I NEED HELP IDENTIFYING THIS VINTAGE, NOTRE DAME, SHOVELNOSE HYDRO

[Steve Schooler]

Thank you in advance to any of you that can help identify what the manufacture (kit)? & age of this very nice built, Notre Dame, shovelnose hydro. Also what would be the era of it's graphics? I'm a airplane guy, and ended up with this beauty in a estate sale. All planes....and this! It's 45 1/4" long, with a 20" beam. It weighs in at 13lbs, the way it sits at this moment. The finish on this boat is K&B Superpoxy, with clear over the graphics. Im not sure what motor it was set up for, and I don't believe it has ever been in the water. The boat is wood, that's been fiberglassed . I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks again, Steve

 

[jwo]

Looks to be the 1967 version. probably from Newton plans. Also looks to be an older build. Based on the Servo & Engine mounts. Hull looks great.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

I have to agree, it's from Newton plans as the interior bulkheads that are visible are of the same style and layout as a set of plans I have for the 1971 Miss Madison. Two things I could see are that the engine mount was drilled for two different engines or engine placements and it was set up for a flex cable drive. The one thing I don't know is how the exhaust was routed as the radio box configuration leaves no room for a front exhaust. Is there a place to run the tuned pipe under the deck on the left side of the boat? If there is, I'm thinking it was set up for a rear or side exhaust aircraft engine. Others may have thoughts on this as well

 

[Roy Munoz]

There is a hole in the transom so it would have had a tune pipe in it..I too would have to agree that it a nice looking boat ,and it looks like it was taken care of..I can never find buys like that..

 

[Steve Schooler]

Hi, Guys.

Thank you for your input regarding my boat. I agree about some type of pipe running through the boat, and exiting through the transom, as the two bulkheads in the rearward hatch, have some "half moon" cutouts in them, on the right side, for some type of pipe clearance. I'm talking 1 1/4' diameter, so not much room for an expansion chamber. How long have the Newton Plans been available? I'm trying to estimate the age of this build. Is 13 lbs like it sits, a respectable weight for a wood hydro, of this size, like this?

Steve

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Roger drew upcolor sheets for the 64 and 67 boats under plan 103, the difference appearing to be the Notre Dame "ND" on the sides of the cowl, making your boat the 1964 going off the pictures on the Newton site and what you posted.

It is a documented fact that Roger started drawing and selling plans in 1973, starting with plan set 101. I dug out my plans for the 71 Miss Madison, plan 106, and found he didn't date anything but the color sheet, drawn in the early 80s. I found a date on the color sheets of plan 108 for the 1978 Miss Madison and Circus Circus dated April and October 1978 respectively so, going off the 5 year span, your boat's plan set was probably drawn up in 74 or 75, though the color sheet could have been drawn up considerably later as Roger was constantly adding color sheets for additional boats as he collected documentation to draw them from. Now, all that being said, there is no way to know when the plans were purchased and when the boat was built with any degree of certainty. The fact it looks to be set up for a flex cable tell me it could have been built any time after about 1987 as flex shafts started appearing after that, AS FAR AS I KNOW. If someone knows more than this, I invite them to correct me on any of this that is in error

As to your question of weight, it could be a little on the heavy side, but that's also assuming no ballast weight in the front. If the boat was balanced properly, having weight added to the nose, it could be about right as an average scale NORMALLY weighs in between 12 and 17 pounds

 

[Roy Munoz]

As far as I can remember flex shaft started here in the west cost about 81 -82 time frame.. But that doesn't mean that this boad wasn,t change over to a flex shaft at some time too..

 

[glenng]

As far as I can remember flex shaft started here in the west cost about 81 -82 time frame.. But that doesn't mean that this boad wasn,t change over to a flex shaft at some time too..

I rembember using them in 82-83