Articles by twocents

Mercury Marine is garnering wide spread acclaim for the development and production of its new 600 horsepower Verado outboard. Mercury announced it was named a 2022 Consumer Electronics Show Innovation Award honoree for its 600-hp monster engine. The company was recognized in the vehicle and...

Like it or not, electric propulsion appears here to stay. The automobile industry is falling all over itself to carve out an ever-growing piece of this pie. As many of you have probably heard, Elon Musk recently received a purchase order for 100,000 vehicles from rental giant Hertz. That should...

It was billed as the “Outboard World Championships” 58 years ago, a promotion hype to bring people to Lake Havasu and maybe sell some real estate. Undeniably, Robert McCulloch had dreams for this desolate piece of desert including buying a bridge in London and reassembling it stone by stone in...

It’s no secret that many marine companies are exploring the possibilities, potential and feasibility of electric engine power for mainstream recreational boating applications. For example, Nautique/Correct Craft appears to be on the verge of making its electric powered wakesport boat a reality...

The 33rd Annual Lake of the Ozarks Shoot-Out just concluded with multiple noteworthy achievements, possibly none greater than side-stepping the Covid hysteria which continues to grip ‘woke’ portions of the country and big people gatherings. Without interruption, the week-long festivities went on...

According to the RDP faithful, the panacea for all things related to boating problems is the propeller. “Have you tried a different prop” will assuredly make everything better is the comforting advice offered up daily by ‘helpful’ inmates of this popular boating forum. Recently, a new thread...

Every once in a while boaters do win one against government and bureaucrats. Although it didn’t receive much publicity, our ever-vigilant and all-knowing lawmakers in the Sacramento legislature were preparing to hike boat registration fees by a whopping 250% earlier this year. In some boater...

We still have at least another 60 days of 100+ degree summer heat here in Lake Havasu. And although for many boaters those are ideal on-the-lake temperatures, it’s also a time for caution. Although you may think you’re acclimated to triple digits, that's not always the case. The enemy that’s...

I'm sure many of you are fans of the long-running Discovery Channel’s hit TV show, "Deadliest Catch." And when you’ve been around as long as I have, you occasionally have the opportunity to meet some interesting boating-type characters along the way. It was the summer of 2007 at the San Diego...

Tier One Water Shortage Declaration Imminent A week ago, I posted an article about the improbable solution to ease the woes of western states drought conditions. The notion of constructing a several thousand mile long water pipeline from the Great Lakes to the west seems like nothing more than...

Triple-digit temps out west. No rain. Where’s all the water? The pattern might last for months or years. Lake Michigan could be coming to Idaho. I guess Havasu and Parker boaters should consider themselves lucky. We have Colorado River water but much of the western U.S. is living through...

Here’s a Cool Piece of Boating History You Might Enjoy First Company to produce ONE MILLION OUTBOARDS – History was made on November 6, 1952 when Johnson Motors produced their one-millionth outboard – a 1953 model 10 hp Sea-Horse. Commemorating the occasion are Clarence Johnson (left), and...

If you want to know what a sport was really like in the early years, it's always best to get it straight from somebody who was intimately involved in the sport itself. And Don Edwards is exactly that person to go to when it comes to knowing the sport of drag boat racing in the 1960s. Like...

The Future Success of Electric Boats Hinges on Battery Technology About a week ago I posted an article on RDP about electric outboard motors and how they plan on entering the mainstream of recreational boating. We all know about how things have changed in the automotive industry in the last ten...

About a month ago I wrote an article for RDP reporting on Mercury's plan to introduce electric outboards to the mainstream recreational boating market in the next couple of years. Nothing has changed. Mercury is still pursuing that goal, but they are not alone. There are other electric outboard...

Most boaters, especially those with a penchant for high performance and racing, are at least somewhat aware of the annual Grand National Catalina Water Ski Race held in Long Beach, CA. Afterall, a 71-year history tends to make people pay attention. And although the 60+ mile ski race in the open...

It was October 22, 1972 and world speed ski record holder Danny Churchill was attempting to up his own mark of 126 miles an hour in the quarter mile on a single ski. Churchill was at the top of his game, winning the overall Grand National Catalina Water Ski Race title the preceding August...

Was there any doubt? You knew it had to be coming, but so soon? And Brunswick Corporation confirmed it…..electric power and some form of autonomous driving assist system for boats is closer than most of us think, in fact, it’s probably no more than two years into the future. If accurate, this...

Lanse Haselrig's 40+ Year-Old Rayson Craft Is Still At The Top Of The GN Game! Little did Lanse Haselrig know when he first met Rayson Craft icon Rudy Ramos nearly fifty years ago that he was embarking on a life-long journey. "I just liked boating," remembers Lanse, "and Rudy came into my...

If anybody has been out boat shopping in the last six months, it’s obvious that both new and used boat inventories are very slim, if non-existent. Once the pandemic gripped the nation a little over a year ago with lock-down orders, people scrambled to find ways to recreate safely outdoors and...

It’s getting to be that time of year again…..when coves and certain shoreline areas get coated with that unmistakable ‘green slime’. Unfortunately, you never know for sure when the ‘green goop’ is going to appear or how bad it will get. So far this year, algae blooms have not been as evident as...

In celebration of Lake Havasu City, Arizona’s famous London Bridge and its 50th anniversary, powerboat racing will once again dazzle the shores of the city with the running of the beloved Lake Havasu Classic Outboard Championships. The powerboat racing event will be held October 15-17, 2021, and...

Dominate players in any industry often make mistakes and suffer the consequences, but the Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) paid the ultimate price. For more than a half century, the dominate force in the recreational marine industry was the Outboard Marine Corporation, better known to...

Although they’ve been around for decades, the U.S. Coast Guard is mandating that all powerboats, less than 26-feet in length, must now (as of April 1, 2021) be equipped with an emergency engine ignition cut-off switch with a lanyard attached to the driver. The new U.S. Coast Guard requirement...

Mike Finnegan, one of the stars of the hit TV series, “Roadkill”, has always had a passion for cars and speed. But that passion also extended to the water as well. See for yourself. And so it begins, innocently enough, a nice 19-foot Rogers Bonneville TR jet boat. The perfect river fun boat...

Is It a Biesemeyer? Guess Again….It’s a Rare Eagle Steve Schepp was a jet boater up until 1983 when he ran across this rare 1976 Eagle flatbottom that appears suspiciously similar to a Biesemeyer. “I loved the way the boat looked. It was a class piece and I just had to have it,” said Steve who...

For those of us who don’t have six-figures to invest in a boat – you can still have something to be proud of at the lake or river. Who doesn’t like a nice cool root beer float on a hot summer day? No, I’m not necessarily talking about the kind you pour from a Dad’s Root Beer can or bottle into...

One of the first things I did when I took over the editorial reins at Powerboat Magazine in late 1973 was institute a new monthly feature, “Hot Boat of the Month.” And choosing the first boat and driver to be so honored was easy…..it had to be my all-time favorite inboard circle race boat, K-50...

How to Gather the Data You Need to Make Rational and Fact-Based Decisions About Performance. One of the most frequent threads appearing on RDP come from boaters questioning whether they are getting maximum performance from their boat. And the two most common mistakes boaters make are...

Livorsi’s Raw Water Flow Gauge Might Just Be the Added Protection Your Engine Needs For most boaters, the engine is the single most expensive component of every boat. And, if you’re a high performance type, the size of that investment escalates exponentially in direct proportion to the amount...

In a quandary about how many bladed propeller might work best on your boat? Maybe this will help. For many years now, boaters have debated the question of 5-blade propellers versus 4-blade versus 3-blades. The traditional argument is that 5-blade props are slower than 4-blade props, and...

Avoiding on the water collisions is all about knowing the U.S. Coast Guard Rules of the Road Anytime a boating accident thread appears in the RDP Forum involving two or more boats colliding, a debate routinely follows about who had the ‘right of way’. Although there seems to be a lot of...

What does 100,000+ horsepower look like? Maybe something like this….over 100 of the hottest hot boats in the country lined-up gunnel to gunnel along the beach of the oh-so-popular Pirates Cove Resort just south of Needles, California on the Colorado River. September 21, 2013 was a special day...

Sooner or later it happens to all of us, even the most careful of experienced boaters – the prop gets dinged. Sometimes it’s a little more than a ding, yet all of the blades are still there, more or less. Your boat dealer, local mechanic, and the local boatyard likely will all tell you the same...

IHBA officially bowed out of the drag boat racing business at the conclusion of the 2009 World Championships at Firebird Lake in Phoenix and turned the reins over to Lucas Oil. Here’s Part 2 of that final IHBA race. As for the 2009 IHBA World Finals, they went out in style. Although the total...

26th Annual IHBA NAPA Auto Parts World Finals 2009 — IHBA Bows Out, Lucas Oil Products Drag Boat Racing Series Steps Up The changing of the guard….sometimes for the better, and then again, sometimes not. That’s kind of the mixed feelings that the elite of drag boat racing had at Firebird...

Starting in 2010, Irvine Lake in Orange County, California Hosted Some of the Wildest V-Drive Regattas on the Planet! For 363 days a year, Irvine Lake, located in the rolling hills of eastern Orange County, California is a quiet, calm and serene reservoir where the loudest audible sound might...

Billy Berkenheger.....Boat Painting Rembrandt You can sometimes spend months, and even years, restoring a great old flatbottom or hydro. Countless hours of garage time can go into meticulously fabricating and machining every custom part and piece of hardware. And the repair of every nick...

What Better Way to Start a New Year (2014) and Honor One of Their Own Than to Have a Meet-Up. While two-thirds of the country is locked in a deep-freeze with sub-zero temperatures, Southern California jet boaters were breaking out the sunblock for a day on Lake Elsinore at the annual Tom...

Nick Barron had been the head honcho at Hallett Boats in Irwindale, California going on fifty years plus. He's seen and done it all; experienced every trend, fad and innovation that the performance boating industry could throw at him. Back in 1961, Nick was just getting started building...

Nothing Beats A Gelcoat Restoration Project to Make An Older Boat Look Brand New! You’ve just taken delivery of your new boat. On the way to the water for the very first time you can’t help but glance every few seconds in the rear-view mirror to admire the gleaming magnificence of that...

What Kind of Boat Does a Former Offshore World Champion Racer Build for Himself? You Might Be Suprised! Assuming fast boats have been an integral part of your life since you were a pre-teen, you might wonder what kind of boat you'd want to own when you're a full-grown adult. If you're like...

For the Boat That Doesn't Quite Have Everything.....An Easy and Inexpensive Install You Can Do At Home. What self-respecting boat doesn’t have drink holders now days? Not many, that’s for sure. If fact, drink holders have multiplied so fast in recent years that they often times out-number...

Top Sprint Boat Racers from Seven States Battled for 2013 Championship Titles in Long Beach Most power boat racing fans just refer to it as “the beach.” Eighty–one years ago there wasn’t a motorboat to be seen at Long Beach Marine Stadium, a city icon now recognized has a historical landmark...

S.C.O.P.E…..All About Big, Fast Boats and Fun When you call yourself the Southern California Offshore Powerboat Elite, better known around west coast boating circles as S.C.O.P.E., you better be able to back up that moniker with some solid credentials. Fortunately for the stalwarts of...

CMI’s Fusion Performance Headers Take the Work Out of Stock Cast-Iron MerCruiser Exhaust Swaps Who hasn’t admired the stunning engine compartment of a genuine high performance boat. And one of the most eye-catching bling-features is always the gleaming polished stainless steel tubular-style...

It Can Be Done, But You Need Some Know-How If you’ve worked and owned your own marine/outboard/sterndrive repair facility for nearly sixty years, and your heart and soul is everything high performance, what kind of boat would you pick for your off-hours ride? If you’re Ted Miller of All Seasons...

Anticipating More Horsepower Under the Engine Hatch Isn’t a One-Dimensional Decision. There Are Consequences. Matching Motors and Drives Is a Critical Part of Any Make-Over Game Plan. This is the kind of dilemma a lot of us would like to have. Imagine this; you’re the owner of a beautiful...

Making Your Flatty Drive Like a Mercedes….It’s All In The Pedal! It’s long been said that ‘necessity is the mother of invention.’ Nobody will argue with that, especially Denis Porter who hung out with his two flatbottoms at Lake San Antonio in central California. Denis lived his life as one of...

Desert Storm is the Biggest, Baddest Poker Run in the Country –Since We Missed It in 2020, We Can at Least Take a Walk Back Down Memory Lane. It's called Desert Storm, and it's arguably the biggest, most over-the-top poker run, shoot-out and street/-party/show-and-shine display of exotic...