Remembering HTM

[OkHallett270]

Not sure how this video came across my You Tube suggestions but I’m glad it did! Pretty cool old school footage!

 

[COCA COLA COWBOY]

I think I may do an HTM next boat. I think they get a bad rap.

 

[bonesfab]

I used to sell parts to the engine builder. Unfortunately he was one in the boat when it went over. That's when I found Hotboat.com trying to find out any info on it. Pretty sad deal all around.

 

[Tony DCB Boats]

Truly miss these guys. Steve was one of a kind and always trying to better the product and himself in the industry. Pretty fast back in the day...
He was never afraid to say what was on his mind and truly proud of his accomplishments. We had many great conversations and would always help each other out with keeping each other on our toes as well.

-Tony

 

[RiverDave]

I used to sell parts to the engine builder. Unfortunately he was one in the boat when it went over. That's when I found Hotboat.com trying to find out any info on it. Pretty sad deal all around.

I was joking around with Mr. Pumps on Hotfoot back in the day, as I was always fucking with the HTM guys.. (mostly in good fun) They offered to take me for a ride on castaic the following day as they had just put up something like 140 mph.. My dog went in to get spayed, and they nicked an artery so I stayed behind with the dog.. Mr. Pumps had called me to see if I was going to come, and I told him I wasn't, and I could hear the blower motors as the boat was pulling up to the dock in the background when he said he had to go. He was gonna call me after to let me know the #'s so I could put them on Hotboat for him.. He never called. For awhile after I would get phone calls every now and again from his either wife or fiancé? asking me if he had said anything else, or anything about his family.. It Broke my heart every time she called.

RD

 

[Dunerking]

I would deliver new Hensley trailers(circa 1994-ish)to his place every once in awhile,and would be in ahh checking out the latest boat. Definitely a sad deal.

 

[CLdrinker]

I was joking around with Mr. Pumps on Hotfoot back in the day, as I was always fucking with the HTM guys.. (mostly in good fun) They offered to take me for a ride on castaic the following day as they had just put up something like 140 mph.. My dog went in to get spayed, and they nicked an artery so I stayed behind with the dog.. Mr. Pumps had called me to see if I was going to come, and I told him I wasn't, and I could hear the blower motors as the boat was pulling up to the dock in the background when he said he had to go. He was gonna call me after to let me know the #'s so I could put them on Hotboat for him.. He never called. For awhile after I would get phone calls every now and again from his either wife or fiancé? asking me if he had said anything else, or anything about his family.. It Broke my heart every time she called.

RD

A few weeks before the accident Steve was at the sand bar doing Hot Laps in my dad’s SS with a NA 540 and what is now known as White Lightning when it had a NA 565. To show a few potential customers how fast a NA could run.
I jumped into White Lightning for a spin with Steve. We went past the sand bar at 103mph.

Weeks later he was dead. That kinda hit close to home for me.
My dad put his up for sale shortly after.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

I've seen a few peeps (not sure if inmates) in Havazoo with HTM's. They are still nice boats.

I was eyeballing one on Saturday, and checking out the stern, they didn't have much of a tunnel from the rear, the hull kind of dropped down in the middle like a delta pad that was still a bit higher than the sponsons. Maybe they pack so much air and it has no where to go is the issue?

 

[RVR_RCN]

2003 HTM SR 24 Immaculate!!!!

$49,900.00 Paul - (602)679-1850 2003 HTM SR24 Mid Cabin Open Bow. Mercruiser 496HO w/450 Hours. Bravo 1X. 4 Blade Stainless Bravo Propeller. Dual Batterie

thetoysyndicate.com

 

[CLdrinker]

I've seen a few peeps (not sure if inmates) in Havazoo with HTM's. They are still nice boats.

I was eyeballing one on Saturday, and checking out the stern, they didn't have much of a tunnel from the rear, the hull kind of dropped down in the middle like a delta pad that was still a bit higher than the sponsons. Maybe they pack so much air and it has no where to go is the issue?

The 30’ crashed due to mechanical failure. Hard turn at way over 100mph is no good.

Other crashes are from driver error. Most HTM’s are 100+ boats. Many were over 120mph. Some guys got over their head and at those speeds shit goes bad quickly.

 

[WTMFA]

I knew Steve and Lia very well, used to go over to their house in Agua Dulce for Tyson fights and hung out with him in Havi. My buddy bought big block parts from him before he started HTM. About a year before the accident I was working graveyard shift so I would ride my Harley up to his place and hang out during the day, many times we would head to Castaic to test newly finished boats. I was supposed to go with them that day but couldn't make it. I was living in Castaic at the time of the accident and when I heard about it I headed to the lake, I saw Lia and their two daughters sitting on the ramp just hugging each other. Steve's brother saw me and called me over to talk, it wasn't good.
Back when I was hanging out at the shop he used to give me a hard time about not buying one of his boats, I told him I hated white and I'd buy a boat if he built me a red one and eventually he relented and said yes. My boat was the first non white boat he built and it was one of the first ones to have a fiberglass liner instead of a wood floor. I sold it to a friend and it can still be seen on Havasu.
I miss my friend Steve, he was a good dude...

 

[CLdrinker]

I knew Steve and Lia very well, used to go over to their house in Agua Dulce for Tyson fights and hung out with him in Havi. My buddy bought big block parts from him before he started HTM. About a year before the accident I was working graveyard shift so I would ride my Harley up to his place and hang out during the day, many times we would head to Castaic to test newly finished boats. I was supposed to go with them that day but couldn't make it. I was living in Castaic at the time of the accident and when I heard about it I headed to the lake, I saw Lia and their two daughters sitting on the ramp just hugging each other. Steve's brother saw me and called me over to talk, it wasn't good.
Back when I was hanging out at the shop he used to give me a hard time about not buying one of his boats, I told him I hated white and I'd buy a boat if he built me a red one and eventually he relented and said yes. My boat was the first non white boat he built and it was one of the first ones to have a fiberglass liner instead of a wood floor. I sold it to a friend and it can still be seen on Havasu.
I miss my friend Steve, he was a good dude...

We were a bit colorful as well. Yellow, purple with blue pin. The yellow 30 copied us.

 

[playdeep]

I was joking around with Mr. Pumps on Hotfoot back in the day, as I was always fucking with the HTM guys.. (mostly in good fun) They offered to take me for a ride on castaic the following day as they had just put up something like 140 mph.. My dog went in to get spayed, and they nicked an artery so I stayed behind with the dog.. Mr. Pumps had called me to see if I was going to come, and I told him I wasn't, and I could hear the blower motors as the boat was pulling up to the dock in the background when he said he had to go. He was gonna call me after to let me know the #'s so I could put them on Hotboat for him.. He never called. For awhile after I would get phone calls every now and again from his either wife or fiancé? asking me if he had said anything else, or anything about his family.. It Broke my heart every time she called.

RD

I remember Mr.Pumps and those eerie posts the day(s) on HotBoat before the HTM tragedy.
There were several people going at it over the wisdom/safety of the upcoming speed tests.
Got pretty heated the night before.
Someone posted "y'all gonna kill yourselves "
Damn...those were crazy times.

 

[WTMFA]

Not the greatest pix but here was mine

 

[DRYHEAT]

Did Lia and the girls ever restart production, I thought I remembered a thread about it, but that may have been pre-Covid.

 

[crzy2bealive]

Did Lia and the girls ever restart production, I thought I remembered a thread about it, but that may have been pre-Covid.

I was just thinking about that thread

 

[Dcb.blake]

A good buddy had one, kinda what got me into the cats lol! Fast boat but had a bmax on the back, he didn’t have any issues with it. Very well built boat it seemed.

 

[JFMFG]

Any boating accident is a sad day. Anyone ever wonder the what if potential if they were still around? There is quite a few HTM boats out there and the people who own them love them! I do agree they got a bad wrap for sure I’d be curious to go for a rip in one.

 

[pixrthis]

It was fun to watch the HTM’s at Castaic testing, usually more than a couple boats up there working on set up. Before the crash the 35 mph speed limit was never enforced and it was almost like going to a boat race.

Jim Grubbs tells a great story about dynoing engines for Steve where they’d reach max hp for a certain combination and Steve would insist on reaching for more. Jim says they blew up engines on the dyno regularly.

 

[CLdrinker]

It was fun to watch the HTM’s at Castaic testing, usually more than a couple boats up there working on set up. Before the crash the 35 mph speed limit was never enforced and it was almost like going to a boat race.

Jim Grubbs tells a great story about dynoing engines for Steve where they’d reach max hp for a certain combination and Steve would insist on reaching for more. Jim says they blew up engines on the dyno regularly.

I believe it. We were at 6,3000rpm at WOT. Makes for a good sound.

 

[OldSchoolBoats]

They really were ahead of their time, in a lot of aspects. What always stood out to me was the in-house engine builds. Wasn't very common for west coast manufacturers at the time I think?? What other manufacturers built their own power in house? Cigarette, Skater??? That's all I can think of, off the top of my head.

Would love to own an SS 24 one day. Boat looks like a blast to drive.

 

[FROGMAN524]

Can someone retell a short version of what happened to the owner and others on the boat? I vaguely remember a 30’ cat flipping with 4-5 souls on captain? What year?

 

[FROGMAN524]

They really were ahead of their time, in a lot of aspects. What always stood out to me was the in-house engine builds. Wasn't very common for west coast manufacturers at the time I think?? What other manufacturers built their own power in house? Cigarette, Skater??? That's all I can think of, off the top of my head.

Would love to own an SS 24 one day. Boat looks like a blast to drive.

Outerlimits as well

 

[CLdrinker]

Can someone retell a short version of what happened to the owner and others on the boat? I vaguely remember a 30’ cat flipping with 4-5 souls on captain? What year?

They were testing a new twin engine 30 with big power. Had a mechanical issue on 1 side and it spun.
I think it was 2003. Picture above of my dad’s boat looks like an 03 reg sticker. He sold it and bought a new 04 Shockwave skier.

We lost Steve to a boat accident and we lost a friend a year before in an accident in Parker in a flat bottom.
Do my mom told dad the HTM has gotta go.

 

[bonesfab]

They were testing a new twin engine 30 with big power. Had a mechanical issue on 1 side and it spun.

At above triple digits with minimal interior in the boat. From what I remember.

 

[WildWilly]

Did Lia and the girls ever restart production, I thought I remembered a thread about it, but that may have been pre-Covid.

I thought Saleen was involved somehow, he's rocking the HTM banner at the new shop

 

[Badchoices03]

My brother and I were partners in a few boats, one of them being an HTM, we ordered it straight from Steve at the LA Boat Show, I dont remember what exact number it was, but I know it was one of the first 10 produced for the public, we ordered it with a blown 540....I spent many days driving up to Aqua Dulce to see progress, Steve was always more then welcoming me in his shop to check it out, even ended up at a bbq at his house one day...talked to him weekly on the phone during the build process, super honest and genuine boat builder...I still have the paper with the boat hull drawn on it that he gave me and had me draw up my vision of how I wanted the graphics to look...I remember like it was yesterday when the boat was just about done and he invited me out to Castaic for a test and for him to give me a quick rundown of how to truly drive it, at that point I had never driven a cat...I remember a few casual passes sitting passenger...then he opened it up, and holy shit I was floored....I think we were in the 75mph range or something....then we slowed, he popped the hatch to just check some stuff....and he says, now are you ready to see what she really gots....I literally thought those last passes were fast and was surprised that it had more to give....he whipped it around the end of the lake, and I did my first 100mph pass in a boat across Castaic and I couldn't be happier...about 15 minutes later we got kicked off the lake and Steve got a stern talking to by the Sherriff for pushing the limits on his tests...lol...

It was my favorite boat I ever owned to this day....it was definitely a drivers boat...my brother was scared of it because you had to drive it pretty loose to smooth it out and he never really got comfortable like I did, but I was the only one that went to the lake test with Steve, so I felt his instruction and confidence in the boat rubbed off on me...although I did almost flip it once, it was always solid....my brother wanted to get a bigger boat and I was kind of done being partners with him....so we ended up selling the HTM and going separate ways...

I saw it for sale on the Marketplace a few months ago, I talked to the seller a bit, he had got it without power and put a junkyard built big block in it, just to get it going, it needed a bunch of other work as well and just was a sad shell of what it was before...

 

[counterpart7]

At above triple digits with minimal interior in the boat. From what I remember.

I remember milk crates as seats being mentioned... and blower pulleys being swapped from the previous day's testing after being told it's a bad idea.

Sad deal for sure. They could have been huge still today. Would be nice to see Lia and the family start things up again.

 

[Tom Slick]

The white SS-24 known now as "White Lightning" was my boat that was built in 2001 with a NA 565c.u. It was the fastest NA HTM at 107mph. Steve wanted to buy the boat back from me because it was so good. I always told him that he would have first dibs at it when I was ready to sell, but sadly that day never came with his passing.

I'll never forget the tragic day at Castaic. I had been on the phone with Steve and Ken Lane (HTM engine builder) the morning of the crash talking about our plans to build my engine into a blower engine. They had to jump off the call to head to the lake for the test and would call back when they returned. Needless to say the call never came.

 

[OC Mike]

The accident was mechanically caused?
Do you we know if it was blown motor, blown drive, blown steering?

 

[Get415]

Always liked this one, whole lotta boat for the $$.

2006 HTM 306SL powerboat for sale in Arizona

 

[attitude]

That was a cool video, thanks for posting.

A couple of things I noticed.
The 24 being tested at Elsinore had an insanely quick holeshot.
The telescopic stern light was super trick.
A 9 second 1/4 mile is impressive. A lot of bravo abuse going on in the video lol.
I had no idea HTM was working on a vee, I assume that was at least the plug shown in the video when doing a tour of the new shop, were any actually built?

The early 2000s were some of the best years for the west coast performance boat scene.

 

[RiverDave]

I've seen a few peeps (not sure if inmates) in Havazoo with HTM's. They are still nice boats.

I was eyeballing one on Saturday, and checking out the stern, they didn't have much of a tunnel from the rear, the hull kind of dropped down in the middle like a delta pad that was still a bit higher than the sponsons. Maybe they pack so much air and it has no where to go is the issue?

It’s extremely similar to a 28 warlock .. similar enough that if you were to look at the side by side it would be hard to tell the difference

 

[HBCraig]

I vividly remember the old days in the early 2000's at the sandbar with dozens of HTMs. All of them were bad ass. Always wanted an SS24

 

[OkHallett270]

You know when I posted that video I had totally forgot about the fate of Steve and his crew. I do remember hearing about it, but it was the farthest thing from my mind when I watched the video. I just thought it was some really cool old school SoCal boat history footage. Thank you all for sharing your stories. Steve and his crew seem like they were really solid guys in an industry where you didn’t always have solid guys building boats. It would have been awesome to see where HTM would have gone if things had played out differently that day.
Isn’t the RPM boat that Laveycraft was building somehow related to the HTM? The bottom the same maybe? Seems like I heard that before.

 

[RiverDave]

Did Lia and the girls ever restart production, I thought I remembered a thread about it, but that may have been pre-Covid.

A HTM Facebook page was started, and the crowd convinced the girls To buy the molds back. Lots of if you guys built them we would buy type posts.. the acquired the molds and even were going to do some updating on something (can’t remember what?).

Long story short nobody stepped up to the plate to buy one.

I believe Pedro at Saleen has the molds now. On what conditions (if he pays a royalty?) or if he owns them I’m not sure.

RD

 

[RiverDave]

You know when I posted that video I had totally forgot about the fate of Steve and his crew. I do remember hearing about it, but it was the farthest thing from my mind when I watched the video. I just thought it was some really cool old school SoCal boat history footage. Thank you all for sharing your stories. Steve and his crew seem like they were really solid guys in an industry where you didn’t always have solid guys building boats. It would have been awesome to see where HTM would have gone if things had played out differently that day.
Isn’t the RPM boat that Laveycraft was building somehow related to the HTM? The bottom the same maybe? Seems like I heard that before.

Absolutely no similarities between the HTM bottom and the rpm bottom other than they both have a center pod that starts midships.. very different center pods, bottoms, tunnel widths etc..

The rpm bottom was designed by Doug wright and Steve Tripp.. it’s extremely fast

 

[HALLETT BOY]

I also remember HTM’s widow suing LA co and winning a huge lawsuit because her husband was allowed to speed on Castaic . Shortly after I got a speeding ticket one cold February day testing my boat . I understand today certain boat builders are allowed to exceed the 35 mph “ speed “ limit on occasion , but regular boaters are hyper- enforced . Not tying to be macabre, but the lawsuit is part of the story .

 

[HTMike]

Had an 01 HTM SS24 for a lot of years. Turned up Procharged 565. It fuucked up everybody on the river in Northern Michigan. 132 on GPS on the limiter and got there ultra fast. I miss it. Its sitting in a warehouse somewhere last I heard and the owner is afraid of it.

 

[Badchoices03]

Had an 01 HTM SS24 for a lot of years. Turned up Procharged 565. It fuucked up everybody on the river in Northern Michigan. 132 on GPS on the limiter and got there ultra fast. I miss it. Its sitting in a warehouse somewhere last I heard and the owner is afraid of it.

Honestly, its not for the timid...that boat beat that shit out of you at lower speeds....it really smooths out and handles well when you run it dry and loose...I used to love to drive it, but like I mentioned above, my brother was scared of it and couldnt wait to get rid of it...

 

[CLdrinker]

At above triple digits with minimal interior in the boat. From what I remember.

Rumor has it they were sitting on milk crates lol. But when I saw the boat after the crash at the shop it had a tarp over it so that’s merely a rumor I heard. But I did see a mangled drive and steering rams on 1 side.

 

[CLdrinker]

The white SS-24 known now as "White Lightning" was my boat that was built in 2001 with a NA 565c.u. It was the fastest NA HTM at 107mph. Steve wanted to buy the boat back from me because it was so good. I always told him that he would have first dibs at it when I was ready to sell, but sadly that day never came with his passing.

I'll never forget the tragic day at Castaic. I had been on the phone with Steve and Ken Lane (HTM engine builder) the morning of the crash talking about our plans to build my engine into a blower engine. They had to jump off the call to head to the lake for the test and would call back when they returned. Needless to say the call never came.

So were you there the day I got my ride? Steve was bragging like a mother Effer about how fast that boat was. He was trying to race everyone and their mom with it lol. It was definitely speacial as it was 15mph faster than my dads 540 and accelerated way harder.

 

[JL95]

I want an htm bad but have a bunch of kids. So what you’re saying is probably not the best choice? Lol

 

[Tom Slick]

So were you there the day I got my ride? Steve was bragging like a mother Effer about how fast that boat was. He was trying to race everyone and their mom with it lol. It was definitely speacial as it was 15mph faster than my dads 540 and accelerated way harder.

I was not there, nor did Steve have my permission to be giving demo rides and racing people. I found that out after he had passed.

 

[Tom Slick]

It’s extremely similar to a 28 warlock .. similar enough that if you were to look at the side by side it would be hard to tell the difference

If my memory is correct, Steve once told me that the original HTM was derived off of a Hawaiian hull.

 

[kurtis500]

I had just got into drag boat racing a couple years prior and was moving up from RR. I think I was in SE at the last Castaic race. I remember the HTM on the line next to me was huge and I had to reach up to hold the rope. It ripped off a crazy fast run and well above what I was running at the time. I was impressed for sure. I few short months later after the last Castaic race they were killed. Not sure if it was the upper or lower part of Castaic. I do remember the back and forth on Hotboat before the accident when they were warned by some about it being dangerous. And then silence. Eerie.

 

[CLdrinker]

I was not there, nor did Steve have my permission to be giving demo rides and racing people. I found that out after he had passed.

Well your boat didn’t loose so there is that.

 

[Get415]

Its nice to read cool stories and appreciation for the boat and owner. HTM threads usually turn to garbage a whole lot sooner unfortunately. I always wanted a SR, but like many others, I was afraid of the boat. My buddy had one with ridiculous power and was a blast but always nervous before the hot lap!!!

 

[JFMFG]

Its nice to read cool stories and appreciation for the boat and owner. HTM threads usually turn to garbage a whole lot sooner unfortunately. I always wanted a SR, but like many others, I was afraid of the boat. My buddy had one with ridiculous power and was a blast but always nervous before the hot lap!!!

Anything with big power or power in general you must respect. When you don’t respect the power it will bite you in the ass I don’t care how experienced or what the vehicle is. Push it to the limit shit happens eventually.

 

[twocents]

If my memory is correct, Steve once told me that the original HTM was derived off of a Hawaiian hull.

I believe you are correct. The hull of the HTM was derived from an earlier Hawaiian model with modifications. The day of the accident was incredibly windy (in the 35 to 50 mph range) -- I spoke to Steve on the phone at mid-morning just before he was leaving for the lake. His goal was to hit 150mph. He didn't seem too concerned about the wind velocity.