Old post from "River Daves Place" ...
The Carlson Intimidator was a fun project. I worked at the Carlson plant on Grove Street in Anaheim from 1979-1981 and was part of the development team. We quickly learned that the Jet and Outboard bottom on the CVX 20 wasn't quite right for a stern drive application (5.7 MerCruiser/260HP w/Alpha Drive). Our prototype boat probably went to the water (Golden Avenue in Long Beach back then) nearly a dozen times. We brought along several buckets of "mud" (quick set bondo) and lots of sanding blocks. We'd run the boat, bring it back to the trailer, add or subtract some material on or off the bottom to see if we could pick-up a mile or two and make it handle better. After about a month of testing we had a really good running hull (69-70 mph on radar with 2 people in the boat). Glastron corporate in Austin was a little nervous about selling a 70mph stock boat to the general public so we had to make a couple more bottom revisions to slow it down a tad (top speed of the production version was 65 mph). The CVX 20 was an amazing boat -- at that same time we came out with the "Ski Machine" (CVX 20/outboard) that was a super tournament style boat, especially for serious slalom skiing. And of course, there were a few (2 or 3) custom/handmade CVX 20s that had a "pad" bottom and raced at the Lake Havasu Outboard Classic and the Parker Enduro -- but that's another story.
The minor bottom changes to the Intimidator included adding a little hook to the bottom (the last 3 to 4 feet -- about 1/4") and just slightly reducing the depth of the two lifting strakes closest to the keel so the boat didn't ride quite as high out of the water at top speed. Basically, just wanted to increase wetted hull surface and create more drag. If you really wanted to pick-up speed on a CVX 20, modifying the vee-keel into a true running pad was the trick. Alan Miller, an employee at the Carlson plant in Anaheim did the first one. After that we built several (super lightweight) center steer, pad bottom (no mold) CVX 20s for Mod VP racing. Evinrude supported the effort with some well built/modified 235 HP V-6 engines. Well known Unlimited hydroplane racers Bill Muncey and Chip Hanauer were part of our driving team. When everything was right, these special "race" CVX 20s with a 235 Evinrude were good for about 90-91 mph.