Words : RiverDave
Photos : TommygunImages

(Left to Right: Mark, Jessie, Lindee, Shawn)

MoePower-8012.jpg


In my line of work there are some articles you "have to" write, there are the articles you "need to" write, and then there are articles you "want to" write. The ones you want to write are as much for myself as they are for the subject matter. They are quite simply "for the love of the game" because it's things like this that got me into writing about performance boating in the first place. This article about Shawn's F-29, Savage Marine, and the unsung hero of the day Jessie Robinson is the kind of article that got me into this industry.

MoePower-8015.jpg


Three years ago Shawn Moe purchased a gorgeous blue and white 2004 DCB F-29. The boat was solid, the interior was clean, the gel was in great shape, and it was no slouch by anybodies measure. With a pair of Teague 740's mated to a set of XR's it would run right at 130 mph which would bruise all but the elite's ego's on the lake.
MoePower-7945.jpg


After running the boat for a bit Shawn decided to take it over to his preferred shop Savage Marine for routine service. During that meeting Mark suggested doing a couple of minor upgrades to the boat to update the look of it. Mark's sharp enough to know that some minor work makes a world of difference in appearance. The plan was simple. Ditch the thick white plastic rubrail and cap the front and rear of the boat. Pedro over at Saleen performed the glass work and ground the ends of the new stainless rubrail to points. (Looks a lot nicer than the store bought ends)

MoePower-7966.jpg


Now that seems like a somewhat minor upgrade, but as with a lot of things in the custom world, sometimes it doesn't take much to get the snowball rolling. The minor upgrade updated the boat enough that Shawn and fiance Lindee decided to take it the rest of the way. This turned into a conversation with the infamous Carlos Lafarga (DCB, Premier Interiors, Cigarette fame) about updating the interior to something more modern. Carlos designed the interior, and his father Dave took his sons sketches and turned a clean 2004 era boat interior into a modern era Alcantara exotic!

MoePower-7961.jpg


Now that the boat looks the part, the story can truly begin. While sitting at the shop taking about where the boat started and where it is now, Mark poised the question "What do you think about going to LOTO?" Shawn thought on it for a minute and said "Well if we are gonna go out there it's gonna have to go faster than 130." It was decided that they would tear down the Teague 740's and rebuild them into 900's with a budget in mind.

MoePower-8000.jpg


They sent the blocks out to Kincaid here in Havasu, whom promptly took the 540's and punched them out to 555's. Here's the kicker, the engine builder is none other than Mark's 22 year old son Jessie. Jessie quickly got to work on building the all new rotating assemblies, and selected a host of goodies including AFR 357 heads. They upgraded to a dual stage water pump, upgraded the fuel system, added sea strainers, new water pick ups, the list goes on. They were shooting for 900'ish HP a motor, and when they dyno'd them locally one was at 1050, and the other dyno'd at 1085!

MoePower-7997.jpg


With the new found Horsepower safety became a priority, so Mark and Jessie upgraded the steering to a quad ram system, put the larger diameter tiebar on, and shifted their focus over to the next weak link the XR drives. They still wanted to be able to run Bravo Hub style propellers so they elected to run IMCO SC drives.

MoePower-7983.jpg


Instead of just slapping it together and doing a little prop testing and going to LOTO, Savage decided to try several different lower combinations with the props to feel how the boat handles. They tried three different drive heights (Negative 1, 2, and 3) and the boat handled the best with the Negative two. After numerous prop trials they settled in on 36 pitch Hydromotive P5's, the tallest pitch Bravo style propeller they could get their hands on before going to a custom setup.

MoePower-7981.jpg


The boat accelerates hard and I'm not sure how many of you guys were watching the live feed at LOTO, but everybody was blown away when it put up 150 mph, yielding them first place in their class! They didn't stop with the one run, but ran the boat three more times to back the number up. What you probably didn't know was 22 year old Jessie Robinson not only did all the testing on this boat Pre-LOTO, but actually made the fourth and final run during the shoot out!

MoePower-8006.jpg


Mark and Jessie down at Savage are known for treating their customers like family, but in this case the relationship between Sean (and Lindee), Mark and Jessie transcended from not only customers and friends, but to a Team with a common goal. The boat is no longer a customers boat, but rather a passion project for Mark and Jessie as it is truly representative of their shop and it's capabilities.

MoePower-7947.jpg


The boat right now is running out of prop way before it's running out of HP, and even though they are putting up a huge number already with 150 mph, the slip %'s are still a little high. (Meaning there's a lot more left in it) This winter they will be switching to SCX drives and will be switching over to #6 style cleavers where they can get taller pitches and better slip #'s. Shawn is also planning to pull the B&M Mega Blowers off the motor and switch them over to much more efficent Whipple Chargers with carburetors.

MoePower-8004.jpg


My hats off to Shawn and Lindee, and Savage Marine, you have made Lake Havasu city immensely proud with your accomplishments at LOTO, and we look forward to following you on your journey to the shoot out next year! Watch for the young gun Jessie Robinson to be making big waves in the marine industry in the near future. He's already put together 30-40 motors for customers and is steadily earning an outstanding reputation here in town! Shawn's motors after running them hard in testing and the shootout have 42 hours on them now, and are drama free. It's showing great leak down numbers are a sign they were put together correctly the first time.

MoePower-8013.jpg


Congrats again guys, you deserve it!