Check out the RUDDER on THAT THING!!

dmartiniup · #1 11-30-2009, 11:00 PM

LATHAM MARINE PART OF AL COPELAND’S WISH - PHENOMENON

When the colorful giant catamaran was unveiled at the Al Copeland party at the 2009 SBI World Championships the night before the final race, Bob and Kathy Latham were standing proudly by the boat, admiring its shiny, massive rudder system. It represented nearly a year of secretive planning and work on Al Copeland’s Phenomenon as the one-off creation was aptly named.

To stabilize this 56’ cat with a 13’ 6” beam, four T55 turbine engines, and four Arneson drives, a canard wing was built into the deck that will re-direct air when the boat reaches 180-190, on the way to its 240+ mph anticipated speed. But that was only part of the challenge in constructing the boat. Harnessing all that weight and 12,000 horsepower, required marine equipment that could stand up to the torque and thrust. Copeland Racing’s Scott Barnhart knew who to call--Bob Latham. Latham Marine has long been one of the marine equipment engineering forces for Al Copeland, the legendary and flamboyant Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken founder and 6-time National Champion, Popeye’s Racing. Latham created the marine equipment for Copeland’s first four engine powerboat in 1984, so it was only natural that he would be on call 25 years later to undertake a bigger and stronger project.

Latham began with a piece of 1 ½” proprietary stainless steel which had to be specially fabricated and cut using his state-of-the-art CNC machines. This rudder was developed from those currently used by other Champion racing turbine-powered catamarans with two engines. However, incorporating the system for four engines in a newly designed boat brought additional challenges, numerous calculations and finite analyses to simulate the loads and arrive at a final rudder design.

Throttles were another major consideration, as most controls for a T55 engine require two handles for the two throttle cables--one for fuel shut-off to “N1” and another to segue to “N2.” Adding a shift handle for each engine would require 12 handles—a massive feat for any throttleman. Latham devised a way to combine the two throttle cables into one handle, with two handles per engine—a first—reducing the number of throttle controls to eight.

The hydraulic steering system for the boat is similar to Latham Marine’s traditional design—portless rams with no exposed hydraulic lines. “Our steering systems are always strong,” Latham states proudly, noting that the rams specified for this boat were uniquely suited to the project.

The one-of-a-kind boat was a several-year project design project by Copeland Race Team’s own firm, Phenomena Ultra Speedcraft Company and a vibrant, exotic paint design was created by Mark Morris of Visual Imagination; it is still weeks away from testing. “Everyone associated with this boat is the best in the industry,” said rigger, project manager and throttleman, Scott Barnhart, “I’ve been in this business for 23 years and know that if you want the best in marine hardware, you go to Bob Latham--we’ve worked together on many boats.”

Al Copeland, Jr. was clearly enthused about the project and its ramifications. “It is sleek, it’s sexy, and hopefully, it’s fast!” he exclaimed, attributing the work to “adrenaline junkies” and his father’s last two wishes--to beat the world propeller speed boat record (currently 220.493 mph, set in 2004 by Dave Villwock in an unlimited hydroplane, Miss Budweiser), and to find a cure for cancer.

While Al Copeland bravely battled the cancer that took his life last year, his family will try to make his other wish come true. Behind the scenes, Bob Latham was part of that wish.