Long story Kelly but basically I like being the underdog and doing it on the cheap.

I raced kneel down boats for 9 yrs and mostly Mercs cuz they controlled the rule book and wouldnt allow anything to compete against them and I hated that.
Quit racing and started playing w/fast O/B's and retained that mentality.
At that point I had friends/heros that were racing home brewed OMC's against factory supported Mercs and beating them.

Thats when I came up w/my saying ..., "Id rather be competitive w/junk I built in my garage than win w/stuff I bought".

I built a couple of motors to prove (to myself) that it was possible and am now satisfied on that end.

For real world boating the answer is simple.
Theyre dirt cheap and way easy to work on.

The EFI on your Merc is waaaaayyyy more advanced than the basic carburetors on my motors of choice.
But drawbacks (to me) is, when they give you problems they are expensive and difficult to diagnose/repair.
On top of that, their Hi Perf motors are alum blocks w/either chrome or Nikasil plated bores.

So when you stick one (if you run them hard, you will), you send the block to someone w/a $1500 check to replate that hole.
My junk has removable steel sleeves.
So if its a minor blow up, I use muratic acid ($15 @ Home Depot) to clean the nuked piston off the bore, run a hone through it, slap in a piston and Im back on the water in a day for $200.
If a major blow up, I bore that hole.
If a really major blow up, I put the block in the wifes oven and pull/replace that sleeve.

IMO, the Mercs were/are designed to be maintained by your friendly, neighborhood dealer and their thousands of dollars of special tools.
The OMC's were designed to be kept alive by its owner.
The one motor in picture has a Merc Sportmaster gear case on it so I could play w/gear ratios. I had to buy $500 worth of tools to do it.
The OMC case, I can rebuild on my kitchen table w/a crescent wrench.

For replacement pts, (cranks, rods etc) I buy complete, blown up motors for $500 - $1000 per, keep what I want and sell the rest.
So my parts end up being free.
Also, the OMCs have way more torque than most of the Mercs.
Everyone gets geeked about HP's when its torque that pushes our heavy toys.https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...ba86704fdf.jpg
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You're welcome at my place too.

Im tardy in replying to this post as Ive been viewing from my cell phone which does not show your home country/town like my lap top does.
I thought you were in Australia ;)

Jon, you probably won't get along well with Gary. He hates beer.https://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/...aehrung004.gif

You guys need to check out the F1 docuseries on Netflix. It's pretty good.

My memory sucks due to yrs of torturing my brain.

Ken is a stud.
One of my favorite Ken stories:

Yrs ago, I organized a large hot rod O/B get together.
The host town had a tourism board and they gave grants to events that filled their hotels.
Process was that you send them a proposal and the board votes on it during their monthly luncheon meetings.
I sent them a power point presentation which included magazine clips about Kens record and stating that he would be at my event.
That got their attention.
I wanted to do the presentation in person.
I had a buddy that lives in that town and knew the board and said thatd never been done.

He called me the next day saying the board asked if I could come down and would I please bring info on Kens record.

Me being me, I called Ken and asked what he was doing tomorrow ;)
I showed up at his place the next morning to pick him up (the board not knowing I was actually bringing Ken) and having a small, economical car I motioned to Ken to get in.
Ken knew me as "Instigator" from a O/B website and called me Gator.

He was standing beside his 1 ton dually tow vehicle that had a fiberglass cap on it with huge graphics saying "KEN WARBY, WORLDS FASTEST MAN ON WATER".
He pints at the graphics and says, "no Gator, I'll drive" ;)
Got an invaluable lesson in marketing and showmanship in his driveway!

Best part was, we got to the meeting early and parked Kens truck right in front of the door to the tourism office.
The board members had to walk by Kens truck to get to the door!!

Freagin hilarious!

The man spent yrs following around/supporting our caravan, towing his new boat behind that truck that always had coolers full of Fosters beer that he gave out at our event.

He and his son are currently testing a new boat in preparation of breaking his own record.


Heres a couple more shots of my visit.

He wanted to do a dry fire of his jet in his driveway.
The starter solenoid stuck on but the jet wouldnt light. While cranking, the fuelk pump was on so the jet was over flowing K-1 into the bilge and running out the drain plug onto his driveway.
Thats me in the red jacket (Ken on ground) hot wiring the starter which did start the motor and......, set his driveway on fire!

Sometimes in life youre lucky enough to meet someone that impacts your life enough that you never forget them.
Ken is one for me.https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...99add5d967.jpg
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I like the "Frankenrude" decal, is that what will be on this boat or was that an old pic? Again I am enjoying watching your progress on this build!

Thanks for the compliments.
And yes, thats an old picture.
I call my hot rod motors FrankenRudes. The yellow/red one was Frank I, the one you like is Frank II.
Not sure yet on graphics for these motors.
Need to get them painted and beside the boat to decide what will look good.
In the "paint shop" now ;)https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...dd2a17dbdc.jpg
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Out of the paint shop.

Now for their graphics.......

Awesome
 

Unbelievable work. You are a Rebuild Master!

Twins double the pleasure...
 

The FrankenRUDE II sure was a looker, but I'm bewildered about what you will create graphics wise on these twins? They look awfully good the way they are and somehow I got the hunch that less is more on these. Btw, just stumbled upon a video by Tiara Yachts on Vimeo that made me think about what's awaiting You and Your first mate once You get going in Port Huron.
https://vimeo.com /324323509 (due to privacy rights by Vimeo you got to connect the two parts of my link to watch it. Since I'm not allowed to type it all here I left a single space: ...eo.com/324...)

Thx a million CT Baja. It is much appreciated.

Lars, I agree w/everything you wrote.
The graphics on Frank II were about showing up at an event and screaming from the top of your lungs, "I am a garage brewed JohnRude and I aint scared of any of you Merc factory race motors and we'll throw down right here, right now".
These motors and this boat are not that ;)

The motors are only part of the project and I want them to be more subtle.
I painted and labeled these for my last Sonic and like them.

On the North Channel, awesome video.
As you may know, I was there as a kid w/my parents, on their boat. Ive been trying to relive that trip w/our cruisers ever since.
We lost my dad last June and are now thinking we will tow the Checkmate to Port Huron and spend a wk or two up there burning gas doing the "Vern Tour".
We did the North Channel and Georgian Bay several times and it made my childhood magical.

Lars, I just noticed the boat listed in your avatar. Can you post some pixs of it please?

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Circa '1975 or so.

Not sure if its Georgian Bay or North Channel.
'1964 37' mahogany planked Chris Craft followed by a '1960 35' steel hulled, Chris Craft Roamer.
The 37 replaced the '1957 39' mahogany planked Richardson (my favorite boat) that we took up the yr before.
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A prior yr where we followed the US side of Lake Huron and ended up at Mackinaw Island.
Magical times for sure.
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That is my thought.

1988 Flying Flipper 29' is my Avatar boat.
 

My Avatar is my ex. 1988 Flying Flipper 29' v-hull, (28 degrees at the transom with a very sharp entry), with twin Johnson GT 300 V8's. She was originally ordered by famous British offshore racer John Baker for the 1989 European Offshore Championship Series. He took first in class II, and the Avatar photo is from that season. She took part in a few more races, but in 1990 was bought and stored in Maurice Williamson's collection. The Flying Flipper 29 was hydrodynamically designed by late Honorable Dr. Sigurd Isacson and general design was by famous Swedish naval architect Håkan Södergren, (250 boat designs to his name and counting). Late Dr. Sigurd Isacson's popular designs led to that Flipper Boats have sold more than 40,000 boats from 1966 to date. However the Flying Flipper was produced from 1984-1990 and a handful more the last ten years, (one for ex. tennis star Bjorn Borg), and only about 70-80 boats have been built in total so far. The Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish Coast Guard and Police used Flying Flippers for two decades.

British racer Steve Hutchinson was finally able to buy her in 2007 and decided to rig her with new Mercury 300XS's. After he got her ready he entered her in the 2008 Round Brittain Race, but the team had some personal issues and Steve canceled their adventure after three stages, though they were performing fantastically. I bought her from Steve in 2008, but in 2012 I sold her to legendary Norwegian boat racer Dag Rudstrøm who I knew would run her in the usually very tough Skagerak Across Offshore race, that is a roughly 3-hour roundtrip Norway-Denmark. I was hoping Dag would beat all the $500k boats, he's that good and so is she. ;) The 2nd best would be if his brother, World Champion Bjørn Rudstrøm in his twin Merc. OB 28' Skater #44, would have a chance if the seas were not too bad. It got pretty rough, which was good for Dag, and the Fountain in the video of the race below broke apart among several other boats. Dag placed 3rd in the Flying Flipper #5, behind a winning 36' Goldfish #93 and his brother Bjørn unfortunately 2nd in his Skater due to a broken steering. I will dig for more photos soon. 2nd video is her, as # P-51, way back in 1988 in the promo for the 1989 Euro Series. @ 1:36-1:46 and 3:49-4:10.

VIDEO Skagerak Across: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgAeJtkeLjk&feature=youtu.be

VIDEO 1989 Euro Series:
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VIDEO Skagerak Across: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgAe...ature=youtu.be

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...0916725b46.jpg

Killer!

Love the history.

Was actually asking about the 31 Scarab twin O/B in your signature???
Sorry for the confusion.

Elvis is in the house!

We'll have to bring the new project down to visit the old project ;)

Way cool.

Cool history on Alan Jones.

That 41 is stunning!!
Gorgeous lines.

Ditto on Jones!
 

Good read on Jones and his interest for boats, like quite a few other F1 champs. Brasilian Emerson Fittipaldi, for example, started in boats and moved on to cars. Really liked both of your boats Jon. The twin Yammie 26 was fantastic and must have been lots of fun to fly around in. The large sports cruiser was a very impressive yacht, just striking!

As far as photos of my Larry Smith Scarab I don't have much. Bought her just a couple of years ago even though the timing was not ideal for me, since I knew that it would be very little leisure time for a while. However she's a unique boat in that Pete Rothschild knew that this would most likely be the last boat that his great friend, and old racing buddy, Larry would build him. He was very particular with many practical solutions and the attention to detail in the build is just fabulous, so I pulled the trigger. That he also decided to go outboard for the first time was also perfect for me since eggbeaters or diesels is pretty much the only way to reliability in the long term for most purposes. I posted a small album a while back on my signature page, however the photos are not very good. Here's a link to the photos and a couple of images.

Photo album: https://www.offshoreonly.com/g/album/10880253

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Wow Twin,,,,,, I had almost forgot about Eddie Lawson. Before all the controls they have on the bikes. Him and of course Kenny Roberts before him. I still remember reading how Kenny was pissed when they moved to 4 strokes.

Sorry for messing with an excellent thread but just to respond....
Lars, love your Scarab, very cool and that dessert lake setting Havasu or somewhere similar? Is hard to comprehend. The U.S. really does have boating nailed.

The bigger Volante cruiser was a great day boat for a party but I got more action on the smaller outboard rig than I've seen on all my other boats put together! I don't think it was me but girls just flocked to that boat when I pulled up at Melbourne's busiest beaches. (Probably why I kept it longer than any other boat I've owned) :)

Back to the Checkmate build........
RR

.

Outboards, and 2-strokes in particular.
 

"...and that dessert lake setting Havasu or somewhere similar? Is hard to comprehend. The U.S. really does have boating nailed."
Yes, lots of varied waterways in the U.S., especially in the South West. We're truly spoiled. The photos are from Lake Powell.


"...but I got more action on the smaller outboard rig than I've seen on all my other boats put together! I don't think it was me but girls just flocked to that boat when I pulled up at Melbourne's busiest beaches. (Probably why I kept it longer than any other boat I've owned) https://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/...lies/smile.gif "
Certainly being able to see how come that recipe worked well with the ladies. Cool performance boat with a cuddy and intimidating power.

"The O/B part of the boat is what got my attention. Love it. What does she have for power? Please let it be two strokes 😉"
Yes, she's got 2001 OX66 V-250's, so no 4 stroke OB's for me yet. Last 2 strokes have been on my little ski/pleasure boats for the Colorado River/Lake Havasu, 2001 Evinrude 225 Rude Ram and a 2006 Evinrude E-Tec 225 H.O. The Yammies on the Scarab will no doubt hold up for some time, which is needed for me, I'm no Rothschild. Next time I'd like some more power since the Scarab 31 has got the 8'6" beam of the 38' boats and barely hits 60 mph. Though currently there are plenty of new exciting motors that have got the power, they have far from proved yet how reliable they are as you know, and I can't afford to buy the wrong ones.

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Wow, what a cool thread this has turned into!

Wildman, agreed. I stopped watching when they went to four strokes.
KR called them diesels ;)
My favorite Eddie Lawson story I read.
Was out putzing in his garage when a California motorcycle patrolman saw his door open and stopped to BS w/him.
They both ended up on the cops bike, Eddie driving, cop on back. A pig of a bike of course.
Eddie lived in an area w/winding roads/great place to ride.

He scared the cop so bad he bit through his lip!
There was a picture of the cop holding his lip out so you could see the hole in it!
He was a stud.

rak rua, see you one, raise you one.
When I had ny first twin O/B 24' Sonic stored in my pole barn behind my house at Lake Erie, and my girlfriend would visit on/for the weekends, Id put a space heater in the cuddy in the unheated barn........., and we would go visit it.
That cuddy got hrs and hrs of use in the winter, in Ohio ;)

Lars, I need to come visit!

OX 66's are killer motors!

What is middle boat?

Bottom one a Stoker?

Beavers...
 

Plenty of beavers in both Ohio and Melbourne it seems. We got 'em along the Colorado River/Lake Havasu too, but we don't invite them down into the cuddy until it cools off late in the evening. ;) The Native Americans are now asking for more assistance with keeping the beaver population in check. I thought it only was a Spring Break problem in Lake Havasu with surroundings, but I guess it's a permanent issue now.


P.S. "What is middle boat? Bottom one a Stoker?"
You got it, a 1996 Stoker 20.4 SST, and the middle boat a 1981 Schiada 20SS. Both sold now and it's time to spend more time offshore. The Stokers are incredible boats though, would gladly have kept that if I had the time and money to use it too. I believe the father & son duo John & Al Stoker perfected the 20'-22' lake high-performance boat with their tunnel vee hulls. They run best in 1'-2' chop, but a 22' or 26' Stoker actually kick butt in the ocean too. Looking forward to the next attempt at an oceangoing tunnel design by famous Hawaiian yard Navatek, Sea Blade SBX36 with twin OB's. ;) Way off topic now, but that happens to boat fanatics like me at this time of the year even in California. :) D.S.

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Lars, love the small boats!
Some of the west coast boats are spectacular.

Ive had several and still my fav's.

BTW, Al Stoker is one of my heros and a friend of mine.
You probably know of his boat racing history in the Mod VP days.
He and his dad built their own Johnson/Evinrudes and raced and beat the Merc factory teams over/over, pissing them off to no end.
Three time National Champion in that class.
I love underdogs and I have videos of his races with 20 boat fields, he was the only OMC/non Merc and beat them!

Here are a couple of my previous weapons.
17' Hydrostream that I recored/restored and got hull weight down to 543 lbs.
101 GPS w/a JohnRude I built in the garage, on pump gas.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...008b6cb190.jpg
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Last one was this STV River Rocket.
Built FrankenRude II for it, also in the garage.
I was playing w/it at same time I was restoring my 2nd 24' Sonic in Fla, outside, no shelter and getting my ass kicked.
Lost 9 lbs in one day working on it...........

Anyhow......, got that motor dialed (SDS fully programable EFI) well enough to drag race but never top end. Low 100;s but nothing further.
When it was 70% complete I went to a run, idled into the Merc crowd and asked who was first.
A buddy stepped to the plate in his fly weight drag boat w/a Diamond Marine Merc on it.
We ran twice and he beat me by a boat length both times.
After the fact, over beers....., he and I calculated I was 400lbs+ heavier than him, had zero tune in the motor and ran a prop w/2" too low in pitch.
The EFI was set (I didnt know it) to dump additional fuel in the motor at anything above 140* engine temp.
I was running it at 160 ;)
As propped it was running out of steam at 7K and I was going through the traps at 7500.
W/2" more pitch (which I had in the truck....) the outcome would have reversed.

Anyhow...., way fun boat.
W/that motor, you could go from a 22" prop to a 32" and it didnt care!
It was a beast.

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John's Custom Marine & Stoker Custom Boats, Stanton, CA.
 

Just amazing boats Gary! Think I remember Your Vector from the ScreamAndFly site, but your serious STV I've never seen photos of. Always loved the look of those Vector boats. Still totally bummed out about Al & John closing their shop after all those years. Was there only a handful of days before their last day. The last boat left in the shop was my ex. Stoker in the photos above. One of Al's old-time customers bought it from me and put a Merc. on it. I'm not a mechanic, so I always scout very very diligently for the top guys when I need help, and that's very often. Al is bright beyond belief, as you know so well, and being both a mechanics wizard and all that racing experience under his belt, we customers were completely spoiled. Pretty much why Al got a little tired of it all, a lot of customers didn't understand that they knew almost as little as myself, and should have just listened to Al and learned, instead of running their mouths. So here's a photo of the last Stoker out of John's Custom Marine, a year after Al had left for Florida. God bless Him & His pop John, none better fellows. So glad you got the videos of Al racing in the Mod-VP series.

Now let's get this narrow beam Checkmate ready for this season. When did the Checkmate Convincor 25 get the one foot wider beam, and what made you chose this earlier generation Gary?

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