Chris Uzzolina, a 27-year-old from Morris County, N.J., is no stranger to speed on the water. His father owned a 24-foot Switzer Craft that topped 80 mph on Lake Hopatcong, the Uzzolina family’s favorite local waterway when Chris was a kid. So it’s fair to say that Uzzolina, who now lives in Charlotte, N.C., and works as a BMW technician, was born to own a sportboat. And he does in the form of a 1988 Chaparral Villain III.

For those of you willing to do the math, that means Uzzolina’s current ride was built when he was two years old.

A top speed of 100 mph is just one of the owner's goal for this soon-to-be-renovated 23-foot Chaparral sportboat.

Several years ago, he bought the 23-foot sportboat for a whopping $3,500. With its stock 260-hp small-block engine modified with Trick Flow heads,  a new cam, an aluminum intake and Eddie Marine aluminum exhaust manifolds with stainless steel pipes, the boat reportedly ran 67 mph. But that wasn’t enough for Uzzolina, so he upgraded his power package with a Weiand 144 blower and the boat topped 72 mph. That was the good news.

“The engine didn’t hold up for more than one season before she gave up, “ Uzzolina recalls. “With no budget, I had to settle for a used engine from a friend’s old car. To this day, I still have no clue what parts were in it but it got me back on the water.”

At least it did until, predictably, the car engine failed. For the next two seasons, the boat sat in Uzzolina’s mother’s driveway in New Jersey. But when he moved to Charlotte last year and found himself within a short drive of any number of lakes, the go-fast boat bug bit him again and he brought the boat down south.

Well-known in go-fast powerboat circles, marine industry veteran Sean Stinson is renovating and reassembling a 1978 Taylor SJ jetboat. Based in New Jersey, Stinson said he purchased the completely disassembled 18-footer with its 460-cubic-inch engine and Berkeley jet pump for about $3,000. The engine, which currently is being rebuilt at J & E Automotive Performance in Blackwood, N.J., is a naturally aspirated, single-carburetor model that Stinson estimated makes roughly 400 hp.

“I am hoping to get it done in the next 30 to 60 days,” said Stinson. “I have all new gauges for it, and the bucket seats and bench seat are in my garage. These old jetboats usually came with some kind of indoor/outdoor carpet. I don’t want to go with that, so I’m thinking about the kind of rubber flooring I used in one of the Apache boats I worked on.”

Stinson said he plans to sell the boat in the $10,000 range once it is finished. With the profits he hopes to make from the sale, he plans to tackle a larger go-fast boat renovation project.

“This was something I could do to keep my appetite going for the high-performance boat world,” said Stinson. “I plan on selling it and buying something bigger to restore, then selling that and getting something bigger to restore until I get back into an offshore boat.”

Editor’s Note: Speedonthewater.com will provide an update on this project with additional photos when it is complete.

Testing of a fully restored 47-foot Apache V-bottom, the former INXS offshore race boat, could begin as early as tomorrow morning if all goes to plan. That’s the word from Gary Stray of AMF Offshore Rigging in West Palm Beach, Fla. Stray handled all the rigging for the twin Lycoming T-53 gas-turbine engines—each making approximately 1,500 hp—with Arneson ASD-8 drives, as well as the restoration and refitting for the entire boat.

Arneson ASD-8 drives will handle the power from the 1,500-hp turbine engines. All photos courtesy Gary Stray/AMF Offshore Rigging. (For a full view of the drives, click the the image.)

“I imagine it will run 115 to 120 mph,” said Stray, who will test the boat with Scott Begovich, the throttleman for the Miss GEICO offshore racing catamaran. “We’re hoping to go out tomorrow, but if not the day after tomorrow.”

In the AMF Offshore Rigging shop for about a year, the 47-footer is owned by a private party who prefers to keep his name out of the media. But even for a client who Stray describes as owning “a lot of boats,” the turbine-powered vintage V-bottom with a pair of five-blade forged propellers from Hering Propellers is an extraordinary project.

With one member of the AMF Offshore Rigging shop team on board, Scott Begovich, the throttleman for the Miss GEICO racing team, put a 47-foot Apache V-bottom the outfit recently restored and repowered with twin 1,500-hp turbine engines through its first test session this morning. Renowned rigger Gary Stay and his crew at the West Palm Beach, Fla., shop have been working on the classic boat for more than a year.

Begovich tested the boat on the calm waters of Lake Worth Lagoon in Riviera Beach. As today’s run was the boat’s first time on the water since AMF completed the rigging and restoration work, he said he took a conservative approach and only ran the 47-footer to 90 mph.

“There were no issues whatsoever,” said Begovich who handled the throttling and driving duties, during a telephone interview this afternoon. “I didn’t run it all the way out, just accelerated to 90 mph. The acceleration was smooth, sort of like a subway train that just keeps on pulling. We brought it back in and checked every nut and bolt. We planned to run it again this afternoon, but the weather came in.”

While weather forced Scott Begovich and the crew from AMF Offshore Rigging to cut short last Thursday’s first on-water test—and scrub Friday’s test session—of the turbine-powered 47’ Apache the West Palm Beach, Fla., shop has been working on for more than a year, mechanical gremlins struck today. Thanks to water-contaminated fuel, the run/stop switches for the twin 1,500-hp turbine engines were sticking and forced the crew to cancel testing.

“The first batch of fuel had water in it, and that might have caused some corrosion that had the run/stops freezing up,” Begovich explained. “You don’t shut off turbine engines with ignition. You shut them off by cutting off their fuel, and that’s part of what the run/stops do. They work in two stages, start-up and throttle fuel. In the worst case, if the run-stops stuck open we wouldn’t be able to shut off the motors, even if we disconnected the batteries.”

The first dynamometer tests on a 427-cubic-inch engine that will power a soon-to be-restored 1986 Chaparral Villain III sportboat saw the powerplant produce more than 600 hp. That’s the word from Chris Uzzolina, the owner of the boat, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., and previously stated that one of his goals in the restoration project is for the 23-footer to reach 100 mph. (Read the story.)

Dyno testing started yesterday at White Performance & Machine, the automotive and marine engine shop in Kingsport, Tenn., that is handling the build-up of the Dart-block-based engine with components that included aluminum exhaust manifolds from Eddie Marine.

Uzzolina said he expected the naturally aspirated engine to produce between 600 and 700 hp.

After a few postponements, the turbine-powered 47-foot INXS Apache that’s been getting a complete makeover at AMF Offshore Rigging for more than a year hit the water today for its final test run before the owner arrives to take possession of the boat tomorrow. With Scott Begovich of the West Palm Beach, Fla., rigging, restoration and racing shop at the controls, the twin 1,500-hp turbine V-bottom reached 100 mph—and had still had more in it, according to Begovich.

“It was like a subway train on rails at 100 mph,” said Begovich in a telephone interview this morning. “We went over wakes from a 30-foot cruiser at that speed and we didn’t even feel them.”

Begovich had previously estimated that the 47-footer would be able to reach 120 mph. While he said he’s still confident that the conventional V-hull can hit that speed, he opted not to push it past the 100-mph mark this morning.

While the 427-cubic-inch naturally aspirated engine that will be power Chris Uzzolina’s soon-to-be-restored 1986 Chaparral Villain III sportboat is getting prepped by White Performance & Machine for its second round of dynamometer testing, Lake Effects Marine of Moorsesville, N.C., has begun tearing into hull and deck of the 23-footer. That’s the word from Uzzolina, who has said that running 100 mph is one of this goals when the project is finished. (Read the story.)

Major renovation work is underway on the Chris Uzzollina's 23-foot Chaparral Villain.

“At this point we are in the major tear down stage,” said Uzzolina, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., but is originally from New Jersey. “Floors are being cut out, as well as the removal of the rotten stringers. Next will be the transom and then sanding of the hull to be refinished.  The top cap is removed and is being prepped for stripping and sanding.”

While Uzzolina said he had hoped to have the project complete by June, he realizes it may take a few weeks longer than that. But he’d rather see the job completed competently and thoroughly than rush. The work to be done is far beyond cosmetic.

Proving there are hidden complications and delays in even small powerboat renovation projects, well-known offshoronly.com member Sean Stinson reported that when he removed the hull from the deck of the 18-foot jetboat he is restoring to sell (Read the story), he found “a soft floor.” That means when Stinson gets home from his relatively new job of brokerage and sales manager at Campisano Marine in Brick, N.J., later today, he’ll be replacing the sole of the 18-footer.

“I’m cutting out the floor and replacing it today,” said Stinson. “I’m also putting in new bulkheads and replacing all the foam. I should have it done by the end of the week.”

When he separated the 18-footer's hull and deck, Stinson found damanage to the boat's sole.

Stinson originally separated the boat’s hull and deck so the hull could be painted black, which will happen after the new bulkheads and foam are installed—the deck will remain red. Refreshment of the boat’s 460-cubic-inch, single-carburetor Ford engine, also has taken more time than Stinson expected because of additional cylinder head work that was needed.

After looking at more than 20 renderings by artist Chris Dilling of Grafik EFX, the new owner of the classic 47’ Apache Broken Arrow V-bottom selected a final version with elements from each drawing. That’s the word from Marc Jacob, the Delray Beach, Fla.-based go-fast boat and yacht broker who is managing the restoration of the 47-footer (Read the story) for his Middle East-based client.

Chris Dilling of Grafik EFX created the new look for Broken Arrow.

“My client doesn’t want the ‘latest and greatest’ in paint technique like pearl and flake, he wants something really traditional,” said Jacob. “He wants it to be attractive, but he doesn’t want it to be flashy. Don Rossi (the painter for the project) will have his hands full, but he’s more than up to the job.”

According to Jacob,  Jason Ventura of Brand X Hi-Performance Marine  has gutted almost all of the boat’s interior. That includes the cockpit and the dash, as well as the primary cabin—the forward-most section of the cabin has not yet been stripped.

Work on restoring a 1986 Chaparral Villain, which began approximately six weeks ago and has been covered on speedonthewater.com (See Related Stories below) reached two major milestones late last week. The 23-footer’s engine rebuild/upgrade and deck restoration are now complete.

Looking good—the restored deck for the 23-footer is complete.

"I picked up the engine from White’s (White Performance & Machine) on Thursday,” said Chris Uzzolina, the owner of the boat, who lives in Charlotte, N.C. “The final numbers were 640 hp at 6,700 rpm and 571 foot-pounds of torque at 5,600 rpm.  We have kept the timing conservative to prolong the engine's life, as well as because marina fuel is not always the best. The deck is complete with new gelcoat and the hull is under reconstruction now.

“I am happy with the engine build, but I will only know for sure when it's in the boat and running,” he added.

With his hopped-up 427-cubic-inch naturally aspirated engine ready to install and hull and deck reassembly for his 1986 Chaparral Villain sportboat well underway, owner Chris Uzzolina (Read the first story) of Charlotte, N.C., has purchased a new trailer for the 23-footer from Loadmaster Trailer Company of Port Clinton, Ohio. The trailer will be painted tomorrow.

“We’re having it painted blue to match the boat and it should be ready on Friday,” said Uzzolina. “I will be making the trip out there to next weekend to pick up the trailer and get a tour of the factory.”

Ready for paint at Loadmaster Trailer Company, the trailer for Chris Uzzolina's vintage 23-foot sporboat will be color-matched to the boat.

Uzzolina said he estimates that Lake Effects Marine in Mooresville, N.C., which is handling the hull and deck restoration, will begin engine installation and rigging in the next two weeks.

Progress continues on the restoration of a 1986 Chaparral Villain owned by Chris Uzzolina of Charlotte, N.C. Most recently, Lake Effects Marine in Mooresville, N.C., replaced the 23-foot sportboat's stringers and sole, which is ready for fiberglass, according to Uzzolina.

New stringers have been installed in Uzzolina's 23-footer.

“Once Lake Effects is done with hull blueprinting and gelcoat, Bob Shudder at Boat Repair Plus in Denver, N.C., will handle the rigging,” said Uzzolina. “Lake Effects is backed up with work from all the downtime they had because of a family illness, and the boating season is in full swing here. So this will help lift a load off of them so they can service their customers. Plus, what could be better than to have one of the best men in the industry rig the boat?”

A little more than two years ago, speedonthewater.com published a feature called "Restoration Project: Bertram Competition 38'". In that story, we chronicled the work Kurt Groom, the owner of the 1975-built sportboat, did to restore his vintage 38-footer. The results were impressive and stunning.

Groom is hoping to complete the latest phase of his project and be back on the water by November.

Turns out that Groom, who lives in DeLand, Fla., wasn't finished—not even close. About six months ago, he decided to completely update and renovate the boat's faring and dash, and expand its interior to seat five. To raise and widen the boat's faring, Groom turned to Will Smith of Phantom Boats in Sarasota, Fla.

"Will did all the fiberglass work on the faring and dash, and he reinforced the deck," said Groom. "We are moving all the gauges, the steering wheel and the throttles and shifters to the right side of the dash—as you recall they were in the center of the dash."

After debuting the marketing trailer in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., Speedonthewater.com's Jason Johnson drove the trailer to Houston to cover the Texas Outlaw Challenge (above), as well as promote the website and new digital magazine.

Admittedly, neither Matt Trulio nor myself are great self-promoters, although we're getting better. So as I put plans in place to attend two events in August—the Big Cat Poker Run in Northern California and the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Missouri—I figured now was as good a time as any to throw out a little self-promotion for our latest marketing vehicle—the Speedonthewater.com trailer.

For those of you who haven't seen our modified Doolittle trailer, which is probably most of you unless you happened to catch up with us at the Desert Storm Poker Run in April or the Texas Outlaw Challenge in June, take a look. We'll be happy to show it off and give you a free coozie at one of next month's events, but just in case you won't be in California or Missouri, check out what our friends at Waves and Wheels in Osage Beach, Mo., created for us.

Dave Postill upgraded the Mercury Racing 850SCi engines in his six-year-old Cigarette 42X with a pair of Mercury’s turbocharged 1350 engines. Photo courtesy Florida Powerboat Club

While doing research for an in-depth feature on Chief Performance for the next issue of Powerboating in Paradise magazine, I was introduced to Dave Postill, the owner of a 2008 Cigarette Racing 42X who lives in Florida with his wife, Laura. Through a recommendation from Stu Jones, president of Florida Powerboat Club, which publishes Powerboating in Paradise and organizes next month’s Key West Poker Run, Postill turned to Tommy Hofstetter and the crew at Chief Performance in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to handle a significant repower of his 42-foot V-bottom.

Previously propelled by twin Mercury Racing 850SCi engines and No. 6 drives, the boat was de-rigged earlier this summer as Postill opted not to rebuild the supercharged engines, which had 400 hours. Instead Chief Performance stripped the mechanical components throughout the boat to make room for a new set of Mercury Racing 1350 engines and M8 drives with Digital Throttle & Shift technology.

Read more: Maximum Power Gain: Cigarette 42X Upgrades to 1350s

Though the timetable for Chris Uzzolina's restoration of his 1986 Chaparral Villain sportboat has expanded—he began the project in March 2013 and hoped to have it completed in time for the boating season—another stage in the 23-footer's renovation has been completed. Lake Effects Marine of Mooresville, N.C., has finished all the exterior glasswork.

Uzzolina said the glasswork restoration of his 23-footer was worth the wait.

"The glasswork came out great, and it was worth the wait," said Uzzolina, a 27-year-old BMW technician who lives in Charlotte, N.C. "They definitely hit the mark in my opinion and in the opinion of those who have seen the boat.

Currently finishing the new deck mural of a 1991 classic Apache V-bottom dubbed Broken Arrow today, noted painter Richy Rich (shown above) of Miami will begin clear-coating the deck of the 47-footer tomorrow. According to Marc Jacob, the Delray Beach, Fla., powerboat broker who purchased the boat for a client in the Middle East and is managing its overall renovation (read the story), clear-coating of the boat's hullside murals has been completed. An Italian-made custom rubrail will be installed on the boat once the deck graphics are finished.

In a few weeks, the boat will be turned over to Fineline Marine for cockpit and cabin interior replacement measurements. From there, it will head to Jason Ventura at the recently relocated Brand-X Hi-Performance Marine for total replacement of its electrical and mechanical systems, new electronics installation and rerigging of its triple 1,200-hp Chief Engines.

A 2001 Cigarette Racing 38 Top Gun recently received an interior and engine hatch makeover from Waves and Wheels in Missouri.

Between tow rig conversions, entertainment system installations and fabrication and upholstery restoration projects such as the recently completed Cigarette Racing 38 Top Gun pictured, the crew at Waves and Wheels is in the midst of its busiest winter yet.

Justin Wagner, who founded the company in 2001, is pretty good about keeping speedonthewater.com informed of projects he's working on and the 2001 38 Top Gun that his team tackled on two separate occasions is one of Waves and Wheels latest.

Renowned go-fast powerboat painter Richy Rich of Miami has completed the paintwork for Broken Arrow, a vintage 47-foot Apache purchased on behalf of a client in the Middle East by Marc Jacob, a powerboat broker in Delray Beach, Fla. Jacob is managing the restoration project, which began this spring and should be completed next month.

Although Broken Arrow’s paintwork took longer than anticipated, it appears to be well worth the wait.

"Painting took longer than we expected—we didn't expect it to take four-and-a-half months but we also didn't expect to spend six weeks in the bilge making it absolutely perfect," said Jacob.