Bertram race boat restored... a good read!

[IRGuy]

For all you interested in Bertram history, especially you gearheads out there (and you know who you are!) in the most recent "Power and Motoryacht" magazine (June '16) there is an interesting article, with quite a few pictures, of one man's restoration of "White Tornado", a 1969 Bertram race boat (#89).

There is no mention of the cost, and I suspect it was in the megabucks range, but it seems the owner spared no expense to bring an old abandoned war horse back to it's original glory.

How many of us have gone 89 MPH on the water? Only in my dreams!

[bob lico]

trust me tony don`t envy anybody whom has done 89+ on the water. the boat will come down hard sooner or later and your spinal cord will absorb the impact no matter how well you flex you body at the knees and thats under ideal safety conditions in a wrap around bolster with padded foam steering wheel.lifeline pfd with helmet is one thing with out anything in excess of 75 with minimum windshield it becomes tough breathing and you eyes will tear at 80 plus.when you " stuff it" even for a few seconds on one wave two feet higher then the rest you will impact that steering wheel.all and all not to good for old age joints,sprains,breaks.

[IRGuy]

I defer to your experience Bob, an I believe you completely, but nevertheless I really would like to experience that feeling once. I also would really have liked to have been in the back seat of my son-in-law's FA-18 when he was doing an air show, but that won't happen either!

[Tony Meola]

Bob

I think all the wave jumping in your youth has taken its toll on you. He is Frank I am Tony. Lol

[bob lico]

along with two concussions.

[Craig G]

I actually have bragging rights of going 105 mph in a boat. It was a 47 Apache called Apache Heritage. If you google Apache Heritage boat, you can find more information about that boat. It was the champion boat in Key West in 1992 and 1993 I believe. A good friend of mine, Patrick Mercurio was a back seater, the owner, Omar Daniel whom I now know very well wast the driver and Richie Power was the throttle man. The deck at the rub rail was chopped about a foot and everyone thought they were going to dunk it, but it blew everyone else away. I believe it did about 130 back when it raced. I ran a few poker runs with Omar about 12 years ago after the boat had been restored to a poker run go fast boat with triple 900 Mercs giving it a top speed of about 105 mph. I loved that in smooth water, but Omar always seemed to be in that race mode even during a poker run in rough seas which was a little rough on the body. He controlled the throttles, and I steered it. That was a lot of fun. In smooth water going full speed, it was like riding on rails.

[Dug]

It was 79 mph. But awesome never the less!!!!

[bob lico]

craig a 47' apache would be like driving a buss i should be so lucky. 124 mph in a 28' skater cat,80mph in a 21' challenger ,80mph in 24' super boat,100 mph in 28' cigarette , 95 mph in cris craft cat 32' ,90mph in a 38' bertram APBA open boat this is in the mid seventies (1975 -1978) era .skater cat was 5 years ago but the best was a 32' viper cat 104 mph and cruise at 76mph,a pleasure fishing boat powered by diesel and 3 speed gears,dual f-16 canopy, a sight to behold.the 21' challenger rolled in banaget bay NJ.a sanctioned race and i was bang up pretty bad.years go going very fast in multible boats in big waves has given me permanent spinal damage and a lot of aches so i was just giving a word to the wise excluding a 47' apache ,thats huge----------

[Rawleigh]

My friend had a 38' Awesome Cat 10 years ago that we posted 116mph on the Garmin GPS with. WE were not offshore with it though. Just in the Chesapeake Bay. It was strange to go that fast sitting down after being used to a triple bolster deep Vee he had before that. Those days are in the past though!!

[Dug]

I wonder whether there are any other hulls lying around waiting for love...

Dug

[Tony Meola]

I wonder whether there are any other hulls lying around waiting for love...

Dug

Dug must need to scratch an itch.

[Dug]

LOL! I wish!!!

Not at this time...

I have been informed that when Alchemy is "completed" which of course is a matter of interpretation, that I am to be re-focused on houses. I will say this will be a point of debate in the future, as I am intent on making sure that my daughter is well educated. But I understand the intent.

But if there were an old Bertram racing hull, it could be a future challenge, down the road, in my retirement... LOL!

But I do wonder how many more might be out there...

[Tony Meola]

http://www.powerboatlistings.com/view/39783

Dug just in case you get itchy.