Here is a picture of my boat. It is a '77 but it is modified and one of a kind. My daughter has won a wall full of trophies behind it. Perhaps you have seen it at the show nationals or regionals. jim
Hey Jim Doesn't seem like many people monitor this website. I'm rebuilding a '73 Hydrodyne. I enjoyed seeing the pictures of your boat. Looks great. What is the HP on the engine you've got there? Let me know if you want to see any of my project photos. I can send some but if you've got telephone internet access it would probably be a bit much to send. Best, Mark Naperville, IL
Mark, I'm on cable, but Greg sent me a bunch of pictures of your boat. It's going to be nice. The motor on mine is 150 hp, or a little more. It will do everything that a family boat needs to do. I drove one with a 90 Honda on it and it did well, it had excellent speed control at swivel ski speeds. For show club work I have seen many 200's and even one with two 175 merc V-6's on it. He claimed he was going to go with two 200's next. He was pulling kites and big pyramids with it. I have driven all of the dynes and the 18 is my favorite for skiing. What are you going to use your boat for? Will you be running the Fox river? I might have a prop recommendation I have tried quite a few. jim
Hey Jim Thanks for getting back to me. If you can help me with the prop that would be great, since it is one of my remaining unknowns. I fell in love with these boats as a kid. Spent my summers in Northern WI. I come from a family of five kids and all we did was ski and go to ski shows (Minocqua Bats and Manitowish Skeeters). Despite the owner of Dyna-Ski's efforts to convince me to buy a newer Dyna, I absolutely had to own a 70's Hydrodyne. The shallow, narrow hull nad rounded chines are unlike anything made today. The Dyna's are nice, safer, drier boats but they do not fit my nostalgia requirement, among other things. I've driven it once after buying it last Oct (with the '83 Merc 150 that was on it) and loved it to death. I've spent a small fortune on the boat and I'm not done yet but it is worth it. It has new stringers, new floor, and all new wood substructures under the deck, including dash and gunwale supports. The transom is multi-layered laminate and vinylester glass. I've got a new bow tank, rub rail, seastar hydraulic steering, and instrumentation (including two new airguides) ready to be installed. Right now the finish glass work is being done and it is being painted. I've got the decals, including the genuine red & blue, and the interior is being made to match. I bought it up in Green Bay but it was a single rigged pickup boat from Missouri, originally, and later was privately owned by the director of a ski team - so I'm told. Can you tell that I'm excited about this boat? I've got three kids (6 yr. twins and an 8 year old) who are just learning to ski but I've got lots of neices and nephews getting into their teens. The family Glasstron runabout up at the cabin is a bit tame for these bigger kids so this will work out better for pulling multiples. These kids really are not wakeboarding. I don't like inboards or I/Os. I'd love to use the boat down here, too, if someone can show me where to go. Greg's boat is really, really nice. I can't justify buying it b/c I'm too far into my project - otherwise I probably would. He missed his ideal buyer - me - by one year. I'm going to be running a new Optimax 225 on the boat. I didn't pick the motor - it picked me. Local marine dealer would not service the 83 merc and he was looking to move the 225, which was still in the crate and had been originally purchased for a demo program that did not get off the ground. He gave me a good deal on it. It is sort of heavy at 512 lbs but lighter than a twin rig, I suppose. The motor is a new-in-the-crate 2002 but as part of the purchase deal the entire complete powerhead was replaced with a factory new 2006 engine. I do need to figure out what prop to run on this thing and sure would appreciate your thoughts. If you have any other pictures of your boat I'd love to see them. I have a pretty big collection of hydrodyne photos, which I'd be happy to share. Best, Mark _________________ Dyne18
Mark and Greg, I just got a call from my daughter. They just got their 17.6 Dyne back from the Merc dealer with the 2005 carb 75 hp on it. This is a HP limit on their lake. She thinks it will pull her husband up (200+ pounds). It will go 40 propped for skiing. These new 2 strokes really run good. The motor only weighs 320 so the boat pops up on plane. It has the wedge for more tuck. It had a 150 carb evinrude on it (Intruder 60 degree eagle) which was a little touchy on the throttle at swivel speeds like mine. The Evinrude weighed 370. Greg, Mark and I talked on the phone. There was just too much information for me to type. Jim
Greg, She retired after winning the nationals, so she is not entering. They are really enjoying just skiing for fun. I sent you an e-mail. jim
Hey Greg I sure am glad I ran into you guys. I've learned quite a bit. I did really enjoy talking to Jim. I knew he was a pilot within 30 seconds of our call, when he queried "say again?" - which is how all pilots say "what?" Then when he didn't stumble on the word "pitot" that pretty much locked it for me! As an aviation lawyer and airpark resident (and airplane junkie), I spend a lot of time talking to pilots, including airline pilots (which comprises a number of my neighbors, not surprisingly). These airline captains have a certain "command" personality - you can pick it up pretty fast. I just love the fact that he wanted to talk boats and not airplanes. He's a wealth of knowledge, that is for certain - and I need all the help I can get. Eola is literally just down the street from me. I'm going to send you a map. I'll be around all day Sunday. As much as I would die to see your boat I can't reasonably ask you to trailer it all the way down here. I wish I knew someplace nearby where we could throw it in the water and go for a ride but unfortunately I don't. Either way, it would be great fun to meet you and I'd encourage you to swing by and say hello for sure. If time permitted we could even go drill some holes in the sky. Last evening my neighbor - who owns a large machining/metal fabrication company - stopped by and offered to have my trailer stripped and powdercoated - FOR FREE! He's an old waterski guy himself and has a love for these boats, since he used to ski behind them. He's been very interested in following my project. Of course, I'm taking him up on his offer. My boat is at the painter but I can show you all the goodies that I'm going to install when I rig it and I can show you my 300+ project photos! I'll send a map by separate E-Mail. Let me know. It would be great to have you stop by while you're in town. Best, Mark _________________ Dyne18
My knowledge of Hydrodyne is minuscule compared to Tom Miller or Ab Crosby Jr, they really know this boat and I spent a lot of time with each of them when deciding how to set it up. The original plan was to install a 13B rotary engine as an I/O. That would still be an interesting project. Yamaha now makes a 90 hp two stroke that weighs 270 pounds. That would also be an interesting experiment. It would make a great family ski boat except for heavy weight barefooters IMO. The kids could drive it. The history of the 18 is very interesting. It started out as a race boat. It would be fun to sit down with Ab and document the history of the 18. jim
