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 Vintage
Race Boat Shop
We maintain vintage wooden boats.
G-48 Obsession
Page 1
- The story begins...
A Gar Wood Speedster
Owner/driver -
William E. John III
Riding Mechanic - Donnie McLean
1946 Gar Wood, hull number 7115, modified
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
Obsession video - let it
load & crank it up!!!
 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 Marathon Water Ski Races in the
early 1960's on Lake Winnipesaukee, . 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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