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Thread: Champion AU/BU

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    Team Member JoS's Avatar
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    Default Champion AU/BU

    Hi, anybody here who could help me with pictures of the original 1953 Champion AU/BU?
    Or maybe you know someone who still owns an original Champion AU/BU? Thanks a lot!
    Jo
    www.152vo.org - Vintage Outboard Racing of the 1950s

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    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default Speed and Spray Magazine Has Champion Boat Ads

    I will look through my old magazines to see if I can find a picture of a Champion Boat...Somewhere on BRF is Danny Morehouse with his Speedy Twin and a Champon "KIT" boat.

    http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...anny+Morehouse This is Johnny Craven's Champion BU with a Champion Hot Rod motor on it, but this is not the "Original" Champion AU-BU Runabout.

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    Team Member JoS's Avatar
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    Thanks Ron! First I thought that the Champion (Hot Rod) motors and the Champion hulls were produced in the same company, until I found out that the boats came from Southern California and the motors from the Minnesota / St. Paul area. Is it right that the two manufacturers hadn't anything to do with each other?

    Another thing which also astonished me is that no Champion boats can be found in the result lists of the Winnebagoland Marathons. I only found a Champion boat taking fifth place in class AU (in the 1952 or 53 marathon, as far as I remember). First I thought that the big distance to Wisconsin was the reason. But on the other hand the Sid Crafts were manufactured in California as well and many Sid Craft boats ran in Winnebagoland. Do you have an explanation?
    www.152vo.org - Vintage Outboard Racing of the 1950s

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    Sid Craft and latter Sid Son were all built in New Jersey (on the East Coast). In my 40 + years of racing I have never seen a Champion boat. I have seen hundreds of Sid's. I think Sid just built a bunch more boats.

    In the day, they were a very good boat. I won a bunch of races in AOH (250 hydro) and BSH in them.

    Michael D-1

  5. #5
    BoatRacingFacts VIP John Schubert T*A*R*T's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JoS View Post
    Hi, anybody here who could help me with pictures of the original 1953 Champion AU/BU (not pics of a replica)?
    Or maybe you know someone who still owns an original Champion AU/BU? Thanks a lot!
    Jo
    Go to this site. You'll find the original Champion brochure as well as many other race boats from the 50's racing era, which was great. http://www.pfs-ware.com/50s/50s_page12.htm
    Last edited by 3030; 01-19-2014 at 02:15 PM.

  6. #6
    Team Member JoS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Schmidt View Post
    Sid Craft and latter Sid Son were all built in New Jersey (on the East Coast)
    Sorry, my mistake... I mixed up Sid Craft and De Silva! So the geographic distance might be an explanation... I also didn't find a mentionable number of De Silvas in the Winnebagoland race results, although they were highly competitive boats. Winnebagoland mainly was a game between Sid Crafts, Speedliners, Switzercrafts and Raveaus.

    Quote Originally Posted by John Schubert T*A*R*T View Post
    Go to this site.
    Thanks, John, I've already seen this site. What really interests me are photos and some details of the AU/BU utility, especially a rear view of the transom and the construction of the frames.
    www.152vo.org - Vintage Outboard Racing of the 1950s

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    Administrator Ron Hill's Avatar
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    Default DeSilva Boats Were Expensive

    See, when "THE DAMN MERCURY" came along, "REAL" racers were burning alcohol. The alcohol burners were called "ALKY RACERS". Most of them, probably 95% hated thos "DAMN MERCURY MOTORS. Alky Racers raced DeSilva boat. Those "DAMN MERCURY" guys raced home made "KIT" boat like Champions.

    In 1954, at the DePere, Wisconsin Nationals, there were probably 4 DeSilva boats (Ronnie Loomis's CU, Red Thomas's AU-BU, and Bob Parrish's A-B Hydro and AU-BU...(Loomis ws from Santa Barbara, Red was a Major in the Marine Air Force and Parrish was the son of rich Cotton farmers and oil well owners in Bakersfield. Evreyone else bought cheap boats or built their own.

    My dad was the motor inspector at the Winnebagoland Marathon in 1953,54 and 55. I'm surprized there were any DeSilva boats in the Winnebagoland Marathon.

    In 1954, the LASA (Los Angeles Speedboat Association) and "Alky Club", voted to "KICK OUT THOSE DAMN MERCURYS" My dad, who was Race Chairman of LASA quit LASA over this vote. No one in our family ever joined LASA after 1954, thought my dad was a ccharter member.

    So, FYI, Kit Boats were for the guy with NO MONEY!!!! And owned A Damn Mercury!

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    Team Member DeanFHobart's Avatar
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    Default Try Darrell Sorensen

    I think Darrell Sorensen has Champion Runabout plans or kits... csr4c@jps.net
    Dean Hobart

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    Team Member JoS's Avatar
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    Thank you, Ron and Dean! I got old Champion plans from a friend of mine, Rod Geraghty in Wisconsin. I'm deeply interested in the construction details and the history. That's why I'm often talking to Rod via Skype, learning as much as possible about vintage outboard racing. It's a great pleasure to get all these first hand information from those people who have experienced the real thing in th 1950s and 60s.

    About two years ago I started to organize a boat racing club exclusively for radio controlled replicas of vintage outboard racing boats, scaled down to size 1/5,2. That's why our club is called 152VO ("1/5,2 Vintage Outboard"). We started with 9 guys in August 2012. Meanwhile our club has grown to 680 members with 180 boats in 10 countries. You can see a few of our boats here: http://www.152vo.de/index.php/commun...rennboote.html (cottage racers as well as competitive racers of the stock and alky classes). We hold annual meetings and drive closed course races (utility and hydro) as well as marathon (team) races on a quartermile track. Our racing rules are based on the APBA rule book 1953. Meanwhile our vintage outboard racing club has become very popular in Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, France and Austria.

    My first model replica which I built fpr the 2012 competition was a tiny little cottage racer, the Atomite, published in "Boat Builder's Handbook", drawn by William D. Jackson and sold as a kit boat by a manufacturer called "Ozarka" in the early 1950s.



    My second one for the 2013 competition was a scale replica of the 1951 Switzercraft BU Baby Bullet, which is running awesome. A very fast and stable boat. I took second place in the results, my wife took first place with her Baby Bullet.





    Here's a pic of a few of our boats on the last competition in August 2013:



    I'm the guy in the green t-shirt to the left. If you're interested you can find more than 100 photos of the 2013 competition here: http://www.152vo.de/index.php/commun...vents.html#2nd (click on one of the four thumbnail pics on the right to open the gallery).





    So I have a cottage racer and a stock BU at the moment. My next boats will be a class B Alky, the Jacoby Flyaway (conventional) from the late 1930s and the 1953 Champion AU/BU which I'll try to finish for the next competition. That's why I'm interested in some construction details of the original Champion boat. If you know someone who has built an original Champion kit boat or still owns a Champion AU/BU please let me know. It's really tricky to get detailed information about these boats after 60 years so every information is highly welcome.
    www.152vo.org - Vintage Outboard Racing of the 1950s

  10. #10
    Team Member 1100r's Avatar
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    Very nice work on the boats. Curious what kind of speeds do they reach if you can without letting any secrets out? Now all you need to do is add a rider to VO-46

    Very Impressive

    Todd

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