Team Six
- vol. 15 # 1
by Eric Colby
The U.S. Navy SEALS have an elite unit they call in for the tough jobs and when you need service done on Mercury Racing’s largest outdrive, you call one of these five guys.
Walk the docks at your local poker run and you’ll see everyone gawking at fancy paint jobs or oohing and aahing at the big blowers and the glimmering exhaust pipes. Few people walk around, look at the back of the boat and say, “Sweet Number Sixes.”
Despite the fact that Mercury Racing’s Dry Sump Six or the old wet-sump version is the most popular stern drive to pair with engines that put out more than 800 hp, it’s the most overlooked propulsion system component in the go-fast world. It’s quite possibly the ultimate compliment to the technical and engineering marvel that is the Number Six drive. It’s just so reliable and so bulletproof.
Still, like any other piece of mechanical equipment, a Number Six needs to be serviced routinely for it to have a long, hassle-free life. This is not a job for just any shop or mechanic flying a MerCruiser flag. But while there are several experts including Jason Ventura at Brand X (who also has had several years of experience working with Outerlimits), Larry Goldman at Extreme Marine, Randy Garcia of Cobra Marine, and Rick La More at Innovation Marine, just name a few of the performance boating gurus in the industry, these five guys over the following pages do nothing but outdrives, and have honed their expertise to the highest level.
JOHN KLUMPJAN
Dollar Offshore Marine -
Fort Lauderdale, FL.
The elder statesmen and acknowledged guru of the performance sterndrive, John Klumpjan started in 1968 with Carl Kiekhaefer and his company Kiekhaefer Aeromarine before it became Mercury Hi-Performance and eventually Mercury Racing.
Klumpjan had worked with a farm machine manufacturer and was experienced with gears and hydraulics. When that company fell on hard times, Klumpjan, who was from Fond du Lac, WI., the home of Kiekhaefer Aeromarine, called on Kiekhaefer’s company. Klumpjan’s high-school friend Mel Riggs was working for Kiekhaefer and between Riggs’ endorsement and a glowing reference from the farm machine company, Klumpjan got the job.
He was assigned to assist engineer Larry Lohse, who would be instrumental in developing the first Speedmaster drive (the Speedmaster III). Klumpjan put his experience with bearings and gears to work, building the first Speedmasters often with Kiekhaefer looming over his shoulder. As the company introduced the Speedmaster IV and V, more race teams were using them and they only wanted one guy to rebuild them when that time came — that guy was Klumpjan.
“I have 16 world championships and eight of those were with Aeromarine,” said Klumpjan who is now 70 years old. Among the teams/owners that demanded that Klumpjan rebuild their drives were Jerry Jacoby of Ajac Hawk fame, Dr. Bob Magoon, Tom Gentry, Don Johnson, Bob Saccenti, Craig Barrie, Bernie Little and Renato Della Valle, whom Klumpjan referred to as “The Italian Donald Trump.”
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MATT GILVEY
TNT Custom Marine -
North Miami, FL
An admitted fan of gears and bearings, 56-year-old Matt Gilvey originally wanted to work in the offshore sailing business when he entered the marine industry. In 1975, he was a certified Volvo Penta sterndrive mechanic when he went to work for Merrill Stevens Shipyard in 1976.
Gilvey then moved onto Custom Engine Service in Hialeah, FL., in 1981 where he focused on rebuilding and repairing drives. “Everybody wanted to build engines or do electrical or rigging,” said Gilvey. “Nobody wanted to do sterndrives because they were afraid of them. People don’t understand setting up backlash or bearing preload.”
After honing his skills on yachts from Hatteras, Bertram and others, Gilvey teamed with Klumpjan at Doller Marine in 1988. From the start, he worked on Speedmaster III and IV drives. “The Number Six came out around 1990 and the first set I worked on were with an old 41’ Apache sponsored by Doller Marine,” he said. This is where Gilvey met John Tomlinson for the first time while working on his boat, Doller Marine Special. It was also around this time when Gilvey received the Mercury Marine Master Technician Award in 1993.
When Doller merged with Offshore Marine to form Doller Offshore, Gilvey accepted an offer to go work at Bobby Moore’s Custom Marine. He worked at Bobby Moore’s for four years, before winding up at TNT in 1999, where he is today. Gilvey heads up the drive department, which also works on Arneson and BPM surface drives, including those being used on turbine-powered boats like Miss GEICO, JBS Racing and more. “I probably do more BPM work here than anyone else in the country,” said Gilvey.
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