How I spent my summer vacation **picture heavy**

[lmannyr]

Re: How I spent my summer vacation **picture heavy**

Looks like fun. Maybe one day I can surprise my wife with a cabin vacation.

 

[6MISFITZ]

Re: How I spent my summer vacation **picture heavy**

I think even the Grizwolds would be jealous but I had to LOL at the huge wake comment in the one picutre.

Congratulations on such an outstanding vacation and boat restoration.
Enjoy every family vacation to the fullest, as the kids don't stay small for long and hey, 2009 is only a few more months away!

Mike.

 

[drewpster]

Re: How I spent my summer vacation **picture heavy**

Great post! I like your boat very much. Your wife is right, anybody with the money can own a boat. Having one like yours is special. It looks great and it is yours. You didn't just buy it, you made it yours. Those "floating pianos" are great works of art, no question about it. But your boat is just as nice because it is yours.

 

[greasemonkeyjmj]

Re: How I spent my summer vacation **picture heavy**

sometimes it doesnt take the most expensive boat to have the most fun. back in the early 70s my dad was supporting a wife and 3 kids on around a $100 a week mechanics salary. his boss had a 1965 sears 15' deluxe runabout with a 75hp sears outboard, that my dad had to wax for him before every holiday. well after a few years my dad went to work for himself and the boat changed owners, my dad got the chance to buy it. the smile on my dads face, and the excitement of us kids you would think that we owned a million dollar yacht. although the boat was getting up in years and was nothing fancy we had more fun with it than anything else we ever owned. the little 75 wasnt a fast motor, but with its slow and easy takeoff, it is safe to say, that it was the boat that a dozen or more people learned to ski behind. but i think i am much like your wife in the fact i like to be different than everyone else. and something that we need to keep, is our own identity.and if i had that boat today i would proudly cruise by with a smile on my face, just like when i was a kid.

 

[TdLpps]

Re: How I spent my summer vacation **picture heavy**

Thanks for the kind words and the very generous thread rating.

Our whole experience this spring and summer became a project of our family as a whole, not just the fixing up of an old boat. I have participated in many different activities that I have really loved. I have flown airplanes, raced motorcycles and cars, and ride a motorcycle almost daily. I've restored old cars and then participated in club events on the street and on the track. All of those things were fun. For me.

None of my family members were really able to participate with me in any of these activities. None of them had nearly as much fun as I had.

Our old boat has kind of changed that. My son helped me with a number of different things on the boat. He set rivets, drilled holes and helped work on the engine. My daughter helped install the windshield and she and her friend helped me hang the engine on the transom--twice. All four of us pilot the boat.

We can sit under the Bimini top and lazily cruise on the water, or ski or tube, or fish. With all four of us in the boat we can get on plane in just a few seconds and get to thirty miles per hour really quickly. It costs about $20 in fuel for a whole day on the water.

So, our little boat, our vacation, and this whole summer all really led to a closer family and that's been priceless.