That boat is a monster! I can't wait for some performance reports with pics.

Will -

I'll be down the beach this weekend. Are you going to be around?

What did they use to remove all of that vinyl? I always liked it in white with just the Apache logo, looks much better.

-Greg

Hot Duck, thats a true labor of love you got there, very Sweet ride should be a blast leaving the outlet on a windy day :D

OC Barry: I'll be at the hotel all weekend except for Sunday PM. That night I will be at the fire house on 15th street from 7pm-7am.

GregP: They used their fingers and a heat gun. Plain and simple, but that is how it was done.

Sloman: I am looking forward to those days when everybody else stays in the bay! :D

OK. Here we go with another update. The boat is on the trailer and the final inspection is under way. So far everything is looking good. As of right now, Tres is still planning to run the boat tomorrow to start getting it dialed in. Here are some pictures from this morning.

The other side.

wow....:cool:

The drives are off in this picture, but they are back on the boat now. They removed them while the boat was sitting outside for the bottom work. Even though it was inside the fence, a pair of #6 drives are still tempting enough for a thief to cut the fence to get them. More work, but better safe than sorry.

Good News!! It floats! The boat went in the water today to start the dial in process. Tres spent today running different props and found a pair this afternoon that seem to work well. The top speed so far is 87mph, according to the GPS. Not bad considering that it was nearly full of fuel and the water was flat.

As you all know, Tres has lots of tricks when it comes to getting a boat dialed in, so I am just gonna let him work his magic and see what happens. So, it is now back at the shop for some changes, but I am very pleased with the initial run.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Hot Duck- Incredible, beautiful boat. Nice classic offshore lines!!!!! I've seen 41 and 47 Apaches but this is the first 45. How many did they build? Is this a Marc McManus hull? Congrats on a job done right!

Holy crap!! 87 in that Monster is MOVING!! Any estimates on what is left?

Dock Rat: Thank you for the compliment. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only 45 Apache ever built. Why they only built one 45, I don't know. Maybe somebody else on the board can tell us. Hey Lucy, are you out there?

Sydwayz: I agree. Even if Tres doesn't find any more speed, I will still be perfectly happy. I was really surprised when he called me with the numbers. From the get go, we were shooting for low 80's or a little better. I actually thought that Tres was gonna have to tweak the boat a lot to reach that goal, but it ran 85mph right out of the box with the first set of props that he tried. Using these props as a base line, he tried another set that put the RPMs where they should be. These are the props that ran 87mph.

Tres is now going to make some minor changes to try to make it carry the bow a little higher. It may be a matter of playing with the drive heights or it may involve a little bit of bottom work. We'll see. Anyhow, 87 is still very respectable in my book, especially for an old "resin bucket" like this. :D

It is the only 45 Apache ever built. It was built by Mark McManus for Steve Baldwin in Baltimore as "RDS Systems". Steve owned the RDS company. Steve finished one point behind Little Caesers in the annual points. He then sold it to Allen Feinhold who raced it as "Apache Kid".

Impressive.

Very nice rig HD and congratulation on your commitment again.

Damn !! Thats movin on for a "Lumpy Resin Bucket" !:D
Congrats !!!

Hot Duck, are you interested in doing the poker run out of red eyes the end of june??

Absolutely. Just point me in the right direction to get the info on the run.

I will get it and send it to you, I'll be there this weekend(tonight). When are you headed down to see the boat? I bought a 33 powerplay again and have to go and sea trial it at Tres'. Maybe we could catch up.

Congrats on the Powerplay! Are you heading to see Tres this weekend or are you heading here to OC? Right now we are just waiting for the word from Tres to head that way to get the boat. He still has a little dial in work to do, but it should be completed very soon.

Will -

I'll be down possibly this weekend or next for sure. Kurt Rosenburg just brought my Top Gun back to OC, so maybe we'll have the 38 and the 45 side by side next weekend. Have a safe trip!

What props did you end up with?

I don't know what props Tres tested with yesterday, but some of the results may change as he makes changes to the boat. I won't be able to answer your question until Tres is finished with it. Sorry. :(

Unfortunately, I don't think that the Apache will be here by next weekend because there is still some setup work to do. I am figuring that we will be heading down there in roughly two weeks or so. It may be sooner, but I am guessing that's when he'll have it ready to go.

Remeber I have that pair of 18X28 four blades if you need to try them.

Well you can alays catch a ride with me next weekend if you can get away from the hotel.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

Thanks man. I certainly appreciate the offer!

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

I would have never guessed 87mph. You have to be smiling from ear to ear.
Keep us posted and add pics, I love it.
best of luck
Ed

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

Sorry for the delay Will, I am going to try to get there by the middle of next week. Thanks for the congrats, I look forward to running with you all in OC. I do have some bad news on the Run...It has been cancelled, I think they are going to do something local though.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

That stinks. Are they planning to do the Thunder on the Chesapeake event again this year? If so, any info on that one?

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

Great Job !!!

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

Thanks, but the credit really should go to Tres and his crew because they are doing a fantastic job! I think that it is coming along really well, but we have hit a small stumbling block. After the testing run last week, they went back to work under the boat to remove a slight hook on the bottom. That is now finished and was no big deal. They are also going to change the spacer height in the drives. Again, no big deal. This, combined with the bottom work, should yield the needed bow lift.

Now for the bad news. After the testing run they found that one of the drives was making some noise when they turned the prop shaft while removing the props. Not good. Upon closer inspection back at the shop, they found that the drive did indeed have gear damage. :mad: So, that drive has to come apart for repairs. To make a long story short, I decided to have them rebuild both drives while they were at it to avoid future problems. If one blew up, who knows what kind of shape the other one is in or when it was last rebuilt and who did the work? We were hoping that the drives would be OK, but it didn't work out that way.

Anyhow, while the drives are apart we are going to take the opportunity to make some changes there as well. We are going to keep the current uppers and dry sump them and then install new dry sump lowers. This will free up a little bit of power and save a huge amount of oil with each gear oil change. The down side is that it will be roughly 2 weeks until we can get the boat back in the water. I just keep telling myself that it is all going to be well worth the wait! I'll keep you posted.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

It will be worth it....sounds like a great project with great results.
Lookin real good.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

HD,

I am going to Martin Offshore today, I'll take some pics for you. :)

LS JR.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

Sounds good. Feel free to check it out.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

Here it sits just waiting for the drives so that it can finally come home. :( This picture is courtesy of "Lucky Strike Jr". Believe me, we are counting the hours now.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

Hot Duck-

The Apache was outside today!!! Sorry...no pics. :(

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

They were compounding the top deck and sides today to remove the marks left by the vinyl graphics. They are working on detailing the boat so that it will be ready to go when the drives are finished. They will obviously follow up the compounding with a good coat of wax. They will also be detailing the cockpit and engine room. I have some pics that Jacky sent this afternoon, but they are on my computer at home. I'll post them when I get home from work.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

Will,

Converting to dry sumps is pretty expensive no?

I heard it dosen't add much if any speed to Vhulls (Especially Heavy old Resin Buckets)

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

Duck, ya gotta call me when you bring it back to OC.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

WetKitty42 : I don't think that the dry sump conversion will add much speed if any, but it sure will use a lot less gear oil. I am fanatical about keeping the fluids fresh, so this will certainly help over the years. Believe it or not, the dry sump conversion was not that expensive. We were planning to completely rebuild the drives when we found the problem after testing, so we looked into completing the dry sump conversion while they were apart. I will tell you that Tres hooked me up with pricing and he gave me a sweet deal on trade in for my old parts and lower housings. So, all in all, the dry sump conversion did not add much to the overall cost of the rebuilds. The benefits of this conversion are simply that we will now have the new swept back skeg, which may or may not enhance the handling, and we will use substantially less gear oil. If we happen to pick up 1 or 2 mph, that will be a bonus, but the conversion was not done for speed. I'll give you guys an honest report when we get it back together.

Ron P : Hey man! We are getting it all cleaned up and ready for you! I'll contact you as soon as we get it back to OC.

Here are the pictures taken this afternoon after they finished compounding everything. They now have to follow this up with wax/polish, but there is already quite an improvement in the shine. The best part is that you can no longer tell where the vinyl graphics were.

Re: Project Update - 45 Apache
 

:cool: