Past APBA Kilo Record Holder
 

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Race Heritage
 

First Race Team to campaign the 37 Talon named Suigeneris was New Jersey Throttleman Ed Schultz and Pennsylvanian boat owner John Brown. This Talon was unbeatable and continued it winning dynasty under the Jelly Belly Gone Again Banner.
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Back in the day we never really knew the meaning of suigeneris. The name John Brown coined says it all!

What Is Sui Generis (Legal Use and Definition) - Incorporated.Zone

Sui generis is a Latin term to refer to something that is of in its own class or some on-of-a-kind. Sui generisorigin, The term sui means " its own ". Generis comes from the Latin root " genus " that can be translated into English as " kind " or " class ". Sui generis is therefore " of its own kind

End Game
 

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Well, I think I debunked the fact that these were not good race boats, when in fact, they were record breakers for their time, and would hold their own in today race venues. I do see similarities with the Maelstrom which were Michael Peters Influenced (sponson shape, tunnel and beam). It would be great to sit down with Gary Armington and publish an interview. I consider Gary Armington, Clive Curtis, Peter Hledin, George Linder, Rich Luhrs, Michael Peters, Jack Clark the high performance catamaran forefathers.

This post was started to showcase how great a high performance pleasure boat the 377 Talon is, especially with the pod. No hop which my wife loves, stability and of course speed. There were comments concerning not running a pod in rough lake conditions. That is BS-the talon is 37 feet long! It handled great in 3 to 5s. 6 to 8s is another story for any boat.

Consider the 377 Hustler Talon the underdog. I believe the best is yet to come.

Before you get too excited and go build a Talon 37 to go compete in Super Cat, you might want to talk to the guy that raced one and still owns/runs one as a pleasure boat - Rick Bowling. There's a reason not one race team runs that hull any more (it's been decades now) - they're simply not competitive (and don't even think about trying to run a Talon w/ a centerpod against a true cat of equal size in the rough). Here's a pic of a day out on the San Francisco Bay with Rick and Dan in their non-centerpod 37s. I was in my 30 w/ Sterlings/ASDs at the time (not in frame - parked on the other side of the dock from Rick), and had a great time running with both of them. Their 37s are two of the most decorated Talon 37 raceboats of all time (Jelly Belly/Gone Again and Out of Bounds), but they're still no match for a modern Skater or MTI of the same size/power. Rick's 37 runs mid 160s with 1350s in it, my '09 36 Skater ran 163 when it had 1075s in it, a new 368 runs 170 with 1100s and a 388 or 438 runs 180+ with 1350s in them. Rick's 37 is very heavy (1,300#s) as a result of the 4 person canopy conversion after his accident in Key West in 2000, but Rockette (Bill Vogel's 438 w/ 1350s) also weighs 13,000#s and is 20 mph faster with the same power/drives. These are numbers I know first hand, not doing internet searches. I hope this info saves you a bunch of money. ;)
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Is Husker trying to revive the boat and start making them? That is what it seems like to me based on the comments.

More Info
 

Wow, I would like to thank you for keeping this thread alive. I figured after my last post it would fizzle out!

A Few Comments:

1. The Gone Again incident was in Saint Petersburg Florida not Key West
2. This thread was conceived to showcase the Hustler Talon 377 (with a pod) from a pleasure perspective, not as a race boat. It highlights the quick plane, no porpoise no hop characteristics compared to true tunnels. Personally a boat that porpoises at lower speeds bothers me and is unnerving to passengers at times. In addition the pod allows for a deep cabin area.
3. Quote “..Raceboats had the center pad removed and worked better, but still didn’t perform as well as the Skaters..”. Since being an OG who was very active in the success of various offshore race teams and very familiar with this hull design in the 90’s I felt compelled to clarify and confirm this statement. I believe I presented evidence in previous posts that supports the contrary.
4. Rough water capability (with pod): I confirmed this personally 4 weeks ago in 3 to 5 footers. How much weight does this evaluation carry? Please consider I formally owned a High Performance Marine Center and was a Douglas Marine Dealer and Offshore Racer among other disciplines.
5. Quote “..can’t keep up with the Skaters..” let’s leave this to another thread where we can discuss the pluses and minuses of those brands invited.
6. I am interested in a pleasure version with pod. I’m already committed to a race team who will campaign a one of a kind former US1 and World Champion 40’ Skater and also a 46’ Skater that has be dubbed the most successful offshore race boat in history. In which organization or in a shootout venue has yet to be determined.
7. With only 8 (estimated not verified) race boats built compared to hundreds by Douglas Marine the hull never gained popularity. The more boats you have out there the more R&D. Peter Hledin will attest to that. The hull was outlawed by APBA due to minimum length after a number of successful years. I’m not interested in building hulls, I am raising brand awareness the hull deserves. Hustler construction is proven Race Quality. I would like them to take a look at updating the deck to a pleasure/outboard modification to compete with the MTIs, Skaters, Doug Wrights etc out there.
8. This thread alone has sparked at least (2) possible private sales. John Teague evidently sees its potential.

Here is a clipit video of Peter Hledin from Douglas Marine discussing old and new hulls. Enjoy and thank you for your participation!

37 Talon Holiday Inn
 

Quick Video of the Holiday Inn 37 Talon Jousting with a 40 Skater

If you dig the 37 Talon because it's a badass old school (it is at this point) cat, that's awesome. If you dig the 37 Talon because its affordable when compared to a Skater/DCB/Mti, thats still awesome. If you dig the 37 Talon because you want a cat with a pod and cabin, still awesome but there are other options. If you aim to prove the 37 Talon has it all over the boats that made it obsolete....less awesome and an uphill battle.
I love the 36 Spectre. My dad throttled one, I grew up around it. Its the epitome of cool to me for personal reasons. That being said, 1000% understand that if I were to try and race that boat today in anything other than a bracket class, Id be lapped. Probably twice.
Traffic Light/Cleavland Construction was an awesome boat. They ran the crap out of it and its still in once piece. Rough water was never it's thing though. Not enough tunnel, even without the pod.
3-5 footers with a pod. Few different options. They were 6inches apart. They weren't "real" 3-5s. You've lost 6in in height OR you're officially the slickest throttleman to ever live.

All that being said, they do have GREAT lines. I think the 25 is one of the best single engine cat designs ever. The 22 is a hoot to drive as well. Keep on keepin on Husker!

I think we can all agree on Peter Hledin’s video posted earlier but I do believe he left out 1 important aspect. A hi performance boat just doesn’t go from the factory to the winners circle. The minds that make a non-competitive boat to be competitive and a competitive boat to be a winner, needs to be addressed. These are your Rig shops and high performance marine wizards. And just like the evolution of engines and propellers, these new technologies need to be properly applied, just as the older technologies were applied 30 years ago. Their knowledge with Hi Pref pleasure boat setups for reliability, speed and safety were widely sought after, These gurus could/can think outside of the box. I’m going to name a few so y’all can get my drift. Some you may have heard of while others not so. I’m sure there are several others that can be classified as experts, but these are a few of the ones that come to my mind with some folks no longer with us and a few still active within the industry, and like all specialized craft, it’s a dying breed if not passed off to the next generation.



Tomlinson, Sipos, Moore, Hook, Papke, Curtis, Gzell, Abbadie, Saris, Imprescia, Caligure, Cafiero, Teague, Lewis, Fuller, Berger, Speros, Lilly, Rinderer, Gentry, Fendt, Dyke, Gilbreath to name a few.

Styln Pro Stocker
 

Anything associated with the name Saris deserves attention and respect. I briefly met your dad a few times when he was running the 32 Pro stock Skater Stylin back in the 90s. We were maintaining 2X World Champ Chuck Nue’s Insanity Shadow Cat out of my shop in NJ. Anytime your Dad had a chance to make a race, especially in Point Pleasant, he was a class act all around. We always looked forward to the competition. It’s great to see his expertise and legacy handed down to his son(s).

The 377 Talon ran surprisingly good in the rough, better than I expected, and the water was as advertised! As for a throttleman, Im OLD but still good. Lol. I believe with the right massaging, with a revised deck and transom it could compete with the lightweight twin outboard catamarans that are so popular today. Agree with you on the 25 and 22 also.

I encourage everyone to check out the link below for a great video by Jonny Saris at his shop. Very informative and it’s perfect example of passing on a trade to the next generation! Highly recommend watching the entire clip.