Doug Smock
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2007
- Messages
- 951
Hey Fellas,
I knew we were in trouble during open water late Friday afternoon. The boom tubes on the left side of my rigger gave up while running in rough water.
I gave Joe at Zippkits a call to let him know what had happened and to get some advice.
I knew If we didn't do something we were going to be in serious trouble. We worked to hard on these boats to not finish this race!!
Joe apologized, was very helpful and suggested we find a sporting goods store or possibly a kite store. We were looking for suitable arrows or fiberglass rods. Unfortunately we were in the middle of no where in a cotton field. Another thing we discussed was trying to put a dowel inside the carbon tube to get me back in the water, and reinforce the booms on the other boats.
We had no luck finding a suitable replacement for the booms, so it was off to Home Depot ( 20 Miles north) for some dowels and sandpaper. We spent some time Friday evening sanding 1/4"dowels to slide inside the 5/16 boom tubes.
Yep, Ken Haines, Reed Eagle, Paul Rollins, and myself found ourselves sanding 48" dowels in the parking lot of the Best Western in Ashburn Ga. We can only imagine what people were thinking about us.LOL Can you picture this?? :blink: :lol:
Sat. morning when Trini, John and Louis arrived they were handed dowels and told to slide them in the booms and CA them in place. I purchased some 36"X 5/16"OD K&S brass from Barry the gas guy since my booms were fractured.
Ok, now we are ready for the first heat, me with booms that are 2" too short.
I think it was about the third lap when I took a bad hop on buoy 3 with my short boom boat and the boat settled in sideways the driving lanes. My good bud Trini was RIGHT there to remind me just how dangerous that is. Yes my boat got T boned, and Trini was now upside down in approx lane 4.Sorry bud!
I got back in the throttle and the boat got back on plane, but something was very wrong. When the boat came back in front of the drivers stand we could see what had happened.
When Trini hit me (again my fault) his boat had folded my left sponson under the boom tubes. We looked closely at the tub as it passed by and it looked fine. We couldn't believe that I still had control of the boat with the sponson laying on its side and a nose high attitude. I kept driving and finished the heat. Dead last but I finished, I'll take it.
Now we have two boats out of the race, but round two isn't until tomorrow morning. Ok there is hope!!!!
Trini had some 5/16 K & S brass and I bought some more from Barry the gas guy. What now??
You guessed it, back to the Home Depot for some 5/16" dowels this time.
Trini, Louis, Reed and myself spent some time Sat. evening sanding 48" dowels in the parking lot of the Best Western. We sanded enough dowels for the whole AMB fleet of JAEs.
Sunday morning Trini and I were back in action. Round two no, issues the boats were flawless, and we drove better.
We had to hook John up with the "Smock Poon Kwan" Gen 2 JAE boom tube retro fit kit as he smacked a buoy hard and trashed a set of JAE Gen one retro fit boom tubes in round three.
Ok, no problem, by now we have this mastered.LOL
Round four, again the boats were flawless and Whooo Hoooo, WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! We brought five boats and all five started all four rounds of racing. "We are the man". LOL
I contacted Joe after the race and told him that we had made it through the weekend, and that all the boats were running. He was as happy as we were.
Joe had already ordered solid carbon rods and told me that new boom tubes would be on there way to us as soon as the material arrived.
We had no doubt after our previous experience with him.
The JAE 21 FEs are a GREAT fit for P-Limited Hydro, and the after the sale service from Joe Petro is second to none, period!!!
We love these boats and can't wait to get them back in the pond!!!
Joe has a message for all of the JAE 21 FE owners out there. You can find it on his website in the "News" section. http://www.zippkits.com/
All the best,
Doug
I knew we were in trouble during open water late Friday afternoon. The boom tubes on the left side of my rigger gave up while running in rough water.
I gave Joe at Zippkits a call to let him know what had happened and to get some advice.
I knew If we didn't do something we were going to be in serious trouble. We worked to hard on these boats to not finish this race!!
Joe apologized, was very helpful and suggested we find a sporting goods store or possibly a kite store. We were looking for suitable arrows or fiberglass rods. Unfortunately we were in the middle of no where in a cotton field. Another thing we discussed was trying to put a dowel inside the carbon tube to get me back in the water, and reinforce the booms on the other boats.
We had no luck finding a suitable replacement for the booms, so it was off to Home Depot ( 20 Miles north) for some dowels and sandpaper. We spent some time Friday evening sanding 1/4"dowels to slide inside the 5/16 boom tubes.
Yep, Ken Haines, Reed Eagle, Paul Rollins, and myself found ourselves sanding 48" dowels in the parking lot of the Best Western in Ashburn Ga. We can only imagine what people were thinking about us.LOL Can you picture this?? :blink: :lol:
Sat. morning when Trini, John and Louis arrived they were handed dowels and told to slide them in the booms and CA them in place. I purchased some 36"X 5/16"OD K&S brass from Barry the gas guy since my booms were fractured.
Ok, now we are ready for the first heat, me with booms that are 2" too short.
I think it was about the third lap when I took a bad hop on buoy 3 with my short boom boat and the boat settled in sideways the driving lanes. My good bud Trini was RIGHT there to remind me just how dangerous that is. Yes my boat got T boned, and Trini was now upside down in approx lane 4.Sorry bud!
I got back in the throttle and the boat got back on plane, but something was very wrong. When the boat came back in front of the drivers stand we could see what had happened.
When Trini hit me (again my fault) his boat had folded my left sponson under the boom tubes. We looked closely at the tub as it passed by and it looked fine. We couldn't believe that I still had control of the boat with the sponson laying on its side and a nose high attitude. I kept driving and finished the heat. Dead last but I finished, I'll take it.
Now we have two boats out of the race, but round two isn't until tomorrow morning. Ok there is hope!!!!
Trini had some 5/16 K & S brass and I bought some more from Barry the gas guy. What now??
You guessed it, back to the Home Depot for some 5/16" dowels this time.
Trini, Louis, Reed and myself spent some time Sat. evening sanding 48" dowels in the parking lot of the Best Western. We sanded enough dowels for the whole AMB fleet of JAEs.
Sunday morning Trini and I were back in action. Round two no, issues the boats were flawless, and we drove better.
We had to hook John up with the "Smock Poon Kwan" Gen 2 JAE boom tube retro fit kit as he smacked a buoy hard and trashed a set of JAE Gen one retro fit boom tubes in round three.
Ok, no problem, by now we have this mastered.LOL
Round four, again the boats were flawless and Whooo Hoooo, WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! We brought five boats and all five started all four rounds of racing. "We are the man". LOL
I contacted Joe after the race and told him that we had made it through the weekend, and that all the boats were running. He was as happy as we were.
Joe had already ordered solid carbon rods and told me that new boom tubes would be on there way to us as soon as the material arrived.
We had no doubt after our previous experience with him.
The JAE 21 FEs are a GREAT fit for P-Limited Hydro, and the after the sale service from Joe Petro is second to none, period!!!
We love these boats and can't wait to get them back in the pond!!!
Joe has a message for all of the JAE 21 FE owners out there. You can find it on his website in the "News" section. http://www.zippkits.com/
All the best,
Doug
