wrote in message
...
On Sat, 09 Jul 2011 20:06:38 -0300, Howard Eisenhauer
wrote:


The RCMP used to have 50' coastal patrol boats with twin Merlins,
those puppies wouls MOVE. They had even faster speedboats that fit
into the back of the patrol boats, they'd kick'em loose at full speed.
Must have been a Fun Ride .

H.

TWIN Merlins!!!??? Now we're talking about my dream boat.
Dave

You might want to look up some things about the rum runners that were built
during Prohibition. A famous one was built around 15 miles from where I now
live. Her name was "Fleur de Lis." 52' long (IIRC), she was clocked at 55
mph with a full load of illicit booze aboard. She had three Liberty aircraft
engines, the predecessor of the Allison that powered the early P-51s. The
Coast Guard chase boat that was built to go after her had two Liberties.
That's why Fleur de Lis had three -- an advantage of the flexibility of free
enterprise over government bureaucracy.

We had some fantastic rum runners built around here, on the shores of the
Raritan Bay. My uncle made pin money tuning and maintaining the engines on
Fleur de Lis -- when he wasn't teaching shop in a local high school. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress