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Dana Stewart builds a Dillon Mini Vee

Dana is building his boat in Nova Scotia, Canada.

"Coming along good!!" he reports.

He has made a lot of progress and appears ready to turn her over.

Dana appears to have fiberglassed the bottom and transom. You can see the untrimmed glass at the top of the motorboard.

Another look at the bottom.

Nice work, Dana. Keep us posted.

Making quick progress.

"Fun project," Dana reports. "Being a comercial boatbuilder, I kind of overbuilt it (extra 'glass) plan on playin' hard with it."

"Got a mint early 90's 20hp merc to start with."

"Waiting on some parts," Dana says, "but hope to have the motor on and in the water within a week or two."

Trimmed out and looking water-ready.

Another look.

"Boat handles fine," Dana reports, although he's experiencing some porpoising. Setup adjustments should help that.

"Was a fun build, thanks again."

Dana will be racing his boat with the Nova Scotia Boat Racers Association (NSBRA)

Now THIS is how a v-bottom should run!

Ready to race.

However: "Can't race this year," Dana reports, "bad back and other issues .............:("

"Added CMC power tilt, smart tabs."

"Couldn't turn without spining the prop out with a jack plate way up. Never got the chance to play with the motor hieght after I put the power tilt on, very sure it would have helped in turning with the motor up high."

I asked: Why tabs and tilt?

"Had bought the trim tabs, then found a deal on line for the a secondhand power tilt.........the trim tabs are there but I tied them up."

"Was a very fun build."

But Dana wasn't done yet!

"Stripped it down last winter. Trimmed almost 80lbs using foam core and less wood."

"Getting 34-36 with a Yamaha 20 hp using a ballistic prop (10x14). "Had a mercury 20hp on it last year with a Mercury chopper prop (10x18), was getting 38-40 mph... [but] took a long while to get up to speed."

"Waiting for one of Ron Hill's props I have just ordered from e-bay"

And then the prop arrived. Looks like the 10 x 18 I've raced with, but this one is 10.25 x 16.

"It worked great... still playing with motor height. Was good enough for first, but always looking for more."

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The Evolution of the original Dillon Mini Vee
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Bringing back Mini GT racing, 2010
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