Vintage
Race Boat Shop
Vintage
Race Boat Shop
We maintain vintage wooden boats.
G-48 Obsession
Owner/driver - William E. John III
Riding Mechanic - Donnie McLean
1946 Gar Wood, hull number 7115
Speedster design, single aft cockpit, 21 foot
Bottom Design - stepped/shingled hydroplane
Construction - Honduras mahogany
Motor - Chevrolet, 510 cubic inch, 630 HP
Prop - Menkens, high rake 3-blade, 13x17
Top Speed so far - 75 MPH on GPS
Boats and boat racing are in my blood. My grandfather, William Edgar John Sr, was a naval architect, owned a shipyard in Rye, New York, raced in several inboard classes, and was inducted into the APBA's Honor Squadron in 1955. My father, William Edgar John Jr. raced International-One-Design sailboats on Long Island Sound where he was Fleet Chairman for many years and was the first President of the IOD class, based out of the Larchmont Yacht Club where he was very active. My grandmother was also active in the early days of power boat racing in this country. She actually drove and won quite a few APBA boat races, and I have two large trophies that she won in 1914.The picture to the left is my grandfather's "Sally Ann Jr." a 225 hydroplane that was the national champion. Also in the photo is my grandfather and grandmother.
But alas, my mother moved us kids up to Lake Winnipesaukee when I was very young, and I spent my early summers at my grandmother's on Governors Island. She had a Century Coronado with u-shaped dock, canvas cover and electric winch - very cool. I also worked at the Goodhue Boat Yard in Glendale - on the gas dock - the best job I ever had. Speaking of landmarks, Tup Goodhue and I played in a rock band "The Fugitives" and we were the house band at Irwins Winnipesaukee Gardens during the summers of 1965 and 1966. Tup and John Goodhue used to race in the marathon water ski races on Lake Winnipesaukee, and I can remember the Tommy Bartlett Water Ski Shows on Paugus Bay and Boat-O-Rama at the Weirs. These are just some of my precious memories of Lake Winnipesaukee - that make it a very special place for me.
Then, while visiting on vacation during the summer of 1979, I read a "Jerry Harper" ad in The Laconia Citizen for a 1948 Gar Wood with a Chrysler Hemi motor. I remembered my Grandfather talking about Gar Wood and his race boats, so I went to see the boat and bought it on first sight. My life has not been the same since. Now many years later, I still have my beloved Obsession, still trying to make it go faster, and still enjoy giving boat rides, especially on the APBA Vintage Race Boat Circuit. In fact, at the Detroit APBA Gold Cup vintage event in 1999 I gave Tom Pakradooni, then APBA Jersey Speed Skiff national champion, a ride in my Obsession, and he was telling me stories of my boat when it raced in the marathon water ski events on Lake Winnipesaukee back in the 1950's & 1960's. What a great boat ride that was, driving my Gar Wood Speedster on the historic Detroit APBA Gold Cup race course.
These gentleman's race boats were well built to compete on the rough water conditions on the St. Lawrence Seaway, in the 1000 Islands area of upstate New York. "Obsession" is of typical, one-design race boats produced by the famous Gar Wood boat builders in Detroit, Michigan during the 1920's-1940's. The motor was placed forward, under it's long foredeck, and followed by a single aft cockpit for the driver and the required riding mechanic. Gar Wood built a small fleet of these speedsters for Edward Noble and his friends to race on Sunday afternoons in the 1000 Islands area of upstate New York.
Room for only the driver and his riding mechanic, tells us of this Speedster's racing heritage. "Obsession" is well known on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire and has been campaigned on the APBA Vintage Race Boat Circuit since 1992, running in major events at Detroit, Madison, Valleyfield, Buffalo, Clayton, Lake George, and Wolfeboro.
The original power in the boat was a Chrysler Crown, 6 cylinder with 155 horsepower. By the time I purchased the boat in 1979, the previous owner had already replaced the original motor with a beautiful 1957, 392 cubic inch Chrysler Hemi, and actually raced the boat in the Lake Winnipesaukee, Marathon Water Ski Races in the early 1960's. To strengthen the hull, the previous owner also decked-over the center section of the utility hull, and essentially made it into a much stronger runabout design - with fore and aft cockpits.
I ran the boat for several years with that Chrysler Hemi, and with that runabout design. But the hull was getting tired, the stem needed complete replacement, and the transom also needed complete replacement. So in 1983/1984, I worked with Harvard Forden to lengthen, reshape and rebuild the deck into a rear cockpit, Gar Wood Speedster design of 21 feet. We used top quality Honduras Mahogany on the new decks, hull sides, and transom, and we built it real strong.
The Gar Wood speedster design proved to be very successful, and I later replaced the tired 392 Chrysler Hemi with a George Johnson, 454 cubic inch, Crusader/Chevrolet marine motor. This motor ran well for many years, and was actually rebuilt several times, most recently by R&L Engines in Dover, NH. Then we "spun a bearing" at our
NH Vintage Race Boat Regatta-2001, so it was time for another rebuild.
But I really wanted to build a bigger cubic inch motor, a get a few more MPH from the speedster hull design. My first plan was to build a brand new Chevrolet 502/502 crate motor, but then R&L Engines recommended another option. The time honored method of getting more power from a motor - overbore the cylinders and increase the stroke of the crankshaft. The result is called a "stroker" motor, and R&L Engines convinced me to use my seasoned 454 marine block, and build a 510 cubic inch "stroker" motor. R&L built a batch of them, and they all dynode between 625 and 650 HP. Stoker motors also produce lots of torque, right in the midrange, perfect for a gentleman's vintage race boat. So we put a lot of money into good machine work, overbored the cylinders (.o6o inches) balanced the stoker crankshaft (4.375 inch) and breathed more horsepower into the Brodix aluminum heads and intake manifold. We also used the best components, including roller rockers arms, roller cam and a complete marine MSD ignition system - distributor, wires, CD ignition and rev limiter. The transmission is a Borg Warner/Cyborg direct drive, dynode for 850 HP, and the speed prop is a Menkens 13 x 17 with a super cup and lots of bow lift. The MSD rev limiter is set at 5,400 RPM's to preserve the motor and to get 4 good seasons before rebuilds. This motor is a bullet, and the sound through the IMCO exhaust headers and 4 inch side pipes is pure magic ???!!!
The Detroit APBA Gold Cup, July
2001
Photo by Robert F Peters
Page 2 - The new stepped bottom ???!!
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