Repairs continue on the Dick Scott Automotive Group presents Miss Detroit Yacht Club; U13 Spirit of Detroit. Under the direction of Curt Taverner, a massive rebuild is coming to a close. As you may recall the boat was running in the Evansville, Indiana Freedom Festivals’ Thunder on the Ohio event, when suddenly during the final heat a propeller blade broke.
“When a propeller blade breaks away at 10,000 rpm with 2,000 horsepower pushing it against the mass of water, things go crazy.” The team reported J. Michael Kelly said “the entire boat shook violently until I hit the emergency shutdown fuel switches.” Luckily, the long shaft, gear box and engine all escaped without damage. The structural components at the stern, the transom, shaft brackets and pretty much everything in that immediate vicinity took the bulk of the damage.
The life expectancy of a propeller is right around 130 minutes of racing. The one the U13 team was running had about 80 minutes so it was thought to be good to go. However it proved not to be. Propellers are not cheap either, “$10,000.00 is about what one of these things cost” stated team owner Dave Bartush.
The crew has been working night and day in Bartush’s U13 team shop in Detroit, to complete the repairs in time for the 100th running of the American Power Boat Associations’ Gold Cup race to be held this weekend in Detroit Michigan.
The transom, or rear portion of the upper deck, and the aluminum structural members had to be removed. Using new aluminum new pieces were carefully handcrafted and fitted for the repair. Most boats are custom built, therefore replacement parts have to be made from scratch.”There are no special supply shops for unlimited hydroplanes “joked Taverner “Special adhesives, epoxies, nuts, bolts and rivets are also used in the rebuild” he added.
After allowing the adhesives to set up over Saturday night, the entire boat was turned upside down on a specially built axis rig and the process of removing and replacing the bottom aluminum underside and various angle brackets commenced.
“We are holding hopes of having the boat fixed and painted in the nick of time for our Wednesday BBQ.” the team reports. We are now held up by drying times of the adhesives, fiberglass and paints. Russell Oddo, our decal specialist, and owner of Graph X Lettering, is already producing the decals and will be replacing them while other repairs are being completed.
Dave Bartush owner and Crew Chief Curt Taverner extend an invitation for everyone to stop by the boat shop and say hello and see the rebuild in action. The shop is located at 2121 Franklin in Detroit. That is located between East Jefferson and the Detroit River in a warehouse between St. Aubin and Dubois (the Chene Park neighborhood).