1977 Atlas Van Lines

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Comment by Gail Richardson on August 9, 2011 at 3:37pm

Don,

 Excellent video as usual. Looking forward to getting back to the project at hand. See you next Wednesday.      Gail

Comment by Don Mock on August 9, 2011 at 2:04pm

August 2011 Update

 

Here’s the third progress video about the Atlas restoration. It was produced for the museum’s recent auction event and shown on a screen near the boat in the shop during the cocktail hour. It documents the entire 18 month project so far. One of the goals of this year's event was to raise much-needed funds to complete the Blaster. Many of the attendees saw the boat and video including some of the principals involved with Muncey and Atlas when it raced. These included Jim Lucero, Dixon Smith and John Walters. It was great talking with John, who knows as much or more about the Blaster than anyone. He is also the only person to drive the boat several times including at an exhibition on Whidbey Island. We hope to get John more involved as we progress.

With the sponsons now nearly finished, we have set the end of September as our goal to finish sanding, detailing and shooting primer on the entire bottom of the boat so it can be turned right-side-up. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o2VoF4_b1k

Comment by Don Mock on June 16, 2011 at 11:22pm

 

June 2011 Update.

Over the past several months the Blue Blaster restoration team has been busy building the sponson surfaces. Over the original sponson frames, we’ve added all new chines, sheers and internal battens. Then we added 1/4” plywood and fiberglass over everything creating the sponson sides and sub-floors. The past several weeks we’ve been focusing on the primary and secondary riding and recovery surfaces which are built on top of the sub-floor using additional ash battens, which the final aluminum sheeting is all screwed into. This has been the most serious aspect of the Atlas project. We’re determined to get the shapes and angles exactly right.......not only for esthetic reasons but for safety sake too.

We’re very thankful for all the advice and words of wisdom from some of the top hydroplane people on the planet. These include some of the Atlas’s godfathers such as Jim Lucero, Jim Harvey, Dixon Smith and Norm Berg. Also, Ron Jones and Ed Karelsen have been a huge help.

One of my goals for the Blaster is to set the boat up for safe exhibition speeds..........but still look cool too. I’ve drilled everyone I could about how to set-up our museum boats to run nice and level with big roostertails at 130mph, not original race speeds of 180+. And for the Blaster, a boat powered by a Merlin, a set-up that gets the boat on plane easily and is gentle on the engine. I’m happy to say that some of the experts I mentioned are now thinking that way too and have offered lots of great ideas. These include making small tweaks to strut and primary angles of attack, props and overall boat balance.

Below are some photos from the past month taken by Phil Lampman and Gail Richardson. By the end of the summer, we should have all the aluminum on the sponsons and the bottom of the boat sanded and ready for primer. And soon after that it will be time to flip the boat back over to add the systems, deck, cowl and wings.

We have a wonderful and talented group of guys on the Atlas team. Come on down to the museum this summer and hang out with us. Heck, just having some coffee and hearing Phil’s jokes and Gail’s police stories are worth the trip.

-Don Mock

 

Comment by Marc Connelly on April 2, 2011 at 7:21am

Great report, as usual.

 

Marc

 

 

 

Comment by Phil Lampman on April 1, 2011 at 5:12pm

Great progress report, as always, Don. I suspect though, you may have overlooked the real reason for Edward Muncey's visit. As an executive with the UFC, I suspect he may perhaps heard from Chip about some of the "friendly" discussions we've had on the eventual configuration of his father's most famous ride and possibly have thought he may have had the makings of one of those "free-for-all" over-the-ropes WWF-type bouts with the winner getting to choose the final layout and then toss you into the crowd over your never-ceasing demands for complete accuracy and homage to this project. As one of a number of volunteers who have been working alongside you for well over a year on this restoration, I am constantly amazed at how well you have managed to guide us along, using but some old photos and a few ancient loftings.

 

Seriously, though, I think if the people following this project knew how little we have had in terms of plans and drawings to bring this icon back to some semblance of original condition - probably better once we're done, actually - they would better understand what a difficult job this is and how hard it would be without the enthusiasm of the team you lead so well, yet still harbor the idea of tossing you over the ropes in a UFC match.

 

Thank you for your leadership, your talent and your amazing ability to find the resources to keep this effort going.I even forgive you for all the shirts and jeans and jackets I've managed to glue together or otherwise destroy as a result of your assignments.

Looking forward to getting back to work next week. 

 

 

 

 

Comment by Don Mock on March 31, 2011 at 11:26pm

It’s a good thing Phil taught me the correct spelling of “battens” cause today was a full-day of Blaster battens. We test-fitted every single 1x1 ash batten used in the boats sponsons. We’re not far off now from attaching the plywood.

Yesterday Marc made some great custom fitting blocks for the chine/sheer junction while Randy and Pete sanded the battens rounding over the sharp corners. This morning Phil, John, Randy and I laid out the locations of the side battens and continued leveling and sanding the shims and blocks glued to the honeycomb frames. The sheer lines and chines are nearly finished. We made a few more shims for the forward battens and more blocks for the sponson plywood sub-floor.

Wheeler and Pete showed up for the evening shift so we went ahead and fit and drilled all the forward battens. The Blaster has a bit of a complicated maze of battens outlining the forward sponson bottoms. Five on each side that support the sub-floor which has a slight bevel for the outside secondary recoveries the forward six feet or so. Once the plywood is attached and fiber-glassed, new battens are placed on top that create the final recoveries and primary ride surfaces. Aluminum sheeting gets screwed down to those battens. Next week looks to be a busy one of gluing and screwing all the battens in place.

Below are some photos of the progress taken by Phil. They include a shot of Tim Clark from Maryland who was in town and spent a day working with us on the boat. We've also missed Gail who is on an RV adventure for a few weeks. Bob Burd has also been gone for a few weeks traveling but look forward to Bob and Gail both getting back next week. We have sanding blocks with their names on them.

On Saturday, Chip and Edward Muncey dropped by to see the boat. We have so many photos and videos of Edward as a little kid hanging around his dad and the Blue Blaster. Almost weird to see him now standing next to the boat. But he was thrilled with the progress and really looks forward to seeing it complete. Edward has become a very intelligent and articulate business man heading up marketing and promotions for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was in town for the sold-out event at Key Arena.

Edward and Chip are two of the most important people in the legacy of the Blue Blaster. When talk came up about running the boat, it was clear that Chip, giving Ed a ride in the Blaster, would be a very meaningful and emotional event, to say the least. One that makes our mission of restoring the boat all the more significant and exciting.

-Don Mock

Comment by Don Mock on March 4, 2011 at 11:18pm

Randall, you a right about the sponson change. Probably around 1980, they widened both sponson outside secondary's by an inch or so by steepening the sponson non-trips or sides. You can see in photos that the secondary recoveries got wider and they may have widened the ride surfaces a bit too. It probably helped the boat in corners and certainly must have helped it get on plane easier too. We see the evidence of this modification in the sponson frames. We were trying to figure out why there were so many weird shims and blocks added. Didn’t make sense that those things were original. I don't think they ever tried dihedral/anhedral primary angles on the Blaster like on the '82 and '84 Atlas'. Both sponsons used the same traditional dihedral angle.

So our dilemma now is; which sponsons do we make while restoring the boat? The original 1977-79 versions or the widened ‘80-81 ones? Knowing how hard these hulls are on Merlin’s, we’re opting for the later versions to help get on plane easier. Visually, the difference is slight unless you know what to look for. By the way, we asked Jim Lucero about the mod but he did not remember the details. But at that point, Jim was a lot more involved with the Turbine Pay ‘n Pak than the Atlas.

Thanks,

-Don Mock

Comment by Randall E. Roe on March 4, 2011 at 9:07am

Don, I remember a conversation with Jeff Neff back in 1981 where he talked about the Atlas guys converting the Blasters sponsons to "Outside Primary" and how impressed he was at the time that since they had started running the boat in '77, they had increased the lap times 10 mph, and he didn't have any idea what they would do to the Bud Griffon to accomplish the same thing

Comment by Don Mock on February 24, 2011 at 9:01pm

As we begin constructing the sponsons on the Blaster, I thought I would toss in a few inspirational shots for the restoration team. Here's some photos from early 1977 thru 1980. The crew made a few minor changes to the sponsons over the years but the basic shapes remained the same. 

-Don Mock

 

Comment by Phil Lampman on February 18, 2011 at 10:13am

Wow, what a job. Truly sorry I wasn't there to assist. I can't believe how badly I want to get back to work with you fellows. Please slow down so there's something left for me to do when I return.

 

BTW, no longer a need for white coveralls. I saved all the paper ones I had to wear every time I went into my wife's hospital room. They don't fit well, but they're very lightweight and I don't care if I get Hysol on them. I've written "Atlas van Lines" on the back using Q-tips and some weird sort of soap I found in her room. 

 

Phil

Chief Fabricator of small seldom used parts

Assistant torch guy and adhesives spreader

Member, "Team Hysol: - WE STICK TOGETHER

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