40 years ago ....1976.....I built the very first production 24 foot Banana Boat, Banana Split. It was powered with a small block Mercruiser 280 HP with a TRS drive package.

I sold it to a couple of Green Berets, who had just returned from Viet Nam and were interested in high performance boating.

Within a few months, they had raced the boat in some local New England races and were now ready to step up.

So they sold the boat and bought my very first Top Banana, a 24 foot race boat, with twin small blocks with TRS drives and raced in the APBA Modified class as GONE BANANAS.

Next I knew, Banana Split, ended up down in the South Florida area and was used locally for a number of years.

I heard one of the new owners had upgraded to a big block, but still with the TRS drive.

After that I lost track of the boat and we moved from boat racing into auto racing for number of years.

My oldest son found boat # 1 in North Carolina a few years ago, bought it and brought it to South Florida, so he could begin a restoration.

So, here we are at the 40 year mark, 2016 and when the spring rolled around this year he had completed the following:
New deck - All new bulkheads - new fuel tank (63 gallons, baffled ) - new bunks in cabin - new console - new instruments (Livorsi) - new throttle and shift (Livorsi ) - New cockpit bolsters, rear bench and sun pad (Fineline Interiors ). New paint on sides ( black )and boot stripe ( red ).

Hey great job my son and ......now I would like to "Borrow" the boat for the summer back in New England....OK? Sure Dad, you let me borrow your boats over the years so here it is.

Oh by the way, there are a couple of things that I didn't change yet that you may want to consider....... It could probably use a new engine, transmission and sterndrive, new wood in the transom and the engine room needs a redo with white....then you would be all set.

So off I go with the New / Old boat to my friends at Innovation Marine in Sarasota. Presto..Changeo..Zip...Boom Baa .....and the boat now has another small block, 383 cu in with a 350 HP rating and a new Mercruiser transmission and Bravo 1 drive.

A transporter picks it up and north it heads to be delivered to me in Rhode Island, just in time for 4th of July weekend. Both my sons and both of my grandsons are due in and we have plans to celebrate 40 years of Banana Boating.

Well the down side of getting older is that you can't always count on being as healthy as you were when you were 25 years old. The month of July had me down but not quite out. The boat was used to the delight of everyone but me, but they all told me about what a great time was had by all. And I am very glad they did enjoy it, that was the plan.

Here we are at the end of the month and with my Doctor's OK I was allowed to launch and try some boating at last. In goes the boat, and I bring it up on plane and just settle in to a great day of boating. My first slow down area was entering a harbor and riding around slow for a while. BONG, BONG, BONG goes the engine alarm. WTF????

Now back in my era, I totally understood how to start a racing engine with Hilborn fuel injection stacks, like in my avatar, or what jets to change in the carbs when we changed altitude.....but BONG BONG?????

So back to the ramp and out comes the boat. Now, the weekend is almost here and I know what it is like to own a marine repair shop at this time of year. "Say any openings to take a look at this for me????" Sorry buddy my first opening is September 23rd.

Saturday rolls around and I am thinking of who could possibly help me with this BONG BONG. I pick up the phone and call OCEAN PERFORMANCE in Connecticut. Hi how are you guys? Great, nice to hear from you, what's up? Well, just wondering if you were real busy in the shop? Wow, we are stacked up for weeks why? So I tell the short version of the above story and the response is......"Bring it down, we can squeeze you in."


Long story short, I brought it down and they very, very quickly figured out what the BONG BONG was. As a matter of fact it was Chris himself that was in there putting in the needed fluids. Thank you Chris.

So hopefully in the very near future I will be out boating in a 40 year old boat with my 70 something year old body,
pretending it is 1976 again.

A very warm Thank You to all involved, from my son to Innovation Marine and especially to Chris at Ocean Performance. Nothing like performance boaters in this world.

All that typing and no pictures?

I'm shocked Mr. McCarthy, shocked I say!

Viva 1976!

Very cool story!!

As always a great story.....but Charlie no pics....come on even you know better.

Cool story. Agreed with the rest...where are the pics?!?!

Coincidental a 70's boat with modern electronics doesn't go Beep, Beep, Beep, but Bong. Bong. Bong ?

X 100 for pics and kudos to Ocean Performance for the getting you in.

^^^^ hahaha, Bong, bong, bong. I get it. And my license is back there on the bumper, man.

Good to hear you're back on the water Charlie

Thanks for a great story. I'm up for some pics like the rest. . -Mike ('72 Cig 24)

Charlie here using the HORBA account to post some photos

Here is the boat at Ocean Performance with Chris.

We realized when this boat was made, Chris was just a teenager....time flies.