Scale hydroplane trivia question

[ThomasRasmussen]

I've noticed on full scale thunderboats that they all have big openings in theyre sponson transoms. Anybody know the reason for this? Only thing I can think of is that it'll work like a flood chamber, but I can't figure out why a hydroplane would need this.

 

[KenOlvis]

Lets water out

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Per Ted Jones, the reason for the older round nosed boats to have open sponsons like shown in the picture was for stability when sitting still. It was thought that the weight of water in the sponsons would keep the boat from moving around too much and if the sponsons were closed/sealed, the boat would be unstable dockside. It was later discovered that this was not the case and the crews and builders started sealing the sponsons. As for when or what boat was first to have sealed sponsons, don't really know. I do know that some of the older boats had air scoops on the deck over the sponsons, to help push the water out when the boat started to move. These are very obvious on the Slo-Mo- shun IV and V as can be seen in this picture of the IV:

http://www.lesliefield.com/images/slo_mo_shun_iv.jpg

 

[ThomasRasmussen]

Thanks for great info. Always nice to get a piece of history about these boats. Not that I'm sure, but I would gues that they started moving away from the open sponson design when the pickleforks started arriving.

 

[ThomasRasmussen]

Another trivia question for you guys. What is the strobe light on top of the cockpit on modern pickleforks used for? Or rather, when are they in use?

 

[BlueBlaster]

The strobe light is to show that the boats are running under 80 mph. It's a new rule to keep the boats from drolling slow to the start. There's another stone on the salt water scoops and it used to show driver is ok.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Most drivers don't use the strobe but, rather, open the hatch to show they are okay. Could also be that they want to get out of the egg they now are calling a cockpit.
As far as the second strobe goes, if a boat drops below the minimum required speed(normally 80MPH as stated above), the strobe will start flashing. If it flashes for more than 5 seconds, the boat receives a one lap penalty

 

[ThomasRasmussen]

Thanks again for sharing your knowlege. Not much hydroplane racing going on in these parts of the world, but still very interresting to know some facts and trivia about the boats.