Old rigger, you are about my age, 42. I have a frend that had a 19 or 20' Hawaiian. The boat had very little freeboard, 460 with Jaquzee pump. ( can't spell ). The pump angle was down about 2 degrees. Even with a diverter, the more gas you gave, the more the nose drug the ground. 200 more horses gave 10 mph. What a dog, guess they screwed up that one.
old rigger, Sounds like you may have been at Hawaiian in 1976. My 1976 Hawaiian is still the original gel. The plastic name tags on each side are still in tact. Check it out: http://www.rivertoys.com/gallery/1976H.html
I did have to put a post in under the center of the dash though. I never understood the logic of drilling a 4" hole (for Tach) in a 5" piece of wood right in the center of the boat.
77 spectra, youre right . What a dog. Little or no thought was given to the high performance end of things at Hawaiian.We had a few different 19' models and one of them was designed by one of the boss's brothers who didn't have a clue as to what he was doing. Boat was a real pig. Lots and lots of boats cranked out there. Up to 9 a day, which is alot for for a shop putting out all hand lamanated boats. You can't blame me for that one of your friends though. I didn't start rigging until I went to work for Roger Weiman at Rogers Custom Boats. At Hawaiian we had guys comming out of prison who had made friends with Jerry Groom while he was in there, and he would give them jobs rigging boats while they were on some type of work program from jail.
Jerry Gilbreath of Gil Marine was also a rigger there for quite a while, blame him (just kidding).
What can I say, it was a good job and I learned a lot but I'm more proud of the work I did at Rogers, Advantage, Howard and Warlock.
77 spectra, I wish I was 42 again.just turned 45, man, where does it go???? By the was, dumb question, you have a spectra? I just picked up a '74 20' that was a jet and I filled all the holes and going to build a v-drive (sorry). Never had one so there is no time like the present. Going to run a 500 inch caddy. 'Bout 100 pounds lighter than a BBC and gobs more tourque, just right for a cruiser. Toying with the idea of putting on a wood deck, and have talked to Jim Miller of Miller Boats in central Ca. about the job of building one, only have to talk my wife into it. 10 grand is alot for a new deck, but there aint nothin' like a wood deck boat.
According to my friend Dave,sanger made the first bubbledeck like old rigger says,he visited Jack in the late seventies when the 18 bubbledeck flattie surfaced.He also mentioned that, everyone started copying that design .
It was way before that, Roger splashed it in late '72 and used it on his '73 models
Old Rigger,
Thanks for the information, I now feel like I know a little history about this boat company. I think my boat is a "Tiger" model but I'm not sure. It is not a bubble deck in fact it looks a lot like Jasons 18 foot Hawaiian at Rivertoys.com. It has a fiberglass engine cover with a scoop on it, I think the cover is factory installed.
Old rigger ,Jim should do a nice job on your deck,since he got the 20 foot spectra mold, and probably done one before.I love wood decks but it's quite expensive to do it right.If you like wood decks , you should check my buddy's boats.He's website address,www.kazulinboats.com ,he just finished a new model a few weeks ago that went to a client to Lake Tahoe.It's a 23 footer with the new 496 Chev.
I've seen that web site and was impressed at a small block v-drive running 62mph with that deep of a V. very nice.
Your right , Jim ended up with thoses 20 molds. 23 different companies splashed that boat. That and the little 16 ft Tahiti have got to be the most splashed boats ever!
old rigger,
Forgive me for asking but what does a rigger do? Thanks again and good luck with your project.
Anyone know the story with Southwind and Spectra? Seems like I have read some where that Southwind's are copied Spectras!
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