Name This Boat

Cool boat, looks like one of those "Beer Nautiques".

Root, My dad has a motor like the green one. His ran a generator. Does your neighbor run his? I am aftaid that big piston is going to move the thing around unless it is in 5ft of concrete

Sleekline Ski Boats? Looks tropical.

Centurion Wave, right Larry?

I'm almost positive that is a Centurion Wave, but it is an unusual one. I think it is one of the first models. Perhaps a 93. Most of them had an open bow area. There was not a full dash window, but rather a pod, like on a single console bass boat. Somewhat similar to some of the Mastercraft Tristars. Most also featured a really large integrated platform area built in to the rear third of the boat. There is one located a couple of blocks from me. I'll try to remember to take a picture. BKH

I wish I would have saw that marlin eirlier because I almost baught a beautiful blue 89 magnum skier.

Those Jersey Skiffs are awesome. But, if you really want to get crazy in an inboard, try one of the Crackerbox's. BKH

You know Reid, making a ski boat go 55 mph is a hobby, and nothing's likely to get hurt except your wallet and your ego.

Doing 100+ mph on a circle course in a 16ft flat bottom cracker is just plain crazy. Still . . . I'd love to do it. Actually had an appointment to go up to Washington to purchase a National Champion Cracker back in 1993. Then I decided to get married. Told my buddy who was going to run with me that it would be a couple of years. By 99 he got tired of waiting and started racing single seater hydroplanes. In retrospect, should have chosen the boat over that marriage BKH

Reid,

I think I could get my boat to do 55 if I ever found a down hill lake.

Chuck

Tinker

Reid,

I discovered Jersey Speed skiffs several years ago when I hooked up with someone who worked on/collected vintage performance boats. He had a skiff hull back then that was for sale. I passed as I tend to prefer flatbottoms or crackerbox types, more.(not that I have ever gotten around to getting one yet...some day)

The guy I bought my Tique from a few years ago is affilitated with the New Hampshire Antique boat museum. He had a hand in building the speed skiff photographed and linked above. The boat shop that built this skiff is near the museum. Lots of neat boats up that way and a regatta ever two years. Mostly hydros, but everything else too.

The first guy I talked about is in central New York. I can probably track him down again, I see his name on the vintage hydroplane site if you were really interested in pursuing.

Larry, Thank you so much for that entry. That red boat is a jewel. If I thought I really wanted one before, that documentary sealed the deal for sure. I often cruise the SpeedSkiffs.com site and there's quite an impressive lot of them there. My buddies and I are also dead set on having one of the very, very few Ford powered boats. I had never taken a ride in one until last summer. For the last two years the skiffers have come as an organized stop on their yearly pleasure to the Antique/Classic Boat Society show here at Lake Norman. One of the owners had rented a house just a blocks from us and was here, (and I was there) for the following week. I got several more rides, but nothing I can recall gave me more goose/chill bumps than my first agressive ride in his. I was somewhat hooked.

Those Jesey Skiffs are sharp, and look like a lot of fun. Do they currently race them, or just vintage races? What's the price tag?

Riley, I'm sure Reid can tell you more about the skiffs than I can, however, it would appear that they compete as APBA vintage boats. Also there is a regatta in wolfeboro NH this fall. I'd like to make it. If you like that vintage stuff, maybe we could meet there. I had hoped to go in 05 but missed it.    Some photos from the 05 regatta.

Wolfeboro Regatta

75, I'd love to check that regatta in Wolfboro out, when is it? Those pics of the small outboard hydros, I had one of those when I was a kid. It was a C hydro with a mark 30 Merc. Don't I wish we never sold that.

BK, there's movies at jerseyskiffs.com. Those things look thrilling. There's a few for sale between 13k and 27k. For recreational use, 60mph would be fast enough for me.

If you didn't want to buy or build an old style inboard before, watch this video. Its crappy quality, but you get the idea. I tracked the progress of this boat being built on the Glen-L website for quite a while. I'm surprised he is selling so soon after completion, but I guess $29,000 could be pretty motivating. The GLen-L crackerbox plans arent real crackerboxy. They are swoopy and swirly and bigger. A real crackerbox is very simple and much more angular.

homemade crackerbox replica