New guy here, seeking guidance

[pops67g]

They're coming out our ears!

I read on another post here that Ric Montoya has 77 of them in stock. I'll bet he could be persuaded to part with one. "New" in this case isn't much different in priced than used (and maybe abused).

[ryan_4z]

So, I met up with Billy Allen and its all clear to me now.

Really??

[L. Allen]

Ha Ha Ryan.
The world according to Team Scott.

[ZUL8TR]

New to boat racing

QUOTE=bostonhydro;97523]hello everyone, nice board you have here.
I have been given a half built clark craft wetback 10, and decided to finish it and race my rookie season this year. I am a professional marine technician and have the skills to build it right. I weigh 180 lbs and am 6 ft tall. I know this hull design is old but I am modifying it to remove the shovel nose in favor of the pickle fork. I also plan on using carbon fiber and kevlar in key areas to improve strenth and rigidity . What I'm unsure of is what engine class I should run in. any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance, dave kraus[/QUOTE]

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I offer my thoughts on your project as I have much experience with the Kelly hydro. I do not know the quality of the Clark Craft kits but hopefully they come with Okume 6 mm ply for the bottom and sides and 3 mm Okume for the deck? If not the fir plywood is not suitable since it checks badly as several runs on the water will reveal. Fiberglass on the last 24" will help this and definately do it if Fir ply is used, but fir will be heavier. If you must, build it to get the experience and then sell it. But first play with it on the lake to get the feel of speeds in a small rig and hopefully get a 20 or 22 ci Merc with a quicksilver unit to get the speed.

I have experience with building and racing the Kelly Wetback. I built one in early 1970 from plans I bought right from Hal Kelly. I played with it for 2 years and then started racing in 1973 in APBA under 25ssh with the 1973 Mercury engine and 20ssh with the Y80 yamato I picked up in 1978. One many races with the boat and raced against some top competors in Region 5 at the time like Jeff Hutchens, Freddy Townsend, Dave Rawson, Marshall Eldridge Jr., etc. Picked up 1974 Region 5 high points with the 25ssh. Competition set up with the 25ssh was about 64 mph and 67 mph for the 20ssh Y80 Yamato. Set up right the boat gave me a great fast ride but you need kohnies to drive any of these machines. Getting the right set up took lots of test time. Props were from Harry Pinner and he still makes them down here in region 5.

If you build it for your project I suggest you make the transom motor board
1-1/2" thick and 15.5" total height from the bottom and increase the angle from plan 10 degrees to 14 if you havent gotten this far on the project. Scrap the fabric deck and mod the deck for full 3 mm ply. And redesign the cowling in front of the driver to better block the driver and improve airflow. The original Kelly cowl was to low. Make the air traps full length to the transom. Provide adaquate blocking on the left sponson back to hold the turning fin that must be positioned outside the top chine line of the deck rear of the sponson. Make sure the last 2 feet of the bottom is flat left -right -fore -aft and any other directions and the transom rear plane is exactly parallel to the left and right rear edge sponson plane.

Add one extra 1/2" x 1-1/4" stringer inbetween each of the stringers on the plan to give the plywood extra lateral support from flexing. Make these added stringers extend several inches beyond the 2nd rib from the transom. No need to add the vertical stiffeners to these added stringers like those needed and noted on the plan stringers. I used stainless anchor nails grade 3/4" 316 x 14 gauge for bottom and sides and 15 gauge for the deck. Use epoxy for all the glue up.

My hull weighed out at 125# with hardware. At the time 25ssh total weight (boat, motoer, driver, all else) was 355lb and the 20ssh was 380 lb.

I recently reconditioned the hull with some additional mods to cowl and deck for a fun project. I still have the Merc and the Y80 and all the props and engines are in great working order. It is going to get wet soon

If you want additional info I will be glad to provide it, even photos.

Pete

[johnsonm50]

Thats wild, goin 64-7 in it, Co-Honies fur sure! My freind Reeves Wetback is a Clarkcraft kit. It is fir, [even has the little football patches like depo-wood] with a wicked raised grain problem. The C-craft kit I believe claims 130 but his is waaay more. Im sure if one went with okume and made the upgrades you wrote it would be a far better boat.

[JippeFIN]

If you want additional info I will be glad to provide it, even photos.

I'd like to see those photos and additional info.

[Silas_53A]

This thread is a year and a half old... hehe..

How'd this ever turn out? is he racing?