Boaters,
This weekend at Thread Lake was a windy washout, so I was invited to another pond to test.
R/R 45 Hydro started with a H-22 with staggered cup and a 9.5" pipe length,60's range in speed.
Changed pipe to a AB-45 Parabolic that had been anodized and shortened to 8.5" in length center
to center. Propeller was changed to just a straight 4.50" cupped H-22,same propeller just took the
stagger out and fixed it up. With the shortened pipe and reworked propeller the boat is now a very
competitive 45 Hydro in the mid 70's range in speed.
Betke 21 Hydro was next:Nova Rossi 21/5-port with a .004" shim taken out. Stock 1445 propeller to start.
Wood S-pipe with a reduced .284" stinger diameter now and cut to 7.5" center to center. Played with
several propellers: 1445's,and H-5's mainly. Finished with a pitched 1445 @ 3.46" of cup and a H-5 @3.60"
of cup. Boat is now a ROCKET on the water, all I can say is that Jerry and Mike Betke have a GREAT HYDRO
DESIGN. This boat was good when we started the testing session,but when we were done it is now one of the
fastest 21 Hydros in the country for sure. I did not have my Stalker with me so we do not know the speeds
of our testing,but I have tested boats for over 22 years and this one is pretty quick.
Conclusions: Both boats had shorter pipes and optimized propellers on them when we were done testing.
I want to thank Doug and Matt for having us over to their house and pond on Saturday.
Mark Sholund
This weekend at Thread Lake was a windy washout, so I was invited to another pond to test.
R/R 45 Hydro started with a H-22 with staggered cup and a 9.5" pipe length,60's range in speed.
Changed pipe to a AB-45 Parabolic that had been anodized and shortened to 8.5" in length center
to center. Propeller was changed to just a straight 4.50" cupped H-22,same propeller just took the
stagger out and fixed it up. With the shortened pipe and reworked propeller the boat is now a very
competitive 45 Hydro in the mid 70's range in speed.
Betke 21 Hydro was next:Nova Rossi 21/5-port with a .004" shim taken out. Stock 1445 propeller to start.
Wood S-pipe with a reduced .284" stinger diameter now and cut to 7.5" center to center. Played with
several propellers: 1445's,and H-5's mainly. Finished with a pitched 1445 @ 3.46" of cup and a H-5 @3.60"
of cup. Boat is now a ROCKET on the water, all I can say is that Jerry and Mike Betke have a GREAT HYDRO
DESIGN. This boat was good when we started the testing session,but when we were done it is now one of the
fastest 21 Hydros in the country for sure. I did not have my Stalker with me so we do not know the speeds
of our testing,but I have tested boats for over 22 years and this one is pretty quick.
Conclusions: Both boats had shorter pipes and optimized propellers on them when we were done testing.
I want to thank Doug and Matt for having us over to their house and pond on Saturday.
Mark Sholund
