This is part of a thread Glenn posted on some months ago..........
The OC500 Tunnel Boat experiment/project. Pre-internet the exchange of information around the world was slow to non-existent. Only after having designed and built this boat did I learn of other's attempts to build a low-profile tunnel on which to run a Konig and it would seem that much of their experience was similar to mine.
At Dayton the tunnel was only about 3 weeks old and I was pretty low on the learning curve. Add to that I had just received my latest 3 blade cleaver from Phil Rolla in Switzerland. For all the things that were wrong with the boat and set-up it actually ran pretty well. It took about another month to get it to the point where it was competitive. Some small changes to the bottom, and for some reason my engine would run way too rich with the engine cowl on the boat. Very smooth ride on rough water, and loved single pin turns, a semi-controlled hook. Smooth water and wide turns it did not like, too much over-steer. Would have required major surgery to re-profile the sponsons. Having sent my frame patterns and drawings to europe it has been interesting to watch over the last 30 years the continued development of the now Formula 500 tunnel boat.
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