Giving a Bezoat a Second Chance

[ZUL8TR]

There are always enough clamps ;-) Great progress. I see the sponson bottoms removed rather than fool with rusty fasteners, good to do.

[Albert]

It progressed from there.

[Albert]

You guys ever watch that video "The Front Fell Off" I guess this is kind of like that.
121012213_180040093702238_2683382430909141801_n.jpg

[ZUL8TR]

Almost all the skins are off, save 2 not trips and a right sponson chine, maybe those are in the to be removed?
What was the reason that the short tunnel on the bottom rear was not put back as original? Might change the ride performance of the Bezoats?

[modracer7b]

We had a Bezoat "C" stock (1980's) in our team (Sister's boyfriend) and he ran it both with the tunnel and without the tunnel and he liked it better without the tunnel. In the early 90's I ran it in "C" Mod with a Mercury and later a Yamato 102 and at some point, I put the tunnel back in, which he had simply filled in with epoxy and leveled. He had done an excellent job, because the filled in bottom was level and when I sanded the epoxy out, I kept the bottom to the way it came. Anyway, I did not notice much difference in performance or handling with the Mod Mercury. The only thing that seemed barely different was that the boat was a tiny bit livelier without the tunnel. The boat we had was very similar to the one being worked on except it was a little longer, more like "D" Stock, "C" Mod size.

[Albert]

121274572_199165638241558_1501005088899295612_n.jpg Honestly I just keep getting photos every few days of old sections or boat missing and new wood in its place.


My understanding was that the notch in the bottom was to accommodate the motor hight rule which is no longer relevant. But maybe Carruthers himself will chime in on that.

[Albert]

7B thanks for the comments, really was told that it was due to a rule change...but it could just be because the Carruther's always build flat bottom rear and had quite a bit of success.

Anyway remember what I said about wood disappearing and reappearing at a rapid rate?

[ZUL8TR]

Well looks like all the skins are being replaced, can't see other side chines to verify? In the beginning did you know all this work was to be done or just said do what is needed to get it right?

On the tunnel 7B knows from experience with or without.

[modracer7b]

My understanding of the tunnel issue was that it had various performance theories to do with drag, engine height, relieving lift, handling and others and I think it just really became a matter of choice for different drivers as some believed there was an advantage to it and others believed it did not give an advantage.

[Carruthers]

The tunnel was filled in because there is performance gain with a perfectly flat planing surface I did the same with my boat and there was a 1.5 mph gain so I followed suit with this boat

[ZUL8TR]

That's a good reason to do the same.

[Albert]

Pete,
I think we all new it was a major project, but like any major project the deeper you dig the more you find. At least one local experience voice pointed out that it would be easier to build a new boat but I will leave it to Carruthers to say whether it would have been easier to build from scratch. But you can't deny that this boat is going to have a great story.
I have driven 2 other boats that the Carruthers family rebuilt and put back on the water after they were out for decades and they both far exceeded my ability to pilot them.
In short I guess you could say that he knew what he was getting into with the challenge, and I as a new racer recognize that even if the boat has minor deficiencies I will likely be the limiting factor for the first year or two. That and I'm a sucker for a good story, and this boat being pulled from the scrap pile, and the motor assembled from spare parts in a milk crate make for one that I am happy having a part in writing.
I guess I'm a sucker for a few things that this boat can represent, firstly I love doing less with more with motorized projects, secondly my favorite projects are always ones that would have been in a dumpster if I and friends hadn't tackled them. Whether its my 500hp chevy truck built from scraps, a turbocharged tercel drag car, or a honda z50 built on an abandoned frame. I just love starting with something that is a step away from the literal garbage. That way anything you do is an improvement.










While I am feeling particularly wordy I will say one other thing. Because of this thread and my need for parts, and my quiet search for some safety gear I will say that I know that there are other projects going on. I am not on FB and I love the forum format as I feel it is the ideal one for documenting a project. I just find it a shame there are so few documenting their projects on the site.

Maybe I am just a young man screaming at the clouds...but FB sucks for finding information once its passed beyond a few months old where the forum provided searchable answers for people looking to tackle a project like this. Both for myself as someone tackling this motor for the first time, or for someone looking to drag a boat out of the rafters somewhere and bring it back to flying form.

[Carruthers]

Without I doubt it is easier to build a new boat but that would also mean that we would need to throw this one away. regardless of how much blood I have spared chiseling off old plywood and how many planer blades have been sacrificed to staples I believe it’s going to make a great boat again regardless of the work involved

[ZUL8TR]

I agree to throw away is bad, history lost. Do you have any pics of the left sponson chine damage edge repair before the new skin? Nice craftsmanship.

[Carruthers]

Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture before the repair but maybe I can get on after I flip the boat over

[modracer7b]

To add to the stories of refurbishing old boats, I did a few over the years and there is a certain satisfaction to bringing a boat back from dead. When I got back into racing with my son driving J stock, His second year was 1988 when the restricted OMC was first used and I took an old 60J Clarkraft runabout and completely redid it to fit the new rules for that engine which include narrowing it, changing the chine angle and lengthening it and he set the 3 mile competition record in his fourth race with it and if not for attaching a side fin wrong and getting thrown out of the nationals qualifying heat, he probably would have won the nationals, especially since he beat the driver that ran away with the nationals all year before and after the nationals. Additionally, to throw together a quick JSH, I rebuilt and redesigned an old rotted out 1964 Castacraft A/B hydro that I ran a KG4 and convertedMK20H on. He won the nationals with it in his 5th JSH race. So basically counting the cost of a used OMC A and using my old KG4 props, we did all that for about $1200 in investment and it was really fun doing it.

[Albert]

That's a great story. Do you still own the boat or know where it is?

[modracer7b]

Both boats are gone now, but they were reworked into different designs a few times and finally were retired for good around 2003.

[modracer7b]

I tried posting pictures of the CMH Bezoat and the JSH with this post, but could not get the pictures to load. Teresa said she would check on the problem with the web site people and if she gets it ironed out, I will post them to this thread.

[ZUL8TR]

I have done a complete builds and a number of restors and enjoyed the process and the final result is a reward. Keep um running!

[Albert]

Two points.
One early photos in this thread seem to be vanishing...maybe my linking photos to Instagram was a poor life choice.

Second I like the optimisum shown on the first page "boat looks good, let's just do the decks"
Past us didn't know anything.

[DeanFHobart]

One thing for sure is that this project has a large following..... 6 pages of replies..... Yikes. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

[Albert]

Dean,
To be fair half of those replies are my own, but I like to keep the momentum up and this thread may help a little.

Also if you guys like this project just wait until you see what's next.

Deeougee,
Took your advice and ordered metal core wire and non resistor caps.

[Albert]

Big day, as the boat has been flipped!!!
I am ecstatic with the progress.
121704774_983369115505855_2058534208269741544_n.jpg