Vintage Race Boat Shop

  We maintain vintage wooden boats.

Compulsion

Compulsion - a new/replica Gentleman's Racer

Owner/Driver - Bob Mueller

Riding Mechanic - Tiffany Shea

Crew Chief - Bill John

First - some background information:

During the spring and summer of 2006, The Vintage Race Boat Shop completed a Jersey Speed Skiff - a replica built for Bob Mueller of Wolfeboro, NH. This replica speed skiff was done "in the spirit of APBA vintage" and looks like a Jersey speed skiff of the 1950's/60's. It is a legal APBA vintage boat and runs on the APBA Vintage Race Boat Circuit. These boats are safe and fun to run, and with a stock warranted motor, will provide for years of fun boat rides!!!

   

Click here for project photos of "Tinker"

That was a fun project, the boat ran extremely well, and we wanted to do another new/replica project. We are pleased to announce a new project with our friend Bob Mueller – a new/replica 21 foot Gentleman’s Racer – “Compulsion”. The hull is an aft cockpit speedster design, very similar to my beloved Obsession, in fact, we spent a lot of time measuring the lines of Obsession and made only a few modifications. This new hull was constructed of white oak frames with Honduras Mahogany planking, and powered by a 383 Chevy “stroker” motor. The bare hull and motor were transported to our Vintage Race boat Shop in February, 2008 where work began on the project completion - including bottom detailing, installation of bottom fin,  stain/varnishing, cavation plate assembly, cockpit/dash panel fitting out, steering, plumbing, wiring, upholstery and hardware.  Launching ceremonies are being planned for the July 4th weekend, and you are all invited to join our celebration at the Wolfetrap !!!

 

Another fun project, working closely with the owner to make this speedster a truly personal, Gentleman's Racer.

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The project begins !!!

These photos were taken on 9/7/2007, on our first trek to the Fish Brothers for a project progress check. We were very impressed with the craftsmanship and the strength of the hull.

 

           

           

           

           

           

           

       

These photos were taken on our second trek to visit the Fish Brothers in Glens Falls, NY just south of Lake George. It's actually a very nice 3 1/2 hour scenic cruise from Wolfeboro, NH and on this second project progress check, the bottom was completed, "Compulsion" was now right side up and the framing was being completed. We spent a lot of time checking all the lines and all the details, to make sure the hull would have the "right look". It did , a superb job by The Fish Brothers !!!

           

           

         

       

Then on 10/29/2007 we got a magical email from the Fish Brothers: "Just a quick note to inform you that we have completed the bare hull you have contracted with us here at Fish Brother's Marine Service." Unbelievable, the bare hull was completed on-budget and two months ahead of schedule. Lots of phone calls followed about the 383 “stroker” motor that was being built by Larry’s Machine Shop in Stonington, Connecticut. They were behind schedule, but were focused and working hard the get the motor completed, dynoed, and ready for pickup. The following pictures were taken on our third trek to visit the Fish Brothers on 11/2/2007, to check the completed bare hull and to discuss the list of items still needed to finish our project. Their workmanship was just superb, and we were very pleased to personally see that indeed, the lines of our beloved "Obsession" had been successfully transferred and reborn in "Compulsion". This boat is absolute stunning ???!!!

          

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

         

On 12/12/2007 we trekked down to Larry's Machine Shop in Stonington, Connecticut to pick up the 383 Chevy stroker motor. Garry had the motor all prepped for pickup, all we had to do was to secure in the back of our truck and off we went to deliver the motor to the Fish Brothers in Corinth, New York.

           

Pete Fish and his Gang were ready for us when we arrived with the motor, and it only took a few minutes to hoist the 383 stroker motor from the back of our truck to his shop floor. We finally got a chance to remove all the packing stuff and admire the beautiful motor, complete with burgundy paint on the engine block and transmission, and powder coating on the heads, intake manifold and bell housing. It's always the "little things" that make a difference, so the next step for "Compulsion" was addition fitting out of the aft cockpit, flooring in the forward engine cockpit area, fore and aft bulkheads and lifting assemblies, custom fit cutwater, stainless steal rub rails, transom bands, and hatch trim.

           

           

 

After the 383 stroker motor was installed and all the little details were completed, the bare hull  was picked up from The Fish Brothers and transported to our Vintage Race Boat Shop on February 15, where the project would continue with stain/varnishing, bottom detailing, installation of bottom fin, cavitation plate assembly, cockpit/dash panel fitting out, steering, plumbing, wiring, upholstery and hardware.

     

     

We had quite a trek home,  passing through "white-out' snow squalls all the way. We went through snow, sleet, hail and brimstone, but we took our time, the new custom trailer with surge brakes hauled extremely well, and we made it safe and sound back to beautiful Wolfeboro.

       

         

The next day, on Saturday, February 16th we moved Compulsion into our shop, unwrapped all the tarps, hoisted the boat off the trailer onto dollies, and performed a thorough inspection of the hull and motor installation. We were very pleased and with the the level of craftsmanship performed by the Fish Brothers.

           

           

           

           

         

   

Work began the immediately, focused on the most important part of the project, bottom detailing. We spent a week sanding and filling the bottom, to get it perfectly straight and flat, with no hook but just a titch of rocker at the transom area. At speed, this rocker will keep the bow up and let the boat fly, with the bow angle controlled by cavation plates at the transom. To run efficiently at higher speeds, the bottom must be very true and very smooth. After shaping the extended chine and a little epoxy filling, we sanded the entire bottom to ensure a very smooth finish. We started with 80 grit sandpaper, then finished with Scotchbrite Pads, using our dustless sanding system - recently upgraded with a new Fein vacuum, a much better setup. The bottom will then be painted, using our "rolling & tipping" method, with 3 coats of Interlux Brightside Marine Enamel. This high quality marine paint is very thick, flows out very nicely, is tenacious, and contains Teflon to reduce friction and increase speed - remember:

If you wanna be fast, you gotta be smooth ???!!!

 

           

         

       

After spending way to much time looking at color charts and catalogs, we finally found our desired burgundy color, no longer available in Interlux Brightside, our preferred paint, but still available in Pettit EasyPoxy, both polyurethane based. We then spent some time marking and taping the waterline, and then it was showtime, the first coat of bottom paint. We were very excited and pleased with our bottom paint selection, the first coat covered well, and two more coats were planned.

           

           

           

We also started to mock up the exhaust system. We used IMCO Marine polished aluminum exhaust manifolds and stainless steel risers, along with their special "S" pipes to connect with the actual 4 inch side exhaust pipes. We run two slip-in marine mufflers in each side pipe to keep the boat legal on Lake Winnipesaukee, but the mufflers are easily removed to run on the APBA Vintage Race Boat Circuit.  We have used IMCO Marine  high performance exhaust systems on many of our projects, including Miss Major and MisStress.

       

While waiting for the bottom coats of paint to cure, we started to shape and fair the bow/noise piece, the spray rails, and the transom shims for the cavitation plates. The many hours/days of sanding and prep work for the first stain coat also began.

                 

On Saturday morning, March 15th Bob Mueller stopped by to check our progress and finalize the decisions on stain color, upholstery color and deck hardware. Steve Rollins will be installing the burgundy marine upholstery, Bud Bracket supplied all the Gar Wood deck hardware, and Glenwood Marine supplied the marine fittings and all the running gear. The final selection/decision process was quite lively and as the photos show, we all had a lot of fun offering our opinions. But the final decisions were unanimous and we got it all on film - with lots of witnesses ???!!!

           

           

       

After spending several weeks on the bottom and chines, it was time to paint the boot stripe. Two coats of Pettit BootTop white paint were applied, and then we moved about the waterline with days of sanding and fairing the hull sides and deck.

       

       

Work also continued on the shims for the cavitation plate assembly. These mahogany shims provide a flat mounting surface for the upper control rod assembly and the lower cavitation plates.

           

We started sanding and fairing the hulls sides and deck with 100 grit paper, then 120 on a random orbital sander, followed by a full day of hand sanding with the grain using 180 grit paper on sanding blocks. After a thorough vacuuming and much prep work, it was time to stain the hull using Bartley's Gel Stain - brown mahogany on the deck and transom and jet mahogany on the covering boards and hull sides.

           

           

                   

      

We allowed the stain to dry overnight and then we applied two coats of Pettit Clear Sealer.

         

After lightly sanding with ScotchBrite Pads, we then applied the first coat of Epifanes varnish.

           

           

          

Then we started to dry fit the rough cast hardware, provided by Bud Bracket of Maine Classics. These are beautiful pieces that must be filed and custom fit to the deck surfaces. After fitting, the hardware will be sent out for chroming. The transom cavitation plate assembly was supplied by Glenwood Marine and is very effective in controlling the bow attitude at speed.

           

It was finally time to bite the bullet and bore the 4 inch holes in the hull sides for the exhaust side pipes. This was pretty scary stuff, as we measured the position and angle of the each hole many, many times. Then, with a 4 inch hole saw on our trusty Dewald drill, we took a deep breath and bored the two holes. The use of side pipes make for a very simple and clean installation, eliminating the need to run the 4 inch pipes all the way through the transom, and causing interference with the aft cockpit flooring. To keep the exhaust noise within legal limits, we run 2 slip-in marine muffles inside each exhaust pipe. They are held in place by set screws, which allow the mufflers to be easily removed when the boat is run on the APBA Vintage Race Boat Circuit. Work also continued on the transom cavitation plate assembly.

       

       

Please check back often to follow our progress, and plan a trek to the Vintage Race Boat Shop this spring to see the actual completion of "Compulsion' - a Gentleman's Racer for Bob Mueller ???!!!

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