BananaShark 34' Build thread

[Mollers]

Off Berry Head now, local knowledge might do the trick.

[C-NUMB]

Unfortunately seams like they are having troubles, 0 knots for a while. Now moving again but not fast, bad luck.

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by C-NUMB

Unfortunately seams like they are having troubles, 0 knots for a while. Now moving again but not fast, bad luck.

First real shake-down. She'll come good in future races. Those Yanmars could do with chucking out another 40-50 horses each perhaps.

[Chris]

Watching the replay it looks like Cokee was the only one to go around the Needles Fairway mark on the way out ?

[Zippy]

Course was changed pre start I believe to miss out needles fairway mark. Shame ithey had issues. Hope it's only minor!

[Mollers]

Look's as if Cookee has retired in Torquay. Handy for Salcombe.

Interestingly, a couple of retired boats are now being trailered back up the M27 with transponders still on.

[biffer]

Nothing too serious I hope John

[Cookee]

The dust has settled (or should that be spray?) and we have sorted out what happened and what we need to do.

First of all well done to the winners and especially for Martin Lai who has struggled with that boat from the start.

We drove the boat up by water from Salcombe on the Friday afternoon and had a very uneventful journey. It was good to see the wet pits fairly full of boats when we got there.

The measurement certificate difficulties have continued but they will eventually be sorted out properly once Guy Child (thank you Nicky and Guy) has come down with his measurement certificate - should have called it the BananaShark Cougar - it would have been a lot easier!

Once we had made it down the Solent to the Muster area (glad we had a biggish boat it was choppy going down there!) it was race time and we were looking forward to the race - Jeremy Gibson on the wheel, Graham Lawton on the Throttles and I was navigating with Adrian Everett from E-Lites providing moral support in the fourth seat.

We had problems getting the boat on the plane - our new faster bigger props would not spin up in the lumpy conditions (fine in testing in the flat) meant being at least 5 minutes behind at the start - a navigational error by myself meant we headed off to the Needles Fairway buoy - I had changed everything on the plotter for the new course to two buoys but for some reason it still sent us the wrong way, my fault I should have checked it better.

We caught six boats by Portland and were trailing Jon and Nick by around six miles - when we were approaching Portland we caught a big swell and landed a bit on the side and we think this may have been the start of the end for the trim ram on the Starboard side - we also had an alarm going off but as all of the temperatures and pressures were good we decided to carry on taking it easy at first and increasing speed as we reached the more sheltered waters nearer Torbay. Another couple of awkward landings must have damaged the trim ram further resulting in a very impressive rooster for my wife watching us from Berry Head and a bit of a list to Port!

We were also suffering from a loss of power as we had been running pretty much on one tank and we were getting a little air into the fuel system - with the damage and fuel issues we decided to retire the boat in Torquay instead of the middle of Lyme Bay - we had the boat back at BananaShark and cleaned off by 6pm!

A big thank you go to all of the team and especially Kitten for all of the late nights and our sponsors E-Lites who made the boat look fantastic in the pits (and paid for the fuel and entries!).

We are pleased with the way the boat performed with only the second set of props we have tried - none of the problems are a long term issue - we will turn the rams upside down and look at the size of the skeg, do a little plumbing and we'll be ready for RB12 - see you all at the start!

I'm still smiling!

[Mollers]

New boat niggles, you'll sort it. Boat looks bloody awesome Cookee.

[martini]

Sounds like it had the makings of a good test run

[willk]

Originally Posted by Cookee

resulting in a very impressive rooster for my wife watching us from Berry Head

I'm still smiling!

She musta been glad to get you home safely...

[Alan Priddy]

You need a wave piercer then it wont matter Alan P

[Cookee]

Originally Posted by Alan Priddy

You need a wave piercer then it wont matter Alan P

You'll know better than me Alan, but 70 MPH from a pair of 260's is good speed - would you get that speed from a wave piercer?

Thanks for the comments guys - my wife was expecting to have Sunday evening and a lot of Monday to herself and the dog but she was glad I was safe!

[Alan Priddy]

We are expecting close to 60MPH and we are 90 Feet with 2 x 500 hp.

I do know the engines you are using and would worry about "landing hard on its side" too many times. If Goodheart takes off for any reason we are going to have a big problem. As they say, the bigger the boat, the harder the fall. The shock loadings on mechanical componants is huge on a side ways impact compared to a level landing

We always look at the averages of life. For what we do, it is of no importance to how fast we travel but for how long. We have to keep it all going for at least 800 hours with little or no maintainance at sea.

I do like the look of your boat, do you have any line drawings for something twice the size?
Alan P

[Cookee]

Originally Posted by Alan Priddy

We are expecting close to 60MPH and we are 90 Feet with 2 x 500 hp.

I do know the engines you are using and would worry about "landing hard on its side" too many times. If Goodheart takes off for any reason we are going to have a big problem. As they say, the bigger the boat, the harder the fall. The shock loadings on mechanical componants is huge on a side ways impact compared to a level landing

We always look at the averages of life. For what we do, it is of no importance to how fast we travel but for how long. We have to keep it all going for at least 800 hours with little or no maintainance at sea.

I do like the look of your boat, do you have any line drawings for something twice the size?
Alan P

Kevin has the drawings all in Rhino and I'm sure we could do something for an enquiry - email me at cookee@bananasharkracing.com or Kevin at kitten@bananasharkracing.com with what you need to go in it and when he's got some time (that's the difficult bit) he'll look at it!

[Alan Priddy]

I would be interested in looking at its internal sizing at twice the length. I will contact you asap, pretty busy myself at the moment Alan P

[kitten]

Originally Posted by Alan Priddy

I would be interested in looking at its internal sizing at twice the length. I will contact you asap, pretty busy myself at the moment Alan P

Alan, PM me what rough sizes you want to know at what UIM length before five, and I can get them for you tonight, either that or it will have to be after the w/end as I'm off to Torquay for the racing.

[Cookee]

At the Southampton Boat show we will take part in a couple of "Processions" a day which we will be in which include Torpedalo, Leader, Medusa, Gypsy Moth and ourselves Boat show Procession - if you want to see the boat and come on board we will be alongside in the Feature berth for the last three days of the show - 23rd - 25th September, come and say hi if you can.

[Alan Priddy]

Make sure you are in front of Gypsy Moth1V, she has a habit of running aground and dropping masts on peoples heads!!!!

[Cookee]

Originally Posted by Alan Priddy

Make sure you are in front of Gypsy Moth1V, she has a habit of running aground and dropping masts on peoples heads!!!!