1954 Gale V sponsons

[Tom Ormbrek]

I've always wondered about the rear end sponson treatment  on the 1954 Gale V. I can't recall any other boat having this compound radius from the top and side view into the side of the boat aft of the sponsons. The Gale IV didn't have it, and in 1955 the Gale V was reworked to look like any other conventional 3 pointer of that era. The 1953 and 1957 Miss U. S. had a distinctive treatment at he trailing edge of the their sponsons, similar in the side view to the Gale, a radius from the side but a fillet from the top; while the Gale of 1954 had a radius from both top and side views.

This is shown on Video Vault footage of the Slo-Mo's from 1954; @ the Mount Baker pits, both Gale IV and V are side by side on their trailers being filmed from the rear. I'm assuming the Gale V's sponsons were reworked in the off season before 1955. The boat was National Champ both years, but this unique sponson treatment had to create peculiar loading and or handling issues. I don't recall any boat before or after with this look. Does anyone know the logic for this design feature?

[Tom Ormbrek]

I was going through some old pictures and noticed the U-1 Such Crust of 1948, a Ventnor built Lauterbach design and the U-111 Such Crust III of 1952 a Staudacher design/build craft appear to have the same sponson end as the 1954 Gale V. There is a 1948 G-60 Lahala, another Ventnor/Lauterbach craft that may be similar, but my only pic is a front view, so I can't be sure.

[Robert Frank]

Always wondered about this myself.  Have seen many photos of the Gale, S.C. & S.C.III, and Lahala.  But there's another, more recent one as well.  If we look at Hull #2003-02, Trendwest, Graham Trucking, Michigan Mortgage, etc., you'll notice that it's sponsons are very, very similar.  Have also seen many smaller hydros over the years done this way.  But, I'm with you.  Wondering why they were designed this way.  What were the advantages, or disadvantages?  In any event, it has made these few hulls stand out amongst all the rest.  Who knows, maybe some day, someone will see these postings that knows the answer.

[Tom Ormbrek]

None of the photos of Gale V, the Such Crusts or Lahala that I can access show the sponson bottoms; I'm assuming they extend back to enclose. Otherwise, with this decking sticking out in space that much closer to the water they'd shear off. I can't seen to access the Sandy Ross pictures which would show me more detail.

Early sponsons being much smaller tended to fair into the boat side at the trailing end, maybe this was a continuation of this. Aesthetic styling goes in and out of fashion, fantail sterns and tumble home quarters on transom stern conventional hulls come to mind. The Gales IV and V both designed and built by Staudacher for the '54 season seem to have slight dimensional differences. I wonder if the sponson end treatment of these boats was done to test which style performed better, or was it just for appearance sake.