This is a partial resto of a 16' tahiti in progress Tom

Someone must really like that Tahiti.

Got a funny looking windshield!!   

We had a lot of fun in my buddy's Tahiti 16 back in the early 80's.

Old Squirt Nice boat! ..after a few year "hiatus from boats in the mid eighties I bought one similar to that ,its what got me back in to Jets (Mine was a converted outboat) very fast (or so it seemed) lol ...Tom

They all stem from Tahiti. Schuster and Gil Gaska tooled up the deck on a Glastron hull in 1964. Jerry Wriedt's shop was on the same street as Tahiti, Weiman, Howard and a few others back in the day. He actually had a shop before Schuster opened Tahiti, but he was a V-drive guy then. Schuster and Gaska worked at Powercat, they were on the same street too, but that was in 1960-1 or so, a few years before Tahiti.

Here's one of Jerrys flatties on craigslist right now. I can remember my dad telling me that Jerry would rig now and then at tahiti even though he had his own shop. There were too many orders and not enough riggers/laminators back then. lol

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/boa/436942852.html

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JOHN MILLER BOATS @  http://www.johnmillerboats.com

Very cool post GAWnCA! I love that look of that bow in the upper right corner of the page! 

And with all due respect to Miller, before him was Rich Hallett and Fred Wickens who more than any one are responsible for bridging the gap between the wood 'Chris Craft/ Hacker' style of boat, both Wickens and Hallett built in the 1930's, and what the boats evolved into post WWII and into the 50's...long before David Miller entered the picture.

The boat in question in this thread is the 16 foot Tahiti style of boat, nothing to do with Miller. You want to bring other builders into the mix, start another thread.

You just HATE it when someone shows the real history, don't you.  How about showing the guys history that you mentioned.  With all due respect, how is it that Miller held all the speed records if these guys you mention are so world renowned?  They may have been there in the beginning but who's name shines? 

You just HATE it when someone shows the real history, don't you.  How about showing the guys history that you mentioned.  With all due respect, how is it that Miller held all the speed records if these guys you mention are so world renowned?  They may have been there in the beginning but who's name shines? 

I think you missed the subject of this thread.....i do believe we are talking about tahiti's and their history and relations to other boats (splashes/copies/etc). Not the history of boat building in general.

What you posted was so far in left field to this topic. Yes, it was cool information, but irrelevant to the subject at hand.

Please keep toms thread on subject.

Edit: the argument has been split off to here: http://www.socaljetboats.com/index.php/topic,1786.0.html

Sooooo.... Heres some 16 Tahiti pics ... from today looks, like it will need a little bottom work (makes a good case for not beaching your boat) ,also interesting how a "golf ball size rock can get "sucked thru a sewer grate" lol    like the old "golf ball thru a garden hose thing "   Tom

Tom, if you haven't already torn the pump down, could you measure the clearance at the front of the impeller? Curious to know how loose those were from the factory. Pic seems to indicate a pretty wide gap.

. .... Didn't look like it did much damage to the impeller.  Am I right?

Although a person could spend the time(and money) to reshape each the leading edges of those impeller vanes, I'd say there is enough damage there to consider that one toast. Don't forget the likely wear/damage to the wear ring surface. New aluminum impellers are relatively inexpensive.

Tom, if you haven't already torn the pump down, could you measure the clearance at the front of the impeller? Curious to know how loose those were from the factory. Pic seems to indicate a pretty wide gap.

Although a person could spend the time(and money) to reshape each the leading edges of those impeller vanes, I'd say there is enough damage there to consider that one toast. Don't forget the likely wear/damage to the wear ring surface. New aluminum impellers are relatively inexpensive.

Old squirt we'll disassemble the Jet today and measure in the process, not 100 % sure but I dont think it(the jets been apart ,the boats fairly original Check out the pics of the intake removal note the marker pencil lines someone from Riches "crew" probably made at the front of the intake from the original "rigging". Dont know what the "epoxy" formula was back then but whew (some really hard sh*t) .Your right on the "reshape" as a budget deal but this ones probably "beer cans"  I belive its destined for a new A/T "A" cut. I'd love to put a Dominator intake in it too (as this one needs a lot of work) but I really want to try to keep the original look of the little jet boat that so many of us "grew up with" This may not be a "sexy" high powered 1/4 miler but I think it has potential to be a cool little boat again ! more to follow...

By the way the first pic here is the way the boat came in ,the customer claims he got a massive ticket at Don Pedro for " not haveing an approved flame arrestor" make me wonder why the Ranger didn't notice the Autmotive HEI ,non marine ALT , starter etc.. Tom

And what's that rectangle thing mounted by the steering hub?

that friend of mine here locally has an hour meter that looks just like that.  It has a big a$$ black trim piece around it.....real ugly looking on his white boat with white gauges and blue anodized bezels.

I thought my bilge switch was ugly... It's just a little gold switch on the dash a bit smaller than that ignition...