Skip Palermo's boat struck a nerve when
I saw it because I quickly recognized it, a blast from the past.
The boat is called the "Moppie" and the story behind the vessel
will give you some inside on to how all of gas model boating came
together.
The Moppie was a full size
craft in the early 60's as far as I know, it may of been a bit
earlier design. The truth about gasoline powered boats is that the
first company to make one was Octura models owner Tom Perzinska in
1962 called the "White Heat" it was a round nose hydro by design
powered by a small 2-stroke industrial engine made by O&R. The
full size Moppie was built by Richard Bertram of the now famous
Bertram Yacht Company residing in Fort Lauderdale Florida. One of
Dicks employees a Mr. Dick Fullerton I believe, built the smaller
sized model and marketed it in 1968 powered by a chainsaw engine.
I know all of this because it was basically in my back yard and I
can remember visiting the local hobby shops in the early 70's and
I was amazed by the giant model boats. At that age of 10 years I
was financially limited to slot car racing, but I always dreamed
about owning one.
I forgot all about in the next
few years and jumped around from R/C aircraft to Nitro cars and
boats as products were being designed and manufactured it seemed
every other week, and they even started to become reliable.
Shortly after opening Warehouse
Hobbies Inc. in 1982 I started marketing the first production gas
boats under the ENFORCER trademark. Remember this is all in the
Fort Lauderdale area and word got out pretty quick about the so
called "new" type of model boating, this was the place, the
foundation of an industry that is the norm today. I guess I got
the attention of this older gentleman that came into my store with
an original Moppie I believe that same year. He asked if I could
help make it run and I told him I'd give it a try. I remember it
had a unique design for power transfer, they used a chainsaw
engine that was basically mounted level with the output shaft
above a plate that had a solid jack shaft running through a
bearing on each end, (bow to stern). There was a belt drive
between two pulleys one on the engine and one on the end of the
jack shaft. The output on the jack shaft was coupled to a solid
3/16" prop shaft with a universal, Octura's of course. Back then I
thought this was cool, but it was actually one of the reasons I
think the boats didn't go over as well as expected, that and the
fact that they were like $700.00 in 1968.
I remember we got it running
and it worked pretty well, a bit slow maybe 20-25 mph and the belt
was a bit of a maintenance issue "popping" off or breaking.
Enforcer started doing well and
I was pretty occupied on new hull designs, new products,
manufacturing, etc. I always though that what I coined "Large
Semi-Scale Gas" model boating in the early years would develop on
it's own with some of the more seasoned electric scale model
veterans moving in that direction. I actually made a gas tug boat
and cabin cruiser in the mid 80's, but with the demand for the
fast Vee's growing, I put them on the back burner.
Skip called me maybe a couple
of years ago and told me he purchased the Moppie molds, which now
changed hands three or four times since it's conception. I asked
him when he finished the boat I would be interested in some
photo's since it was a part of my mine and my companies history. I
was very surprised to see the excitement that he and his friends
are generating with their new re-powered Moppie and other semi
scale gas powered boats. The guys are still using some modified
(stock) string trimmer engines and I though boy how fast that boat
would run with a new Zenoah, but then a stock engine is more than
adequate for scale speeds.
There's a whole untouched
industry out there for these types of models, models that can
proudly display the skills and imaginations of their builders. I
only wonder if these builders are still out there.
Thanks Skip for the good
memories.
Sincerely,
Tony C.
It's been 38 years since the
full size "Moppie" made Deep Vee racing history, and the same time
that the model was offered for sale as well. The short lived life
of the model was only due to the times, after all their designer
was way ahead of his time. So many full size Deep Vee's came about
because of this design. Boats like the; Formula, Scarab, Magnum,
Fountain, and so many other renditions, all of similar hull
designs. The model was just that a model, a toy that was also
ahead of it's time. Very expensive in the day, and limited
resources for power, parts, and radio systems.
Here's the story and how I
was involved.
It was in the spring of 1983 almost a year after I opened
Warehouse Hobbies Inc. My small store quickly became the place,
the hang out for customers, and the favorite place to get model
boats and parts. Since it was my primary hobby as well, I kind of
stocked heavier in the R/C Nitro boat department.
It was only a few weeks after
starting to market The Enforcer Gas Model Boat what unknown to me
at the time would grow into the industry we have today. A middle
aged customer came in to the store with a strange "big" gas model
"V" bottom boat. As soon as I saw it I asked where did he get it?
It remembered seeing this model many years prior in a hobby shop
in Miami, and it smelled old. He told me he made them and the
molds several years back and worked for the man who designed and
built the full size boat called the "Moppie". He noticed I had
started to market gas boats and wanted to upstart this model and
perhaps business again. I was pretty involved at that time with my
own deal, but I did help get it running, but that was the last I
saw him and the boat.
I told this story to the now
present owner of the company/molds Skip Palermo, (as best as I
could remember) and it parallel the original brochures that he had
in his possession. The molds and boat could of been an Enforcer
back twenty five years ago. Skip and I talked several times by
email, and then he asked if I would be interested in purchasing
the molds and giving the "Moppie" the effort and market it so
rightfully deserved. I know there probably won't be an
overwhelming demand for this type of boat since it will appeal to
us older modelers or boaters that can relate. I thought about it
for a couple of days, and also thought heck this is just as much
part of my history and maybe I should of done something for this
guy 25 years ago. (LOL, that's easy to say now, I really didn't
need any competition back then).
I called Skip back and said,
what the hell let's talk.
I am proud to announce that we
acquired the one and only original sets of molds and they are on
the way to our factory at the time of this release. My thoughts
are to offer a limited production "Moppie" made from the original
tooling, hulls or Ready to Run. This will be truly unique. The
molds will require some repair and possible modifications to
accept today's current hardware, but I am quite sure that this one
time 25 mph model will get the performance that it deserves when
it meets the Zenoah power plant. As I stated this is the beginning
history of the "V" bottom boat. They amazed everyone when they
were unveiled at the Miami to Nassau race in 1968, from there you
know the rest.
It would be so cool to start a
spec class of racing for the Moppie on a national level, and I
would be honored to be the manufacturer.
If you would like more information on the subject please email me
at: whobbies@strato.net
Sincerely,
Tony Castronovo
President, Warehouse Hobbies Inc.
P.S.- Another thing I found
after reading the brochures a couple of days ago was that the
Moppie was powered by a Homelite Chainsaw engine. Now, not only
did I not invent gas model boating, I also wasn't the first guy to
use the Homelite engines...
