Thunder Boat - Thriftway 2.5

[Carl Van Houten]

After the Scorpion Gas Sport Hydro project I decided to design a scratch built Thunder Boat for Talley and I call it the Thriftway 2.5. This model is a lot of fun to watch and carries very good speeds around the track. I am ready to see it in action this spring. I actually drew it two years ago and It was recently finished and is being tested now. The Thunder Boat Class needed a new contender. There is one guy in Voo Doo that is not going to like it...LOL In the picture the cowling was not snapped down in the rear. There is no gap at the rear when its properly snapped on the boat.

 

[Jeff Barnes]

Sweet

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Sweet

THANKS JEFF!

This is not an easy model to build at this point. In the original concept drawing the deck curve was exaggerated quite a bit to cover the gas engine and that made it tuff to build. As a result the deck was built with mahogany strips. I could pie-cut the deck pieces but not sure what direction I will take it.

If it likes race water, I may just mold the front section of the deck and build it from carbon. ? It has been a fun project and it has some things that are obviously working and keeping the boat dry in the turns. Hopefully it will show well this spring.

 

[Mark Anderson]

Carl
Any chance of buying a set of drawings?

Mark

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Hey Mark,
I designed this laser cut Thunder Boat kit for Mike Talley. He has wanted one for 35 years. I will ask him if he wants to sell the kit. It will be raced at VooDoo this May. He will most likely want to see what it will do in race water first. I am very happy with what I see from this boat so far. If you want one I have no problem with that but it will be his call to release it.
- Carl

 

[Grimracer]

THAT BOAT LOOKS BAD ASS!

Grim

 

[Carl Van Houten]

THAT BOAT LOOKS BAD ***!

Grim

Thanks Grim! I sure hope it brings home some wood for Mike. Being able to watch real time corner speeds has been a lot of help in fine tuning the setup.

 

[donald dunlap]

Nice

 

[Kyle Ebisutani]

Hi Carl,

I love that look. Your Thriftway 2.5 is a very attractive modernization of the original Thriftway Too thunder boat!

I'd like to share my Thriftway Too.0 with you and the group. It's a modified Feecraft hull built for gas thunderboat heat racing.
Are you going to produce yours as a kit or is it just a personal build?

Aloha and nice build!

Kyle

 

[Mark Anderson]

Sounds good Carl. Tell Mike Not to worry about testing it any further, he needs to share!

 

[Carl Van Houten]

I spoke to Ted Jones Grandson about the Original design of the Thriftway II and he pointed out that most people don't know that the full size original had some cornering issues that were the result of running the single engine setup instead of the twin engines that it was originally designed to have. You can see in the old films that It was very fast in the straights but was hard to get it though the turns without slowing down considerably and was said by Bill to be trying to swap ends the entire time.

The look of the original Thriftway II has always been captivating to me. Thankfully the R/C Thunder Boat Class allows enough design freedom to correct some of these original issues and there is enough of the original look left for it to still be easily identifiable but is not even close to the scale versions. Unlike most R/C Thunder Boat designs this boat is thicker through its center than most. Mike even asked if I could change that when he first saw the frame and was a bit skeptical of it but now says don't change anything.

I gave this frame and design to Mike but I will ask him if he would be willing to sell it anytime soon. I hope that the current VooDoo pond project will be complete in time to refill and have their race in May. If they make it in time I will be there to watch some great racing, have fun and EAT GREAT CAJUN FOOD!

 

[Jerry Muro]

I too would be interested in a Kit keep us posted. Jerry

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Hi Carl,

I love that look. Your Thriftway 2.5 is a very attractive modernization of the original Thriftway Too thunder boat!

I'd like to share my Thriftway Too.0 with you and the group. It's a modified Feecraft hull built for gas thunderboat heat racing.
Are you going to produce yours as a kit or is it just a personal build?

Aloha and nice build!

Kyle

Nice looking shot! FeeCraft? Great looking boat!

 

[Carl Van Houten]

Best 2-Lap time of the day 26.5 seconds. This is the 4th time in the water. We are happy so far.

 

[SayMikey]

Best 2-Lap time of the day 26.5 seconds. This is the 4th time in the water. We are happy so far.

I saw the boat in person beautiful you should have put on your long John's and joined us

 

[Carl Van Houten]

I saw the boat in person beautiful you should have put on your long John's and joined us

THANKS! I was talking with Mike and we have plans to tweak the setup and try again later. Maybe I can get out and come up there then.

 

[Carl Van Houten]

When Mike got to Huntsville with this boat it was turning 29+ second laps. The video Bill Zuber posted on FB shows that the boat was not happy during it's first few runs especially 3/4 thru the turns but without changing the prop or pipe, a couple of small setup changes gained three seconds. There was no video of the boat after these changes. After getting back home a mid point steering rod bearing was added for additional stiffness and some additional rudder / Turn fin alignments were made and these changes should get the time into the 25's. "SHOULD"... LOL.