"What started out as a bizarre experiment turned into the most impressive shallow water jetboat we ever put into the water."
-Craig Compeau
In the fall of 1998, several of the builders of Phantom Jetboats were up the Kandik River with Craig Compeau on an annual moosehunt. Discussion around the campfire late one evening turned to tunnel hulls, and the question came up as to whether any boat builder had ever installed an inboard motor on top of a tunnel hull. No one had any knowledge of such an animal.
Problems of cavitation, how much power to use, intake access, and other concerns were discussed, and by the time the last case of. . . by 2 am, it was decided that the only way to find out was to build one. With all the potential advantages of a well designed tunnel, (Which Phantom already had in it's BigBad Jon), and the incredible power to weight advantage of some of the newly released powerplants from Mercury, the decision was not if we should build it but how soon.
On the 28th August,99, the boys at Phantom were backing one into the Clearwater river in Lewiston, Idaho. Several locals showed up, bets were made, bragging rights were on the line...all the typical hoopla that takes place in a boat building town like Lewiston. Back in Fairbanks, Compeau's anxiously waited for a call as to how the boat performed. By noon the call came.
Steve (from Phantom): Well are you sitting down Craig ?
Craig: How'd it run ?
Steve: I can't send this boat up to Alaska.
Craig: That bad ?
Steve: No...actually that good..this thing goes like nothing we've ever been in before... and the guys here in the shop want to keep it as a demo.. 51 MPH .. fantastic cornering...unbelievable shallow water skimming, quiet, smooth..., !
Needless to say the boat was on the road within 24 hours. And after some intense shallow water testing on the Chena, Good Paster, and at Healy Lake, the decision to mass produce the boats was inevitable. The optional stomp grate that was installed worked fantastic when rocks or grass impeded water flow at the intake. The performance and fuel economy was substantially better than any conventional jetboat in its class. The boat not only looked good and carried massive loads, it did it all comfortably and quietly from the drivers seat. A real change from ear ringing jet units.
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