Modifying Shocker Ride Pads into "Mystic style"?

[dmitry100]

Hey guys,

Has anyone here ever modify their Shocker or Daytona ride pads before with any positive results?

I was thinking to go and buy some thin sheets of balsa or plexi glass and attempt to modify the Shocker flat ride pads to be similar to the HPR Mystic style of steps.
I think it might help with performance since there would be less contact with water for SAW runs.

Perhaps shaping the ride pads to have more of a steeper angle like this would be a good start:


What do you guys think? Is it a bit more complicated than it seems?

[NativePaul]

I think that is going in the wrong direction for SAWs, flat ride plates give the most efficient lift, more deadrise gives better rough water running and cornering. I would go for narrower flat ride plates for a SAWs modification. I made the cat in the diagram you posted with varying deadrise down the length, at the bow it was about 30degrees, at the first step it was 23, 2nd step was 16, and the transom was 9degrees, in an attempt to make a boat with lots of efficient lift when running nose, up and that would handle rough water well with the CoG moved a little forward, it worked pretty well, once i sorted some hardware problems out, but was far from a SAWs build.

[dmitry100]

Hmm yea. That might actually be the easiest and logical way to go.

But don't the HPR/mystic's achieve record SAW speeds due to the way their ride pads and steps are designed?

[Fluid]

The big T cats achieve their SAW records by applying obscene amounts of power to overcome excess drag. None of the large cats have flat pads like some smaller cats do. Perhaps if they did the speeds would be higher. Or not.

This takes nothing away from the SAW speeds achieved by the big cats. They are fun to watch, I got a lot of cool blow over videos at last year's SAWs in LA. These powerful boats take an excellent builder and driver to set those records.




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[TheShaddix]

Those big cats have barely any drag at full speed. Have you seen them run at 80+ mph? Only the props and rudder touch the water, the rest just flies above it. It's not so much the power, it's the speed. Once you go past certain speed, everything just lifts out of the water and what holds it down is the drive angle and lots of weight. The shocker's flat pads help it turn much better than the hpr's sharp edged pads but that's mostly due to being a wider hull.

Check out this video I shot at last event. The fastest cat there was an hpr 40" hull, it ran about 128 mph, the guy duck-taped 2 wrenches to the bow to keep it down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMwSzvNVGaE

[Fluid]

Have you ever tried to get a cat running at record speeds? I have set SAW records with them so I know a little about the subject. Last year I watched them run in the mid-130s, there is plenty of water drag (watch the wakes, doesn't take much). If there was no water drag then they should go faster that a T rigger....they have at least twice the power of the riggers. But they can't even match the rigger's speed. Some is due to aero drag, but most is hydro drag. Believe what you want....

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[ls1fst98]

Idk....my shocker skips in the corners, like it's drifting. It's quite fun, but not a full dig and turn like my mean machine.

[Fluid]

Idk....my shocker skips in the corners, like it's drifting. It's quite fun, but not a full dig and turn like my mean machine.

Yeah...........Both have flat sponsons, but as we learned with the Drifter/SuperCats the deck matters too when turning. I had a Shocker (two actually) and it was too narrow for good turning performance. Makes sense, the MM was designed for oval racing while the Shocker was not. It's a far batter SAW hull.


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