Episode 170: Eric Christensen

We talk with Eric Christensen on the night before he picks up the classic H1 hull “Tubby,” laying out a plan to get on the water. Eric talks about the work ahead of him and his goals for the 2026 H1 racing season!

Nautidayz

Christensen Racing Social Media

Albert Lee Appliance

Coffee Vault

*Photo from Christensen Motorsports Social Media Page

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Eric Christensen On The Road
• 2:05 Why Buy “Tubby” And Keep The Name
• 4:25 Hull History And Leland Design Roots
• 6:05 Condition Check And Refurb Plan
• 8:05 Gearbox, Power, And Setup Strategy
• 12:40 Choosing Tubby Over Casper
• 14:55 Safety Capsule, Weight Cuts, And Balance
• 17:15 Inspection Tech And Hardware Magging
• 19:25 Community Help And Fielding More Boats
• 21:20 Lake Conroe As A New Race Site
• 24:15 Sponsors, Trailer Upgrades, And Support
• 26:30 2026 Goals, Schedule, And Debut Timing
• 29:10 Paint Scheme, Number, And Branding
• 31:10 Crew Needs, Roles, And Recruiting

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 1:18

Last two weeks have a topic 17th for all by the best and for the master idea. Things that go with planned, but it didn't still destroy. And he's getting the haul lovingly known as Tubby, getting ready for the 2026 H1 Unlimited Racing season. So let's get jumping into my chat with Eric as he talks about his journey to becoming an owner in H1 Unlimited Racing.

unknown: 1:54

All right.

SPEAKER_02: 1:54

Well, I'm on the phone talking with Eric Christensen. He's trekking across America to pick up a new boat for his upcoming season. Eric, how are you? And where are you?

SPEAKER_00: 2:05

We just checked into our uh our hotel room down here, Lake Conroe. And uh it was a long drive down here to Southern Texas.

SPEAKER_02: 2:16

Yeah. How how many days was the trip?

SPEAKER_00: 2:21

About four and a half.

SPEAKER_02: 2:23

Only four and a half days, yeah. No, not a big deal, right? Yeah, no. No, I'm sure I'm sure you're exhausted.

SPEAKER_00: 2:30

Yeah. My visa card's crying.

SPEAKER_02: 2:36

All right. Well, um yeah, I know I'm sure, I'm sure you're tired from that's a long track, long journey. But I believe tomorrow you're you're picking up a new new boat for you. Yep. Yeah, tell me tell me about this boat.

SPEAKER_00: 2:51

Uh the boat we are picking up tomorrow is formerly known as Tubby, and we've decided we're gonna keep it as Tubby. We want to keep that name. Yeah. Um I've always liked you know, I've always liked the looks of the boat. I know it's heavy. Uh, we have plans to rectify that problem over the next two or three years. Um over time it'll start getting lighter and lighter, and hopefully faster and faster as we develop our program and move in the direction that we need to. Uh we come down here we're dropping off the old Albert Lee display boat, and so we brought one down and we're taking one home.

SPEAKER_02: 3:32

Fantastic. Well, it sounds like half the journey is almost done for you. And for those listening, I'm talking to Eric. It's late Sunday night, February 1st. You're getting the date the boat tomorrow, is that correct?

SPEAKER_00: 3:44

Correct. Yeah, it's 11 30 p.m. here Sunday night. And so we I uh got a crane company and I scheduled them. They will be here tomorrow afternoon, and we'll swing one off and swing the uh the other swing Tubby onto my trailer. Yeah, and uh yeah, look forward to it. We'll have lots of pictures, lots of videos. So I'm really pretty excited about the new and endeavor here and look forward to the feature that it brings.

SPEAKER_02: 4:20

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it as well. I know many fans are. We want more boats out there, and I want to talk about your plans for that, but before we do, I want to talk about this hull that you're picking up. Yeah, we talked about it's the old tubby hull that was built for Ed Cooper and his team. Uh assembled that in the 90s out of some Leland molds and whatnot. I think that was 96, 97, 97.

SPEAKER_00: 4:46

I believe it was built in 97. Uh it was kind of like uh from what I gather, and I still want to talk to Cooper, but from what I gather, it was kind of like a Fred Kitt boat. So Fred laid all the components up his shop and everything was shipped to Cooper's shop where the boat was assembled.

SPEAKER_02: 5:07

Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, it definitely has that that Leland profile, um, that's for sure. But go ahead.

SPEAKER_00: 5:13

Oh, and I and I, you know, when I spoke to you last year, I always liked the looks of the Leland Halls. You know, uh to me, that's always a big draw to me. It's just I just thought they had style to them. I like them.

SPEAKER_02: 5:26

Yeah. Yeah, they're they're kind of sleek and they they have that good profile, that's for sure. Yeah. Well, yeah, so it was built in '97, ran for a number of seasons, I think four or so for Cooper before they built their their new and or their last boat that they had. And it uh it sat for a little while in a shop and then uh Webster Racing ran it in uh I think somewhere around 2012 for a couple seasons. Is that correct? Correct. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:56

Yes, and then Cooper bought the old Madison Hall.

SPEAKER_02: 6:01

Right. Yeah, right. The Websters did that and they got the Madison Hole. Yeah. Yeah, so it's so it's it's been a few years since it's been on the water. But uh what what about the condition the boat's currently in? I know you've had some people inspecting it. Uh what do you know so far about the hull?

SPEAKER_00: 6:19

We it's been it from what I understand, it's in pretty good shape. The boat is way overbuilt. Um, you know, it's that's why it's so heavy and has the same type of yeah. Everything was reinforced. That and you know, everything was doubled pretty much to support the way that Allison. Um so there's not a whole lot of concern of the overall can condition of it. Um and you know, we know I've seen I've seen pictures and I got video walk around with the current owner of the hall. You know, and it's it's got some paint with you know, just basic maintenance stuff that hasn't been done. Um but we know we can take care of that. We're gonna sand the whole thing down to glass and basically repaint the whole the whole boat.

SPEAKER_02: 7:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 7:11

So pretty much cosmetic then. We'll take care of it. Yeah. So if there's any issues, we'll take care of them as needed. Um I I know some uh some fairing material. I don't know what was used. Um like around the bottom of the shaft log has uh bubbled up a little bit, but I've seen that stuff done before, and uh just sand that stuff down and we'll inspect it, of course, and do our tap test. But I from what I can see that boat looks like it's in pretty fair shape here. So it's gonna take a lot of work. Still take a lot of work to get it ready, but uh I think we can do it.

SPEAKER_02: 7:52

Okay. Yeah, so it sounds like there's some cosmetic work you know of, and you'll do a deep deeper dive and cross your fingers you don't find too much else to hole-wise to repair. But it was last run with uh the turbine engines in there. So do you think it's gonna be pretty much a drop drop your gear in and play with it, or are you gonna have to some restructure some things to get like a the gearbox and whatnot to fit in there?

SPEAKER_00: 8:19

It's pretty much gonna be a drop and play. Um I'm working with uh Greg O'Farrell, uh owner of Wheelcast Karen Left, um, in the process of buying the gearbox that came from Webster's. And that was the boat that was ran in, or that I'm sorry, that was the gearbox that was ran in Tubby. So she just dropped right drop right in.

SPEAKER_02: 8:42

Okay. Was it uh I'm just curious, was it a Leland style gearbox or was it uh one of the other ones?

SPEAKER_00: 8:48

It's one of the other ones.

SPEAKER_02: 8:50

I can't remember what they're those are called, but I know those are the better gearboxes to get.

SPEAKER_00: 8:54

I wanted those an AdX box.

SPEAKER_02: 8:56

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 9:00

Well, that's good to hear. So you're several different gear combos that come with it, you know, so we're waiting for that.

SPEAKER_02: 9:08

Okay. Well, good. So you got you got the you're going to get the hull, you have gearbox you're gonna work with, uh Farrell's, and uh have you lined up a motor for already for it?

SPEAKER_00: 9:21

I'm working with Scott Rainey and uh aka Py Pyro, and we're moving in that direction too. Okay. And everybody's kind of agreed that the haul that I'm picking up now is a much better choice than the hull we were looking at last year, due to the fact that last year's haul was only an 88-inch tunnel, and this one's a 92. So much lighter tunnel, uh less runtime, and it's a boat that has potential that we can do something with.

SPEAKER_02: 11:04

Yeah, yeah, no, I I think it sounds like a better choice for sure than the than the boat you were going for last year. Like you said, is last year's or the Casper boat that's in Madison is a narrower tunnel, uh, hasn't been on the water in a long time. Um I think the cot the cockpit wasn't legal on that boat, right? Or there's something goofy with that. Oh, it is legal, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 11:26

It's it it's legal just like Tubby's. But to replace the cockpit, I could not justify spending the money to replace the cockpit on Casper. But I can re I can justify spending the money to replace it on Tubby.

SPEAKER_01: 11:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 11:42

Tubby is a much wider hull. We know it's gonna take probably guessing between five and six hundred pounds of weight out of the boat itself, putting that new capsule in Tubby alone. And then we'll re you know, of course, we're gonna balance everything as we're doing it, so we're not just hacking and cutting just to hack and cut. You know, it seems to be done precisely, balance everything. Um and we'll see where it puts it. Uh if we need to shed some more, we're looking at shop and channel the sponsors. The sponsors are pretty deep on that boat, on TV. So, you know, we can shed some remote out of the canoeers too. So it's just the first year the plan is let's get it safe and raceworthy. And we're not gonna change anything to the boat. It's let's put it in the water, run it, see what we have. I don't you know, I'm not one to let's just change stuff to change stuff. Well, that's kind of dumb. It's we need to run it, see what we have, see what we need to change before you change it. I mean, why you gonna change something when you don't know what you're changing or why you're gonna change it? Yeah. So it's right. We gotta see what we have to work with first.

SPEAKER_02: 12:57

Exactly. Yeah. Well that's a good that's a good plan. Yeah, it's and and I know you have a lot of work cut out for you, and you're gonna get your boat tomorrow. Uh, what's the first thing you're gonna do with with that boat when you get it back in the shop?

SPEAKER_00: 13:11

Me? I'm gonna take a one-day nap. And then uh we will, you know, we'll we're gonna pull hatches and examine even deeper. You know, we'll probably run a camera scope down parts that we can't get to. You know, I've heard are you you gotta cut the decks off? No, you don't. You know, today's technology lets you see a lot more without doing all that. You know, if we have to, then yeah, we'll cut decks. But you know, don't cut decks just to cut decks.

SPEAKER_02: 13:44

You know, so work smarter, not harder, right? Your logo for this year.

SPEAKER_00: 13:50

Correct. Let technology do a lot of the work for you. And yeah, there is some stuff that you need good old-fashioned eyeballs on to look at that stuff, but there's a lot of stuff that can be done with scopes and you know, and one of the first things we're gonna do is I'm also working with the Madison team to get the hardware that came from Jasper.

SPEAKER_02: 14:13

Okay.

unknown: 14:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 14:14

And so I've been working with Trey and Kyle on that, man, so kind of give them a call once I get home. And I get some hardware that is from Tubby as well. Uh Tubby's coming with rudder, rudder bracket, skip and bracket, uh, snorkel, shafting. I get all that with the boat. Um so for one of the first things that we're doing is we're sending everything out to get magged. That means to get magged, so rudder, rudder bracket, uh, skiff and bracket, all that stuff's going out to get magged. And then I'm gonna have the shafts inspected. Um we're kind of working on some plans for that stuff, and Mike has some new shaft you made.

SPEAKER_02: 15:02

Well, I mean, you're making me anxious. You got all these things to do, right? Yeah, you got a long to-do list, but look, it sounds like you have a clear direction. And it sounds like you're getting a lot of help from people around the sport. Uh you're naming people from multiple teams. You got O'Farrell's team, Pyro's team, this Madison organization, uh, and you mentioned some other names when we're uh on the phone earlier. Sounds like a lot of people are coming together to support you with this journey.

SPEAKER_00: 15:30

Yeah, it's you know, it it takes an army to build an army. Um, we don't get boats on the water, it's gonna be the demise of our sport. Uh I'm not gonna go be a you know globe blazer here. I know I'm not gonna set the world on fire. That's not the intent. I'm gonna go out, start, finish, have fun, put on a good show, and let's get our boat count up. And I'm also working on putting together a race down here in Lake Conroe too. So be kind of a it's kind of a multi-purpose trip down here. Yeah, I'm picking up a whole lot out of the deal, but it's also to work on putting a race on down here too. So we'll get some of the races, we have to have more boats.

SPEAKER_02: 16:16

Exactly, yeah. Yeah, tell me a little bit more about that. What's the what's the lake down there and what area of Texas is this in?

SPEAKER_00: 16:23

So Lake Conroe is a massive lake, and I was kind of blown away by the size of this thing.

unknown: 16:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:28

It's just north of Houston. Um by yeah, give or take, about 45 minutes north of Houston via car, via one-time pickup and an unlimited high hydroplane, it's about an hour and twenty-minute committee. Uh but it's it's a pretty good sized lake. Lots of big corporations and businesses around here, so I don't see funding being an issue. Um I talked to John Walters today, too, and you know, he says, Yeah, we used to race her eons ago, but you know, the lake used to get so rough that our boats would just get blown off the water, you know, like you're saying. The newer boats are substantially bigger and they can tolerate that rougher water like the old ones could not. So you said it might be a different outcome.

SPEAKER_02: 17:20

What's worth a shot?

SPEAKER_00: 17:21

That's great.

SPEAKER_02: 17:22

That that's definitely worth a shot. Great to hear, because uh the series lost uh uh a newer site with Lake Gunnersville, now no longer on the on the H1 tour, down to four races now. So I'm glad to hear his potential for for more racing in the future.

SPEAKER_00: 17:38

Yeah, I'm gonna have uh an opportunity to meet here with the uh local sheriff, uh fish and wildlife here this week and uh see where it goes. Um you know the guy I'm getting the boat from has ties in with everybody here and we kind of want to look at getting a race down here. So the not only am I picking up the boat, but it's an opportunity to sit down and meet with these folks. A is there interest? B what's the feasibility, you know. Because we I I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole if it's no interest, right? Yeah, it's cost a lot of money to get down here to do this, and you know, so I want to make a you know make it worth my while. Um so it's I'm getting a lot of positive feedback to to bring a race back here. Good.

SPEAKER_02: 18:34

So Well the first thing is it takes interest and it sounds like you have some interest already lined up, which is great.

SPEAKER_00: 18:43

Yeah, the uh the community's you know over the last ten, fifteen years is you know, just the local population has just exploded and it's just taken off. So people, businesses, money, I mean it's here. This is like a jackpot that you know H1 can land on and really run with something big here.

SPEAKER_02: 19:09

That'd be fantastic. Sounds like you might have to go back down later in the year, uh, maybe after the season and run your boat on the lake. For a long time.

SPEAKER_00: 19:18

That'd really break my heart, you know. So yeah, I've already kind of have a pit area lined out that I've been looking at, playing on Google Earth and measuring stuff out. And you know, I brought my big uh hundred foot tape roll out here and uh so I'm gonna do some pacing and measuring stuff while I'm down here. And so we'll see what we got. Um and it's uh the pit are would actually be right across from the hotel that I'm staying in now. And uh so yeah, it's uh it just cool. We got hotels right out of the water. Um got restaurants with boat docks and field docks right on the lake there. Um it's uh a whole venue could be put up here very easily.

SPEAKER_02: 20:06

Cool. Well, I can't wait to see pictures, and I know I know you've been posting a lot of stuff on on the way on your journey on your on your Facebook account and social media for Christmas and Motorsports. So look forward to see see some more of what what's going on down there.

SPEAKER_00: 20:22

Yeah, and I'm gonna I gotta do my night my nightly blog year when I get off the horn here with with you. Um but I've decided to wait to launch my website until after I get home because I want to be able to capture the pictures and uh you know the videos and all the stuff that we've done on this trip will be uploaded to the website. So I decided I'm just gonna wait to launch the website until after I get home. And so I can just kind of focus on one thing at a time as well.

SPEAKER_02: 20:54

Yeah. Well, it's hard to do while you're while you're driving across the country. So look forward to that. Well, let's let's look into this just season. We've got uh four races on the on the schedule. We've got the test session in tri-cities. What what's your goals for Christensen motorsports for H1 Unlimited Racing in 2026?

SPEAKER_00: 21:12

Uh for 2026, number of my goals to start and finish my races that I do enter. I'm looking at doing Tri-Cities for the Columbia Cup, uh, Seattle Seafair, and San Diego Bay Fair. Um I I would love to go to Matt to Madison, but by the time we get the boat home, get all the stuff set sent up for Mag, do any repairs that need to be done, it's just not gonna happen. There's just no way. So it's I just gotta set my goals. I mean, Tri-Cities, we're gonna be working up to the line. And you know, I think we can do it. I I'm not gonna give Tri-Cities a hundred percent guarantee we're gonna be there, but I'm gonna say we're gonna try our hardest, and uh you know one a lot of people do know that I don't give up, I don't quit. It's you know, I don't take no. It's uh not not uh not today, but maybe tomorrow, you know. So it's like I don't stop. I just keep going, I keep going, I keep going. So I'm gonna work right up to the line. I think we'll make it. But I feel pretty strong that we'll make it to Tri-Cities.

SPEAKER_02: 22:23

Okay. Well that'd be great. I think that'd be a great place to debut, uh hit that west coast of the series, and it would be nice to see the whole series, but it's probably better to to start off somewhere a little bit closer to home and uh with some some calmer waters.

SPEAKER_00: 22:39

And that you know, and it's the tough part is not having any testing time really either. You know, I mean we're gonna be testing at the Columbia Cup. So, you know, and that's a tall order in itself. You're not gonna have any time to go test the boat prior to that. It's gonna be a splash it and erase it. So we'll see what we.

SPEAKER_02: 23:04

Well it it takes a lot to to make this happen. I know you have support from many people around this the sport. Um and we've talked briefly about it, but I wanted you to get a chance to talk about some sponsors that you're lining up for for the series.

SPEAKER_00: 23:20

I can I tell you who I have as of now. Um, you know, I don't want to say anything who we're working on currently. Um but right right now uh Albert Lee Appliance is coming back with us this year. Uh I have a coffee vault at a Lake Daps. Great coffee stand. I encourage all you guys that live in Piolip and Bonnie Lake, Buckley, Anim Claw, Miff Valley area, go check them out. Tell them I sent you over there. Great people. Um I also have Rainier Fresh. Uh they're a local produce stand that they're probably three years old out of Buckley there.

unknown: 24:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 24:08

Uh V VPW, so my landlord, uh Vince Worcester, nephew of the the former owner of the U8, Lumar of Bill Worcester. Um he's my landlord and he's been doing a lot of fab work on all my uh posts over the last few years. He did a lot of work to the GP two years ago. And uh he's also done some work to the trailer before we left on this trip. So he's actually gonna take my trailer and basically cut the top off the trailer at the end of this season, and it's gonna be a whole different trailer for the 27th season. Okay. He's gonna rebuild the whole trailer.

SPEAKER_02: 24:51

Get some updates on there.

SPEAKER_00: 24:52

Okay. Well, big, big time.

SPEAKER_02: 24:54

Yeah. Yeah. That is a good point, though. I mean, that's one thing that most fans and people don't think of. I mean, there's always stuff to do on the boats, but it takes maintenance on all other types of things, including the trailer.

SPEAKER_00: 25:09

Yeah. And then we have Arrow Lumber as well as uh another sponsor. Um big supporter of our our team and what we're doing. And uh they're all hydro fans. They're you know, they kind of geek geek out on stuff like we do. So uh good. Yeah. We're looking forward to working with all these guys here this year.

SPEAKER_02: 25:32

Well, fantastic.

SPEAKER_00: 25:33

And there's more that we will be re releasing more along the lines of title sponsorship here in the next few weeks.

SPEAKER_02: 25:40

Good. Okay. All right. Well, I mean, I can I can hear you getting more tired on your voice, but before you go, I have a couple more questions I want to ask you, and then I promise I'll let I'll let you get a little nap in before you pick up your your new prize tomorrow. But we the the color scheme on the boat now, it's it's it pops, it's pretty. Um I'm curious here are you keeping that paint scheme? And then also, what new number are you thinking about having for this year?

SPEAKER_00: 26:06

So we are currently we'll we'll back up. I'm registered as the U4.

SPEAKER_02: 26:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 26:12

Um so I'm happy to run as the as the U4 and um and the in terms of the boat, the boat will be white. Um I would like to have a red, white, and blue with the black checker flag, that'd be cool. But at the end of the day, I'm leaving that up to the title sponsor. You know, the top two sponsors, I'm leaving that up to that side. Basically I want to shoot the boat white, there's your blank canvas, do with it as you want, kinda, you know. Yeah, yeah. W you know, within reason, of course. Ideally I I like a white boat just due to the fact that you have anything will go with it. Any color will go with it.

SPEAKER_02: 27:01

Yeah. So well and then it just gives you more space for people to to pay that pay you to put their name on it, so that works.

SPEAKER_00: 27:10

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So yeah, Mark, I'm kind of thinking, you know, white vote, red, white, and blue would be awesome. So but we'll see what comes out in terms of the sponsorship. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 27:24

Well, I mean the I mean you look about years past, and there's always great ambitions for some paint schemes, and sometimes they don't find the light of day as uh sponsors have a different mind on what they want and what color schemes because they want to match their product. So uh lots of opportunities there for you. Right. So we'll see what happens. Well, excellent. Well, I'm gonna put the the bio for uh in the bio below the episode, I'll have make sure I have links for your your Facebook page and social media, and and once you get that website up, I'll I'll add that in there as well. Um I'm really wishing you the best of luck for this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing the progress that you make. Um is there anything else you want to let the fans know or listeners know before we go? And then also is your shop open uh for people that looking to help teams out as well.

SPEAKER_00: 28:15

We will be looking for some additional crew members to to join our team. Um we have a pretty good lineup thus far. I would like to keep the crew around six to eight people. I might go as high as ten, but I want to keep it fairly small for the first year. Yeah. And uh we'll kind of see, you know, as we get closer, we'll re-evaluate it. I just don't want to get too many people on the boat uh, you know, on the team at once, and then we're stepping on each other's toes and things overlook, and you know, to keep it at a reasonable size, you know, have somebody direct it. Jason Millen is my crew chief and he's excellent at this stuff, and he can kind of delegate and push stuff, you know, kind of like see what needs to be done, steer stuff uh uh a little bit. And there's somebody else that uh worked on Tubby as well. I'm worked, I'm trying to get him to join my team. I won't say who that is yet. You know, he hasn't committed to me. I'm I'm prying on him. I'm like, come on, man, you know you want to do this. We'll see.

SPEAKER_02: 29:20

But he knows if he's listening right now.

SPEAKER_00: 29:23

Oh yes. He knows I'm talking to him. What's up, buddy? No, he was involved with this boat when it last raced and when Webster's had it, and you know, he's uh trying to get him to come help and we'll see. I you know I can only hope. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 29:47

Anyhow. Okay. Well, sounds like a lot of great stuff on the horizon for you, and wish wish you the best luck. And hopefully we can talk to you in a couple months and you can give us some progress on on how the team's building itself along. That would be great.

SPEAKER_00: 30:03

I look forward to it.

SPEAKER_02: 30:05

All right, Knuckleheads. That's all the time we have for this week. Hope you enjoyed my talk with Eric Christensen as we get a little more insight on his journey and his aspirations for joining the H1 Unlimited fleet in 2026. Before we leave, I want to make sure we give a shout-out to Naughty Days Boat Rentals, as that will be a future sponsor for Eric as well. And uh they are located right on Lake Conroe, and hopefully things look well. And H1 Unlimited can look at a potential new race site to join the circuit. I would love to see it jump from four up to uh more races. So hopefully we look forward to that in the future. But I know you'll see the sticker died on that boat uh when it comes out later this year. All right, but thank you to Eric for sharing some time with me and letting me know his plans for the upcoming season. That's all we got. That's all until next time.