With only 13 days remaining until the first race of the 2006 season at Evansville, work continues at a feverish pace at the U-13 West Coast shop in Auburn, Washington. Crew Chief Curt Tavenner along with Terry Troxell, Mike Johnson and almost all of the U-13 crew members including a contingent of volunteers are getting close to finishing the rebuild of last years Gold Cup winning hull. The amount of work that has gone into this massive rebuild effort by all of these individuals in the few months since work started is truly unbelievable. The late start beginning work on the hull in January was primarily the result of having to procure and set up new shop facilities. In addition, all of the necessary equipment had to be acquired and installed. Most of all this was done by Curt himself.
For those that have stopped by the shop to see work in progress almost everyone has been surprised and somewhat skeptical that work can be finished for even a few races in 2006. However, almost everyone expects the end result will be a very fast and competitive hull. The boat will be considerably lighter and aerodynamically better. In addition, the latest safety features have been incorporated including replacing the canopy and roll cage. Other improvements include everything from instrumentation, wiring, steering and a full canard. Without a doubt a lot of unlimited hydroplane fans who have followed this historic boat since 1987 will be totally surprised by it’s new look.