TX-19 & 19' PICKLEFORK HULLS FOR SALE

[steelcomp]

Steelcomp,You must of missed something.
YES they did make a 19 foot GULLWING not a tunnel.
TX came from Youngblood
Earl Smits boats were called Preformance Jet boats I have heard a lot of peolpe call them Texas Tunnels.I guess they called them that?
Jake
Yeah...I missed the tunnel part. The Texas Tunnel was the Earl Smith/ Youngblood with a Daytona bottom. That hull kicked some serious ass in '79 80 and 81. Held the NDBA Comp Jet record, and points champ/driver of the year. (80, I think) Earl sold the gull wing mold to Scotten, who still has the business name Performance Jet. Earl sold the tunnel mold to someon who was laying up some very light weight stuff a few years ago. Thought they were called TX's.

[sdpm]

A std layup which will come in at around 400 to 450 lbs ( good river boat weight) with 4 colors + 1 fade ( 5 total ) goes for $6000.00. The gel-coat and glasswork that Alex @ Westcoast Tooling does is excellent. He is also part owner of Aftershock Boats as well. Great guy to work with. There are alot of options as well. He will even build you a carbon fiber (vac-bagged) hull if you are will to pay the heavy price tag that goes with it. Again I'm working on getting some pic's together right know. Thanks again. Neil

[Jake W]

Steelcomp I had canged my post a few times after you qoted it (because it did not make much since when I reread it)
Scotten refered to Earls 16 foot tunnels as a that miserable tunnel.
Jake

[sdpm]

That little 16" texas tunnel set up right is almost impossible to leave on. They run great for about an 1/8 mile. After that they don't do real well and are dangerous. Very quick! That mold is availible to buy!

[steelcomp]

Steelcomp I had canged my post a few times after you qoted it (because it did not make much since when I reread it)
Scotten refered to Earls 16 foot tunnels as a that miserable tunnel.
Jake
That was actually the first "Texas Tunnel"...the 16 footer. The 18' was the good one. Admittedly they weren't real pretty, but they worked. The guy that drove that boat is a very good friend of mine...just got off the phone with him to make sure I got the story right. He raced the first ES/Youngblood 19' gull out of the mold (Earl gave it to him). Has the third one sitting in his yard...325 pounds. Boat was called Thumper. He ended up setting the C/J record at 116 in a Texas Tunnel back then. The first one was black, and he blew it over at Ming at 111. Has the deck on his wall. I love listening to him talk about "those days"

[steelcomp]

That little 16" texas tunnel set up right is almost impossible to leave on. They run great for about an 1/8 mile. After that they don't do real well and are dangerous. Very quick! That mold is availible to buy!
Yeah, he said it ET'd like hell, but didn't MPH at all. He didn't like it. I was looking at pics of it just this afternoon!

[steelcomp]

SPDM...do you know where the 18' Tex Tunnel hull is? Supposedly the guy who bought it from Smith didn't do much with it for a long time, then changed a few things and tried something different. Made a few hulls, saw one a few years ago here in SB) but don't know much about that. Toward the end, Earl called his boat a RTX, or TXR or somethng like that. Sold the stuff in mid 80's.

[sdpm]

I remember Thumper. My friend ran a CJ named Harry with a engine that they said sounded like a VW on steroids. A 180 crank will do that. He held the record and won high points for a few years. We ran one of our pickleforks in ubfj for about 4 years on and off. With our little 468 we ran a best of 8.02 @ 129mph. Now we run a comp hydro/ pro gas. Very fun!!!

[sdpm]

I have that mold also. Have not built any boats out of it yet. It needs alot of work!!! The sides are horable. The deck doesn't fit for crap and so on. It will get alot of help in the off season. I hope!

[steelcomp]

I have that mold also. Have not built any boats out of it yet. It needs alot of work!!! The sides are horable. The deck doesn't fit for crap and so on. It will get alot of help in the off season. I hope!
Yeah, the sides were pretty bad. Scotten cleaned the molds up a lot after he got them from Earl. (The gull wing 18). The 19 was the YB. That's when Earl took the 18 and put the daytona bottom on it. From what I understand, the guy that bought them from Earl made some changes. Did you get them from that guy, or have they changed hands since then? The guy that has Thumper (Dick Griffin) got one of the boats the second owner layed up...thought it was kind of funky looking. Super light weight potatoe chip boat. Ended up selling it. I guess Earl's operation left a little to be desired, as far as "keep it neat". But it sure started a trend!
You know, that boat cleaned up and looking nice could be a real nice deal, unless the second owner screwed it up.