Smarty

He has had multiple turbine Skaters for over 30+ years, I always enjoyed seeing his boat(s) run (years ago) truly an awesome site (New Jersey).

Skater30

That's not a prop guard, just one of the hundreds of different hydrodynamic devices Howard tested on the back of his 46.

Smarty

Duplicate

speicher lane

http://twindisc.com/products/asd11/

That's the 50' Jet Set with the asd 11

Skater30

Just another of the many devices Howard tested at speeds higher than most of us have ever been on the water.

speicher lane

Where is the Arneson 46 now?

Skater30

I believe it went to a buyer in Georgia that had turbine boats previously. He brought it to LOTO Supercat Fest in 2017, and that's the last I've seen of it.

HuskerPerformance

Mike was one of my customers way back in 95. We maintained his Chriscat Ballistic with injected 750 mc on #4s. He grenaded an engine at 115 and from then on he went turbine. Bought his 1st from Steve Gywnn Still has it and built the 50. Great guy too. Super even keeled and no BS.

Here is an old clip of the first jet set on the Barnegat Bay in New Jersey.

seafordguy

This thread brought some perspectives I was not aware of and would like to hear more on since a turbine cat would be a (lottery driven) dream of mine....

Salt water - could see an issue if they digest salt water, but can't imagine an issue just operating in salt water locales? Thought I had read of flush kits on some boats??
Didn't know that they were totally uninsurable. I know insurance on ALL big cats is hard to come by, but completely unattainable?
Didn't know they had a propensity to burn down? Is this isolated to a few high profile incidents?

Fuel burn doesn't seem an issue to me. If you own a turbine cat the difference in burning 5000 or 10000 in fuel each summer is nominal and offset by the extended rebuild time-frames - thousands of hours instead of hundreds.

I've never seen one but always wondered more about the noise in a pleasure boat.

Brad Christy

Seaford,

Salt water droplets are detrimental to the turbine blades. It causes pitting, causing deterioration of the aerodynamic characteristics, eventually leading to failure of not mitigated. Ingesting salt water greatly increases this action. Water or any kind is bad enough, causing severe thermal shocking. The Inconel deals with it better than most metals, but it still has an effect.

Anything is insurable. It’s just a matter of how much you want to pay for it. Lloyd’s or London will insure a set of legs for a model, or a voice for a singer. I’m sure, it asked, they would accept your first born and your left arm in exchange for turbine boat coverage.

Turbines produce a tremendous amount of heat. They are an internal combustion engine in principle only. Let’s face it, there’s an open flame blowtorch in there, and most of it comes roaring out that exhaust vent sticking out of the rear upper deck. The rest is dispersed into the engine well. I remember seeming bubbled up paint/gelcoat/glass right behind the exhaust vents on Jeff Stevenson’s turbine Mystic at the Cumberland PokerRun. That they don’t/didn’t burn to the waterline more often than they did is kind of surprising to me.

I can tell you that Randy at LakeCumberlandMarine told my dad that it was the fuel consumption rate that was usually the dealbreaker for most buyers. That they are incredibly loud chased most of the rest away who thought they could accept the fuel costs. Unless they were racing it, they’d usually pass. That’s why the one I posted at LCM is still there, a decade or so later.

Their ONE redeeming quality is that they are fast. Qatar ran 244, while the piston engine record is 217 (I think). The unlimited hydroplanes made good use of the turbines, completely decimating the piston boats in competition, but they lost their soul in the process. We stopped calling them “thunderboats” because of it.

Honestly, I don’t think I’d go for a turbine boat, even if the lottery made one possible. I would much prefer the thunder of a large cat with four 1600HP blower motors, if I’m dreaming, over a turbine boat. To each their own, though, obviously.

Thanks. Brad.
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