Re; Billy Sirois
Where is he, and did he have a role in developing some surface drive stuff?

vonwolske Yes he did as a matter of fact and the Arneson surface drive is popped off of it IMHO ( some bad blood there ) also involved were Doug Janish and Tommy Adams listed on the Patent BTW I heard Bill Passed away and hope it is not true .

Best Regards:(

Steve 1 give me a call sometime. You seem to be one of the most knowledgeable on the board. I want to talk tech with you. 512 657 1104

vonwolske

Thanks and It would be my Pleasure

Best Regards:)

Sirois bit the big one three years ago. He was a dear friend. He and Doug Janisch developed (almost) the first modern highspeed surface drive. Their financial backer was Tommy Adams, the well known ****. Had he not pulled the rug, I'm sure that they would have whipped it. Both of them are smarter than the average bear, with the possible exception of choosing a partner. I have heard (rumors only) that Katrin is taking Magnum back to Italy. They do have the 27' mold, but their prices are out of sight. One of you mentioned the 23' and 28' Magnums. Harry Schoell designed and built both of them. Don's late-60's World's were in the 28' which is probably the best riding of that size ever built. The 23' was the first Formica mold I ever saw, built by Harry for Dr. Bob Magoon. It is the basis of about a hundred pop-offs, like Excalibur, Jaws, Pantera, Superboat and that bunch of skinny 23' to 29' boats. Yes, I named Magnum while watching "Mad Dog" Bogart in High Sierra. The gas pump at the diner was "Magnum" gasoline. Since the first boat was 35', I wanted to call it the Magnum 357, but it never quite made it.

BROWNIE,
Please keep them coming! The first time I saw you post I had to do a double take. Wow “BROWNIE” for us old timers the name conjures up thoughts of “Big Water” = “Big water Boats”. You, Steve1, and T2x should start a thread called “The Characters of offshore” I have tried to get T2x to do it, but “no dice” I guess he likes living in this country, and besides he said he does not look good in sunglasses and a disguise. I don’t know what he is worried about; I don’t think they have access to OSO in the Miami-Dade correctional system. Again, it is great to have another “legend” sharing with us.
Philip (not my real name) LOL

Welcome to the board Brownie.:) I'll be right back I'm going to get some popcorn.:cool:

Keep it coming this is what I joined OSO for. The other 99% of the BS doesn't compare to this great info. Thanks to those that know.:) :)

Thanks Brownie;
That sort of verifies what Steve 1 said that Sirois first invented the surface drive. I had met Bobby Moore last year and he said the same thing. They lost out on a good thing due to no support from the "well known ****" (that is really funny) and "better marketing and a better mouse trap" from Arneson.

So tell us about the 39' Aluminum cougar with ASD's. I heard they are noisy, but that is to be expected in an aluminum boat. Tell us of the history of its development and sucesses and bad times. I really have to hand it to you and your peers for such innovative work. Your postings are 100x better than all the mountains of drivel we have to sift through to get good info and stories from guys like you and T2x. Thanks from all.

Caincando1 & vonwolske- you guys couldnt be more right, this is the kind of posts that make all the other stuff worth putting up with. i love this history stuff.

an while we are on the subject of history i know we have all seen this pic of Don and cig #1 airing it out. but does any body have any info of it. like year, the other guy in the boat, length and power, location, if the boat still exists . . .any thing at all. this is like the coolest pic and it is the background on my desktop.