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Written by Matt Trulio
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Tuesday, 02 March 2010 00:00 |
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Good news and bad news came from the first test run—in late January—of Copeland’s Phenomenon, the 56-foot-long, 12,000-hp quad-turbine catamaran designed to attempt to break the propeller-driven water-speed record of more than 220 mph.
The good: According to throttleman Scott Barnhart, the boat ran 150 mph with no trouble and almost everything went smoothly.
The bad: “Almost everything” means all four of the boat’s Ellstrom CNC propellers—$15,000 a piece—were damaged in the run and needed to be replaced.
“We couldn’t have been happier with the run, but we ended up with a one-inch ding on each propeller,” Barnhart told me this afternoon. “But we’ve corrected the problem and are waiting for our new propellers.”
Though Barnhart declined to elaborate on the nature of the issue that led to the prop damage, he did say that he and Al Copeland, Jr., ran the boat briefly after the correction was made and everything was solid.
Phenomenon’s record attempt is slated for July 2 at the Super Boat International Kilo Runs in Sarasota, Fla. |
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Last Updated on Monday, 01 March 2010 17:25 |
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Written by Matt Trulio
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Friday, 19 February 2010 15:44 |
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Looking for an encouraging sign of the times? Attendance reportedly is up at the Florida Powerboat Club's annual Miami Boat Show Poker Run which started this morning out of the Marriott Biscayne Bay and finished about an hour ago at the Holiday Isle Resort on Islamorada in the Florida Keys. According to FPC founder and owner Stu Jones, 86 boats were registered for the event. Last year's run drew 75 boats. Of this year's fleet, 40 percent of the boats are catamarans. According to Bob Christie, the owner of Typhoon Service Center—one of the run's title sponsors—and the Speed Racer catamaran, 14 of those cats were from Marine Technology, Inc.
Unfortunately for Christie and the Speed Racer crew, his well-known MTI 44-footer was sidelined early in the run with calibration issues in its new 1,300-hp electronically fuel-injected, supercharged engines from Potter Performance Engines.
"What are you going to do?" Christie told me over the phone as he and throttleman Chuck Burke idled back to Grove Harbor. "Obviously, I'm very disappointed, but there's nothing I can do about it now."
Then Christie answered his own question. "I'll tell you what we're going to do," he said. "We're going to clean up the boat, put it on the trailer and then we're going to drive down to Islamorada and hang out and party with everyone at the Tiki Bar. This run is all about the people who come. Of course, I want my boat to be there and I'm disappointed. But first and foremost, it's about the people."
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Last Updated on Friday, 19 February 2010 16:20 |
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Written by Matt Trulio
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Monday, 23 August 2010 15:53 |
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Last week I caught up with Mike Fiore of Outerlimits on the Bristol, R.I., custom V-bottom and catamaran builder’s in-house engine program. Near the end of our discussion, Fiore mentioned that he was in the final stages of sea trials for the company’s first quad-diesel-engine SV-52—four 560-hp Fiat Powertrain mills fill the engine compartment. The all-carbon, canopied 52-footer, which rides on a five-step hull and will be used for endurance racing by an overseas buyer, captured a lot of attention.
So about an hour ago I spoke with Fiore to learn more about the 15,000-pound boat. Here’s what he had to say:
In addition to four Fiat Powertrain diesel engines, your new 52-footer has four Arneson ASD drives with quick-change gears and Hering 35-inch-pitch propellers. How has the performance been to date in your sea trials?
Amazing. It’s a big freight train with a top speed of over 112 mph, and it’s very smooth.
How’s the fuel consumption?
Pretty modest, actually. At 90 mph, it gets 1.5 mile per gallon. So with its 500-gallon fuel tank that means it has a range of 700 miles at 90 mph. At 100 mph, it gets 1.2 miles per gallon, which is still pretty good.
Have you had the boat in rough water?
Yeah, and as I said it’s a freight train. It motors along effortlessly. It’s like sitting—it’s a five-place sit-down boat—in your living room. It’s going to be a really good endurance racer. And it handles flat and smooth. It doesn’t do anything wrong. The four propellers in the water work well. The setup is perfect.
This was your first quad-diesel-engine installation. What was that like?
(Laughs) It was a nightmare. It was a packaging nightmare. The forward two engines literally are under the back seats. The engine compartment has, like, a sea strainer “farm.” There’s four of everything in there, and it’s tight. Good thing the engines are diesels—they tend to last awhile (laughs again).
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Last Updated on Monday, 23 August 2010 16:00 |
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Written by Matt Trulio
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Thursday, 19 August 2010 15:12 |
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While the fastest catamarans and V-bottoms rightly get top billing at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout—it is after all a top-speed event—the fastest entries don't comprise the entire fleet. Fact is there are plenty of production and semi-custom performance boats that compete in the Shootout, which still embraces and attracts a lot of "run what you brung" competition.
Case in point: Semi-custom builder Sunsation Performance Boats has at least three models heading for the Shootout according to Wayne Schaldenbrand of the Algonac, Mich., company.
“I believe we have an SS32, which is about two years old, with a pair of 496 Mag HO engines that will be going,” said Schaldenbrand. “There should also be a brand-new XRT (32-foot-long) with the new twin 8.2L, 502 engines with the catalytic converters. We blueprinted the bottom of that boat, applied Speedcoat, raised the X-dimension and went from 30-inch-pitch props to 32-inch-pitch props. It runs 90 mph.
“My dealer in Iowa also is coming with an XRT,” added Schaldebrand. “It has 496 Mags with Raylar upgrades.”
In Other Sunsation News
•The company reportedly received two orders for its new 36-footer, as well an order for a 28-footer this week. “There’s even a possible F-4 coming from a deal we put together at the (2010) Miami Boat Show, so we’re all pretty happy around here,” said Schaldenbrand.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 19 August 2010 15:19 |
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