OK 120 MPH = 176 FPS @ 208 PSI

and 150 MPH = 220 FPS @ 326 PSI

Oop's 170 MPH = 249 FPS @ 417 PSI

At 170 MPH you have twice the pressure of The 120 MPH event which is eye opening in itself !

just another reason to get rid of the unlimited boats before another "accident" happens and its not just racers invloved.

I used the density of cool water and within a foot of the surface nothing needs factored, the thing here is ,the V velocity is squaring and the numbers are getting huge as the speed climbs, this what generates these large numbers, it is NOT Linear.

Piston powered pleasure boats are running 198. Making the raceboats slow down will not make the industry evolve. Racing used to be at the forefront of technology. Now you have the "pleasure boats" that are based on the same designs in the hands of amateurs running 50 mph faster than the boats that had accidents at key west. No helmets no helicopters no rescue.

If anything the unlimited class needs to be reinforced and the designs should be updated to keep this kind of tragedy from happening again.

If you want to test the canopy strength make a capsule add 9000lbs to it and drop it from a crane on the concrete from 50 ft. Upsidedown. I doubt if any of the canopies out there could handle their own weight from 10 ft....

Some sort of standard like FIA has for safety should be made.

pat W

shifter has a great idea... build a canopy and drop it from a crane, while not cheap, at least would be a testing method, When I rreturned home with the Big Tunder boat I had alot of time to look at it for the 3 day trip home, not to mentioned I had worked for Bob for 22 years on and off.

the 4 person canopy was definatly not as supported integrely in the rear as a two person. I had a friend ask which race boat out there would i go jump up and down on the canopy, hatch, and windscreen ( i weigh 250...ok 260 after thanksgiving) and I have thought about that alot.....I spent alot of time on that boat before the race and i would not have done that.....so any one else have a boat they want a 250 lb guy jumping up and down on the lid??? and that is a fraction of the force seen in the crash...

patw, while i totally agree with the the stupidity of a running pleasure boats in large groups at speeds above 100mph near others, unfortunately this is allowed on public water ways. until there's an "accident" were one of the pleasure boaters kills several bystanders that issue will keep escalating.

as for the offshore racing, your version of "forefront of technology" is at a stalemate. IMO. the only major advances as of late are relative to noise reduction, emissions and fuel usage. compared to say what you use to do for C1 overseas, those guys have realized that the being able to spend unlimited amount of $$$ to the #1 big dog just ends with a one team dominating and everyone else leaves.

while, canopy design would be considered technological advancement, its quite apparent that the orgs are not at the FOREFRONT when it comes to safety. whether its structural canopy design or enough safety personnel. hence the reason offshore racing is in the condition it is here in the US.

Also, as you know, very dynamic. Once something gives way, even the slightest pin hole of a breach, grows exponentially and violently fast. Thats why i vote for laminate continuity throughout the surface skin. No scoops no ducts no screws . . . nothing. We can build a running surface that withstands the forces we should be able build a canopy that does as well.

When we blew the roof/canopy/windshield off the V24 at roughly 70 it happened so fast i dont remember any of it. I remember hearing the snap of the lexan and thats about it. Woke up later wet and in a lot of pain and trying breathe again with a helicopter hovering over us. Very scary

lotopa- when we had all the lexan out of the AMT30 I was floored at how weak the roof was. You could have kicked it off the boat. It was nothing but a 3/8" balsa single skinned shell. I added a roll bar and another 3/4" of core epoxied in with additional pillar support.

I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to put there two cents in on this thread. Gripe, Steve, Dave, Jim, Pat, etc

In regards to Race Boats:
I really agree with Dave about an egg shaped pod that can be built into a boat (new or used) and will stay intact while the rest of the boat disintegrates. It would break away in theory that it would be a one piece unit.
As for hatches, they make submarines that dive deep and handle super high psi's. Submarines have hatches and some even have windows.
It can be done, it will just take someone with very deep pockets to foot the bill to design and test it.

I think one other area needs to be addressed; the integrity of the race boats. There are a lot of boats that have been run very hard for many, many seasons. They have been repaired, patched and pieced together. If they are fixed right, it is not a problem. If not, then it is like playing Russian Roulette. When I raced 20 years ago, we did what we had to do to put the boat out there. Inspections were less than thorough shall we say and I know that is still happening today at double the speeds (we were lucky to run 70mph).

As for pleasure boats:
Well..... any idiot can save up enough money to buy a Ferrari or Corvette and run it well beyond their capacity too. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Just like boats, most new ultra high performance cars (with only a shoulder belt and airbags) will match or beat a race car depending on the situation.

Dave is right about adding shape to the cockpit pod ,That will add tremendously to its integrity and personally my thinking is along the lines of the hydro guys,

One canopy one person, much the same as we did back in the day, only lowering it a bit (NO Cutting Hatches in it) Maybe reclining the crew to lower the height, the surrounding deck area have the same building schedule as the bottom and scantlings.

Question for Gripe seeing as your in the safety biz - i saw on a couple episodes of Mythbusters i think, they had some of these stick on one time use pads to measure forces, G?, PSI? or something. whats available along these lines?