Thunderbird Boat starting up
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- The famous Thunderbird fires up one of her massive Allison aircraft motors for the crowd at the 2011 Lake Tahoe Concours d'Elegance. See the Thunderbird in action here! : • Thunderbird Boat Ride
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I saw the Thunderbird in the boathouse at Thunderbird Lodge on Lake Tahoe about a month ago. Beautiful piece of work. The tour of the lodge is cool, too.
Some of you people are not seeing a one of a kind 1940s custom mahogany boat made to haul people and supplies to a lodge on Lake Tahoe. Yes its probably overpowered, but who doesn't like bigger and badder? It was built for a plush hotel, large lake waves, and to look good. I think it succeeds, and glad it has survived as a classic wooden boat.
Great wooden boat classic.
100 % AMERICAN MADE.
LOVE IT. FIRST SAER AT 5 YEARS OLD.
NOW 66...STILL BRINGS TEARS TO MY EYES.
THE BOAT NOT THE GAS FUMES. LOL
You don't have to be a gearhead to appreciate the sound those engines make.
Classic , powerful and awesome. I’m glad it’s not in salt water.
I've been on this boat at Lake Tahoe, it's Absolutely Amazing!!
The Thunderbird’s frame must be beefy as hell to handle that amount of horsepower. A gorgeous boat with a gorgeous rumble.
Very cool! When I was a kid all the hydros ran these engines and the sound was something else! :D
Perfect engines for a perfect yacht! They sound great.
I saw the Thunderbird at Harrah's museum about 35 yrs ago. It was in dry-dock of course. I would love to see it on the water so someday.
What a peace of Art
This is a neat boat to see in action when they do take it out on the lake.
Good lord the sound of that is incredible!!!
And this was just 1 of the 2 engines..
O.M.G!!! SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE MY VAUXHALL VIVA!!!
Lol! HC?
Wow that sounds beautiful .
That is one beautiful boat!
that is the sound of beauty. Amazing
That Allison engine is General Motors contribution to the war effort.
Boat starts at 4:30
Jåsøn ß thank u
OMG thanks!
Title should read:
“Guy talks for 4 1/2 minutes.
Can’t hear him.
Boat then runs for 1 1/2 minutes-
That you will hear!”
Man I was so love to have this boat
Whoa - very bad ass engine and sound. Next time start both!
the P-51s flown by outfits such as the red tails had RR Merlin engines, the P=51s flown in the Pacific had Allisons. RR could not make enough engines for their own needs and licensed out the design. British engineers realized that the P-51 was a great fighter but the Allison engine was a gas guzzler compared to the Rolls so they switched them giving the P-51 the range it needed to escort the bombers all the way to the target and back.
High altitude performance was the reason for putting a Merlin into the P-51. The Allison powered Mustang was actually faster than the Merlin powered version at low level but above mid altitudes it started to dog badly. The increased range was, in part, a fringe benefit of higher altitude flight - less air drag = more range. Oh, and the original reason to license build the Merlin in the US was at that particular point in time - 1940 - it was unclear whether or not Great Britain would be able to prevent German occupation and they wanted to ensure an allied nation had the Merlin's design.
Incorrect. The only P-51's that used Allison engines were the P-51A and a few P-51B's The use of that engine limited the P-51 to 15,000 ft altitude so ALL subsequent versions used the RR Merlin or, more often, the license built Packard version. The switch had nothing to do with the gas usage but everything to do with the combat altitude at 30,000+ ft. The Allisons did a superb long range job in the Pacific in the P-38, P-39 and P-40 aircraft where most combat was at lower altitude. Only when the B-29's were introduced were the high altitude P-51's brought in for escort duty, and none of these used Allison engines.
Fuel usage was the least of the allison's problems. A major flaw in it was a single stage supercharger which limited high altitude performance. Besides the addition of the merlin, the later P 51's also had fuel tanks added inside the fuselage, the entire plane was basically a fuel tank with guns. P 38's in the European theater used the allison, but without the GE turbochargers as our government didn't want enemies to get that technology (as though the germans didn't already have them figured out). The brits weren't happy about that, if the 38 had the turbos it would have been far better.
And the American PT boats were powered by Packard engines. Sub Chasers were powered by V12 Hall-Scott engines. The Allison's were not fully developed mostly due to the Army Air Corp not wanting the more expensive and upgraded versions Allison was offering. They do sound good though.
interesting part is at 4:31
wow so cool its lasted this long and not forgoten
Use to run moon shine back in the day. Many air craft engines not needed when war ended. Sold as surplus.
Very nice boat indeed. Looks good.
For sound though, once you've heard The Sorcerer Skater lighting up, the world of fast powerboats will never be the same.
Now this is a lake boat,
Beautiful boat...
I love this boat
I remember seeing this boat in the water when it was berthed at Jack London Square in Oakland, CA, around 1980.
Holy crap! what nice Boat! :D
Up until 4:20, all he starts up and runs is his mouth.
Haha, good one.
Jonathan Anderson
It's 3:45 he has one more minute .thanks
I thought it was interesting.
yea it was Bill Harrah's on display in the auto collection in the late 70's.
Id seen it there on display in the third wharehouse at the collection,
Im glad it has a good home there on Tahoe,
Beautiful boat
Aye, all big WWII engines tended to sound good, it is merely a case of deciding which is more-good than the rest! I tend to prefer the V12s over the radials, but they're all pretty amazing to hear.
The Allisons were good, but just not cheap enough, powerful enough, or reliable enough to compete with the Merlin earlier on, so more money went into that. The ones that impressed me were half the engines destined for the P-38s. They turned the wrong way, to counter the torque of the other. Nifty.
Probably not the cheapest way to power a boat, but would punch through the water like a missile. Not to mention, will always sound angrier and more raw than any modern Perkins, CAT or Volvo Penta
Now that's what I call a motor yacht!
Fantastic!
Listen to the Rolls Royce Oylmpus's of an Avro Vulcan... Bloody marvellous. That'll put hairs on your eyeballs.
I am a boat technician beautiful beautiful boat
You stated this takes 110 LL aviation gas. I’m guessing you have to go to the airport and fill up your portable tanks to gas this boat up?
awesome video
12 year old video. Life long wrench and I have a few dumb questions. (1) what size of screws and shafts does she have? (2) What drive is in her to push the screws?, is it a velvet V-drive of sorts? (3) how much fuel does she burn ROB and how much fuel can she carry?
I used to have a powerful fairground organ and a day spent round the back with all the loud noise blasting in my ears, was tiring and uncomfortable. Spending an hour or two in that boat, charging up Lake Tahoe, would be an experience that I would only relish for half an hour at most.
awsome sound!! i'd love to tace a ride on this boat! good handcraft!
Didn't need to hear Mr. Bullhorn blabber for 4 minutes!
Way to much of a Hassle to start, I'll stick with Classic Boating engines thank you !!!
But it's a Beautiful Boat !!! : )
Ronnie Farnsworth not really...
Some interesting info from the guy with the bullhorn, but mostly blah, blah, blah. Skip to 4:30 if want to actually enjoy the point of the video when the Skipper finally starts that big, bad Allison!
That would be 100-Octane low lead aviation fuel.
Gorgeous!
i legit love captains call exhausts
Thunderbirds are go..........................................eventually!!
LOVE THE SOUND. RCCRAFT
Ummm....this boat does not have a "captain's call" exhaust system. "Captain's call" uses diverters and a y pipe to force exhaust to exit underwater so the the boat is muffled or silent. (Also called silent choice)
U know I noticed that the inboard side of the exhaust is alittle weak on the discharge side of the raw H/20 coolant !
This pre oiler I wish had on my engine, bpy what a difference it would make
With the engines detuned down to only 1,100hp coming from 1,710cu/in, and with low compression (about 8:1) why is it necessary to run expensive 110 octane gasoline?
nice boat
Spectacular!
How much did that cost to run for less than 60 seconds?
Good question, in theory these engines will consume around 0.5 lb/HP hour.
My estimated calculation is that it consumed between 1 and 2 gallons, so this is approximately between $ 4 - 8 at the current cost of fuel.
czcams.com/video/mwOPO7ezEcU/video.html
That's the closest most of us will come to riding in a WWII fighter.
lake tahoe has all sorts of ridiculous bans on old boats. they very likely were not allowed to run this boat at all on the lake. all of the old boat clubs have a lot of trouble. you are only allowed to put an outboard motor in the water if it is a 4 stroke- even just for an antique boat show
😎old school rules!
I swear I could smell avgas when it started. LMAO
Nice!
Does he charge for a look? I have never seen this thing and more than 10kts. He just idles around like he can't afford the avgas.
Great looking woow .did that belong to Bill Harrah?
This power..!
110 octane av gas?
Is that a hybrid?
Can anyone tell me how many gallons of fuel it needs per hour to run this craft ?
Only 15 gallons of jet fuel were required for this start up demonstration :)
man i would love to sit on that boat charging at top speed...
Watercooled aircraft engines? Hey Scopter Hooligan. Where on the P38 was the radiators located? How big was it to provide adequate cooling?
+montwolfman Its been clearly stated multiple times that the engines are from a P38.
"The Allison V-1710 aircraft engine was the only indigenous US-developed V-12 liquid-cooled engine to see service during World War II. Versions with a turbosupercharger gave excellent performance at high altitude in the twin-engined Lockheed P-38 Lightning...." - Wikipedia.
montwolfman the P38 had 2 engines in booms connecting the wing and the tail. Pilot in a pod in the middle. Radiators in the booms, on each side of each boom. About 3 feet behind the wing.
where do they get 110 on the lake?
Look for >>
'Riva starting both engines' video, now that's a good sound
A 43 nice
muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuusic !!!!!!!
Aviation fuel still has lead in it. I wonder what the lead coming from the wet exhaust does to that water body. I’m not a tree hugging green new deal fanatic, just wondering
Keep "wondering."
Leave it to some ding bat to scream when the boat back fires.
I’ll take it sold !
Except the Allison wasn't all that great... kept blowing up at high altitude.
Now the Rolls Royce Merlin, powerplant of the Spitfire, P-51, Lancaster, Mosquito and more... That's the sound of freedom...
Show and tell day
Now thats a boat!
110 Octane Lower Lead Avgas ? Doesn't He Mean 100LL Avgas ?
That's a substantial amount of not fucking around
I want my money back. he only started one?! wtf???
It sort of sounds like an old P-51 starting up. A coincidence?
Maybe a p51A. But must P-51's were Merlins.
both were V-12s, it would take a real nerd to tell the difference by sound I think.
I bet everyone at the event she was at was a little scared when the big pop happened
let's fire them ALL UP !
Save yourself some time and just skip ahead to 4:30.
I have to laugh at the narrator. He bothers to bring up 110 octane av gas as if it is somehow more dangerous or flammable than pump gas. Should we tell him higher octane means less flammable? The older high compression engines needed that high octane contamination to prevent it from lighting before the spark.
I would like a boat with that motor to
Flat bottomed boat that is WAY overpowered, if the lake was glass smooth it can probably nearly fly, but hit a ripple and you'll really be flying but the landing won't be pretty. I believe the Allison was based on the Rolls-Royce design Merlin egine, it could do 3000hp for brief bursts in the supercharged version that I suspect this is not. In any case a 20" prop would have a lot of trouble handling 3000 hp.
Nope, the Allison owed nothing to the Merlin. Totally different. Also, the Packards that PT boats used weren't Merlins either. Packard did license build Merlins, but the Packards in PT boats were purely marine engines that shared no parts or design with the Packard Merlin.
You're, apparently, attempting to be an "expert" on wooden boats. You're not. The Thunderbird was designed over 70 years ago by John Hacker specifically for use on Lake Tahoe. It is NOT a "flat bottomed boat." It is a modified deep-V design with an aft planning section. It has a 3' 8" draft and weighs 18 tons. It was originally outfitted with twin, 550 HP, 12 cylinder Kermath motors. The boat was refitted by Bill Harrah after he purchased it from the estate of the original owner. The current Allison motors are 1,100 HP each. So there is no need to speculate on whether a 20" prop could handle 3,000 HP.
Wait for it...wait for it...
Run Both ?
thanks gave you a thumbs up
Indeed it would've.
How many gallons per mile ?
Per mile, or per hour ?
I think I will make do with 10knots and 1 gallon per mile, of diesel.
what about the other engine get on with it