Shocking History!!!!!

[Wicked Performance Boats]

Yesterday Julie and I went to Az for our sons wrestling match and visited with 78 cole[ jeremy] and Steph. Jeremy took me across the street and showed me a boat made from our mold from Fiber Tech in 1985! He gave me the name of the builder of our mold and where he lived[approx]. Today We went on the interent and found phone numbers[thanks Big Kahunna]. Several hours later, I recieved a call from a guy named Joe who designed and built the mold for our gullwing boats along with his best friend. It was AWESOME to talk to the original builder of our mold. This is the guy that engineered, designed, and built the mold!!!!!! He told me how it came to be, and what was done to improve on the gullwing design to make it faster and better handling than the others. The mold won Awards from the Coast Guard at the L A Boat Show in 1984 and 14 boats were laid up in 1985. Most were for racing and the first hull out of the mold weighed 375lbs and set the blown gas jet record at Parker in 1985 at 117mph!!!!!! Joe said the record held for 2 years! We talked for an hour or so and he was a wealth of info. He told me that there where 5 or 6 boats still in existance. We're getting together soon to pass info about layup and setup!!!! Joe is 62 now and has been searching for the molds so he can build one more boat. Imagine that!!! We been searching to find him! We have always thought that since we bought the mold from Okie Dave, and had "Bitchslapped" laid up. That we had a special mold for a gullwing hull that was different and had been improved. After talking to Joe and hearing some of the vast amount of knowledge that Joe had about racing and gullwings starting with Youngblood and going up thru the years. {We won't post history concerning other gullwing builders} We learned our instincts we're correct. He took a proven design and improved it. This is like a time capsule never opened! Most people buy brand name boats because of the name recognition. and I will admit it's hard to break into the "limelight" but We've found a mold worth building great river boats. Some naysayers have said our hull design was unproven and we could'nt sell any boats if it wasn't proven on the racetrack. Well, now I know how it worked on the racetrack and what was done to improve the gullwing design. Our day has been made!!! I'll give an update after we meet with Joe and exchange info. Please don't ask exactly what is different because that would be stupid to pass out. You're more than welcome to look at our boats and check it out yourself but don't ask for exact measurement or layup. The Wicked Mold is its own entity !!! More later Pat & Julie WPB

[Big Kahunaa]

the boat you went and looked at has been in bullhead for years and i mean years i have know joe since i was 6 years old but never knew he laid that boat up

[Wicked Performance Boats]

I've hung out in that area for years and never knew him or about his gullwing! BL ps thanks again Big Kuhunaa

[OkieDave]

This is very interesting history. Now maybe you will be able to trace the mold for the time between '85 and when I got ahold of it in '89 or '90.
I got it from a guy in Havasu named Ray who was building circle racer flatbottoms. I don't know what ever happened to him after I left Havasu in '93. good news and good luck!

[Wicked Performance Boats]

Thanks OkieDave, I'll be calling you soon to chat. When Joe sold the mold, it included a 3 ring binder notebook with all the layup schedule and all the info on the race boat. I hope to hunt that down too. Pat

[DUECE'SDAD]

Definately cool to track down the roots of something rather its 50 yrs old or 20, history is always an important thing b/c its helps promote the future of our sport(s) !!!!
I have been spending more time with an old glass guy i know that is in his mid 70's. . . not that much of a business man so i try to get jobs for him and do the handling of the customer and cash in trade for all the tips, tricks and speed of the trade. I have learned alot and i have gotten him to realize things are worth a little more now than 20 yrs ago !!!
By the way i dig the stripes on the red/white boat. I love the 70's-80's multi color/fade stripe scheme it never gets old to me.

[Wicked Performance Boats]

Definately cool to track down the roots of something rather its 50 yrs old or 20, history is always an important thing b/c its helps promote the future of our sport(s) !!!!
I have been spending more time with an old glass guy i know that is in his mid 70's. . . not that much of a business man so i try to get jobs for him and do the handling of the customer and cash in trade for all the tips, tricks and speed of the trade. I have learned alot and i have gotten him to realize things are worth a little more now than 20 yrs ago !!!
By the way i dig the stripes on the red/white boat. I love the 70's-80's multi color/fade stripe scheme it never gets old to me.
DD, Nice of you to help the old guy out. And learn a few tricks of the trade at the same time! Budlight :cool:

[Wicked Performance Boats]

Sunday Julie and I went to Fort Mohave, Az and met Jojo Tancredi. He was the original owner of our mold. After exchanging info on our boats for an hour or so. We went to lunch in his 1932 streetrod with flames. At lunch I met Jim the mold maker and we bullshitted for a couple hours about the mold and layup schedules. Then it was back to Jojo's place where I saw pictures of him racing. He raced this hull at Parker Drags,Lake Ming, Needles, Three Something, and Bullhead City. He told me how they changed the bottom of the boat and how the top [deck] came to be. I got rigging info and spec's.After showing Jojo pictures of our boats. He's decided to have one more boat!! As a past street rodder myself,[before I got tired of getting greasey and getting under cars with my bad knees]It was very easy to relate to these two guys! It was like meeting two old friends who I hadn't seen for years! When Julie and I get our shop down there, I have a feeling they will spend a lot of time there. They raced with alot of the great names in jetboat racing. Jojo said he even as THREE national Championships in CompJet! [not in our hull] but gullwings are not known for circle racing. But they used that experience to redesign the hull so it would turn and handle better without sacrificing speed and how to make it set faster. We can't wait to get back down there to exchange more info and hang together. That's all for now, will report more later. Pat & Julie Beck WPB

[Heatseeker]

That's really cool how you've tracked down so much history about the hulls you are now producing.
Your hulls are looking real nice.
Good luck with all your future endeavors!

[Wicked Performance Boats]

Oh yea I forgot, The mold was made so perfect that when you laid up a new hull. You could install the deck onto the bottom section while the bottom was still in the mold!!!!! very few molds are finished this well! most require pushing and pulling to get the sides straight with the deck. Pat

[old rigger]

Oh yea I forgot, The mold was made so perfect that when you laid up a new hull. You could install the deck onto the bottom section while the bottom was still in the mold!!!!! very few molds are finished this well! most require pushing and pulling to get the sides straight with the deck. Pat
That's how it use to be done at most shops back in the day. In fact we were still doing it that way into the 90's at Howard. Not that unusual.:)

[Wicked Performance Boats]

That's how it use to be done at most shops back in the day. In fact we were still doing it that way into the 90's at Howard. Not that unusual.:)
I've heard horror stories about how much pushing and pulling some molds require to make both halves line up! I won't name the manufacturer's hull that I had that required work just so the bumprail would fit half decently. But I'm sure my mold wasn't the only one that fit great. Pat

[Ken F]

Pat,
The day we pulled my new Cheyenne from the molds & mated the top & bottom, Ervin just taped it with 3/4" masking tape in a few places. It fit wonderfully too, however at that point Erv also recounted some horrer stories such as the one you have heard! LOL
Ken F
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/878c44.JPG

[old rigger]

I've heard horror stories about how much pushing and pulling some molds require to make both halves line up! I won't name the manufacturer's hull that I had that required work just so the bumprail would fit half decently. But I'm sure my mold wasn't the only one that fit great. Pat
Most shops I was at, we taped together the parts like KenF's boat, but a few, the better ones, we still did it by setting the deck mold on the hull mold and bond the parts that way.
I don't care how much pushing and pulling you do, you'll never push the sides of a mold around either, unless it's a shitty mold. The sides of a hull, that's something different. :)

[Wicked Performance Boats]

Most shops I was at, we taped together the parts like KenF's boat, but a few, the better ones, we still did it by setting the deck mold on the hull mold and bond the parts that way.
I don't care how much pushing and pulling you do, you'll never push the sides of a mold around either, unless it's a shitty mold. The sides of a hull, that's something different. :)
OR, Thats what I was talking about. The hull not the sides of the mold. Hell that would require a porta-power. Pat But now I know it fits perfectly, I'll try tabing the top on in the mold.[ At least I'll check it. ]

[old rigger]

The molds I'm referring to all had locating pins on them so you could flip the deck mold, with the part still in it, set it on the hull mold and the pins would line it up exactly where it should be. Bond the two, pull the molds and you're done. It's a lot more work to make molds this way, but in the long run, it's a much nicer way to bond the two. Won't work if the molds have been abused, mis-used or focked up in some other way. They have to have been well taken care of and babied...the way all molds should be treated. :)