glassdave

iTrader: (1)

any body know any thing about the boat don aranow built for the u.s. customs service back in the 80's.i think it went under the name blue water or usa racing.it was a unique boat with a hull that was like a deep v but with a tunnel down the middle like a narrow cat.

link from dave p's site

another link from dave p's site

i found these two on the site sharkey posted on offshore history.just wondering if any body knew anything about them or had pictures or other links.looked like a pretty cool boat,wonder why it never cought on.anyway ,thanks all ,any info would be great.

RiverDave

Pretty cool sounding boat! Definately got a good review.

RD

Biggus

iTrader: (1)

They were called Blue Thunder cats. From what I have read it was a 39 Cigarette hull cut in half and a tunnel added.They were rigged with a 575 naturally aspirated motors from Merc Hi perf. and did not go all that well and they were jokingly referred to as Blue Blunders, bear in mind this is from what I have read. If you read the book Blue Thunder, there is a fair amount of info about the development and marketing to the US Customs through Don Aronows relationship with George Bush. I don`t know how much of that book is true but it is VERY interesting reading
Dave, you would like that book, Kurt.

JGB

i share your affinity for the aronow 39. however, it was very heavy, so the speeds were not all that impressive. i really think it looks cool and you can party on that boat like you wouldn't believe. the deck on it is bigger than a dancefloor. the cockpit is huge. i remember reading that when setup with deisels (turbo merlins) it ran pretty good.

JGB

i just sent you an email. but it will take some time before it will be delivered. uploading huge files takes a while on my system.

cdaniel525

I had a BLUE THUNDER boat follow me out of BIMINI years ago with customs agents aboard, it looked awesome, but the agents didnt look to friendly.I saw one for sale on a website somewhere recently.If i find the picture i will e-mail it to you

DaveP

The Blue Thunder Cat unfortunately was a dud as far as performance goes........

Anyone remember when BAJA made a cat? http://www.njppc.com/Baja1.jpg

Or Formula? http://www.njppc.com/OldAds/OldFormulaAd.jpg

Or Apache? http://www.njppc.com/OldAds/OldApache1.jpg

Pretty neat stuff!

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

sizeplay-thanks for the great pics.always great to have more for my archives somewhere i have a video tape of the news clip the day Don Aranow was killed(had a blank tape in the VCR and was luckey enough to tape it).they showed some old cig footage and US customs putting the thunder thru its paces.

biggus-i will hafta find that book,i have heard that it was real good.BTW i was up in your area last week on wendsday.me an a friend of mine were staying at a cabin on some river, cant remember the name right now i do remember it had some locks on it though.And the closest bar was Brays,great food, we partied our ass of there.anyway we were looking at some property up there and we will be spending some time up there this summer.ran into audiofn later that week an he filled me in on the hot spots. thanks for the thunder info

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

davep - i could look at those pics for hours.you have a great collection there.makes me wanna dig out my old boat magazines and go through the ads. if i find any thing unique i will let you know.

SHARKEY-IMAGES

Glassdave, If you find that news clip, maybe DaveP can ad a video file to his site