JasonJ
Rear Admiral
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2001
- Messages
- 4,163
I like to believe I am made of pretty stern stuff, having done over a decade in the military, having been a cop (for a short time anyway), and having been an exterminator up in the attics of houses with hundreds of bats, but then I experience what I experienced today.
This whole time I have been talking about this aluminum boat I was going to look at, I was concerned about the drivetrain that seemed unorthodox, and I was concerned about the year. That is why I was trying to find pics of late 60s Crestliners. I knew aluminum boats of that era had soft chines, narrow transoms, and very little deadrise. If I could have confirmed this with this particular boat, I would not have spent $30 in gas to see what I saw.
As we approached the house, I saw it. I immediatly knew I was not going to buy it, but I had to know. I had to know...
This boat was indeed as I suspected. Soft chines, no deadrise, and a narrow transom, none of which works well on my lake. The scary part is that someone had removed the top, affixed sections of sheet aluminum using 17 billion machine screws, and increased the freeboard of this boat by well over a foot at the stern and close to fifteen inches at the bow. They then put the top back on.
My personal favorite is the transom. They used layers of plywood to a three inch thickness, ON THE OUTSIDE of the transom to build it up, and painted the wood. Why yes, the paint was checked and the woodgrain clearly visible, why do you ask?
The drivetrain, oh the drivetrain. A true work of art she be. A Mercruiser 160 outdrive bolted to the "transom". An automotive 250 cube GM inline 6 with a marine riser, bolted to a complete manual transmission from a car, and then affixed to the outdrive by a u-joint. But how does it get cooling water you ask? Why by the pipe that went through the "transom" near the bottom, elbowing down to a screen attached to a plate which was bolted to the bottom. There was a normal Merc control unit, and then some sort of super fun shift linkage for the car transmission. The interior, as expected, looked as if a yeti threw a temper tantrum in it. It was anhilated, through and through.
In the end I only took two pics because I could not bring myself to scale the 20 foot side again to get a pic of the drivetrain.
I felt true empathy for the guy selling it. He was a nice guy who bought it off some dude a few years back. He did not know that this boat was downright dangerous. I had to tell him it was an outboard powered boat that had been bastardized into the fine creation it was today. The thought of an aluminum boat from the late 60s supporting a complete automotive drivtrain without the proper structure was scary. I told him to Ebay the outdrive, anything marine, sell the engine and tranny, and haul the hull to a recycler. He would get more money that way.
Halloween came early this year...
This whole time I have been talking about this aluminum boat I was going to look at, I was concerned about the drivetrain that seemed unorthodox, and I was concerned about the year. That is why I was trying to find pics of late 60s Crestliners. I knew aluminum boats of that era had soft chines, narrow transoms, and very little deadrise. If I could have confirmed this with this particular boat, I would not have spent $30 in gas to see what I saw.
As we approached the house, I saw it. I immediatly knew I was not going to buy it, but I had to know. I had to know...
This boat was indeed as I suspected. Soft chines, no deadrise, and a narrow transom, none of which works well on my lake. The scary part is that someone had removed the top, affixed sections of sheet aluminum using 17 billion machine screws, and increased the freeboard of this boat by well over a foot at the stern and close to fifteen inches at the bow. They then put the top back on.
My personal favorite is the transom. They used layers of plywood to a three inch thickness, ON THE OUTSIDE of the transom to build it up, and painted the wood. Why yes, the paint was checked and the woodgrain clearly visible, why do you ask?
The drivetrain, oh the drivetrain. A true work of art she be. A Mercruiser 160 outdrive bolted to the "transom". An automotive 250 cube GM inline 6 with a marine riser, bolted to a complete manual transmission from a car, and then affixed to the outdrive by a u-joint. But how does it get cooling water you ask? Why by the pipe that went through the "transom" near the bottom, elbowing down to a screen attached to a plate which was bolted to the bottom. There was a normal Merc control unit, and then some sort of super fun shift linkage for the car transmission. The interior, as expected, looked as if a yeti threw a temper tantrum in it. It was anhilated, through and through.
In the end I only took two pics because I could not bring myself to scale the 20 foot side again to get a pic of the drivetrain.
I felt true empathy for the guy selling it. He was a nice guy who bought it off some dude a few years back. He did not know that this boat was downright dangerous. I had to tell him it was an outboard powered boat that had been bastardized into the fine creation it was today. The thought of an aluminum boat from the late 60s supporting a complete automotive drivtrain without the proper structure was scary. I told him to Ebay the outdrive, anything marine, sell the engine and tranny, and haul the hull to a recycler. He would get more money that way.
Halloween came early this year...
