In the winter of 1982, the Thumper was dry docked, cut down the middle and spread out 4 feet, making her 16 feet wide.  At his time, a 12-foot long skylight was added to fill the hole in the roof.  We were running again for the summer of 1983…a little slower but very stable.  We added a stage and front spud during this summer.  In 1985, the old, sunken down pilothouse was cut off and a larger one with many windows was built on the roof.  We also added a hydraulic operated trim tab on the stern to smooth out the shocks from the wheel striking the water.  To try to get our old racing speed back, a nitrous oxide system was installed.  This only exposed any and all weak links in the drive train.  It was removed in a few years.  During the winter of ??? the old wheel with 2 sets of 12 spokes was rebuilt to include 3 sets of 14 spokes.  The wheel remained 15 feet in diameter and 8 feet wide.  With all of these changes, our top speed has decreased but our breakage has also decreased.  We have gotten used to the slower speed, as we’ve gotten older.