Fun with Tunnels

[Greg Johnson]

Jerry was kind enough to publish a picture of my 2nd design 7.5 tunnel and 1st design 3.5 tunnel which was Dean's boat. Note Rod's record run picture lower right and pic's on page 2.

 

[Greg Johnson]

Biggest tunnel race in D4 in the day was the John Spangler race. Here's some pic's and articles from1988, 1989 and 1990. The most popular 3.5 tunnel by a landslide was the Tom's Cat in D4.

 

[Greg Johnson]

Hope I'm not boring everyone. Kinda fun unboxing everything. I work on my boats all of the time and they haven't seen water since moving to TN. Nearest water is 2.5 hours away. Really miss it though. I'm on rev 6. Competed and ready for water. And currently working on rev 7, removable sponson boat.

Here's pic's of Rev 3, I called it Hurricane and rev 4 the Phantom. Note the Irwin pipe that wrapped in front between the motor and transom on the Phantom.

Then of course a pic of what happens when your AM radio gets a glitch! Phantom boat was by far the fastest I've ever made but was an unreliable heat racer. Turning was a challenge. At the time I was using the brown box wheel radio which you couldn't change steering rate. Now with new radios it's almost tempting to rebuild this boat and see what it would do when you can better control your steering.

 

[Grimracer]

Thanks for sharing bud!

Grim

 

[Alan Elzer]

Really appreciate. I was at lamps just before they moved to Mendota. I tied G. Preusse in 3.5 tunnel for second place, I ran 6 prefect laps & won the run off...

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[DeanJohnson]

Pretty awesome, Pops! I was wondering when we would see these pics show up.

 

[RonShaw]

Hope I'm not boring everyone. Kinda fun unboxing everything. I work on my boats all of the time and they haven't seen water since moving to TN. Nearest water is 2.5 hours away. Really miss it though. I'm on rev 6. Competed and ready for water. And currently working on rev 7, removable sponson boat.

Here's pic's of Rev 3, I called it Hurricane and rev 4 the Phantom. Note the Irwin pipe that wrapped in front between the motor and transom on the Phantom.

Then of course a pic of what happens when your AM radio gets a glitch! Phantom boat was by far the fastest I've ever made but was an unreliable heat racer. Turning was a challenge. At the time I was using the brown box wheel radio which you couldn't change steering rate. Now with new radios it's almost tempting to rebuild this boat and see what it would do when you can better control your steering.

Greg,

I too have really enjoyed your posts. If you decide to build this one again, build the transom back to where the hinge pin on your engine is at least even with the rear of the sponsons, and youy may have the turning issues either resolved or better for sure. Thanks again for sharing.

 

[HTV Boats]

I made the Spangler at Lambs Farm about 3 times. Brought home a second one year and was an accomplishment at the time. Jay must have been 11 or 12. It was the premier OB race back then. Water could get pretty rough there.

Mic

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

I attended a couple of Spangler Memorials and I think the first one I attended was held at the Lombard pond. At that first Spangler, I ran a Rod Geraghty tunnel belonging to Dennis Caines in 20 Tunnel. At the end of four rounds, I was tied with Scott Jones for first. This was the first IMPBA race I attended where the full course mill was required. Scott beat me to the start and held onto the lead to win. I also attended a Spangler at Lambs Farm and met Mike Z, Big Byron, and Mike Crawford. At that race, Mike Crawford was just getting into r/c boats and ran and won the Novice Class. Seems like Big Byron was racing a Dumas Hot Shot 40 and I don't remember what Grim was running. I think I placed in the top 3 in 20 Tunnel, but that was a few years and many races ago.

JD

 

[Greg Johnson]

Jerry, At one of the Spangler races I was at you raced in 7.5 tunnel then swapped out the 7.5 powerhead to the 11 and raced in that class with the same boat.

 

[mr_fons]

History of my 7.5 Tunnels

7.5 Sprint built around 1984, paid $89.98 US for the motor then from Tower Hobbies.



LapCat II About 92 Same motor I use on the Sprint.



Stealth 7.5 K&B SS. Work in progress.



Fons

 

[Jarcaines]

Jerry, it was probably this boat? One of my dad's favorite and most successful boats.


It finally met it's end when Joey ran it into the dock piling at Waughop.

I attended a couple of Spangler Memorials and I think the first one I attended was held at the Lombard pond. At that first Spangler, I ran a Rod Geraghty tunnel belonging to Dennis Caines in 20 Tunnel. At the end of four rounds, I was tied with Scott Jones for first. This was the first IMPBA race I attended where the full course mill was required. Scott beat me to the start and held onto the lead to win. I also attended a Spangler at Lambs Farm and met Mike Z, Big Byron, and Mike Crawford. At that race, Mike Crawford was just getting into r/c boats and ran and won the Novice Class. Seems like Big Byron was racing a Dumas Hot Shot 40 and I don't remember what Grim was running. I think I placed in the top 3 in 20 Tunnel, but that was a few years and many races ago.

JD

 

[Bill Gibson]

I love looking at old r/c race boats from back in the day, including tunnels.....so here's a couple of mine!

The Tomcat was probably the slowest boat in D-3 back in the mid 80s, but it had a really nasty habit of finishing heats and stealing trophies!

The 24" wood Hot Shot was also a great running boat until the increasing speeds in the class caught up to its size!

Wish I could find some pics of my '85 Open Cockpit LeeCraft 7.5 OB Tunnel.......it was just an INCREDIBLE boat right off the bench!! Equalizer pipe really turned it ON

 

[Alan Elzer]

Toms cat plans...If anyone interested I have full size plans (original from Octura).

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[Alan Elzer]

Tom's Cat plans ...sold

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[Jerry Dunlap]

Hard to believe, but I actually found a couple of photos of my very first tunnel boat. The year was probably 1977. It was designed by Dave Knowlen, an engineer at Boeing. Dave also designed limited hydroplanes and I think he designed the canard Circus Circus(from the model canard concepts of Ed Fisher) and then the conventional Circus Circus. The boat was built from plywood and it seems like it was 30" long.

Thanks to J.R. Caines for converting the photos to a digital format. That's my son, Paul, holding the boat. Paul is now 46 and probably 5 at the time of the photo.

JD

 

[RonShaw]

Great pics JD. The days of the exhaust throttle.

 

[Grimracer]

VERY COOL!

 

[Davidrichmond]

This is a great thread,glad I found it in time. My first tunnel was a MRP Mach1 that I built in 1990.I still run it today,its actually the boat in my profile photo,still like new. Also have a dumas hotshot and a prather lapcat2. We have many Aquacraft boats, so I foresee a VS1 in the near future to replace the MRP.I should put it on a shelf before it starts to crack.

 

[the german]

Back in 1990 i had both MRP tunnel hulls ,the 21 and 45.Sold them both around 1995 back in Germany. I kept the MRP Python canard and it's still sitting on my shelf.

Love to see all the old pics in this thread.

By the way ..... a big Thank you to Jerry Dunlap ...... he influenced the tunnel scene back in the days in Germany with his designs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alex