In association with The Vintage Hydroplanes The Vintage Builders Guide Part III

The foredeck of the different hull designs would include shapes on the crown of the deck in order to find the optimum altitude of the hull throughout its flight, whether it be the straightaways or turns. Proper placement of weight being placed into the hull such as the motor, gas tank, battery, and driver all combined to influence its attitude (proper weight distribution for an even keel) and handling characteristics. Many competitive races would be decided on these factors in matches where driver skills were comparable.
That is why a good driver was always looking for the right combination in their hull to give them the best advantage possible. Just building the right combination of proper placement of these items could be the difference between a winner and loser. Considerations of the minimum weight restrictions had to be followed. Considerations of extra weight was equally important. This would be evident in time trials and on the kilo and 1-mile speed trap runs. The straightaway records and heat records could be affected if you were a heavy individual.
Times and records broken could be inched up throughout a summer season. Every little thing would be looked at. As with any racing endeavor, weight reductions and maximum engine revolutions, even as minute as it may be seen, was closely looked at. Superchargers were allowed in certain classes, but one had to pay attention to the extra weight that was going to be incorporated into the hull. Also, supercharged engines would need to carry additional fuel that would be needed to feed the higher gas consumption used by a supercharged engine.
The drivers would experiment with the gasoline blends trying to find the specially brewed formulation using alcohol and nitro introduced to increase horsepower. Any horsepower robbing items would be eliminated. Experimentation was a rule of thumb. Engines would be tweaked between heats trying to fine-tune their motors for every ounce of power available. Getting back to the hull details, you will notice different transoms width and height that vary from one design to another. The reasoning of these features are debatable but time has already proven the winners and losers in these respects.
Innovation was the rule. Refinements were proven or disproven throughout the summer racing season, some stuck, others were quickly thrown out. Others yet would be refined, until they were proven right. These are some of the reasons why it is great to go to a vintage event and see the stages of evolution throughout the history of the different racing periods. Some items might have worked in a smaller class, but would not work in a larger class. Many factors influenced the subtle changes.
But as with most ideas, when a designer would try to improve on one aspect of the hull, he could effect the good qualities and purpose and possibly compromise other qualities and features. Many a hulls were probably built with good intentions only to be dismissed after a few races. I'm sure you would get many an arguments with the designers on that subject. But whether it was a proven winner or not, any racing hydroplane left around today is a winner in my mind and worth being preserved. Hopefully, any left or found today will survive the ax or firepit, and some good soul with invest the time and money to bring it back to its original form for the pleasure of all of us.
The sponsons were the main idea that made the hydroplane a reality. You would have to go all the way back to when Ventnor Boats Works had the original, basic idea of attaching water skis on the front of a conventional displacement V-hull to plane the hull up and out of the water. The success of this idea quickly caught on and soon many raceboats were incorporating this thinking into their hulls. Then the Ted Jones design of a 3-point hydroplane, first used on Slo-mo-shun IV, rewrote the basic hull look we are seeing throughout this article. Ted Jones always believed that the top of the sponsons should flow into the foredeck, were as some of other raceboat designers such as Henry Lauterbach, Will Farmer and Rich Hallet, built their sponsons that were offset from the foredeck.
Different lengths, angles, heights, widths and placement of sponsons were tried throughout history. First, there were the wet sponsons that was the rule, then the exception. Dry sponsons (they would not fill with water) then became the rule. Dry sponsons would aid the hull with buoyancy. But all these changes contributed to the individual beauty of these racing hydros.