We've lost one of the GREAT one's

[bham-rick]

I hate to have to report the passing of Norm Boddy on Friday. Don't have alot of details but what was reported to me was "complications from another surgery" Anybody that knows Norm will agree that he was "one of a kind " If you had a small outboard there was nobody better to take it to and have him put it in his magic tank. Very fair guy and great sense of humor. He will be missed by everybody in the Classic boating community. My prayers are with Rita and Thank you for sharing Norm with Us !!


Now all you have to do is fish Norm !!! :fishing:

[Tim_Mattson]

Bye Bye Norm

Norms passing is a real loss for the small boat owners /lovers and speed demons.
Norm held the World Electric Boat speed record for many years after he made up a 3 pt Hydro with 32 volt Diesil Starter in place of the 115 hp OMC powerhead.He was busted on Green Lake after a cop saw the roostertail across the lake and wouldn`t look in the boat to verify it wasn`t a combustion engine.:Police1:
Judge threw the case out but made him swear he`d never do it again.
He did but at Lake Havasu in the yearly speed meets.:boater1:
His speed of ~72 mph stood until the past few years when 144 volt rigs were made.
A fishing buddy used to work for Norm at Sears as ,get this,a Mobile Appliance Tech.
Knowing how big his Outboard pile is ,Rita is probably ready for clean floors and a Yard without rows of outboards.
I hope it all doesn`t get recycled.
His special Shed held some of the coolest +weirdest outboards I`ve ever seen.
His sharing of knowledge has been an inspiration and great example of how to share what you know or learned.
You will be missed oh Great One.
TimM

[Lootas1]

Sorry to hear of Norm's passing. He was a great friend to all who knew him. He also held a speed record for an outboard race from Ketchikan (?) to Seattle back in the 60's or, possibly, the 70's. He turned several non-running outboards into smooth runners for me and I don't recall that he ever charged for his time, just parts. Knowing how much those outboards meant to him and knowing Rita, I'm willing to bet very few, if any, will end up in the recycle bin.

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Norm...

We join others in mourning the loss of Norm Boddy, one of the finest members of the Northwest old-boat-and-motor community. He was generous to a fault with information, parts and even sometimes his labor, and carried on despite medical challenges in recent years. He will be sincerely and sorely missed.

- Marty

[bruceb]

Norm
What can you say about a fellow outboarder who gave so much of his time and effort to help others. We only knew him for such a short time, but he was a constant gem. My son Evan and I spent a great day with him tearing down the 35 Lark and building it back up. He'd give instructions, then leave, come back, leave to do his projects....He truly believed in "passing knowledge on", with kindness and humor, god he could make me laugh.
Our best to Rita and family.

bruceb

[RJY007]

Norm

We'll really miss him....I'd known him a long time...always ready to share information or suggestions.....drat

[Geezeracer]

Hi. I'm John Paramore...retired boat racer and mother hen to electric racers. I'm just adding to Tim's comment on Norm's electric speed records.

Before Retirement from PUD where I was the "art department", the utility ran a couple weekend promotional events on Spada Lake as a part of the FERC licensing agreement for a hydropower project. The promotions included races and kilometer speed record trials for electric boats, and because I was an old boat racer the job of making it work was added to my duties. The first year trolling motors ruled, but by the second, I'd managed to find a few who'd mounted big DC Motors on outboard legs, and Norm was one of them. I'd frequently explained to the commissioners that the fastest, most reliable way to take the British-held world speed record would be to set competitors up in a head to head racing series. A year later when I retired, I set them up as an APBA special event electric series.

Norm showed up at the Second of PUD's kilo trials with a DeSousa racing runabout powered by a Prestolite forklift motor mounted as powerhead on a Mercury Speedmaster unit, and fed by a 120 volt pack of garden tractor batteries. The combination worked...but didn't. There were no reliable motor controllers then so start-up was accomplished with a big brutal Switch-on Hang-on "Frankenstein" switch. In his run, Norm had to be towed on course riding on the front deck to balance the weight of the transom-located battery pack. When Norm reached back with a foot to switch-on, the boat came to life leaping straight up like a rocket powered tarpon, with Norm hanging onto the bow cleat for dear life as the boat made repeated lunges until the small pack pooped out.

Shortly afterward we began the racing series, starting in Everett at Silver Lake, where Norm finished second. At that point competitors could barely finish a racing heat and top speeds were only about 35 mph. At the end of 5 races though they were running and finishing 2 heats per day and seeing speeds above the UIM record. after just 5 races we had 4 boats fast enough to take the record and in October 1994 Norm raised the record to 55.9 mph. And in the 4 years we ran the series, Norm was high-points champion 3 times, initially with the runabout, twice more with his beautiful Bill Blackwell hydro.

The current record is held by Mike Bontoft of Castle Rock, WA, set with a Prestolite fork-lift motor powered Ron Jones Jr composite hydro at 98.8 mph. You can see that here:
World record, fastest electric boat 98.806mph - YouTube

The really interesting thing is that Norm's record still stands and probably always will. When Mike set the current record it was set under rules from 2006 that froze the UIM record set under previous rules. Because APBA submitted Norm's record as an "APBA/UIM" mark UIM elected to freeze Lady Arran's "Pre-Norm" record as the example, Leaving Norm's record standing forever because it can't be withdrawn by authority, and current rules can't supersede it...I think that's pretty cool.

Assuming this all works, here are pictures of Norm setting the world speed record in 1994, and Norm out front in the Hydro a year later

John

[Tim_Mattson]

Thanx John,
Now I know the REAL story and realize how far ahead of times Norm truly was.:Bigdriving1:
Knowing his record is untouchable makes his achievement worthy of a movie or book.
Someday we`ll laugh at the gas burning motors and possibly we`ll all have electrics in all our boats once battery life issues are tackled.:boater1:
Thanx to John Paramore for sharing and taking the time to post.
TM

[Geezeracer]

I see mention in the thread of Norm in an encounter with police that I was unaware of, but I can report a similar local moment. After Norm's airborne experience on Spada Lake we'd begun to organize for the APBA series, and were looking for test sites on local waters. Norm suggested Lake Ballinger, just west of I-5 at the King/Snohomish county line. It was plenty big enough for tests and gas engines weren't allowed...Authorities apparently felt that posting signs reading "Electric Motors Only" would save the day for them....Bzzzzt!...Wrong!

So we set up a test program and went to the park and launch ramp at Ballinger. We launched the boat, checked systems and sent Norm off. He made a couple North South passes, stopped for another check, then made two more passes and came back to the ramp. Shortly after the initial passes the Police cars began to arrive. By the time Norm came in the park was nearly full of cop cars from both Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace, even a Dept of Wildlife guy showed up. The officers all lined up on the shoreline and the fishing dock, most with ticket books in hand, some looking really angry, and every one of them leaning out to focus on the coming arrest...The scene looked a lot like E.F Hutton's old TV commercials. Then I heard one officer ask the guy next to him "Say Ed, doesn't that look like an electric motor?". The posse started to break up and drift away after that, but one or two stayed around to mumble and offer disapproving looks.

After a couple more tests I thought we needed to work out some sort of arrangement with Edmonds and MLT. Edmonds wouldn't budge, but Mountlake Terrace was conditionally OK. They wanted us to have patrol and rescue boats on the water, and wanted us to check in with police before testing. It all worked out very well. Police showed up for almost every test and we eventually won police support by taking them water skiing on the lake behind a forklift motor powered Ski-boat.

Regarding batterys, there have been huge improvements in battery chemistry and controllers since we began racing. We now have a variety of motor controllers available, the best of which is the 2,000 amp 'Zilla made in Kingston by Manzanita Micro. It was developed for EV conversions and absolutely rules in electric drag racing where the current quarter-mile record is 6 seconds/201 mph by an electric motorcycle.

And the lead/acid pack has been made obsolete by lithium-polymer. With lead/acid we could run 70 mph on an initial kilo pass, but battery-sag always took about 5 mph off in the return, and batteries were nearly flat by 3 miles. By comparison, the current record holder's pack weighs only 75 pounds (as opposed to Lead/acid's 500) can make faster return passes than down-passes, can make several passes on a single charge without sagging and has enough power density to allow a step-up gearbox between the motor and leg to turn the prop at the 10,000+ RPM where it's most efficient.

We tend toward minimal in racing to save weight...Small packs etc., but even better and more potent batteries are coming. And there are some pretty good ski-boat conversions on the water now. Here's an Electric Glastron conversion from Amsterdam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=591o42ET-4M

John