n the rich history of hydroplane building and racing, one name that stands

out is Charlie Lloyd of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Lloyd, a master carpenter and cabinetmaker, produced gorgeous hydros in the 1950s to early-I 970$. He began by racing hydros, but, unimpressed by their performance, set about to build a more competitive race boat. After several efforts, he designed a hull that was so successful that by the mid-’50s, folks were calling Lloyd to design and build boats for them as well. And so a new business was born: Lloyd recruited his son Mike to perform day-to-day operations, his wife sewed and was put in charge of seat upholstery, and soon Lloyd was up and running.

Lloyd’s boats were particularly distinctive, with their rear tail fin and kick-up

(reminiscent a 1950s Cadillac), as well as a very aggressively tapered transom. Until about 1970, Lloyd had built between 100 and 200 such boats, working on at least three at once at any given time. After 1970, Lloyd turned his attention to sprint-car design, a passion of Mike’s. And the Lloyd business faded into relative obscurity.

Some of these hulls are still around today, however. One champion of the Charlie Lloyd hull is Jody Szepesi of Brick, New Jersey. “There were a lot of these boats made from the 1930s to the 1970s,” he says, “but in my opinion, Lloyd’s hulls had the best lines and were the best-looking boats around.” They were also win-

ners in races all over the United States. And because they were not mass produced like some other hydros, they are becoming scarce.

Szepesi reckons that there were about 125 Lloyd hydros of different lengths and classes made. And he has owned a pair of the beautiful rockets over the years. His first was a 16-foot four-inch shovel-nosed hydro, built for 280 c.i. (E Class) competition. The frame of the hull was built from Sitka spruce covered by mahogany plywood, a very simple construction. The sponsons were wet-style bolt-ons, and the transoms of the sponsons were open and allowed the sponsons to flood, which aided in planing. “Once the prop started to bite, rather than blow holes In the water, the sponsons start to drain," Szepesi explains.

When Szepesi first bought the boat, it was a basket case—but all the parts were there. The motor was out of the boat and looked fairly gruesome. “I couldn’t waitto take it for a ride,” he says. “I bolted everything back together and put it in the water. I didn’t get far before I threw a rod and had to swim the boat back to the trailer!” At least he now knew what he was dealing with (the boat sank just as he was putting it on the trailer). “Thankfully, the boat drew many people, and most everyone was eager to help me out.”