Phenomenon
 

My transport friend sent me a video of the Phenomenon boat being transported with one of his trucks from Slidell La to Boca Raton last week. He tells me that the boat is being cleaned and prepped and is leaving this coming saturday for key west and will be on display in the Truman Compound. He says it will not be going into the water just display

Would be cool to see

Any idea of what the purpose of displaying it in KW would be?

Spruce Goose…

That boat must be the most impressive thing to see in person I can only imagine. It is absolutely gorgeous in the pics I've seen. If I had lottery money you'd see it run properly again lol.

Anybody care to post pics of it?? Not familiar with it.....:party-smiley-004:

In link. https://www.boatingmag.com/photos/phenomenon/

Holy christ!!! Any current speed numbers on it??? Didn't know this was a thing!! :eekdrop:

Not sure it ever ran properly. Even at 12000hp, the thing weighed somewhere around 20,000lbs if I recall correctly. I remember reading the Copelands wanted it to be able to withstand a head on impact at 250mph

As he said above. Al Sr died before it was ever ironed out I believe.

That link says they were shooting for 220 mph.
Qatar did 244 at LOTO.
So they have some catching up to do. :grinser010:

:drool1: That's incredible

Does it even have the turbines in it anymore? I thought the last time I heard they were removed.

my friend, outlaw transport says that there are two engines still in the boat and it is owned by a charity now and will be used for promotional usage. The charity is www.greenfieldreserve.com he send me videos and pictures but I can not post them they will not upload I tried

It didn't I read as well. Probably just needed to add a whole lot more money lol. I know they tried after Al passed but you have to wonder what would have came of it if he were still around.

Cheech,

I think 220 was an extremely conservative goal. At double the HP and props, and only half again the weight, I'd bet they'd sail past 244 with one hand on the wheel.

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

IGetWet,

I think I read somewhere it had one shakedown run, but they never really put the throttles to it. Al Jr didn't have the same passion for it like his dad did, so he mothballed it for quite some time.

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

Qatar had the latest and greatest turbines that could do 4000-4500 per side. It will be tough to top.

Hogie,

I can't find anything suggesting they were anything more than T55-L7Cs at ~2900-3000HP each.

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

Dear Brad Christy,

Where do you think you read that?? They had over 80hrs in testing. Best top speed of 195, 50mph slower than spirit of Qatar did in one mile. That’s a lot of catching up to do. Cool idea for a billionaire, just not realistic.

Sincerely,

Igetwet

oh and it weighed 35,000lbs

Wouldn't stand a chance next to the Hustler 377 Talon...

IGetWet,

It's been quite a while back. Who knows? Maybe while testing was yet to really get underway. I hadn't heard anything about it for quite some time, and nothing of any real updates since. Obviously doesn't mean it didn't happen, though.

It does make you wonder, though.... Why not just start with the 50' Mystic that seemed to be the ticket, instead of reinventing the wheel?

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

😂😂😂

Simple search yielded results from a thread a couple years ago with a condensed informative post on its history. Just fyi

IIRC the latest and greatest T55s or equivalent package size had almost double the power of the 2200hp units that are commonly used.

Theres a video interview of the white guy saying they had 4K a side.

I like some of the ideas in phenomenon. It could work and be safer at terminal velocity than Qatar, it would just take insane power.

It's been years since I read up on it but I think I recall it being designed to break some ocean distance records originally but then decided to add to it the top speed record (maybe visa versa?) which significantly complicated its completion and it had to undergo major refits/ design changes for fueling and safety concerns etc. Maybe I'm wrong on that. Whatever the case is, in my opinion, this boat, failed records or not is THE most absolutely beautiful piece of marine equipment ever created not to mention what Copeland's rich heritage brings to it. The paint and overall design of it are just incredible there is nothing else like it. It just makes my pee-pee hard looking at it!!

I also thought Phenomenon was to be a rocket / (long) endurance racer but did not know of the intention of an "offshore"/ shoot out boat like the Mystics - two different playgrounds.

Also, as everyone is speculating, I thought one of the issues with the quad turbine set up was props contacting the mating prop at speed... there should be a old thread with input from a guy that knew the boat during development... thread was about the time of Phenomenon was actually sold. There was speculation the new owner was going to just run it as a twin turbine and do away with the quad arrangement..

Yup.

Hogie,

I did a quick Google and read the history of the variants on the T55. There were a few that topped the 4K SHP mark (There's one in development that is expected to put out 6500 😮), but they are considerably bigger in either diameter, length or both, and I'd think the prospect of retrofitting them would prove challenging. The latest article I've been able to find indicates the standard 2900-3000 SHP was what was used.

Thanks Brad.
(937)545-8991

Speicher,

I read that, as well. This may have been where I read there was only one shakedown run, as it was discovered the props were damaging each other, and they didn't think they'd be able to rectify the issue without major reconstruction of the transom. It seems to me the simplest solution would be to lengthen one prop shaft on each side by just enough to clear the interference. I've seen this done on model boats with twins. This could have also led to the short-of-expectations 195MPH top speed, with a lack of sufficient prop blade area to push enough water to overcome the weight of the boat.

This begs the question, though.... Why hasn't anybody done this with a Mystic. We've seen quad engine cats before. There was and MTI (I think) for sale within the last year with four 1200 blower motors (quadrotors, I believe?). We know there's room to do it.

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

American ethanol has 4 engines…

Moses,

Kinda, sorta.... They are shafted together in tandem, with only one propshaft per side. They start together (per side) and run in mechanical sync. What a beast. But I can definitely see the benefit of having four props pushing water, though.

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

It has been done in a Mystic - American Ethanol is a quad engine/ two prop.. and the shootout top gun since Qatar's last run... the last quad engine/ quad drive boat I seen for sale was Big Thunder (skater)

A little preview of the boat found on YouTube:

There have been a few quad engine quad #6 drive Nor-Tech 50's. There is Iceman and Gold Digger.

2011 Nor Tech 50 Roadster (marinetechnologyinc.com)

This is the one I was remembering.

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

Before AE, Don also had 4 engines in Recycler (Skater) that were not tied together. If memory serves, each sides engines were installed at different heights and fed into a drop box (IMCO?) of some sort that ran the two drives? Hopefully someone remembers the boat and the specifics and corrects me if I misremember how it was rigged.

Both props are competing for clean water…maybe a single prop is more efficient. So far dual prop boats have faired better than quad propeller.

I was recently thinking about Al Copelands Phenomenon and what became of it. To me it is definitely one of the most interesting boats ever built in Offshore Powerboating. I really hope that some day someone with a lot of money completes this unique boat in the Memory of Al Copeland an Offshore Legend.

Because a mystic doesn’t need 4 engines!!! My 50 Mystic with 1850hp turbines ran 210 when it had plenty of room to get there. Qatar ran 244 in kilo with twin T55’s, how fast do you want to go!??!?! Lol