Ron's Parker Post on Hot Boat

[motion]

two points. first, the weights are not correct for the recreational boats, they favor lighter weight enduro race boats. al , you and i both know what a boat would weigh if you built it to run this race vs one you would sale to joe blow at the la boat show. the idea of this event is to promote interest which means: used, affordable, normally available, equipment, not ex race boats. remember i am just trying to be objective, that is all of our responsiblity. second, i do not understand the concept of requiring the slower classes to run balls out to stay ahead, all the while attempting to close the time spread so the faster boats can slow down not having to work so hard, maybe we should just call it a fun run? if you do not want to go faster choose a lower division. period. finally, us outboard guys need to be careful to not beat up on eachother or the inboarders are going to beat us all. remember the red v drive in div 2 , maybe #84 ?? he was faster than all of us in div 1-4, if he does not break he wins by 10 laps. maybe we should allow time for that too? thanks, joe

[racer55]

Val, Ran with the broken jaw in 1978 and yes we did win. It was so rough that year the witchcraft we were running was all busted up after the first day and we spent until about 3 am repairing it to run the second day. Tell Brad I said hi.

[racer55]

Hey Joe, I agree a standard lay up ski boat weighs about 825 and a boat like say Mr Smiths is 640 sure we have built even lighter ones but they were sprint race boats. A lot of the extra weight comes from all the interior, carpet,2 fuel tanks,jack plates etc. The boat we ran was an ex Havasu boat and we had to add weight to meet the minimum but it was not a lot. You make a good point about how hard the equipment is run to either keep the stagger or to make up the stagger, I know we were turning a lot more rpm than I felt comfortable with, heck the tack did not go high enough. The green /yellow 20 that ran div5 is a ski race boat from 1987 it was 20 pounds over weight so I think the weight is ok as it allows for boats that are used for other racing. I do feel weight limits need to remain, most of the outboards used my slings. Maybe the divisions need to be realigned. The thing we need to remember is it needs to stay safe and yes promote racing but if we eliminate ex enduro type boats we hurt the event.

[motion]

i do not want to eliminate ex enduro boats, i want to promote them, however i still want to give the regular guy a fighting chance to compete, that why i am speaking up about weights. not everyone has had the chance to observe the large range of similar boats weights. thanks, joe

[chill]

Al, I remember my dad telling me that story. Didn’t you have a pair of wire cutters with you? Incase you or someone else need to cut the wires holding your jaw together.

[racer55]

One thing that might also be a consideration is that all outboard boats have the same minimum weight and just classify by engine size and bottom type, that way the team that has a standard type boat but a smaller engine still has a chance if the divsions are layed out correctly. I know we could build a really light boat, run a smaller engine and still go reasonably fast, problem with this is a boat that light is back to a drag type that would be disposable if run in an enduro such as Parker.

I also think with all the new green engines we need to address where they might fit in.

Engines could be classified by original manufacturers rating and run on fuel they were advertized to run on or at least if the factory said 87 octane they have to stay on pump 92 even if modified no mater what div they fit, another words a 260 merc is stated to run on 92 then they would have to stay there even if they have more compression, if its a drag then 110 is ok but they fit a faster div. Just an idea.

Yeah Chad but they fell out of the life jacket and ended up in the back of the boat, no way they could have cut it open as it took the doctor 20 minutes to get all the wires out.

[motion]

racing with your mouth wired? you guys are crazy, i must be a puss, i would be on the couch with my mouth wired, not racing a boat. ha ha , anyways, i do not think the rules are far off now just some small details. if you throw out boat 555, and 48, which both ran a perfect basically trouble free race, the next finisher in div 1 was like 9th or 10th? if al has a perfect day he passes everyone and wins, that could be said for all classes. in short, lets not all get exicited and get carried away, the inboards are fast and they are quietly going to kick the outboards butts. thanks, joe

[647and918]

We're going to try to make the brick run faster, but as heavy as it is there is only so much we're going to be able to do... I'd like to see additional rule changes based on weight that would let me drop down to a class where I have a chance to be more competitive (weight ranges perhaps?)... I'd be willing to bet I gave up 400-500 lbs or more to the other Division V boats, and that was before my large behind even plopped down in the seat! The only reason we took third in Division V this year is that we broke substantially LESS than the boats behind us... If we had run perfectly (only out of the water for the two 10 minute pit stops and hadn't lost the extra time we did lose this year) we still probably wouldn't have cracked the top 10 overall or done any better in our division...

Let's face it, my primary goal is to have a great time and still be able to go skiing/tubing the next day like we did this year... I don't want to have to strip this thing down too much or hope everyone else breaks to try to be more competitive, and to be honest I'm not sure it would help all that much anyway!

[fyremanbill]

Hey Al, nice to see you here on BRF.
I agree that the speeds need to remain below 100 for the Mod VP boats, but would rather see the weight increased SLIGHTLY instead of lowering the prop shaft. My experience is that our boat becomes nearly uncontrolable with the prop 2" below the pad. 1" below was OK, but still well short of optimum. If some people feel they have trouble making competitive weight, I'm OK with increasing it 50 or 100lbs, and would rather increase it 200lbs than see the prop shaft back to 2" below.

[Ron Hill]

Did Racer55 ever make a "STAND" on transom heights??? The reason I ask, I still favor 2" for ALL OUTBOARD GEARCASES ON MOD VP BOTTOMS...

I was wondering what Al Stoker thought???

ADD AL STOKER: I've seen Al a dozen or more times since he retired from MOD VP Racing.............Parker 2007 was the first time I SAW THE AL STOKER THAT I KNEW AND LOVED....GLad you were back in the "SEAT"......Looking forward to seeing AL STOKER driving an EVINRUDE E-TEC in 2008.....