DPIis back, so you can get Mercury outboard covers for your K&B3.5-13cc! These things look great! And they also have a large selection of boats as well!

BTW they also sell the REK outboard lower unit (which goes with a 3.5cc engine)!

how did you learn this? is there a website yet?

Here ya' go: http://www.dpihobbyusa.com/

A message sent to me from the Kevin Clements himself! This is truely amazing! We need to help get DPIgoing again!

Hello!

I was wondering why the traffic to my site skyrocketed last night so I did some research and traced it back to here. So thanks for the thread "DPI IS BACK!!!!"

It is true that DPI is back. About a year ago I purchased what was left of the molds and accessories for the old DPI Leisure Sports. I had them shipped back over here (Kirkland Washington) from England. They came in 2 shipments. One arrived in June of 2011 and the other in July of 2011. At the same time I purchased a large Vacuum Former from Colorado and had it shipped here too. Initially things were slow going. We had time to set the machine up and modify it, setup up the new platens, mount the molds we had and form a few boats. Unfortunately about the same time I lost my real job and had to scramble to find a new one. At that point DPI went on the back burner and very little was done with it through the winter.

The new job I had took didn't last that long, I couldn't stand the person I was working for at the time. So I quit and decided to put 100% into DPI since it was my dream to get it up and running again. It is in the last 4 months that things have really been cranking here at DPI. We have manged to perfect the molding of the 3.5cc tunnel, T-Plus Hydro, American Dream Hydro and the Crackerbox. We are almost done with the Schiada molds and then going to start on the Ski Nautique molds. The 1/4 scale tunnel has been sent out to have molds made so it can be produced in Fiberglass or Carbon or even Kevlar if needed. This should address the issue it had with the week transom. We are also working on a "micro tunnel" as a new product.

I have not listed the Crackerbox, American Dream or T-Plus (with hardware) as in stock because, until recently I haven't had a supplier for the hardware (prop shafts, props, rudders ect.) And believe it or not I haven't been able to source anyone yet that can reproduce the decals for a decent price. They were originally silk screened on 3mil clear adhesive back vinyl. I currently have a stock of 3.5cc "Interstate" Tunnel Decals and T-Plus decals. So until I find someone to make new decals for the other boats, it looks like the other boats will have to be sold without them.

The new hardware should be arriving in the next few weeks and the rudder's will be CNC machined aluminum with built in water pickups. Not the old injection molded plastic stuff they used. I am hoping this will be one of many improvements we are doing to bring the kits up to a more "modern standard"

We are slowly adding other products to our website as they come in.

As much as I would like to say that our boats are the fastest, capable of being raced and winning etc. I honestly don't care. That is not really our intent. I wanted to build a quality product that people could buy and enjoy and have fun with for a decent price but most of all put a smile on their face when they are out running them. The days of "RC Boat Kits" and Hobby Shops on every corner are long gone and in my opinion the hobby hasn't been the same since. Everything is now dominated by mass produced Chinese products. I will be the first to admit thought that as much as I despise cheap Chinese stuff, it has forced a evolution of sorts and brought forth technology like brushless motors, lipo batteries and inexpensive radio gear that is obtainable by the masses. Even I have to carry some of these products in order to remain competitive in the market.

I would be more then happy to answer any questions you might have regarding our products.

Regards,

Kevin Clements
Owner
DPI Hobby USA
www.dpihobbyusa.com

Hello Kevin,
Great to read whats been going on. I have kept an eye on your site and really glad things are still moving along. It will be great to see that Seebold tunnel for sale again, I nearlly bought one years ago but the shipping was the killer. You will have to keep us all up to date on these forums as there will be much interest in what you are doing. Will you be updateing the shape of any of the hulls or will they stay original?
All the best,
Dion.</p>

Good to see the molds back in the USA! I've owned a few DPI hulls, two 3.5 OB's, a 7.5 OB and the Crackerbox. The yellow one got passed down to my son and the other was my wifes.
I forgot about the Shiada River Racer which also came out as a nitro version sold by ProBoat in their early days as the Nitro Fury. I had both of those also for my kid to learn boating on.

It's been awhile since this thread was active... Is DPI really back, and if so, are any of these hulls available?? I'd love to know!

Darin, his link is dead.

Saw a bunch of dpi parts on ebay a few months back as i was looking for engine cowls haven t see anything lately

The cowls were sought after pieces after they went out of business the first time, going for $30.00 or more. I've still got one for a .21 in my basement for sure but am trying to find the second one.

From what i ve heard Ron you might even find Jimmy Hoffa s body in there somewhere lol would love a couple cowls for the 7.5

Hopefully not. They're still looking for him on the other side of the state. There's a few things in the dungeon that are rare one or two of a kind that I've picked up over the years.