Some Deep Vee history.......

[gcarter]

After posting the thread about "Sonny" Levi, the "Delta 28", and the origens of the 24* deadrise deep vee hull w/a round keel w/lifting strakes, I found some history on the C. Ramond Hunt-Hunt Design web site.
It's some pretty interesting stuff that clearly came before Donzi or any other Aronow company boat was ever produced. In fact, before Aronow was ever interested in starting any boat company;
http://www.huntdesigns.com/about_deepv_development.htm

Hunt Design Home (http://www.huntdesigns.com/) > About C. Raymond Hunt Associates (http://www.huntdesigns.com/about_overview.htm) > The Hunt Deep-V (http://www.huntdesigns.com/about_deepv.htm) > Development of the Hunt Deep-V
About C. Raymond Hunt Associates
Development of the Hunt Deep-V
The following was published by Nautical Quarterly, a beautiful slipcased “magazine” sadly no longer in existence. We are often asked for the history which led to the Hunt deep-V hullform of today. Since the article was first published, we have continued making refinements. The greatest difference from the Nautical Quarterly information is that we now have many boats whose deadrise is closer to 22 degrees, rather than the 24 degrees typical in raceboats.
Stage 1
This early Huntform 37 - 1946 - shows a bell shape forward which flattens out aft. She shows a full forebody for the time and narrow beam by today’s standards. The early Huntforms were optimum for moderate power at moderate planing speeds.
http://www.huntdesigns.com/images/pages/deepv-lines1.png
Deep-V Lines, Stage 1
Stage 2
Sea Blitz (http://www.huntdesigns.com/images/pages/seablitz2.jpg) was built for Bradley Noyes in 1949 to suit a 1500-hp Packard engine from a PT boat. She is an interesting transitional design, which shows more deadrise aft, and more beam than the early Huntforms, less twist in the after bottom, (more monohedron, as Lindsay Lord was then promoting) and a high chine line forward. This boat performed very well. Ray told the story of running with Olin Stephens and clients on a sales demo. In a nasty following sea at high speed, Ray purposely left the helm untended to “tie his shoe.” He let the boat run harmlessly downwind on her own - and claimed he scared them all to prove his point, which was that whereas most boats of the day would have broached immediately, Sea Blitz (http://www.huntdesigns.com/images/pages/seablitz2.jpg) did not even need a hand on the helm.
http://www.huntdesigns.com/images/pages/deepv-lines2.png
Deep-V Lines, Stage 2
Stage 3
Many of Ray’s notes and sketches deal with variations of deadrise, loss of lift, addition of lift, and reduction of wetted area through the use of “lift strips.” The deep-V which he evolved is a monohedron type, initially with no twist in the bottom, and therefore with the total area of the planing bottom at a constant angle of attack (which then evolved with subtle changes, including some twist, as the design was optimized). It is truly amazing - and typical of Ray’s intuitive sense - that today, after so many attempts at a better deep-vee racing hull, and no doubt with various improvements, that Ray’s original 24-degree deadrise is still used. The essential design, in fact, has changed very little after decades of fine-tuning.
http://www.huntdesigns.com/images/pages/deepv-lines3.png
Deep-V Lines, Stage 3
http://www.huntdesigns.com/images/spacer.gif© Copyright Hunt Yachts 2006. All rights reserved.

[DonziJon]

I'm thinking very early seventys in Buzzards Bay, Mass. There was a Ray Hunt design SAILBOAT heading the other way under power while I was sailing back from Cuttyhunk in my Pearson Ensign (22').

The boat was 25 feet. He was under power (No sail on) and was doing about 25. Very strange to see a boat with a full height sailboat mast...doing 25 under power.

I later located the boat in a local boatyard in Marion Mass...out of the water in a cradle. It was a deep V powerboat/sailboat.....with a ROCKER bottom with Very Long ..3 foot? "Trim Tabs". Under sail the trim tabs would be retracted into recesses into the aft end of the hull. Under power the trim tabs would be Down..to flatten the "RUN", allowing the rocker hull to plane.

The power was the largest Merc Outboard (for the time) on the transom. I'm thinking 125 HP. There was a given name for the boat..a One Off, but I can't remember it. :bonk: John

[gcarter]

John, I remember that boat getting a writeup in Yachting Magazine.
It was pretty interesting, but have no idea how it sailed.

[gcarter]

A couple of notes from memory.....
In '58 or so, Hunt had designed a 55' aft cabin motor yacht for a customer and it was built in Miami in that year. This boat was written about in Wooden Boat some years ago, but I no longer have that issue. What was interesting about the design though, it had a deep vee, 24* deadrise hull w/lifting strakes and a round keel. Some other interesting notes on the original plans was it originally had a sharp keel but was then changed to a round keel. The plans were probably started in '56 or '57.
Also, Hunt had designed and built a yacht tender w/a 24* deep vee hull. It was this boat that enticed Dick Bertram to commision Hunt to design "Moppie" which was built in '59 and won the '60 Miami-Nassau race. This design later became the Bertram 31.

[DonziJon]

I remembered more about the 125 HP sailboat overnight. I think the outboard motor was in a "Well" which was all the rage for auxiliary power on sailboats under about 30' in those days. The trouble was you had to drag the motor around in the water all the time. I think the idea was to remove the motor while under sail. Some boats even came with a boxlike plug to fit in the well when the motor was removed. Another PITA. The motors were typically less than 10 HP so it WAS feasable but nobody ever did it.

The Trim Tabs did not extend out beyond the transom, but were rather more like the Split Flaps on a DC-3 Aircraft.

I took some pictures of the boat when I found her in the boatyard out of the water. Now to remember where thay might be hiding. :smash: John

PS: The boat was named "SKAT".

[Morgan's Cloud]

* A stirring of long since inactive brain cells ...* :biggrin.:


Do I recall Dick Bertram saying in his 'promo book' the Deep V History that
the capabilities of Hunt's 24* deadrise hull were such that either they wanted to OR someone actually did make a hull with a mast in it to see what it would do. ?

In the end , they focussed on the powerboats ......

[gcarter]

I think there's a couple of really important points, whether we are talking about sail or power.
1) Hunt started the Concordia Company in the '30's. For years a Concordia Yawl has been one of the most desirable sail boats built.
2) I think Hunts work on 24* deep vee hull in the '50's is several years before before most people realize these hulls existed. I would have guessed most people thought they came into existance in about 1960.

Sonny Levi moved from India and back to Italy in 1960...( Levi, who has an amazing background and is now 82 and still working, was born in India to Italian parents, educated in England including aeronautics and naval architecture and served in the RAF during WW-II.
His father was hired by the Indian Government to develop a ship building industry in India. So his early work in developing hull design and construction was done in India. A worsening political situation in India was an inducement to leave. He doesn't cover any specific work in India so it's not clear what it covered other he owned his own design office and boat yard. But he must have had some good experience there because he came right out of the box w/some winners immediately after moving back to Italy.