Chris Chamberlain's Wetback

[Ron Hill]

Chris e-mailed me about a boat he was building. I told him to come to Long Beach to the races August 2-3, 2008. While I was at the races I borrowed Loud and Prouds gas powered golf cart to test drive...I managed to get up to the officials stand, and when I was turning around Paul Gritchar said he needed a ride...When he didn't get on, I asked him why??? He said, "You'll never back this thing up." I said, "Get your *** in and watch me..."

Well, I backed it up OK, and almost ran over this guy walking...

(Wasn't that close, the guy said he was going to hitch a ride with me.....).. Anyway, I tell this guy, get on and off we go...The guy asks, Gritch, "Hey do you know Ron Hill?" Gritch says, "What do you want him for?" He say, "Ron told me he'd get me in free and I need to find him..." I turn and tell him I'm Ron Hill......This guy ain't sure.

Anyway, this guy, Chris Chamberlain, hangs with Hill Racing and we talk about his boat...

Well, yesterday he brings his boat by. A Hal Kelly, Wetback (Which I'm sure is not a politically correct name...by Clark Craft. Chris his done a great job. He's made a steering bar, a shifter, and a throttle hook up....

It ain't going to go 80 MPH, but I will help him with a prop.....

The Wentz, Bowdens, Stokers, Hills, Boyes, Jimbo McConnell....to name a few started with a small boat.......

Chris has a cool windshield that he didn't have on it...but maybe he'll post more pictures...

This Yamaha says 28, but I think it is either a 25 or 30. Anyone know for sure?

Welcome to BRF, Chris, I see you are our newest member...

[JohnsonM50]

Nice Wetback Chris, is it a B? One of my pals built a B with a Clarkcraft kit, I got kinda involved in it too. I see you went to a safety throttle right away. He used a Merc fishing one at 1st. We started with my 58' 18 Seahorse, man was it under-powered. Then he got a Yamaha built Mariner 25 [alot like yours] & more like it. It was doin 38, then we adapted a prop I got from Ron and gps-ed 44+ 1st try.
Back then the plan Clarkcraft sent was a copy of Hals plan that stated the boat should weigh I think 115. Now the online ad states the kit will weigh 175. Reeves's is 178. He now has a 31.8ci OMC on thats trimmed down to 86 and has the same prop from Ron. It can reach 50 but the Rs are high to do it
Heres a look at it with the Mariner & 2 blade 13 1/2 p prop.

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

That is one nice Wetback hydro you have there. I bought one used and ran a Mercury 55H on it a few times and sold it to another person who did same but only raced it once in the 1970s and some years later sold it again. The it disappeared. Currently since re-appearing, the boat has again been restored and is running a short shaft Merc Mark 58 with a tall propellor putting it somewhere in the 50+ mile per hour range been run at his lake. The hydro seems to want last for ever. Yours will do the same. Enjoy!

[Healey75]

Hi Guys, have recently discovered the forum...some advice please, I have recently got hold of a Merc MK40H (here in the UK they are like dragons eggs to find!), for the last 6 years or so I have been running a restored Hally Kelly Jinx B Utility for fun in classic events that was built here in UK in '61. I want to stay with Hal's designs and have a set of original plans for the Wetback...as a 'hydro virgin' here's the questions...
1) With the Merc MK40H will the Wetback have to be built as Class D, about 12'6'' loa? the plans show a scale up for this
2) the Merc is around 16'' transom height, I can adapt the build to suit...will the rig be any good!...?
3) Any idea how it will perform?
I don't want to build something that has inherent problems and never get it working. I am to old to start again!

Advice/comments please...mad or what...?

[Mark75H]

A 40H is a rare beast anywhere! Definitely scale up the Wetback ... maybe even more than the plans call for, the 4 cylinder Merc has plenty of power. I think you should easily see speed in the high 50's ... and an exciting ride

You probably want the transom on the boat to be 14 inches ... you can shim it higher if it works; at 14 you will still be running much of the prop out of the water (at 16 you would have more than half the prop out of the water)

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Finding a Merc 40H in UK was a real scoop! My favourite sport here is finding British Anzani parts over here in Canada and USA.

I built and ran a Wetback D with a 40H for a short while in the early 1970s. I used aircraft grade Birch plywood, which is a bit heavy. It is better built with marine mahogany plywood. It should be built as a D and no larger. I used a left sponson fin instead of a center bottom placed fin. It ran in the 60 mile per hour range with a 2 blade stainless Kamic eared hydro prop with the propshaft 1.5 inches below the bottom of the boat. Sam is correct about the 14 inch transom height. Shimming the prop height will give you best performance. I loved the engine and had 2 at the time, one for a hydro and one on a runabout. This same boat turned up with a Merc 55H on it I bought and re-sold years later in the early 1980s.

In the late 1990s the boat re-surfaced in dreadful condition without the engine or hardware so I gave it to a friends son who has rebuilt it and runs a Mercury Mark 58 ski/fish engine on it and has a great time. The Merc 55H engine turned up again in 2005 has been restored and is now on display occassionally at the marine museum in Kenora, Ontario.

Good luck, good building and enjoy!