SteveDavid

Tom,

As regards the ribbed condom: I'd have to admit a selfish streak in that I wear them inside out

Moving from that portion of the body back to boats, (according to my wife, our boat is indeed merely an extension of the organ of which we've been speaking.....) you'll find interesting references to the "condom" boats when some folks speak of the Buzzi boats. There are a number of adjectives added to "condom boat" by those with conventional Vees, stepped Vee and even some cats as the condom boat flew by them on it's (their)way to numerous victories.

Of all the fine designers mentioned on this thread, Fabio Buzzi MAY be the most gifted of them all. For the most part, his designs were significant departures from the norm and they spoke for themselves in competition.

Yet, much like the boatboat, Buzzi boats never developed a significant market following. There is no doubt that his boats, like the Bat Boats are unique, out of the box, quicker than anything comparable, and exceptionally safe when compared to most any other design. And yet still, it's a very small market for such boats.

Which reminds me of the Processionary caterpillar (sic) experiments performed (I think) in France a number of decades ago........ And an ever sadder conclusion that I am in fact one of those caterpillars.................

T2x what say you as to the Buzzi boats?

OffshoreOnly

its back, sorry for the inconvenience

H2Xmark

Thanks, we are back come on guys post away

Tom

More history. I think that is T2x in there proving wings don't work along with steps.

Thanks OSO for giving us our thread back. Now if you could just put the thread about the history of naked boat babes back.

ShipWrecked

Raypanic

When I got into "serious" power boating about 3 whole years ago I viewed the steps as being the new technology and non-stepped bottoms being "old" With that I figured that in 3-5 years It would be easier to sell my stepped boat against a non-stepped hull. It seemed at the time that everybody was going to steps and that it was a proven speed enhancment. Although I was warned about cornering concens, sharp cornering in my mind was not a major deal.

I think the steps look "cooler" than non-steps but on my PQ it had been built with serious hooks in the steps that slow me down. Now I have to get them repaired to get the bottom tuned to what it should be.

It seems to me that for the average perfomance boater steps are a good thing if properly designed. And if the boater is instructed on the procedures for properly operating the boat.

Jimboat

...back to the question on steps....
The concept of steps in the hull running surface was originally proposed by Reverend Ramus in 1872. He proposed both a single step with tandem planing surfaces, and a combination of 3 pontoons with one forward and 2 aft. There were published drawings for small stepped hulls with hard chines as early as 1906, and W. Fauber obtained the first US patent for hulls with multiple steps in 1908. There is quite a history of step design... the Solair set a record of 46 mph with 70 hp with a 12 stepped hull in 1910... and the record was upped each year to 1929, when the Estelle IV set the record at 105 mph with 2000 hp on a 35 ft. hull. It was an interesting era, more outlined in the History of Powerboat Design book.

Tom

Jimboat,
very interesting research. If steps were such the rage way back then - why did they ever go to non-stepped V boats? When? Who started the anti-step movement? I can imagine Don Aronow saying "I don't need no stinking steps to kick your ass."

Jimboat

Well, stepped hulls dominated race boat design until about 1938 when Adolph Apel patented the 3-point hydroplane configuration. Even though 3point hulls were very successful in small limited class racing, stepped hulls were still running competitively in Unlimited class racing until 1949. In 1950, Slo-Mo-Shun demonstrated 'prop riding' and boosted the world speed record significantlly.

There are a number of reasons why stepped hulls did not continue their popularity for pleasure boats...complexity of design, cost of development, they were banned from Gold Cup racing from 1920 through 1931, and there were many, many huge war-surplus aircraft engines available after WW1 at low prices, so it was easier to buy a big engine for a standard mono-hull, than to develop an efficient stepped hull. Quite a history.

Mark75H

In outboard racing the "conventional" single step hull continued to dominate racing, particularly the alcohol classes, thru the early 1950's. When "Stock" outboard racing started in the late 1940's, stepped hulls and three point hydros were prohibited. As the three point design gained popularity with the alcohol drivers, interest in establishing separate classes for "Stock outboard hydroplanes" grew and were instated in the early 50's.

The last step outboard hydros (as built by Jacoby et al) looked so much like early three pointers they are easily mistaken for three pointers.