[ratpack] Re: In Portland, then Seattle

PT boats?  MY FAVORITE species of marine animal! Pixes soon, I hope. C

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From: "Ray Buck" <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ratpack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 11:02:48 AM
Subject: [ratpack] In Portland, then Seattle

I'm in Portland for the Bonneville NW Reunion and to help Marlo Treit (Target 550 owner and team principal) with a new computer.  I'll start this off with a photo of Mt. Hood (I think that's what it is) that I shot with my cell phone camera as the aircraft flew over it.  Not the best, but not the worst, either:



I spend a LONG time on I-5 going to and coming back from Aurora, Or where Marlo Treit lives.  I set up a new computer for him and was transferring files via USB sticks.  Since his old machine would only run for a few minutes at time (hard disk problems) it was an exercise in frustration.  I'll be doing more of it today before the banquet tonite.

Last nite, back in Portland (the I-5 parking lot again...an unbelievable amount of traffic for about 15 miles all getting off at the airport exit) we had a presentation by 3 guys from the "Save the PT Boat" organization ( http://www.savetheptboatinc.com/index.htm ):



The guy in the center is Maurice Hooper who served on a PT boat in the South Pacific in WW II.  I'm gonna copy some stuff from my Facebook posts here (if yer on FB, I'm there as Ray Therat):

"Maurice  had all sorts of great stories to tell. What I found particularly interesting (cuz I'm a gearhead) was the fact that PT boats were powered by 3 Packard supercharged V12 motors, each producing 1500 hp with a maximum speed of 3000 rpm. Doesn't sound like they spun that fast, but when ya consider that each motor had a bore of 6 3/8" and a stroke of 6 1/2 inches...that's a lotta mass to be starting and stopping on each revolution of the crank.


The motors are 2500 cubic inches, 60 degree V6 4 valves per cylinder (I believe) single overhead cam with dual magneto ignition and a 2-stage centrifugal supercharger. That kinda explains the 6.4:1 compression ratio, although that's also indicative of the time period (mid-30s) in which they were designed.

They were also direct drive to the props, so there was no gear-down to achieve optimal prop speed.

The boats were built from mahogany planking, not plywood, although the deck on PT 658 was constructed of plywood and given a liberal sealing of fiberglass resin to create what the team called a "100 year deck" which was painted, just as the original deck was. Since the boats were, when built, considered expendable, there wasn't much consideration given to long-term protection from the elements."

Quick note here.  I'm using a new lens on my Canon 7D.  It's a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 and it's as sharp as a surgical scalpel.  WAY sharper than the Canon 18-200 that I'd had nothing but trouble with ever since I bought it a coupla years ago.  I was gonna get the Canon 17-40L series lens,
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-17-40mm-Ultra-Angle-Cameras/dp/B00009R6WO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329545814&sr=8-1
but the reviews convinced me that the Tamron was the better lens:
http://www.amazon.com/Tamron-17-50mm-Aspherical-Minolta-Digital/dp/B000EXOXUQ/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1329586740&sr=1-5

So far, it's just great.  I'll know more after testing it while on the tour of the PT boat.  Then it's back to Marlo's to work on his computer and then to the banquet tonite to hear Dave Davidson tell us what it was like to be the first driver to run a roadster over 300 on the salt and 250 on the dirt at El Mirage.  Here's a shot from 201 on the salt:



I may have posted this here before, but the 300+ runs were made in the first (of 3) timed miles cuz the car couldn't carry enough fuel to run much farther.  Last year they had a larger tank, but had some problems and didn't reach their goal of upping their own record.

I'm outta here to go see a PT boat.

r