652 miles, and 9 TVA locks in less than 720 minutes
by Richard Simms
posted July 9, 2009
) Nichols will attempt his record-breaking run in this 2010 Bullet bass boat outfitted with a Mercury 300XS outboard. |
Nichols is planning to make his mark on boating history. He plans to run the entire length of the Tennessee River … all 652 miles of it.
No big deal, right? Lots of people have run the Tennessee River in a wide variety of vessels.
One difference for Paul however… he plans to do it in less than 12 HOURS.
Nichols says there have been several people over the years run the entire Tennessee River, striving for the fastest time. He says the current record time is 12 hours and 45 minutes… set in the late 1980's and sanctioned by the National Outboard Association (NOA). He says however the NOA is now dissolved and the only remaining sanctioning body for boat speed records is the American Power Boat Association (APBA).
“I will be setting the bar for everyone else with whatever time I complete the run,” said Nichols. “Anyone who wants to officially break my record will have to do it through the APBA and will have to run a faster time than me over the 652 mile run. This is something I've wanted to do for many years now.”
His onboard navigator for the run will be Cooper Jones.
“Cooper and I have been friends for years and have talked about trying to break the current record a good bit over the last few years,” said Nichols. “We decided one day to stop talking about it and just do it! I have a little experience running long distances in boats. I used to work for Yamaha Outboards at their test facility running boats five days a week. I ran 2300 miles in five days a few years ago while working for Yamaha. At that time I thought about running the Tennessee River to try to break the record, but getting married and having two kids put that on hold.”
Of course the 652-mile Tennessee River run includes nine TVA dams. Anyone who has boated at all knows that on a bad day, it can take a few hours just to lock through one TVA dam.
Nichols said, “I've been working with TVA and they feel like they'll be able to get me through each dam in 20 minutes or less. The total lock time on the 9 dams should take around 3 hours or less. I'll be averaging around 85 MPH on each lake in between the dams. TVA is excited about the run and has been great help to try and make the river run a success.”
Nichols says he expects to make two fuels stops along the way, budgeting 10 minutes per stop.
“We have two 36 gallon fuel tanks in the boat so we'll have around 72 gallons on board when we start off,” said Nichols. “As we run the fuel out, the boat will get lighter which means it'll be faster and more fuel efficient as we run.”
He expects to refuel on the upper side of Pickwick Dam and the second stop on the upper side of Nickajack Dam at Shell Mound.
He’ll begin somewhere in the end August in the Ohio River in Paducah, KY around 5:30 am central time.
He says at top speed, completely wound out, the Bullet is capable of running 105 mph. He says even set up for a heavy fuel load he will still be able run at least 95 mph.
“But we only plan to average around 85 mph,” said Nichols. “At 85 MPH with a 1.62 gear ratio we'll only be turning around 5200 rpm’s with our 32-pitch Hydromotive propeller. At 5200 rpm’s the motor will not be working real hard and will be getting about 4 MPG. If we get a little behind on our estimated time we'll be able to bump up the speed into the 90's to get the average back up.”
If all goes as planned… he’ll find his way to the confluence of the French Broad and the Holston River which meet above Knoxville to form the Tennessee River… in less than 12 hours (720 minutes).
Nichols says he chose a Bullet boat “because it's a fast, strong and a well-built boat. I've been running Bullet boats for many years.”
Nichols already holds two other APBA world speed records and says that both records were well over 100 mph in a Bullet boat.
He says it is a stock boat with only one modification.
“The only thing that has been modified in the boat I'm running is the live well has been left out of the boat and in its place sits the second 36 gallon fuel tank,” he said.
“I'll be running a stock Mercury Racing 300XS Optimax outboard motor,” said Nichols. “The Optimax motors are known for great fuel economy, reliability and serious speed. The Mercury 300XS has a incredible amount of torque and with the optional 1.62 gear ratio you can run a big pitch prop at low rpm’s and get great speed and unbelievable fuel economy.”
“Bullet boats has provided me with the boat/motor combo so they are my major sponsor,” said Nichols. “Lowrance is a major sponsor as well. They sent me the ‘latest greatest’ GPS navigational units to use on the river run. Hydromotive Engineering sent me two very fast strong props which will be needed on the long grueling run.”
So if you’re on the river sometime in late August and you see a streamlined black/white/yellow Bullet go by at say… somewhere around 85 or 90 mph… that will probably be Nichols.
But you better look fast.
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