scoutabout
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2006
- Messages
- 1,568
Growing up on the lake where my grandparents had a place I used to watch some of the older kids zipping around in these things with mid-fifties motors of various makes. Mostly OMC, I'd love their mellow exhaust note as they whooshed by. I wanted one so bad I could taste it. At lake association parties when I was about eight, I'd just sit there on the dock beside one of these marvelous machines while everyone else was gathered around the barbecue and coolers. I'd sidle up as close as I dared, inhaling the smell of gas, oil, and old varnish, inspecting every nook and cranny and imagining myself at the helm.
Then when I was sixteen, working for the summer at a small outfit that rented cabins and sold gas on the same lake, I spent my first pay check on a sea flea of my own. The sketchy owner of the marina up the way had the nerve to defraud a kid $50 plus tax for the punky, half-rotted sad little boat he had propped up under a tree next to the gas dock as a lure to some poor sap (me!).
I dragged it home and gingerly lowered the family Merc 7.5 on it...and life changed forever. What a blast. Skidding and skimming over the water, spray going everywhere, peeling paint flaking and fluttering in the breeze, soggy transom flexing...it was a real thrill...probably more than prudent.
This pic below isn't me as I took no pictures at the time but you get the idea...
The damn thing had no strakes so turns at anything faster than half throttle were dicey affairs, taking every inch of our bay as the boat crabbed and slid, showing little inclination to change course. And you had to be out on the lake early, before there was much more than ripples or you'd risk stuffing the low slung nose through a wave instead of sailing over it. I sat low on the floor, cross legged with my back up against the fuel tank, tiller jutting out past my left ear. Can't remember wearing a pfd....just a wide wide grin.
I kept it afloat for two summers in that condition then even my teenaged, hormone-pickled brain admitted it was probably too dangerous to keep using. My clumsy attempts to reinforce the transom with threaded rods, nuts and big washers looked way more effective than they probably were, I'm sure.
So, there it sat upside-down on shore next to the family tinny for probably five more years until it finally just faded into a shallow mound of moss, dead leaves, rusty nails and muck. Did I get my fifty bucks' worth? Ya....have to admit I sure did.
I still have the steering wheel though, hanging from the rafters of the garage, taunting me to do something about it some day....
Well, dear iboaters, that day has come. Encouraged by my own 13 year-old son who, after hearing the story a month ago said, "Dad - let's build another one!" we are going to try just that. The spouse is less enthused. "Isn't that the little boat you referred to as the 'Death Trap'?" she asked, eyebrow arched, arms folded. "And you want to put my baby in that and send him out on the lake?" Er...did I really say that?. "Your problem buddy is that you forget...that I never forget..."
Ah...yes...this one will be better hon...promise.
And so, encouraged by that ringing endorsement....we have taken the first step.
Behold, the proposed power plant - straight out of my childhood - a 1956 Johnson QD-17 10 hp Sea Horse. Discovered while trolling the local classifieds. Certainly scruffy-looking, the seller nevertheless had it gone through a few years ago where it counts, under the flywheel and in the carb but lost interest in completing the restoration. For $300 I got a semi-sorted motor, paint, decals, and even the motor stand. Not too bad a deal I think.
Cowl stripping and general degreasing activities have commenced in anticipation for some paint and new decals and soon I hope to have it shiny, with the help of a local restorer who can hold a spray can much better than me. (I do like original patina ordinarily but this one takes the notion a bit far.)
I'll do the water pump just to be sure but other than that it should be a solid runner.
So....got a motor....need a boat....
We've settled on the venerable Minimost design and I have been going over some plans I downloaded. What I like about it is there is a least the hint of freeboard up front making it perhaps a little more practical and safer than my old "plywood deck-meets-waterline design. If one dare use such words as "practical" and "safe" when discussing such an endeavour of course.
Looks like this...or should when it exists, courtesy of some other guy who seems to have done a very nice job...
I've seen these things running with 18-25 horses on them so a ten should be safe enough for my kid and me. It's the one spec which helped us past muster with our Domestic Project Approval Officer... ;-)
Anyway, the plan for now is to gather parts, bring the old beastie acquired above into finer fettle, continue to study plans, buy some wood and maybe even pick up a saw over the course of the winter.
My woodworking skills and experience amount to little more than cutting right angles and screwing deck boards down in the backyard so I was really leery of even announcing this endeavour on the forums. Oh, and glassing experience is nil by the way.
In the years since joining iboats I've seen some truly genius, quality, and sometimes just downright brave undertakings here (thinking of archbuilder, jasoutside, oops, and many others) and I really don't want to make an asp of myself in such company...
I'm not even sure where we will build it. The carport won't be suitable in this climate after much more time goes by and I know the family room ain't going to work! Anyway, I anticipate progress to be glacial but educational..and questions aplenty. And of course, time with my kid that will be worth its weight in gold when looking back from the old farts home.
I will post bits and pieces as we come across them, learn about them, or build them...Stay tuned!
Scout
Then when I was sixteen, working for the summer at a small outfit that rented cabins and sold gas on the same lake, I spent my first pay check on a sea flea of my own. The sketchy owner of the marina up the way had the nerve to defraud a kid $50 plus tax for the punky, half-rotted sad little boat he had propped up under a tree next to the gas dock as a lure to some poor sap (me!).
I dragged it home and gingerly lowered the family Merc 7.5 on it...and life changed forever. What a blast. Skidding and skimming over the water, spray going everywhere, peeling paint flaking and fluttering in the breeze, soggy transom flexing...it was a real thrill...probably more than prudent.
This pic below isn't me as I took no pictures at the time but you get the idea...
The damn thing had no strakes so turns at anything faster than half throttle were dicey affairs, taking every inch of our bay as the boat crabbed and slid, showing little inclination to change course. And you had to be out on the lake early, before there was much more than ripples or you'd risk stuffing the low slung nose through a wave instead of sailing over it. I sat low on the floor, cross legged with my back up against the fuel tank, tiller jutting out past my left ear. Can't remember wearing a pfd....just a wide wide grin.
I kept it afloat for two summers in that condition then even my teenaged, hormone-pickled brain admitted it was probably too dangerous to keep using. My clumsy attempts to reinforce the transom with threaded rods, nuts and big washers looked way more effective than they probably were, I'm sure.
So, there it sat upside-down on shore next to the family tinny for probably five more years until it finally just faded into a shallow mound of moss, dead leaves, rusty nails and muck. Did I get my fifty bucks' worth? Ya....have to admit I sure did.
I still have the steering wheel though, hanging from the rafters of the garage, taunting me to do something about it some day....
Well, dear iboaters, that day has come. Encouraged by my own 13 year-old son who, after hearing the story a month ago said, "Dad - let's build another one!" we are going to try just that. The spouse is less enthused. "Isn't that the little boat you referred to as the 'Death Trap'?" she asked, eyebrow arched, arms folded. "And you want to put my baby in that and send him out on the lake?" Er...did I really say that?. "Your problem buddy is that you forget...that I never forget..."
Ah...yes...this one will be better hon...promise.
And so, encouraged by that ringing endorsement....we have taken the first step.
Behold, the proposed power plant - straight out of my childhood - a 1956 Johnson QD-17 10 hp Sea Horse. Discovered while trolling the local classifieds. Certainly scruffy-looking, the seller nevertheless had it gone through a few years ago where it counts, under the flywheel and in the carb but lost interest in completing the restoration. For $300 I got a semi-sorted motor, paint, decals, and even the motor stand. Not too bad a deal I think.
Cowl stripping and general degreasing activities have commenced in anticipation for some paint and new decals and soon I hope to have it shiny, with the help of a local restorer who can hold a spray can much better than me. (I do like original patina ordinarily but this one takes the notion a bit far.)
I'll do the water pump just to be sure but other than that it should be a solid runner.
So....got a motor....need a boat....
We've settled on the venerable Minimost design and I have been going over some plans I downloaded. What I like about it is there is a least the hint of freeboard up front making it perhaps a little more practical and safer than my old "plywood deck-meets-waterline design. If one dare use such words as "practical" and "safe" when discussing such an endeavour of course.
Looks like this...or should when it exists, courtesy of some other guy who seems to have done a very nice job...
I've seen these things running with 18-25 horses on them so a ten should be safe enough for my kid and me. It's the one spec which helped us past muster with our Domestic Project Approval Officer... ;-)
Anyway, the plan for now is to gather parts, bring the old beastie acquired above into finer fettle, continue to study plans, buy some wood and maybe even pick up a saw over the course of the winter.
My woodworking skills and experience amount to little more than cutting right angles and screwing deck boards down in the backyard so I was really leery of even announcing this endeavour on the forums. Oh, and glassing experience is nil by the way.
In the years since joining iboats I've seen some truly genius, quality, and sometimes just downright brave undertakings here (thinking of archbuilder, jasoutside, oops, and many others) and I really don't want to make an asp of myself in such company...
I'm not even sure where we will build it. The carport won't be suitable in this climate after much more time goes by and I know the family room ain't going to work! Anyway, I anticipate progress to be glacial but educational..and questions aplenty. And of course, time with my kid that will be worth its weight in gold when looking back from the old farts home.
I will post bits and pieces as we come across them, learn about them, or build them...Stay tuned!
Scout
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