Were these reverse three-pointers simply built too light?

[RatliffFranklin]

The reverse three-pointers of John Cobb and Lee Taylor seemed to have solved the problem of blowover.

John Cobb clocked 204 mph through the kilo on his last run with Crusader.

John Cobb's Crusader

Lee Taylor clocked 269 mph through the kilo on his last run with Discovery II.

Lee Taylor Rocket Boat

The crashes occurred after the boats left the kilo.

Crusader was about 30 feet long and weighed around 5,000 lbs, but about 3,000 lbs of that was jet engine.

Discovery II was forty feet long and had an empty weight of only 2,500 lbs.

The designers had cautioned Cobb that the front planing surface needed reinforcement but Cobb believed if he ran conservatively enough the existing hull structure would be adequate. The consensus is structural failure of the forward planing surface caused the crash.

Aside from the fact Discovery II was being run in conditions too rough for the hull, the designers believe the rudder locked and submerged the left sponson enough for the stress to rip it apart.

[Pericles]

Built by trial and error.

Pericles

[Dan Ellison]

Why aren't ATV's made as 3 wheelers any more? Because it is an unstable platform.

[balsaboatmodels]

Is it just me, or does it some days seem more like "Error And Trial"?

FSW

[FranklinRatliff]

Originally Posted by Dan Ellison

Why aren't ATV's made as 3 wheelers any more? Because it is an unstable platform.

I don't think it's quite that simple, but the fact Campbell's Bluebird achieved 200 mph not only with less effort than Cobb's Crusader but on less power and without destroying itself in the process probably says something about conventional three-pointers versus reverse three-pointers.

[FranklinRatliff]

Originally Posted by balsaboatmodels

Is it just me, or does it some days seem more like "Error And Trial"?

FSW

I think with WSR boats most days are more error than trial.