1976 Hydrosteam Vulture with a town of power Mer 150!! :) :)

Ditto on Mike's. Here's a pic of it in our canal in Key Largo. The kid on the boat next to mine was a young Ed Thornton (Edit Marine and much of the talent behind Powerplay and Midnight Express)

'71, 16 1/2' Glastron tri-hull with a '73 140 HP Merc.

I can remember it like is was just yesterday - mid-late 60's - we were staying in a cabin at Dewitt's Northaire Resort on Clam Lake MI, near Torch. In the next cabin was a dad with 2-3 older sons, maybe late teens, early 20's. They had a pair of 14-15' royal blue fibeglass speedboats...with little black vinyl bucket seats and Merc outboards which seemed WAY too big for them.

My dad referred to the boats as "yellow jackets" but I am pretty sure they were not. We used to watch them fly up and down Clam Lake, with huge roostertails spouting behind them...my older brother and I were quite impressed. My dad, being a fisherman--maybe not so much.

Each night, this guy and his boys would stay up after dark, sitting out by a firepit near the docks. The next morning, my dad walked over by the firepit, only to laugh at all the empty Hamm's beer cans that were strewn around. I looked at them too--maybe that's when the idea of boating all day and then, afterward, sitting around drinking beer well into the night formed itself into an enjoyable pastime. I can only guess.

1957 14' Fiberglass "Whitehouse" with NEW shaped Plexi windshield and 35 HP twin cyl Evanrude pull start. 24 mph and flat bottom with rounded chines. Bench in back, step through seat up front. Repowered in 1960 to a 60 HP Johnson Sea Horse, V4, now 45 mph and deadly. Pulled 4 skiers once with the low pitch large diameter power prop.







We always boated across the main body of water on Lanier, 5 or 6 miles away from the ramp. Now think about afternoon thunderstorm and trying to wait it out before crossing at idle speed and stuffing the bow every third wave. Water would run up to the windshield split and go off the sides. Every third wave, and we were just moving forward a couple of mph. Brother driving, Dad and I bailing.

Open Transom and all................
 

My family owned a resort in a small town called Wauconda in Northern IL on Bangs Lake. Many years later the area gained some noteriety because the Blues Brothers movie was filmed extensively in the area (including some action at the lake).

In the summer of 1968 I got my first boat (at the age of 10).

It was an open transom 8' "race" boat with a 7.5HP Johnson clamped on to it with cable-pulley steering and a deadmans throttle to control the little egg beater. There was no seat and could only be driven on my knees. It was red with a white stripe and a round nose. Almost completely flat bottom with a 3/4" "keel" running from about mid-hull to the back. It had a single person cockpit that was just wide enough to wedge a standard-issue Johnson gas tank into it which I used to bungie down on two 1" strips so any water could flow under it when water came in through the open transom. When at speed (probably no more than 25mph) and rough water, the boat would semi-stuff and the water would come over the deck, into the cockpit and run right out of the back (as long as it was moving). My brother let his friend drive it without my knowledge and he ended up skidding it into a turn and smashing into a concrete seawall.

When I was a teenager I got to restore and use a 1985 Baja Scat Cat. What a pile of chit. When I was 7, my dad had a 30' Chris Cat. That boat was bad-azz!

somehow my 24 outlaw turned into a 42 Fountain over the years:eek:

The AO3100 did it for me. I picked up a copy of the Sept. issue of Powerboat magazine with the American Offshore 3100 on the cover. I called the shop and scheduled a test drive. I've been a big fan of the boat ever since(and cats in general...).