Our next project...........1978 Thompson Sidewinder
- Thread starter YOOP
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- Tags 1978 project sidewinder thompson
Back in the mid 80's I had the privilege of working at Mercury's "Lake X" , a secretive research facility somewhere near Kissimmee Florida. I forget exactly where the lake was but we stayed in Kissimmee. Nobody was allowed in this place but the people that worked there and even they were vetted for spies. I was involved with a new ChrisCat (catamaran) offshore team. It was a joint effort between Chris Craft and Mercury and we had carte blanche at the facilty. We spent about a week down there testing and sorting out the boat. That place was really neat, it was built in the 60's but the buildings were futuristic looking like something out of Disneyland. They had a long dock out back with a dozen or so outboard motors fixed to it and they would let them run around the clock. There were gators in that lake it used to give me the creeps just standing out there. I remember armadillos running across the roads in there too when we were trailering in. I was like "what the hell is that thing ?"
Anyway one day they let us upstairs in one of the buildings and there was a museum they had built there dedicated to Kiekhaefer..all kinds of cool stuff from early outboards to Nascar stuff to big injected Chevy motors and marine accessories. I think there was even some kind of air cooled radial airplane engine on a stand.
I think Lake "X" is gone...the environmental zealots probably took it over. I wonder what happened to all that stuff they had there.
Anyway one day they let us upstairs in one of the buildings and there was a museum they had built there dedicated to Kiekhaefer..all kinds of cool stuff from early outboards to Nascar stuff to big injected Chevy motors and marine accessories. I think there was even some kind of air cooled radial airplane engine on a stand.
I think Lake "X" is gone...the environmental zealots probably took it over. I wonder what happened to all that stuff they had there.
cool you got to be there Gerry
sounds like they just outgrew it,moved to a different spot near Panama city
some neat info here No More Lake X - Boat Design Forums
sounds like they just outgrew it,moved to a different spot near Panama city
some neat info here No More Lake X - Boat Design Forums
That's the place. Ha, the first thing they mentioned was the alligators. It wasn't a matter of "if" you'd see one as much as how big or how many..they were everywhere. One of the coolest things I thought was how you could pull the race boat into one the bays in the main shop and close the overhead door. Now the boat was in the shop surrounded by concrete floors just like a car pulled in a service station. It wasn't like a river or bay where the tide fluctuated or there was a current or wake. It was always the same level and mirror smooth and calm so it was perfect working conditions. I used to think "hey those gators could still swim right underneath and come inside!" As you can see being from the city I was a little out of my element worried about those damn things.:mellow:
They had a machine shop inside and on the first or second day I was drilling a piece of stainless in a drill press and it started to helicopter on me and caught my finger. It probably needed stitches but I was embarrassed and didn't want them to think they couldn't trust me in the shop so I wrapped it up with paper towels and electric tape and spent the rest of the week hiding it. Good times.
They had a machine shop inside and on the first or second day I was drilling a piece of stainless in a drill press and it started to helicopter on me and caught my finger. It probably needed stitches but I was embarrassed and didn't want them to think they couldn't trust me in the shop so I wrapped it up with paper towels and electric tape and spent the rest of the week hiding it. Good times.
