Hey Frankie look what I bought... :)

[Steve White]

I built one in the late 70's that Gary Delara talked me out of before completion and paint. I was running Crapshooters back in the day, then built a twin Thundergator.

So, went to eBay and viola. Gonna mod this one up a bit, widen front sponson's and stretch a little (maybe go a bit longer on front sponson's), change engine mount, probably add some booms - dump the heavy hardware and slap a .90 in it. Should be fun to play with. Won the auction for under $200, awaiting shipping cost. Looks to be in decent condition and a good build job.

I'll post up the project on this thread when I get started.

 

[Wasted wages]

An old wing dinger !! Oughta fly with a 90 in it!!

I bet it has a hard floor mount... it's going to take some cutting and grinding to get the hardwood blocks out of the tub.. but should be a fun project!

 

[Steve White]

I think it has one of those old style extruded Octura aluminum engine mounts in it - that tied the front sponsons and outriggers all together via sandwiching the sides of the hull.

 

[SayMikey]

Better get some good bolts to hold it together. Stainless wont work too soft

 

[Steve White]

Better get some good bolts to hold it together. Stainless wont work too soft

For the front struts?

 

[Wasted wages]

What motor is that ?
OPS .45 ?

 

[Steve White]

I don't know. Intake looks like it's perpendicular to the block. Transfer port channels are angled, not anything I'm familiar with. The auction said .60 to .90 but who knows?

I'll know in a week or so when it arrives. The boat is 39" long, hopefully that's the hull and not to the back of the prop. If it's 39" nose to transom it would be the large Wing Ding. That's what I'm hoping for.

 

[Nigtmare]

I don't know. Intake looks like it's perpendicular to the block. Transfer port channels are angled, not anything I'm familiar with. The auction said .60 to .90 but who knows?

I'll know in a week or so when it arrives. The boat is 39" long, hopefully that's the hull and not to the back of the prop. If it's 39" nose to transom it would be the large Wing Ding. That's what I'm hoping for.

that looks like a ops40

 

[Wasted wages]

That's what I thought also...

Edit:
just clicked on the picture and it is a lot clearer.... it is an OPS... cast into the transfer port channel.. now the size,, I'm guessing a 40-65 ??

 

[Wasted wages]

Steve, if you are not going to use the motor, and want to sell it let me know.. I have a thing for old ops motors....

 

[Steve White]

^^^ Really? You've come to the right place. I'll send it over. I have some original 60's with the angled intake and Zimmerman rotary valve somewhere, I'll send them too. And some old new spare parts.

When you get the stuff, send me some cigar money.

 

[Wasted wages]

Awesome!
Thank you sir!! Are we talking Cohiba/ Partagás money or Swisher Sweets type money??

J/K... I'll take care of ya'...

 

[Steve White]

Havana's only amigo! No Swisher's, White Owls, HavaTampa's, Garcia Vega's or other gas station stogies.

I have about 10x ST .65 rods that are new old stock. We ran the ST .65 rods in the original OPS 60's back in the day. Some guys ran the ST 65 cranks for stroker motors too. I'll send ya 1/2 of those rods in the stuff. That was my first boat engine back around 1969, a ST G-65 ABC. First OPS I bought was around 1974 and it was a 60 that went into an early Crapshooter. Way too much engine for the hull, they worked well with 40's in 'em. Later they came out with a larger 60 size Crapshooter. The first one I built launched off the water at 90+ many times while testing. That OPS 60 would get up on the pipe cranking an Octura 2.6 and the boat would torque roll the left sponson up off the water. It would fly 8-10' up into the air. Back then I ran the RC carbs on em, red loctite'd into the case so they didn't vibrate and fall out. Was always able to chop the throttle when it left the water and never hydraulic'd one.

You still ain't gettin' your paws on that 90 pipe though. I almost offered it to you in trade for the Little Red Wagon kit. ROFL!

 

[Wasted wages]

Your going to need that 90 pipe for the Wing Ding build !!

Yeah, I loved my old OPS motors... My first boat ever,, had a .21 side port that was built by a guy in Houston, he taught me how to take care of the motor, how to needle it, and how to cut sleeves for timing..
That little motor ran so good for years... after that I was hooked on OPS,,
They really like to rev in riggers !!!

 

[Steve White]

^^^ I've always ran OPS as well. Had that first Super Tigre G65 ABC, then ran a couple of K&B Veco .19's in a Drag 'N Fly hydro, and in a Dumas SK Daddle, then a Northwind 20, then pulled the Veco 19 and dropped a ST X-15 with a pipe into it - way overpowered the boat. Had one Northwind 40 with a Super Tigre G40 side port in it. Oh and one ST X15 in a Northwind.

The rest were all OPS powered - .40's, .60's and .80's. Now .90's and a 1.20.

Do you run the vintage OPS engines in anything, or just collect?

 

[Wasted wages]

Yes, I ran plenty of OPS .67 and .80 's in both riggers and mono's... all the mono's were Husselcraft's ,, and the riggers were all avenger spiders or avenger cobras...

I had a twin OPS.80 avenger ... in the old days the hulls were built with cedar on the side rails of the tub... My twin climbed the rooster tail of another boat during a race at about 80 mph and went about 15 ft in the air...when it slammed back down it split the boat in half...

Those needle bearing .67's and .80's would scream !!

 

[Steve White]

Never tore one up from a blow over - a few stress cracks is all. However, I had a throttle servo with a loose motor screw jam the gears at wide open on a OPS 40 powered Crapshooter at Monterrey one year. Morning pre-race tuning, turn 1 entrance bouy. Chopped throttle and got on the rudder, engine stayed wide open, blew the transom out of the water and boat submarined. the boat just vanished going about 80 MPH. The pond was only about 4' deep and the boat stuck in the silt at the bottom. After an hour or so, the retrieve boat guy saw oil beads on the water and probed around with his paddle and broke it loose. Exhaust throttle on the engine, wide open intake. The only thing left was the intake, water jacket, flex drive adaptor and flywheel. Engine was wasted bad - even head was warped, case cracked.

 

[David Bryant]

I built one in the late 70's that Gary Delara talked me out of before completion and paint. I was running Crapshooters back in the day, then built a twin Thundergator.

So, went to eBay and viola. Gonna mod this one up a bit, widen front sponson's and stretch a little (maybe go a bit longer on front sponson's), change engine mount, probably add some booms - dump the heavy hardware and slap a .90 in it. Should be fun to play with. Won the auction for under $200, awaiting shipping cost. Looks to be in decent condition and a good build job.

I'll post up the project on this thread when I get started.

wow, nice!

I believe the engine shown may well be an OPS .65 marine. If not it would most likely be an OPS .45 marine. I believe the .65 exhibited angled transfer ports, while the .45 ports were straight vertical.

I would probably go no bigger than a .67 . Even a new-generation .45 engine will be very fast in this hull. I would only widen sponson stance (I believe there are longer wing ding supports available- directly from Octura).

The original owner of this boat did an excellent construction job on this boat. He installed extra thick bulkheads, front and rear of engine mount, which tells me he had some experience with these boats. This is very critical on these outrigger designs, as the aluminum sponson supports (or "Wing Dings") transfer much torque directly to the engine mount, and engine crankcase. Potentially damaging (cracking) the engine crankcase.

The famous Prather "Piranha" (essentially a "fiberglass" Wing Ding outrigger) kit employs the same Octura manufactured aluminum motor mount and wing ding sponson supports configuration. And because it has a molded fiberglass fuselage, it is very flexible, and is even more prone to torque transfered by the wing ding sponson supports. Consequently Prather recommends using a support "bulkhead" fabricated from 1/8" thick aluminum plate welded to the rear, or carb end, of the motor mount (if you know what I mean?). Kind of the only method to prevent sponson torque (from wing dings) flexing engine mount and damaging the engine crankcase (it was not uncommon when these boats were first produced, mid/late 1980's).

just a few tidbits for you

 

[Steve White]

^^^ Interesting stuff David and thanks for sharing it. My only Wing Ding got sold before I put it together as I mentioned. I have experience with the early Crapshooters of that era and a Don Pinkert twin in the 90's. Recent outrigger is a 2000 Cajun Bullet by Harold Broussard with an OPS 80.

I am considering putting booms in the Wing Ding for the front sponson's and a conventional engine mount setup like in the Bullet with vibration dampers.

Not sure how it's going to end up. But it will be a fun R&D project. I have a milling machine large enough and tooled up so I can make the whole assembly if I elect to widen and relocate the front sponsons with the conventional Octura design style.

I seem to remember some talk about engine mount flexing problems in these boats. Back in the 70's/80's I ran in NAMBA district 9 in California. The Wing Dings were the most popular hull in the hydro classes back then on the west coast.

This project will start on a scale and evolve from there. I still have the 80/90 Cajun Bullet and am also going to pull that one out of mothballs for some testing and development.

Back in the day most of the emphasis with the guys I ran with was power plant performance. Now I'm interested in learning more about hull design and dynamics.

Should be fun.

 

[David Bryant]

I am considering putting booms in the Wing Ding for the front sponson's and a conventional engine mount setup like in the Bullet with vibration dampers.

I have a milling machine large enough and tooled up so I can make the whole assembly if I elect to widen and relocate the front sponsons with the conventional Octura design style

yes, these were fun boats to play with. I'm thinking that is the 36" hull? (for .60/.65)

I've seen a few guys (in a post somewhere) that were able to successfully re-configure the front sponsons to use a conventional boom mounting system. Completely eliminating the "old" aluminum engine mount & wing ding sponson mounting support design. And switching to an updated rubber isolated engine mount. This way, the sponson torque has no bearing on the engine/mount at all.