rec.boats.racing.power . I had asked if anyone knew about the usa39 built Aronow. Sadly that thread must have expired, as I can no longer acess it through that link. The thread was originally started by JGB... One of the responses was from a boat dealer in the Miami area I belive, who knew of a usa39 up in NJ with an asking price of 15k... Can the fellow who posted that please post back here, i'd like to give you a call...
Many thanks!!!
Stan

forlaser , If you find it let me know I'll check it out for you if you want . If it is here in NJ , there must be a dozen people on this board that would know it . I would think it is not in NJ . If it was I probably would have found it by now . :D Let me know if I can help . JOE

Guys call Mark McManus at 941-454-1114.
McManus built those boats back then and has rebuilt some in the past years. I beleive he aquired one for a customer recently for total rebuild.

hey stan, i don't think that boat is in jersey either, i know there is one in fl for sale around miami area.

Thanks for the pointers so far, guys.... actually I would love it if the boat in question wasnt all the way up in NJ... Even thought I grew up there, I live down in Florida now, so if I could find one local, all the better.

I guess I should ask, if there is anyone who knows of one floating around out there, and would be willing to divulge it's where-abouts, then please by all means let me know! :)

I have a few turbine engines sitting in my warehouse that i'm just itchin' to put into something!

BTW I called Mark, and he was in what I belive to be the right area code, but he didnt know of any for sale, so the poster I was tlaking about has yet to be identified.....

Hi Stan, the fellow who knew of the boat in New York is Terry. 941-772-5507

Good Luck

What happened to the boat in clearwater?

the guy decided he wants it more than the cash :( major bummer, I was all ready to start tinkerin with it too!

what kind of tranny will you couple with the turbines? unless you plan to put an outboard on it to maneuver in a harbor or marina. Do i understand that setup correctly? please advise

Forlaser:

There are two USA39 that I had seen in Florida, one in Fort Apache Marina and the other at the Blue Lagoon Motel in Key West. Both are not for sale but you never know.
I will continue looking around, I am a fan of that boat and I always keep an eye on them.

JGB,
Sorry for not getting back to you on that question, I'm a bit scatter - brained....

I'm not planning on having any tranny betweent he engine and surface drive. Arneson's guys advocate see-doo style jet drives. I was thinking however that since the engines have 12kw generators on them (each) I would take a dc reversable motor and clutch this to the drive shaft. it might not be able to haul ass in reverse, but I suck at close in manuvering anyways, so the ability to go fast isnt really apealing....

Forlaser I remember reading that thread and as i can recall someone replied that there was one somewhere near Miami on Rt.A1A heading south that you couldnt miss sitting along side of a building. Sorry i cant be more specific as to the location. If your from south FLA. It might be worth the ride.

forlaser , I don't know if you have any personal experience with turbine boats or not . But I can tell you for sure , You do not want turbines running at all ,anywhere near anything else . For docking ,cruising back channels near houses and marinas , going to bars and restarants etc , You do not want that turbine running , blowing 1500 degree heat at people on the docks ,blowing the fumes ,and making way too much noise !! Don't get me wrong , I love the idea of the turbines but you need another power source for docking etc to make it user friendly and to be welcome back where ever you may go ! Jet set , here in NJ is a 40' skater with turbines . It was Howard Arnesons personal boat . It has a single 10 or 15 hp out board jet drive on hydraulic lift that drops down into the water with a push of a button . Steer it with a button too . (Electric cylinder ) REAL COOL set up ! Pushes it about 10 mph !! He only runs turbines out in the open water when it's time for buisness !!

YOu could use a brake on the out put shaft and run a crash box trans . But the out board is the way to go ! Good luck . Cool project !;)

Fosler, I found the thread. It was posted by GLASSDAVE under ; ARANOW/USA RACING/BLUE WATER CAT/V BOTTOM THING ??? The reply was from MR.CIG that there was one in KEY WEST on RT.1 Sorry for the lapse in memory. hope this helps you out.

boot-
Thanks for the pointer, that is something I was unsure of, but expecting... I had anticipated having one large battery bank to run both starters. If both generators were operating under max load, I could recharge a pair of deep cycle batters from dead to full in no time at all.

fyi I have NO turbine boat experience... this will be a 'learning project' for me.... I ahve 4 perfectly good engines just sitting at my shop, now all I have to do is buy a hull for less than what I paid for my house to put um in!

darn it all to heck!!!! (I dont know whats acceptable with regards to colorfull language here, so I figured to air on the side of caution.) I just missed a usa39 by 5 days!!! The bare hull went for 15,000, and it was aparently in tip top shape. (the one refenced on here) if only I would ahve got in touch with the guy sooner.....

hey forlaser . .ever think about run'n those turbines in an old ocean express hull. . .its about the same size as the usa 39 but a true cat. great rough water boat and they can be had very resonably if your not afraid of a project (an it sounds like your not)
these boats are built like a brick s#%/ house, tons of engine room .most of them came with arnesons to. might be a little easier to find.

heres a link to one i just painted 39 express this boat is an 84 and i believe he got it in the mid 20's. dont get me wrong im not knock'n the usa 39,i've always been a huge fan of those big water classics, but they are very tough to find. just thought i would put out the sugestion. i think boot can back me on the ocean x too. :D :D :cool: :rolleyes:

Dave,
The only requirements I have for a potential hull is that it: be roughly the same class size as the usa 39, not be a vee hull, be configured as a pleasure cat, sturdy construction, good handeling in rough water, and thats about it. As far as the 'name' I could care less if it came from the s&h catalog store (remeber the green stamps they used to give out at gas stations back in the day?)... two other major requirements is that it should not require excessive glass work, and that I'm looking for a hull minus power. No sense in buying a powered boat if the first thing I have to do is rip out the engines, unless, naturally the seller wants to pay me to take um out :)

With that in mind do you ahve any potential suggestions?

Thanks!
Stan

well i tell ya what . . i will be up at ocean x some time in the next couple of weeks and i know that they have a 35 foot 6 bolster race layout cat without power and i know they want to move it, they also have a few others i could check on (mostly projects w/out power). . . as far as sturdy construction, the one that i just did was an 84 and if you lined up all the stress cracks that were in this entire hull end to end it would be only about 2 or 3 feet. these things are extremely well built. i think you might like the layout of the ocean x alot better (cockpit and cabin) lots of room. plus the usa was unfortunatly a relativly slow hull.

i have several more pics of the x on my hard drive i could send them to you so you could get a better look at the whole boat. i also have about 8 ot 10 pics of usa 39's too.

I can vouch for the 39' ocean express ! I have one . LOVE IT !!The Aronow cats are cool ,no dought ! But real pigs in the water . If you put too much power in it I would be afraid it may bow steer and maybe even roll over .Who knows ! Just my opinion .... Not ment for real speed .

Vonwolske just told me about a 39'express cat in Florida real cheap . ABout 15K E-mail him and ask about it . Tell him "Boot" (JOE) sent you

[email protected]

Or if you have any other quesions mail me at [email protected]

Good luck ! Would you consider selling 2 of your motors ? SERIOUSLY !!

:)

Joe,
The engines that I have are t53's... If you would prefer the type that have the output shaft on the hot end side, ie t58's then I know where a handfull of them are avalible as well. To be honest I dont think I need to have 4 engines laying around and I would seriously consider parting with a pair of them, but rather than selling, I would much rather either: A) trade for or towards an apropriate hull to put the other 2 into, or B) sell them to someone for a very good price if that someone can help me get a great hull at a good deal.

With that said, I'll shoot you off an email in a bit. let me re-iterate the fact that I'm not a hot boat 'guy' ie my experience thus far is limited to putting around in my little mirage, hoping to find a foolish jet skier who thinks he wants to race :P althought I know the diffrence between a surface drive and a trim tab, I dont know a whole lot beyond that. I certainly apreciate your, and everyone else's suggestions and pointers!!!!!

Thanks again
Stan

Dave,
I sure would apreciate any other pics of the 39' express cats... My email is:
uhv.stuff(at)verizon.net
dont forget to change the obvious anti spam modification
Thanks!