Mona Lou and others Bertrams 31'

[nthdegree]

That #48 boat is the first staggered engine boat. John Bakos drove it in the 500, and then in the Around Long Island race.

Brownie, do you remember what year that was????

I was sitting in a 17' Powercat watching them go by!!!!

[Black Tornado]

Trying to revive here also this thread an image drawn by the video tape of the Bahamas 500 of 1968 where the Patty Lou (II) Bertram 31' is seen.
As we can notice that Patty Lou could not be the former Boss O'Nova because it already raced in 1968 and because introduces particular that differentiate it from the Bertram of Wishnick.
To notice particularly the exhaust a little above the waterline. From what I know any other Bertram 31' it had the exhausts that didn't go out of the transom.

[Black Tornado]

I believe that is also to exclude that the Fino Bertram of the 1970 pits him the former Patty Lou Bertram of the 1968.
Some but meaningful similarities among that Fino and the Boss O'Nova Bertram.....

[Black Tornado]

According from how FLYING FISH had affirmed initially the WD40 Bertram of Trost in the London to Montecarlo of 1972 it is the former Boss O'Nova.
If it is true that a series of clues they make a proof.

[T2x]

London to Monte Carlo........

Now that's a real boat race.

[FLYING FISH]

This comes courtesy of the engineer on board the winning boat `HTS` in the London - Monte Carlo.

Miss WD40 with Dr Trost and his lovely wife,on one leg when racing side by side with `HTS`on a flat sea,Miss WD40 suddenly stopped.He had hit a basking shark and got it stuck in the drives,so the lovely Mrs Trost had to push the shark off the drives with a boat hook.

Those were the days.Racing with stories to tell.

[FLYING FISH]

Can the following questions be answered please.

Where did the red `Mona Lou`Bertram race.It was referred to as Mona Lou III which seem odd as this was the Maritime 32ft.Pre 1968?

Was there 2 `Ronda Lee`Bertrams.`Ronda Lee II`the yellow/white one and the later one with 3 engines,or was it the same boat re-engined.Year 1968.

Was the`Fino` Bertram a one off or did it have other names.Year 1970.

[Hannibal41]

i am looking for those old time scoops, do you know where i can find them?

[Brownie]

The red Mona Lou III ran once, in St Pete. Bill Bought it on the spot. It was the first boat with #3 drives. Re: Rhonda Lee. It ran the first Bahamas 500, then Around Long Island, 1967. Bakos was assigned to "dog" me in the "Donzi Blue Devil". I was the only Holman Moody runner, and had won the race the previous year. I finished second, after leading all the way around (255 miles). Ran out of oil from a filter puncture.

[FLYING FISH]

Many thanks for coming back on that Brownie.It`s much appreciated.

From what you say about Ronda Lee,I take it,it was only the one boat with 3 drives that ran in 1967 Bahamas 500 and Around Long Island.The bit that foxes me though ,is that in the Searace book it says in the 1968 Miami Nassau ,Lewis entered in a new triple engined 31ft Bertram named Ronda Lee.
Any comment?

[Bobcat]

Trying to revive here also this thread an image drawn by the video tape of the Bahamas 500 of 1968 where the Patty Lou (II) Bertram 31' is seen.
As we can notice that Patty Lou could not be the former Boss O'Nova because it already raced in 1968 and because introduces particular that differentiate it from the Bertram of Wishnick.
To notice particularly the exhaust a little above the waterline. From what I know any other Bertram 31' it had the exhausts that didn't go out of the transom.

Beautiful boat.

[seeroy]

While John Crouse wrote an incredible history in "Searace" and he deserves everlasting credit for doing what noboby else has, there are some minor errors in the book. I don't have the book in front of me right now, but I am pretty certain that Odell ran the aluminum Maritime "Mona Lou" in the 1968 Bahama 500. OOOPS!! You were referring to Miami Nassau...not B500.

[Brownie]

Fish, you and I are confusing #3 Speedmaster drives with 3 engines and drives (triple)

[FLYING FISH]

So from that Brownie do I assume it had 3 engines the whole of it`s career or did it begin life with 2 engines and change to 3 for the 1968 Miami-Nassau or has Crousy got it wrong.

BTW is the `Fino` Bertram a one off,or has it other names.

All these little details I find fascinating when building up a file on the various builders of offshore racing.It`s something you cannot find in what few books have been written on the sport.

[Brownie]

Rhonda Lee was John Bakos' 31 Bertram that he ran in the Miami-KeyWest 1967. He finished second, with three 327 Mercs on #2 Speedmasters, I finished third in Donzi Baby, with tandem Homan Moodys, and Aronow won in a 28' Magnum. Rhonda Lee was 70 mph, the rest of us were in the middle sixties. Bear in mind that that was the end of the #2 Merc drive for Offshore racing. #3 Speedmaster had better ratios and better props. Strong like bull.........

[PJC]

Saw this old one sat in a boat yard on the Hamble river last week, I understand it has a good racing history, it was raced by a John Willment, his family still own it

[FLYING FISH]

Here it is 47 years previous.It`s on a 3 year restoration plan.

[DollaBill]

Hey Brownie...

Did they use the same mold to make the hulls for the sportfish model in later years? just curious

[Black Tornado]

Blue Moppie!
But are you sure that she is really that? I would like to see the deck situation of that boat.
Sam Griffith drove that 31' that however few had in common with the 31' that were built five years later .
I am surprised that overseas to the moment anybody comments with great emotion the existence of a milestone of the offshore and theirs.
Gentleman I hope that the restauration succeeds well.
In England he is making the history.

[Brownie]

The original Moppie was a wooden 30' hull. It was built in 1960, and when it won the Miami/Nassau in 8 hours, 1 minute, we said that that record would never be broken. The orders for similar boats poured in, and Dick Bertram started building 31' utility boats like the Blue Moppie (which I recall was named after a toilet brush). The 31's were the class of the field in those days. Bear in mind that there was only one real race in the world, so one probably wouldn't build an all-out race boat.