HATHOR
RE-COMMISSIONING
(This page authored by Grant MacLaren)

In the summer of 2010, I enjoyed a visit with Larry Larkin and saw HATHOR, nearing completion of its seven-year restoration. The restored HATHOR will be a wonderful addition to the fleet of yachts on Geneva Lake.

Larry, with the support of his brother Walter, made an extraordinary effort to restore the tired Lathrop Model 115 engine that had been installed in HATHOR by Peter Bates many years earlier.

Patterns were made, new replacement cylinders were cast and machined. The engine was reassembled and successfully run. In 2010 it was ready to be re-installed in HATHOR.

While lifting the Lathrop into HATHOR, it was suspended from a boom, hanging by a chain. The boat has been backed out of its boat house, in its cradle and on its weighs. As Larry was aligning the suspended engine with the boat, a chain link snapped, and the near-eight foot long restored antique fell into the lake! Carburetors were broken, and its distributer damaged. Undaunted by the tragedy, Larry retrieved the engine from the shallow water in front of the boat house. He disassembled it again, repaired it again, and got it running again.

During the "second-rebuild," Larry got to wondering about the advisability of using the antique engine in the beautifully restored HATHOR. Would future "Captains" be willing to learn the intricacies of starting and running the antique power plant? After much thought, and consultation with his brother, Larry decided a new engine would better suit the boat and its future.

He acquired a modern V-8, the largest gasoline engine made by General Motors, and in June of 2011, installed it in HATHOR. The engine will drive HATHOR's propeller shaft via a "ZF" three-to-one transmission, also installed in June of 2010.

   

I asked Larry about the size of the new propeller:

From: Grant MacLaren
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011
To: Larry Larkin
Subject: Curious

Just curious, wondering about propeller diameter and pitch on Hathor now.
I seem to remember Doreen's was 36 x 36.
I suspect that new transmission influences D and P on HATHOR.

From: Larry Larkin
Subject: RE: Curious
Date: July 11, 2011
To: Grant MacLaren

I would have preferred a 36 x 36 but to achieve that with the modern V-8 engine I would have needed a 4:1 reduction gear. The largest reduction I could get was 3:1, so I sent all that info to the propeller company and they came back with a recommendation of 35 diameter x 25 pitch, so that is what it is.

LL

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