Description

MISS SEVERN RACING BOAT RC READY

FULLY BUILT AND READY TO DISPLAY HIGH QUALITY SHIP MODEL

Dimension Approx.: 31.5″L x 8″W x 7″H
RC READY - hatches open for easy installation of your RC equipment, propeller(s) and motor (not included)
The model is already built, NOT a model ship kit

The story of Miss Severn begins in 1922, when famed naval architect John L. Hacker designed a new generation of lightweight, high‑efficiency racing hulls to meet the evolving APBA Gold Cup rules. His creation — a long, fine‑lined, 26‑foot single‑step runabout — was first launched as Arab VI, a sleek mahogany racer built for speed at a time when American powerboat design was rapidly advancing.

Powered by a 180‑hp Sterling six‑cylinder, Arab VI entered the 1922 Gold Cup and immediately proved the merit of Hacker’s hydrodynamic thinking. She finished second overall, reaching speeds of 41 mph, an impressive figure for a single‑engine craft of the era. For several seasons she remained active in Gold Cup competition, a familiar sight on the nation’s premier racing courses before quietly disappearing from the record books.

More than a decade later, in 1936, the boat resurfaced with a new identity — and a far more aggressive purpose. Now renamed Miss Severn, she was acquired by Maryland racer Edgar Dobson, who transformed the former Gold Cup contender into a formidable unlimited K‑class competitor. Dobson installed a Curtiss Conqueror V‑12 aircraft engine, unleashing the kind of raw power that defined the pre‑war speedboat scene. With this new heart, Miss Severn dominated regional races across the Chesapeake region — Baltimore, Chester, Havre de Grace, St. Michaels — and at St. Michaels she set a new world speed record for the K‑class, securing her place among the most successful mid‑1930s American racing boats.

The original hull eventually passed into history, but her legacy did not. Using Hacker’s original drawings, New England Boat & Motor, Inc. constructed a faithful modern interpretation — a 26‑foot wooden runabout built to the same lines but powered by a marine‑converted Rolls‑Royce Meteor V‑12. With roughly 650 horsepower and weighing about 4,300 pounds, the modern Miss Severn is capable of 60 mph, a thrilling blend of vintage elegance and modern engineering.

Across more than a century, the Miss Severn lineage has embodied the evolution of American powerboat racing — from early Gold Cup refinement to the brute‑force aero‑engine era. Sleek, narrow, and unmistakably Hacker in form, she remains a symbol of the craftsmanship, experimentation, and daring that defined the golden age of wooden racing boats.