Here are two great images of the Pay 'n Pak turbine-powered hydroplane. The first photo is from 1980 at Tri-Cities, Wash., prior to the renown flip.
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| Photo from the Kirk Pagel collection. |
The second photo is of the rebuilt Pay 'n Pak, on Lake Washington in March of 1981, during testing session.
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| Photo from the Kirk Pagel collection. |
Notice the difference? There is a design iteration — a significant one. The 1981 hull sported a new front canard.
"(The 1981 hull) was a handful," reflected Pay 'n Pak driver John Walters. "The modification was an improvement. The plan was to add driver controlled canards. In hindsight, if we would have removed another two feet or so, it probably would have been more the result we looked for. The trailing edges of the forward wings were too close to the leading edge of the main wing section to work properly.
"They were removed and never ran in competition.
"I think the boat still had way too much bottom area. The sponsons were too wide and too lively for the hulls light weight, especially when you consider we were still running two blade props. Running three blades in itself could have made a huge difference."
The first time in the water, the Pay 'n Pak only weighted 4,269 pounds. That's a pretty hefty horsepower-to-weight ratio, especially given the extra bottom area of the hull.
"We broke the fiberglass shaft log last run of the first test", Walters continued. "We weighed it as we put it back on the trailer after the repairs to go to Tri-Cities. It probably had 20 gallons of fuel in it
too.
"Honestly it was maybe a little ahead of it’s time in some ways! We tried to do so many 'new things' all at the same time. It was hard to keep up with the ones that worked and difficult to make the needed adjustments to the others!"