Re: Fellow boater wouldn't help tow me in
OMG, I'd love to see the lawn style deck chairs. I'm starting to look at new seating arrangements and want to check all possibilities.
No Lawn Style, just plain lawn chairs with drywall screws holding them in place to the deck. To get the real effect, you need a few rolls of duct tape to fill in the missing webbing too. You then have to put the portable gas tanks under the seats and have about 10' of extra gas line running across the deck to the motor about 6' away. Of course, the proper fix is to lay a few layers of that green indoor/outdoor astroturf carpet over everything to 'hide' the fuel lines.
If the lines don't trip you the carpet will. The best part is the solid plywood windshields, and the section of plywood duct taped to the drivers lawn chair bottom. I guess thats so the driver can stand up on the seat and see over the windshield frame.
He's got a radio, it's dangling from its wires under the dash, and the antenna is what ever came on the boat, and also taped up with duct tape and electrical tape. I think it used to be an 8' antenna, but it's missing a few inches or more from being stepped on. I noticed the other day that he had a new bow eye on the boat, it's an old screen door handle screwed on with lag bolts, I guess the original pulled out or fell off. The anchore line is tied off to the one remaining bow rail post, most of the cleats are either broken or missing, there's one huge cast iron cleat dead center in the rear, mounted to the forward front edge of the splashwell. I noticed the other day that the splashwell has cracked completely through all along the transom edge, and one of the all thread rods that run from the transom, had pulled out of the forward part of the splashwell. Those same rods also act as the top motor bolts.
I tried to take a few pics a while back, I told him we needed some pics of it so the coast guard knew what to look for when it sinks, he got mad and wouldn't let me snap any pics.
What it boils down to is that he's never spent any money on the boat, and never will, if something breaks, he rigs it the best he can with what he has.
By the look of some of the patches on the hull, duct tape and bondo is an acceptable repair too, as is plywood and tar. He's been fixing up a canoe outside too, that's mostly roofing tar and 1/4" plywood. I told him not only will it sink, but you'll be glued to it as well at the bottom of the lake. He's got it coated inside and out with tar, there's nails and screws sticking out all over it, and it's covered in grass and sand from where he had it laying in the yard before the tar hardened up. I can just imagine sitting in that thing in the hot sun on the lake. He did paint it with some green latex paint, it matches his house now. There are spots where the sun melted the tar and the green paint and tar sagged a bit. It's a really special look. I did notice two paddles lying in the canoe a few weeks ago, but they looked permanently adhered to the bottom, at least till the sun comes out and melts them free.
I have a 12' jon boat which he coated the bottom on the same way, it took me two weeks to clean off all the tar with gasoline. When I didn't find any holes or leaks, I asked why he tarred the bottom, and his reason was that it makes the boat quieter and 'Keeps it from flipping'? I guess the 1/2" of tar on the bottom acts as ballast?
I was out in his boat once, never again, not a chance. It was when I first met the guy, and really hadn't gotten a good look at the boat. Once I was in it, I kept planning my escape to shore the whole day. Luckily we didn't go too far out. He had no concerns about the water filling the splashwell or running in over top of it. That was when he knew to run the bilge pumps or start bailing.
, but this "Rich" B@5TArd, and his $200,000 mastercraft went on and on, becaus it was such a major inconvienence to help me and my friends for a few minutes), dude I was so pissed, I cussed that guy all the way bcak to the dock.