Orlando Clipper Runabout...

[Chris Smith]

In April of 1960 my dad bought new a 12 ft Orlando Clipper 12-48 runabout from Roberts Sporting Goods in Birmingham Alabama. He's now 80 and we still have the boat. It had been in storage from 1980 till 2008. It still has the 1960 model Mercury Merc 300 engine. We got it out in daylight and determined that it needed transom wood, trailer tires and see if the engine will still run along with a lot of small stuff to complete the refurb. He even has the old owners manual with the engine. I got the engine running and we went to work on the transom wood. Lots of stainless steel bolts and a piece of marine plywood later it was ready to have the engine reinstalled. The engine has proved to be a bit of a challenge but I have rebuilt the carbs, replaced the original fuel lines and rebuilt the fuel pump. It still had the original timing belt running the magneto so I replaced that too. After fixing some tuning problems steming from a bad coil and a very corroded plug wire it now runs like the name on its side says, "Thunderbolt". When new he had purchased a 13 inch bronze "speed prop" to replace the three blade aluminum one. With one person on board it will run about 32 mph, pretty quick for 1960 standards I guess. Yesterday morning (Sunday) I took my dad to the lake for a ride in his boat. We managed to burn up about 4 gallons of gas riding around with him telling of adventures in his youth on Lake Mitchell. We both had a great time, especially when a crowd gathered around it at the dock. Such a vintage boat is rarely seen around here and there were even offers to buy it. I think that made him feel pretty good. The engine is a short shaft, manual start model and probably only has 350 hours on it total. It still has the "OK" stickers and ink stampings on the block and original plug wires. They are solid core so cleaning the corosion and reusing it was no problem. The only parts on the hull that has been replaced are the steering cables and the seat cushions. He has a picture taken in Sept. 1960 that shows the patern in the seat cushions. I took that picture and made paterns from cardboard and his memory and had new cushions made in red and white just like they were when new. I even located a flag just like his old one featuring crossed martini glasses. The original items were lost in a garage fire many years ago. I was able to source two vintage steel fuel tanks that were in very good condition and spotless inside. When I snapped the seat cushions into place and put the flagstaff into it's hole on top of the bow light dad cried. When he got a ride in it Sunday he was all smiles. Even after his hat blew off and I almost didn't get turned around in time to rescue it. It was an eventful day as we rescued an out of gas ski boat, helped a man load his broke down pontoon boat on the trailer and got flashed by a pretty brunette lady along with just having the "Ancient Mariner" as we have gotten to calling it, out for a day of fun. If I can figure out how I'll try to post a picture or two. It even has the original tape stripes on the hull(red), Water Bonnet brand plexiglass windshield, and vintage "Aqua Meter" speedometer that works. So, if you frequent Lake Mitchell Alabama and see an old aluminum runabout cruising around, it's probably us. Cheers!