Gar Woods "Typhoon" Re-Creation

Excellent thread, Carl!

Looking back & forth between "Alpha-Z" and "Typhoon" boggles the mind.
They look to be from the same gene pool and yet...

The attention to detail and the engineering for both is astonishing.

I'll bet from the driver's seat it would be tough to tell which boat you were on.

BTW, which boat is faster?

Geez, really nice woodens, that alpha Z looks good!

Simply stunning...

thankx Carl

Even though the Typhoon has the smaller motor---and less weight than a heavier engine---there is also the issue of that surface-piercing prop, if that's what it actually is.

As the old f@rt in these forums, I recollect the '80s vintage Magnums, e.g., the 40 & 45 which were built with Arnesons as well as conventional drivelines.
The Arneson-equipped boats had it over their sisters by a substantial margin in the speed department.

Some confusion here. The link above to the Typhoon history seems to be talking about the restoration of the original 40' boat built 1929 for Edsel Ford.

The photographs of the boat on Lake Winnipesaukee are of a scaled replica of Typhoon called, (wait for it...) Typhoon!!

The replica was built by Mark Mason of New England Boat & Motor Inc., for his own use. It is an 85% copy of Designer George Crouch's 40' Typhoon. So she is 33'6" LOA by 6'6" beam, weight is supposed to be about 4000 pounds dry, and power (originally 1993) is a GM V8 of 600HP @ 4800RPM. Reduction gear is 1.5:1 turning an 18" by 26" three blade wheel, top speed is reported as 60mph, which sounds optimistic.

All the best, Tad

Here's something similar built about 1990 by Tim Hodgdon, designed by Bruce King and myself.

31'6" LOA, 25' LWL, 8'1" beam, weight about 6000 pounds, twin 450Hp with Arneson ASD6 turning 17" by 26" five blade Rolla wheels. Top speed 75.3 mph, a hair over 65 knots.

Tad and Carl:

Will you look at that! A barrel-back honkin' along like a modern-day wonder!

Carl, you got me beat--- I recall a few more than three flavors, but not many more(!)

Greetings all - I just saw this thread, or I would have responded sooner...

Many thanks for all the kind words about AZ. She was a sometimes painful excersise in design overkill (for a boat, anyway), but has certainly been worth it all in terms of exposure for our office. And you have to hand it to Steve Van Dam for the way she's built - probably the most perfect example of execution I've seen anywhere. Feadship & Huisman have nothing on him at this scale.

I say painful design overkill because the owner was fanatical about everything being custom, from the flush, pop-up nav lights and mooring / lifting hardware right down to the fairing over the prop nut. When off-the-shelf solutions proved to be the best choice, we at least had to have all the logos removed (machined off, etc.) There is a Perko fitting in there, but I'll never tell where...

In terms of performance, you're right about the 100 mph being a bit optimistic. Unfortunately, the custom-built engine originally spec'd at 850 hp only dyno'd out to 800. Initial trials on Lake Charlevoix showed 95-96 mph. The drive is a combination of Arneson thrust tube connected to a BPM chain-drive drop box. Trim is via a custom machined cylinder, but I can't remember exactly who made it. It's mostly the same hardware we specify on our UIM Class I racing cats. That's also where the outboard-hung rudder came from - it's proven to be faster than steering with the drive. And it looks pretty cool, with the steering ram hidden inside the extension box. The rudder was CNC-machined out of a billet of aircraft aluminum, and heat-treated for stiffness (we've seen similar stainless rudders bent over 90 degrees after their first race).

OK, I need to get back to work - hope everbody enjoys the trivia.

Here are some URLs for those interested in Mark Mason's handy work:

The Finest Mahogany Speedboats Anywhere | New England Boat & Motor, Inc.

Typhoon | New England Boat & Motor, Inc.

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