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DonziDave
07-29-2001, 10:26 PM
Since the Holman/Moody days, the lake that I live on, Lake Wylie in Charlotte, NC has been known for some seriously fast boats - had a few myself. That tradition continues today as well as on the pretender lake, Lake Norman, north of Charlotte. It is a result of the NASCAR influence. A lot of drivers, team owners, engine builders, etc. are into speed boatin'. Everything from deep vees, tunnels, to Allison's and SST's with clamp-on's.
Well now I've seen the boat that is going to really raise the bar of one-upsmanship.
I was floating on the north end of the lake where the big boys can get a good long run and has minimal traffic.
Two boats are headed towards me and they are really honkin'. One boat is a regular on the lake, a 32' Fountain with twin blown BB's that I know runs in the high 130's. The other boat, 24-26 foot is new to the lake. I noticed that it had a strange sound. Now these guys are running side by side - the Fountain is wide open. All of a sudden the guy in the new boat nails it and left the Fountain like he had turned the engines off. As the guy passes me, I hear the scream of a turbine and see a vertical heat plume coming out of at least a 24" diameter exhaust pipe. Found out later he is running a helicopter turbine hooked to a surface drive. He was going so friggin' fast that I could not tell the make of the boat or what kind of drive. Have no idea of his speed, but it was very very fast. Way too cool!!

Shanghied Again
07-30-2001, 04:52 AM
Most likely a Arneson drive, We have a 40ft Skater (Jet Set)that runs up here, he has 2 Turbine Heli motors each pushing 2000 hp has 2 Arneson drives and is hitting 187mph. :eek:

Tselby
07-30-2001, 08:00 AM
I boat on Wylie too, North end below Mountain Island dam. I havent seen this boat but saw it in the local paper. The guy said he only gets a couple of runs out of a prop before they gernade.

TS

RedDog
07-30-2001, 02:01 PM
I recently read a magazine profile about Howard Arneson and his turbine powered Skater. If I remember correctly, he is aged in his 80's now and still regularly runs at EXTREME speeds. He in all modesty claims to have more seat time above 100 MPH than anyone.
See Howard Arneson (http://www.howardarneson.com/) - it seems to still be under construction though

RP21
07-30-2001, 03:16 PM
Check out this link for turbine boat info. http://www.gas-turbines.com/

boldts
07-30-2001, 06:30 PM
Back in 1989, while at the Atlantic City World Offshore Championships, Howard Arneson showed up in a 32' Skater powered by a helicopter engine. I'll see if I can find my pictures and post them. It was a spectacular site to see when he made flames shoot out of the exhaust. He didn't have the canopies back then and you could see a smile from ear to ear on his face has us onlookers watched the display.

Klingon
07-30-2001, 10:36 PM
I have been on several of Howard's boat here in the San Francisco bay. He is quite a character, will take anyone for a ride and probably let you drive. On one time with him we were in the delta where the water is flat, he asked me if I wanted to drive, I so I said a reluctant yes (yeah, right). we excahnged seats and he gave me a few pointers and said "time for pedal to the metal". All I can say is I backed off at 120mph. No this is not "the fish that got away story". His "fun" runaround boats do not have a water speed gauge but an air speed gauge, he tore off too many paddle wheels! I think to date he has built at least 6 fun turbine boats. These boats have an electric motor for reverse and docking because the idle speed of the turbine is about 8 knots. His last few boats have the exhaust of the tubine ducted upward at the tramsom and he has a fuel injector in the exhaust stream and when he hits the switch you get huge vertical flame, very cool from an 80+ year old guy!!!
Alan

boldts
07-30-2001, 10:55 PM
WOW :eek: AVK. Ride of a life time with a true Legend in the boating industry. He had the electric motors for docking in AC also. I didn't know how the flame was created though. Thanks for your description. I hope I'm still ridin in the Donzi at 80. LOL