Looking For Kober Cat Pics

**FRS SCALE FLATS** · 04-27-2005

Hi guys and gals
I was wondering if anyone has info or pics on some boats that ran in an outboard drag racing class in the early sixties.they were powered mostly by Merc 125's. they were a 12 foot tunnel hull made by kobercat. My father and about four or five of his buddies had these hulls and would wreak havock with the jet boats on our vacations at the river (one of his buds has a cabin near palo verde/walters camp)we spent many years in this retired racer doing everything from fishing,learning to ski then my father having us boys clean out ice chests, skiis and fishing poles so he could 'woop up' on the jets that thought they were 'bad'. a lot of fond memories with this hull, I know its a long shot but if there's any pics or info I'd love to see it. the boat my father had was named Drag -N - Fly with a propped dragon fly on its sides near the transom.(dosent have to be this particular hull,btw the deck was rather concave small picklefork bow and rounded over at the rear like the flats are)thanks, this board is great.

steve

**Miss BK** · 04-28-2005

I remember a boat named "Drag N Fly" at the drag races about 15 years ago, but I don't think it was a Kober Kat. Also, in the early 90's there was a copy of one of these drag boats still running on the DSRA circuit. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is that driver had to sit with his legs splayed far apart because the tunnel floor was so wide and the cockpit was so shallow.

Dave Kober is a good friend of mine and is still building boats in Lake Havasu as of 2004. He was a fireman in LA before retiring and moving to Havasu. He used to have a website (koberkatboats.com) but looks like it is down now.

The first boat I ever drove was a 10 foot Kober Kat tunnel, built for the mini OPC classes in the mid-80s. I soon bought one of my own. But as Mod-C grew faster and faster, a 10' boat was not enough to handle 70-80mph (I learned the hard way). That's when I bought my 12' Mirage Tom Cat.

This is probably the model of boat your dad ran:

Time table:
As told by Dave Kober:

1954 - Dave wants to build his first boat, goes out and buys 'GLEN L Plans'.
1956 - Dave has an F-racing Runabout with a 1939 4-60 EvinRude.
1958 - Dave builds his first 'Kat'. Everyone said 'You can't make it work with a single engine', but He did it.
1958 - Dave started racing. He raced against V bottoms, Flat bottoms and beat them so badly they had to make a new class, the 'U-Class' "COBRA".
1962 - The Tunnel boats of old had round noses and they were all blowing over, Dave developed the first 'pickle fork' design.
1967 - Ted Jones asked Dave why he had that pickle fork design on his boats, Dave said it gave the boat more air and kept it from blowing over, then Ted Jones took that information and used it on his 'Unlimited Hydros'
1968 - Dave starts building and selling 'Kober Kat' boats. He sold 138 all over the world that year. New Zealand, England, Canada, Hawaii to name a few.
1978 - Dave next builds a 20 ft. 'Kober Kat' able to go 80 mph with a 200 hp Mercury.
1983 - Dave builds his first 'Mini' boats, 8, 9 and 10 ft. He sold many of them for racing

**Miss BK** · 04-28-2005

Here is one of Kober's early tunnels with twins:

Rick Hoffman (who later would be founder and President of Hoffman race boats) was one of the first drivers to help Dave Kober tweak the 8 footers for use in a new racing class called O-Nod and U-Nod (later known as Sport-C and Mod-C)

**FRS SCALE FLATS** · 04-28-2005

Thank you so verry much that is the hull pics i was looking for.

steve

**Miss BK** · 04-28-2005

Are you building one to scale? That would be really cool if you are~!

**FRS SCALE FLATS** · 04-28-2005

Originally Posted by Miss BK

Are you building one to scale? That would be really cool if you are~!

thinking about it ... like the flatbottoms you can see there are very few straight or flat surfaces, theres a lot of work involved,but as with my flats it has been well worth it.
thanks again

steve

**mulegejim1** · 06-27-2005

Steve,

I raced Kober Kat Boats in the early 1960s with Dave - in fact - in 1965 I was lucky enough to win the Unlimited class in the California Outboard Boat Racing Association (COBRA) using Dave's boats. I roomed with Dave for a while and we worked building boats and racing on our days off from the Fire Department.

I am in Mexico at the present time, however, when I get home to Pasadena, CA I'll forward what pictures I have. I do not have many as most were lost in one of my moves. Those were great times.

Jim Galvin

**FRS SCALE FLATS** · 06-29-2005

Originally Posted by mulegejim1

Steve,

I raced Kober Kat Boats in the early 1960s with Dave - in fact - in 1965 I was lucky enough to win the Unlimited class in the California Outboard Boat Racing Association (COBRA) using Dave's boats. I roomed with Dave for a while and we worked building boats and racing on our days off from the Fire Department.

I am in Mexico at the present time, however, when I get home to Pasadena, CA I'll forward what pictures I have. I do not have many as most were lost in one of my moves. Those were great times.

Jim Galvin

wow jim that would be great this is the hull that i'm looking for thanks

steve welts

**doctorsnooze** · 07-02-2006

I inherited a kober kat that I'm planning on restoring. I'm just in the early days of restoring it, and, at least on the internet, have had some difficulty finding information and pictures about this "pickle fork" cat. If you guys and gals have any good sources of info I could check out, it'd be greatly appreciated!