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Thread: History on Sunkist Tunnel Hull Jet Boats?

  1. #1
    decooney
    Hello ***boaters. After doing some searching around on the internet, I found this site, and this is my first post. I'm looking for some insight on a few questions below which are very important to me personally, and I'm hoping to gain some understanding and closure on a decades-old matter; thinking maybe a few boat history buffs here could help me with some understanding and history regarding the design, build, and quality of the Sunkist Tunnel Hull jet boats from 1979-1981. I think many of you will probably be able to figure out the answer to my real question at the root of all these questions below.
    What were these boats designed for - recreation or race?
    What are/were the strengths and limitations of these boats?
    Were the hulls designed to handle over 1,000 hp?
    Were they truly designed to run over 100mph?
    Were they really designed to "fly on the water", just the jet in water?
    Are there any of these boat hulls left in tact, still holding together?
    I'll explain more later. Please trust me when I say this is a very hard and serious question I've needed to ask since 1981, and it's taken me until now to be able to do it. Thanks ahead for your time and responses. Duane

  2. #2
    IMPATIENT 1
    is it a gullwing or tunnel? sunkist splashed the tx-19 hull

  3. #3
    decooney
    IMP-1,
    As for model number, I don't know. It came to a point in the front; was notched out underneath (open) from the front of the hull to the back of the hull like a big open space until 1/3 back or so. I do recall it was referred to many times as a "Sunkist Tunnel Hull" is what I know and recall. Sort of like a picklefork but came to a point in the front. Did not have a "V" hull at all; or square-concave is the only other way I can describe it with my knowledge of these boats. I hope this helps.
    I just looked at a few pics of a Condor TX-19, and that has more of a "V" hull up front. The boat I am talking about was more like a true tunnel cut out down the center of the hull. When we acquired this hull back then, we were told there "were only four of them made like this" - and can't say for sure if any more were made like this or not. I heard it second hand, but later learned the other three hulls like this one did not survive; "came apart?", etc.

  4. #4
    Sleeper CP
    Hello ***boaters. After doing some searching around on the internet, I found this site, and this is my first post. I'm looking for some insight on a few questions below which are very important to me personally, and I'm hoping to gain some understanding and closure on a decades-old matter; thinking maybe a few boat history buffs here could help me with some understanding and history regarding the design, build, and quality of the Sunkist Tunnel Hull jet boats from 1979-1981. I think many of you will probably be able to figure out the answer to my real question at the root of all these questions below.
    What were these boats designed for - recreation or race?
    What are/were the strengths and limitations of these boats?
    Were the hulls designed to handle over 1,000 hp?
    Were they truly designed to run over 100mph?
    Were they really designed to "fly on the water", just the jet in water?
    Are there any of these boat hulls left in tact, still holding together?
    I'll explain more later. Please trust me when I say this is a very hard and serious question I've needed to ask since 1981, and it's taken me until now to be able to do it. Thanks ahead for your time and responses. Duane
    From your question I'll assume you are not an attorney:idea: but I'll also assume a family member was hurt or killed in such a boat:idea: that being said you may want to post your question in "Just Jets". But good luck.
    Impatient1 has responded here, but there are a lot of Jet boater's in Just Jets that don't come to this "sand bar"
    Sleeper CP
    Big Inch Ford Lover

  5. #5
    Baja Big Dog
    Come on CP..give the guy a break, dont you trust anyone??
    Good catch though, I had to re read it to get betwen the lines!!!

  6. #6
    Sleeper CP
    Come on CP..give the guy a break, dont you trust anyone??
    Good catch though, I had to re read it to get betwen the lines!!!
    Oh I only had to read it once and I would be truly sorry if someone in his family was killed in a "Race" boat. But Bill Scotten of California Performance boats didn't tell my brother and I to put a 1,000+ HP engine in our open bow CP, we did it on our own "free will" and if it ever comes apart it's not his fault it is called personal responsibility and high performance boating is or should be considered an "assumed risk sport".
    Once again I am sorry if someone was killed or hurt by such a boat....1981 was along time ago, he must have been quite young.. I haven't checked his profile.. that would suck he's just looking for some answers to a very bad question I think:idea:
    Sleeper CP
    565" Ford, 1,000+ HP safely used since 1992

  7. #7
    IMPATIENT 1
    Hello ***boaters. After doing some searching around on the internet, I found this site, and this is my first post. I'm looking for some insight on a few questions below which are very important to me personally, and I'm hoping to gain some understanding and closure on a decades-old matter; thinking maybe a few boat history buffs here could help me with some understanding and history regarding the design, build, and quality of the Sunkist Tunnel Hull jet boats from 1979-1981. I think many of you will probably be able to figure out the answer to my real question at the root of all these questions below.
    What were these boats designed for - recreation or race?
    What are/were the strengths and limitations of these boats?
    Were the hulls designed to handle over 1,000 hp?
    Were they truly designed to run over 100mph?
    Were they really designed to "fly on the water", just the jet in water?
    Are there any of these boat hulls left in tact, still holding together?
    I'll explain more later. Please trust me when I say this is a very hard and serious question I've needed to ask since 1981, and it's taken me until now to be able to do it. Thanks ahead for your time and responses. Duane
    yes to all the questions then. if its a true tunnel, it was built to perform stable at high speeds. most tunnel do 100 very easily and stable, i'm not familiar with the hull you've mentioned but basically all tunnels are meant to run over 100mph. yes they do fly, they trap air under the hull with decreases friction to the water. some tunnels were purposed built racers, some are lake boats built to handle heavy beatings from wakes, roller and so on.as far as recreation or race, i'd go with both.
    sorry if you've lost someone dear to ya man, this is a dangerous hobby that should be placed right there with skydiving or any other hobby where the particpant knows full well that their life may be in danger.when i drive the shit outta my boat, i know full well each time i do it may be my last, which is the rush.

  8. #8
    Sleeper CP
    Hello ***boaters. After doing some searching around on the internet, I found this site, and this is my first post. I'm looking for some insight on a few questions below which are very important to me personally, and I'm hoping to gain some understanding and closure on a decades-old matter; thinking maybe a few boat history buffs here could help me with some understanding and history regarding the design, build, and quality of the Sunkist Tunnel Hull jet boats from 1979-1981. I think many of you will probably be able to figure out the answer to my real question at the root of all these questions below.
    What were these boats designed for - recreation or race?
    What are/were the strengths and limitations of these boats?
    Were the hulls designed to handle over 1,000 hp?
    Were they truly designed to run over 100mph?
    Were they really designed to "fly on the water", just the jet in water?
    Are there any of these boat hulls left in tact, still holding together?
    I'll explain more later. Please trust me when I say this is a very hard and serious question I've needed to ask since 1981, and it's taken me until now to be able to do it. Thanks ahead for your time and responses. Duane
    I hate to be a cynic, but interesting questions and interesting profile(or lack thereof).
    Note to Impatien1: Yes this is dangerous, I'm very excited about my bro and I getting our boat back on the water, but it is not without reservation. It will be faster than it ever was, more power, better pump, better hardware and we are both older with beautiful kids and wives to come home to. So we have to be more careful than before. You are right a lot like ski diving.
    Sleeper CP

  9. #9
    decooney
    IMP-1, Sleeper, Baja:
    Yeah, I do kinda need a break, and I'll just share what I can remember.
    No, I'm not an attorney, and yes, there is an unfortunate story. I'm not looking for anything other than understanding and closure from an old wound in my mind, with the hope of understanding at least part of what happened or why. I'll spill the beans so you guys can better understand where I'm coming from. Please don't jump to conclusions just because I made a new login today with a brand-new-1st-post, and did not complete a profile yet. I don't even have a boat now. I post on other large club forums with cars, and know the forum world well enough about what you are trying hint at. NO, not me. This for real. I just thought I'd lean on a few of you boat guys to see what might have happened, you see I was part of it but my memory won't allow me to remember to seperate the reality from the imagination of what I think happened during our incident. I have flashes of memory, but can't put it together. Understanding and sorting out what I think happened, might help me to sort of figure it out. Then again, maybe not, and I'll just try and close my brain on that chapter.
    Story:
    In 1981 I woke up in intensive care at a hospital on the East coast after four days of being out to wake up and learn that it was not a dream, I was pretty messed up and my Father didn't make it; he went down with the boat, and I was miraculously pulled out of the water with several injuries. As I woke up, I was blind, mostly deaf with blown out ear drums, fractured stirnum, broken angle, injured hip, and my heart had taken a beating with a major concussion. My Father drowned according to the final medical report and did not have broken bones like me. We had both seats in the boat for testing that week, and nowhere near prepared to do what we did; it was all really stupid after years of thinking about it. My seat came out with me. We were in our beloved Sunkist Tunnel hull boat testing..., "doing a run" a week before the High Point North Carolina boat drags. I had been visiting my Father for the Summer; as my mother and I lived in CA. He was ready to run this boat in the unlimited river jet class, I think it was called. Our boat was already going faster than the record at that time; by 9mph. He just was just thinking he would show up, and go break that record; from out of nowhere. His friend's flatbottom was a bit faster, but this Jet boat was known to be pretty fast during this time of the early 80s. His State Trooper friend clocked us on the radar gun to be sure, and it was going 124mph. The other unlimited river class boats were doing 110-115 or so at that time. Anyhow, you get the idea... I may have a few of the details screwed up, but it's the idea of the whole thing... It was around the same year we saw Eddie Hill run through the traps at over 229mph in his white boat. The Sunkist boat was a 400lb hull; He and I could pick it up easy one on each end. Seemed thin to me. It was a Sunkist hull with special race B-Jet pump; a 505CI 1100HP Methonol powered Chevy from the crew in Tennesee, with the latest (3 level stage) Nitrous kit. We had tested the 1st two Nitrous jets, and this was the last big jet for the big boost. The Jet pump itself was al blueprinted, and with special impeller, and nozzles. No part of the boat touched the water at speed, just the jet and plate, the boat litterally FLEW ABOVE THE WATER; in fact, as I recall it was about 2"-4" in front of the rear transom was in the water, the rest was like a flying hull is how I would describe it. Well, with the last hit of that Nitrous button, I guess we got the boost allright. Yes, running Alcohol with Nitrous back then. I can sort of see now in my older years that my Dad was actually a bit crazier or nuts than I thought; and I feel know in my older years just how stupid it was; but my Father was 38 years old then, and I was 17. What I know about my Father the most is us working each week to get 1mph here or there out of it, every week, rushing things back and forth the the airport between Maryland and Tennesee to get the latest blueprinted this or that part for the jet system and us working with his best friend to keep it all together. On that last run, all I can remember is being wide open, me looking over and him hitting the Nitrous button, (the last time I saw him) and the boat simply lifting on the left side and my side dropping with water hammering me in the face. Then my memory and thoughts go blank. It all went so fast. I don't know if we lifted and flipped over backwards or if it rolled in my side, or if the hull just came apart. I did have fiberglass in my hands and cuts on my legs all over as I tore out of the seat taking fiberglass with me somehow. Two days later when the Coast Guard found the wreckage, and pulled it up, the motor was still strapped to the rails, upside-down in the river, with the engine completely ripped out from the hull. The hull was in about 20 major pieces and about 50 other small pieces or so. I only have one picture to look at that someone took to describe what was left. My father's friend later went through the motor blaming himself thinking the motor let go or locked up, and the motor was reportedly fine, with no internal issues. The last clues in my head are him hitting the nitrous button and the result being a boat that literally came apart into a lot of pieces. The boat kicked such a big rooster tail that nobody behind us could see what exactly happened, and a lady across the river was looking through binoculars and reported the boat "sort of flew up" whatever that means. I try hard to close my eyes and remember what actually happend. I get bits of flashes here and there. I did have severe memory loss for a while after the incident, and over the years, sort of get pieces and parts back. I was a bit luckier than my Father, and recovered almost 100%, but still have the memories of my Father who I was just getting to know all over again at 17 years of age. I sort of never got that chance, but do think of our moments and weekends in that boat that he loved so much. This is what it's about, and just wanting to confirm just how outside of the box all of it really was back then. Yeah, and I kinda miss my Dad, he was a cool guy. I hope this makes better sense now. Thanks. Duane

  10. #10
    Sleeper CP
    Once again I am sorry if someone was killed or hurt by such a boat....1981 was along time ago, he must have been quite young.. I haven't checked his profile.. that would suck he's just looking for some answers to a very bad question I think:idea:
    Sleeper CP
    565" Ford, 1,000+ HP safely used since 1992
    Sorry to hear that. It's kind of what I figured. More than likely the 400 lbs. boat blew over backwards or stuffed your corner of the boat into a wake or something. I sorry your father put you in that position, a 110 let alone 124 mph 400 lbs 1,100 hp jet boat is a serious a potentially dangerous machine.
    Just curious, were either one of you wearing vests?
    Sleeper CP
    565" Ford Lover
    Jon

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