Passing of Dave "Hoss" Bostic
Passing of Dave (Hoss) Bostic
It is with great sadness that I report the passing of my father, Dave (Hoss) Bostic, this past Sunday, the 29th of May, 2011. Dad was the owner of Hoss Marine Props. Dad had what the doctors call a “stroke event” on Wednesday, the 25th, while working at the shop. He was taken to the hospital and began a slow decline until Sunday morning.
Just a little history for those that may not know or those curious to hear the story........
Dad & his brother, my uncle, Glen Bostic, use to boat race in the late 50's, early 60's in NE Oklahoma. Glen ran a 13' Allison with a 40 hp Merc & dad ran a 14' Allison in the 50 hp class. Together, they won a BUNCH of races and had a great time circle racing with v-bottom boats. Dad started taking the brass props and “cupping” them to get the boats to perform better. The story was always told of Glen's wife, Mary Ellen, driving dad's boat up to 50-51 mph, with throttle still left, and running out of boat! (She is tiny and weighs nothing!!! hehe) The speed record at the time for the 50 hp class was 51 mph.
We moved to Bethlehem, PA in the mid 60's when dad worked for Bethlehem Steel Corp.
Side Memory.........
I remember my first experience driving a boat, early 70's, I was about 7 or 8 yrs old, when dad let me sit on his lap, in the front of our white Ranger RA bass boat with 50 hp Merc and I got to lean over to steer the boat while dad worked the throttle.(had stick steering)
Mid 70's, as a side business, dad and a friend, Dennis Cysak, started representing Skeeter Bass Boats and later, Delta Boats in the Northeastern United States as bass fishing grew in popularity. Since they were traveling all over the Northeast, setting up dealers, and also fishing many BASS Federation tournaments, dad used some of his racing knowledge to “mod” our own props to get the best performance we could. It wasn't long before others started noticing that out boats would outrun everyone else and people wanted dad to “fix” their props. We set up a small shop in our basement and started working on a few props, again, as a side business. I remember coming home from school and heading downstairs and working on boat props until dad got home from work. (We all agreed to keep that a secret because dad thought people wouldn't want a kid working on their expensive stainless steel props.) We had a mod we did on the OMC SST prop for their V4 engines and also a mod on the Merc small ear Chopper to help the holeshot and add a little top end speed.
Side Memory.........
By the mid 70's, as I got older and our boats got faster, I started driving our boat more and more, mainly for testing purposes on prop mod's because I weighed under 100 lbs!!!! haha....... I remember our Delta padboat with a modified 135 hp V4 Johnson that would run mid 70's with me driving it. The V6 OMC and then the V6 Merc came out and I got a chance to outrun a few of them with our little V4!!!!
The mid 70's saw us helping a lot of boaters not only with their propellers, but also with setting up their boats to perform as best as possible. People would bring their boats to us and we would “dial” them in and gain quite a bit. Then they would ask dad if I could drive their boat alone to get the last little bit of speed so they could go back to their buddies and brag about how much faster their boat was. I could always get 1-2 more mph out of their rigs. This allowed me to drive A LOT of different boat/motor combinations throughout my teenage years and longer.
Side Memory.......
As soon as our legs were long enough to reach the brake peddle in the truck, dad taught my older brother, Randy, & I how too back the trailer down the ramp so he could load the boat. My brother and I learned to go backwards with a trailer years before we were ever allowed to go forward!!!!! People were amazed to see little kids backing trailers down the ramp with such ease and speed..... of course, we did it a lot and became very good at it!!!!!
By Spring of 1979, dad had enough of the corporate life with Bethlehem Steel and we were fixing a lot of props in our basement....... So dad decided to move back to Oklahoma, closer to family and we started our own prop business...... Hoss Prop Shop. It was a family business and during the next summer, 1980, we had more repair work then we could handle...... then the winter came...... it was tough and my grandparents pretty much took care of us until spring 1981. (We Thank God for all our family) Dad realized we couldn't make it with repair work alone and instead of modifying Merc & OMC props, he felt we could build our own prop and out perform anything out there.
That Spring of '81, we built a mold by hand and took it to a casting company. We got our first samples of the Triton 1 propeller and started testing. We had sold our boat over the winter so we could pay bills and feed the family, so had no way of really testing it like it needed to be tested. One of our friends had purchased a Ranger bass boat and the new 225 Merc. The dealer refused to rig the boat because it was way over horsepowered, so he brought it to our little shop and we rigged it. A few weeks later, after breaking the motor in, we headed to the river to see what we could do. With a stock Chopper prop, the boat ran mid 70's...... we slipped on the very first Triton prop and I jumped in the boat to see what it would do. (I was 18 yrs old)......... I got a feel for the boat and then made a full throttle run...... It was amazing. I stopped at the ramp and yelled to everyone that I saw 81 mph. It was the fastest I had been in a boat...... Had a GREAT holeshot and handled beautifully!!!!!! …..... I headed out to do it again....... BUT......... This time 80 mph..... The 79 mph ….. Then it dropped suddenly to around 71 mph and I just knew the motor was messed up and about to blow!!!!!! …..... After loading on the trailer, we were all wandering around the back of the boat and I looked down and said, “HEY, look at the prop”!!!!....... all three blades had bent back and looked pretty messed up!!!!! We couldn't believe it and then we started talking about the fact that with all three blade laid back, it still ran almost as good as the factory prop! We knew we had a WINNER!!!!!!!
After arguing with the casting company about the material, they assured us it was 17-4 ph stainless steel, we sent some of it to be analyzed and was told it was a mixture of all kinds of stainless steel and they didn't know exactly what it was. ( I still have the very first, original Triton 1 prop that was built.)
Later that year, we needed to get our own boat to test & develop our props, so dad decided from his boat racing days to go with the Allison. (This began our long relationship with Darris, Nancy, & Paul Allison). We couldn't afford an engine for the new boat, but found a complete, blown up, 1979 2.4 Merc Offshore racing engine in a box at a dealership on Tenkiller lake. They wanted $900 as is and I happened to have saved that amount so I could but myself my first vehicle........ BUT, as any true boater will tell you, we always have better boats than vehicles!!!!haha!! So I bought the motor and dad owned the boat. When we finally rebuilt the motor and assembled it (yes, all the parts were in the box, amazing), we rigged the boat and I experienced the first “blowout” in my life at around 84-85 mph..... did not know what had happened, but it scared the crap out of me!!!! After making a makeshift nosecone, to eliminate the blowout, we continued developing the Triton prop and ended up with the boat running a true 91 mph on both a racing Medallion and a Keller racing speedometer. The boat had a great holeshot, great acceleration, and handled great also! We could outrun anyone in our area that claimed to be running much faster.(It seemed everyone was running close to 100 mph in their bass boats in the early 80's!!!! Yeah Right!!!) The Triton 1 prop was fine tuned on our Allison boat and quickly became one of the best props for them.
Early to mid 80's, Darris introduced us to Owen & Les Boris from Canada because they were wanting to set a new v-bottom speed record. We built them our first 32 & 34 pitch props and began working closely with them and the Allison factory.
There were many records set, not only by Owen & Les, but also by us and many others.
We then developed the Triton 2 thru-hub prop for regular fishing boats and also designed our offshore version round ear props in right & left hand for the Arnesen Surface Drive & the Merc #3 & #4 drive. They were very successful on the surface drives and provided a holeshot that the cleaver design could not deliver. At this time, we also developed the Hyperdrive in right & left-hand versions for the bigger offshore boats and some of the bigger bass boats with the heavier engines.
In the late 80's, we moved the shop to it's current location, North of Locust Grove, near Lake Hudson.
The early to mid 90's saw a slow down for us in propeller sales & since I then had a family to support through the slow winters, I ended up leaving the business and working for a major company in the oil field industry. Dad continued the shop through the years building many propellers and developing some special props along the way.
Side Memory.......
We had some “sanitation engineers” from a town close to us stop by the shop one day to see if would design & build a small two-blade prop to go in their sewage ponds to agitate the water. Of course we were up to the task and the jokes immediately started circulating about the “crappy” job we were doing! I think we built them a dozen or so props & one still hangs on the pegboard at the shop.
Over the years, I would go down to the shop to help dad a little when he would get behind on production and then I decided to start working on my own shop near my home. As dad got older and closer to retirement, I would spend more time at the shop helping out and I could see a slow decline in his health, mainly from just the fact he was getting older. Our plan was to transfer the shop to my building, whenever I finished it (still not done), then I would continue making props and dad would show up on occasion to help me when I got behind.
So that brings us up to a week-and-a-half ago........... When something tragic happens, and everything that seemed so importatnt at the time, becomes quite meaningless. You spend the last few days with a loved one as they pass from this life on earth to the “real” life to come with Christ, God, and others who have already passed. It is truly comforting to know that dad was a strong Christian and look forward to seeing him again one day!
We're not sure exactly what the near future brings in regards to the shop, but this is what I do know.... I will be spending the next few weeks at the shop finishing up customer's propellers and making sure things are set in order....... I will continue the “Hoss Prop” legacy and probably move the machines to my shop as soon as possible. There may be a slight downtime as the move progresses but will keep everyone posted. If you call the shop (918)479-5167 & I'm not there, please leave contact info & I will return the call ASAP. I will also begin checking the e-mail daily and try not to let it get too far behind. (hossprops@sstelco.com) I will try to update the website this week to reflect the changes these past couple of weeks.
I'm sure you guys have many stories of your own about dad and the shop and welcome any that you guys would like to post. I just wanted to let everyone know what is going on & give a little history about Hoss Prop & my father, Dave Bostic (1/13/39 – 5/29/2011)
I may try to post this message on a couple of other message boards also.
Thank You for Spending the Time to Read this Info about Dad,
