Grasshopper Number 3 has been inundating me with “boat” information. He thinks I am not listening. You know, a boat is this seasonal investment that gets used 3-4 months out of the year that you pay for 12 months out of the year.
Part of CCA’s passion for boats comes from the cottage experience. The first little red boat was a “trainer”. It was something that you can make mistakes with and it doesn’t cost a lot of money. The little red boat had a quality Mercury (65HP) engine.
Then by luck, we bought a glastron (I think it was a GT150?). I know it was 15 feet long. lt was built by people familiar building rugged boats. The gold fleck color was the best I’ve seen. We tried to make it go faster with an Evinrude 85 HP engine. I don’t think total speed changed much (55mph). It still was one of the faster boats on Crystal Lake. It seemed to go faster when no one was riding with CCA.
Paul and I conspired to purchase a classic CSS glastron 17 foot speedboat with a deeper “V” hull. We moved up to a 115 HP Mercury but alas, it performed at about the same speed as the first glastron. Even CCA riding alone and trimming it out at maximum angles couldn’t make the boat go faster. I think 60 mph was about the top.
Once the cottage life ended, so did the need for boats. So guess what! CCA buys his own. Did he buy a glastron? Nope he bought a Concord with a 240 Hp engine. A 17 footer that could go 75 mph with lots of gadgets. Gas Pedals. Jack plates. Modified Reeds. So look out Winnebago and Shawno Lake and the Wolf river. Finally the ultimate machine. Actually I think he “fryed” the engine by pushing it too hard.
Was he satisfied? Noooo! He moved up to a 21 foot Checkmate with a 270 HP Mercury engine. Bigger. Faster. Modified stainless steel props. Oooo, Oooo, Oooo. Tim the Toolman would love that. Somehow the bigger boat with the larger engine didn’t go much faster that previous combinations but the Checkmate handles better.
So where does this saga go? Well we keep the 21 foot Checkmate with sleeper accomodations but we hook up a 300 HP Mercury. Then we take the boat on Little Lake Butte De Morts on a quiet day (no waves). We get up to speed and then we move the jack plate into the perfect postion and trim out that throbbing 300 Hp engine and we check the speedometer. Whoa! Supersonic speed.
Then we start over. Different boat. Different engine. Different modifications and we spend 8 months getting ready for 3-4 months of enjoyment. Does it get any better.
It seems like an expensive passion even though it always used equipment. Do they have any openings at Calnin Goss? Hey, what is life without a passion.
Love,
Dad