In order to keep the K-boat thread intact I'll start a new one for you LO. Belmonts were based in Fresno, the shop was on Belmont Ave about 1/2 mile west of the 99 across form a cemetary. The boats were first built in the 50's by Smith "Smitty" Weeks. I think the earliest boats were all wood but by '59 or '60 they were doing fiberglass over plywood,strong but heavy. Smitty favored big cid torque monsters (big Fords and Lincolns especially). All fiberglass construction started in the mid 60's. The boats were quite fast for their day. Smitty's hull designs often used a lot of rocker. Son Lynn(sp?) took over the business and sadly suffered a stroke several years ago, the business died out in the 80's I think. Probably the most famous Belmont was the Purple People Eater, a Allison powered drag boat which would run 115 in the quarter in the early 60's. Boy, would I love to find that boat and restore it Here's a picture of my dad's 1960 20' Belmont powered by a McCulloch supercharged 430 Lincoln, in the late 70's the boat would still do 70 mph, even with a very tired motor. and yes that's a much younger eraser in the passengers seat.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/...d_boat-med.jpg