A Great Toy!

There is a woman that I work with at AARP named Eileen. Her husband, Glenn, is an extremely talented individual who has been racing boats for many years. This may not be very interesting to the ladies who read my blog, but I think the guys will be as impressed as I am.

This is the hydroplane that Glenn (pictured) is getting ready to race next weekend in Lakeland. The finish is like a mirror and the overall craftsmanship is perfection all the way. He told me earlier that if I wanted to see the boat, it should be before the race as he could not be certain that it would still be worthy of pictures after the race.

This is the view looking back. The cockpit cover is not on and the engine cowling is sitting on the custom trailer behind to the left.

This is just a quarter view from the front.

This is obviously the engine, a special unit that runs on methanol, not gasoline. Glenn has fabricated all the fittings in the engine compartment and everywhere else. The engine uses a "dry sump" oil system, so there is no oil pan. Instead, there is a tank that sits aft of the engine, just out of sight to the left of the picture. The oil is preheated and is pumped through the engine, then a line goes back to the oil tank.

This picture shows a lot of things. You can see the oil tank behind the engine. Of course it's all covered by the engine cowling. Attached to the left sponson is a stainless steel blade that sticks well into the water. In the picture it's just to the right of the steps. When the boat is racing, the two turning points are that blade and the rudder. Without the blade, the boat wouldn't turn because only the rudder and half of the propeller are in the water. Yes, that's a fully restored '57 Chevy convertible in the background.

Here is the propeller shaft strut as constructed by Glenn. It's made of aluminum that he cut and fit, then sent out to be powder coated. The line coming from the top of the boat carries water to the strut bearing to assure lubrication. To the left is the rudder. A pipe going to the bottom of the rudder supplies all the water for cooling and lubrication.

Some years ago Glenn set a few records. Oh how I'd like to take this boat for a spin. Unfortunately, there is no way that I could squeeze into a cockpit made for a much smaller, much younger individual. I looked in , and it would be a tight fit, even for the youngster.

Later.