Hickman Sea Sled

Interesting stuff!

http://ivb-boats.netfirms.com/HistoryofIVB2.html

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boa...1985-4654.html

He was the inventor of the inverted vee planing hull known as the Hickman sea sled.

A new type of vessel, which promises to revolutionize water craft and which takes the same place on the water that the automobile does on land - Scientific American 26 Sep 1914

Along with the Sea Sled, a direct forefather of the modern high speed catamaran, or tunnel hull, he is credited with producing the first surface propellers, working out that they produced lift and patenting ideas for lifting strakes, sponsons, anti-trip chines and prop-riding craft. These are all well known and widely used principles today.

Mark' very cool boat and way ahead of its time and if you would like to read more about the Hickman sea sled pick up a book called the real runabouts vol 3 by Bob Speltz , very g@@d stuff . I have to say that in the early 20's the 25 foot could run 40 MPH and the 35 could hit speed's of almost 58 MPH not bad from a firm based out of Connecticut that built some of the first ironclad gun boats and one of three which was very famous called Galena , all in all i have to admit that Albert Hickman had a very good idea but the boat was way ahead of its time ! :USA:

I remember reading an article in "Wooden Boat" about Hickman and his boats. If I remember the article correctly, Hickman was very litigious and probably quite paranoid. When Boston Whaler was being developed, it was originally going to be a variation on the Sea Sled, but since Hickman was still alive, the central hull we know so well was added to avoid any law suits.

Surprised to see this here . . .

The Sea Sled is being built again in high quality composites by
http://fiberartz.com . Don Mecca is an extremely accomplished fiberglass man, I have seen the mold and the first hull. Very impressive!

Mario L.

1968 Magnum 27
1969 Donzi Corsican

keep us posted, we love the old school/updated stuff.

Welcome to SOS Mario!!!

As Bobcat said- "Serious Offshore" really means we like all things cool and fast.

Please keep us updated- with pics if you can!

Cheers and welcome aboard!