Cocktail Class Wooden Boat Racing Association

I've never heard of these boats, it seems like an awfully cheap way to have some fun.

The Association offers a Building Manual with drawings, building notes, and a materials list for $25.

Cocktail Class Wooden Boat Racing Association http://ccwbra.com/

Cocktail Class Skua Racing power boat http://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/powerboats/cocktail-class-racer.html

Cocktail Class Archives - PropTalk https://www.proptalk.com/category/powerboat-racing/cocktail-class/

 

More photos...

 

The seemingly new "Cocktail" class is actually the old class (A, B, C, etc.) hydro racers. Of us old enough to remember, a lot of fun as kids, blasting around local puddles. Many where home built from plans found in all the DIY magazines of the era. They're old warped bottom designs that ride like crap, will pound your fillings out, but only require a small outboard to get up and scoot. Most of these designs are poorly developed and balanced, but some of the old class racers did receive some local development, particularly in balance and turning ability. For example the one pictured directly above is a well known "tripper", which is a bad hair day at 20 MPH, but can kill you at more significant speeds. Fortunately, most don't over power these puppies and the speeds seem very high, but typically are in the low 20's which keeps folks from breaking necks. Back in the day, these were designed for kids to cut their teeth in powerboat racing, so engine sizes were strictly managed, to keep thing safe.

 

Paul, The B Utility is the class I'm most familiar with that used a Merc Hurricane 10 for some pretty exciting speeds. Much faster than the Cocktail Class and I think a much safer design as well. The Cocktails might be fun but it looks like such an awkward design that I shy away from it. I guess the strict power limits keep them relatively safe. The flat aft bottom with deep chines looks a bit frightening in hard turns while the larger B class had enough aft deadrise to prevent tripping, mostly. A skid fin was necessary to make tight turns though. I have a really nice 1953 Mark 20 that itches to go racing if it had a quicksilver leg and I use that as an excuse to leave it hanging in the shop. Many Sundays in the 1950's were spent on the local lake messing around these hot shots. Started a copy of one named "Dry Run" once but life interfered.

 

Yeah I ran the B's as a kid too. I helped on few builds around the neighborhood, though never built one for myself.

 

It looks to be hard on the knees and back to drive one. I looked for a video of them racing and this one shows a chine catching and the boat rolling over. It's at 2:10 of the video. It still looks fun when smaller motors are used.

 

It's lots of fun until you have to replace a engine that's running full bore when the boat trips and it drowns.

 

What does happen to an outboard then? If you broke it down to 4 stages of running = 1, idling; 2, moderate low power; 3, moderate high power (cruising) and 4, full bore.....what might happen to a running outboard getting dunked at each of those stages?

 

The usual issues of any hydro lock scenario, broken rods, pistons, cracked heads, bent valves, etc. When you stuff a non-compressible liquid into a cylinder that was previously crunching air - it's a pretty violent reaction. Taken an engine you don't care about all that much and pour a few cups of water into the carb, until it drowns and see what happens. Stand back, as they can toss parts like shrapnel and of course, don't expect to come away with a usable engine afterward.