For many years, back in the late '70s/early '80s...jet boats were all the rage around our local lakes. Some truly fabulous examples abounded. The fun thing to do was to find the campsite of a rival boat, pull up close to shore, crank the place diverter up and hose down the campsite! And then run. Knowing of course that revenge was coming!

Bajaman,

Grew up on a 21' Nordic daycruiser with a 482/6-71 V-drive that dad built, pretty much by himself, from the hull up. We never met that first "80MPH" jet boat we couldn't outrun without opening the secondaries.

Thanks. Brad.

Gawd...what fun boat that must have been!
Yep...a lot, if not most, of the jet boats that I hung around made a lot of noise but were 60 mph boats tops. But one, 'Dream Weaver', was the shiiiite. Blown 454 making 600+ hp, little 19' hull with about 3" of freeboard...good Lord that was a fast one! Sitting in the rear seats, you had to lean way forward to keep from getting toasted by the headers!
Man, I may have to go dig through some old photos now! Those were some very, very cool days back then...carefree and happy.

Bajaman,





Custom gelcoat, bassboat sparkle flake brown and gold. I can remember my dad and step mom scrawling sketches of the “graphics” on paper at one point in time. It never officially had a name, but dad always referred to it as “Piece by Piece”. It all started with the purchase of the blower out of the Trading Post for $50, still rough cast, right out of a semi. Dad slowly assembled everything over the course of a year or so, parts here, parts there, built the interior in my grandmothers garage, had local engine guys build the engine, “Ohio” George Montgomery being one of them. Had a local machine shop make the prop shaft. Dad was an advertising salesman for the YellowPages, so he was very resourceful when it came to “having a guy”.

That’s me, the little black headed kid in the front passenger seat in the bottom pic, age in the single digits. Dad built it in ‘76. 900HP initially, and about 85MPH. We pulled five slaloms out with it a couple times, just to do it. At the time, there were only a handful of boats on Cumberland that could keep up with us, one of them a friend of my dads with a 22’ Shiada with a twin turbo 482 V-drive and a 3sp Lenko transmission (). THAT….. was a beast.

Thanks. Brad.

Always hated the line “the two happiest days of boat ownership…”. If one can even come close to relating to the last part of that phrase then they did it all wrong or had no business being a boat owner from the get go. Whenever we’ve had a boat leaving our ownership it’s always been a somber process. Think my daughter even got emotional once.

if I do go broke from our water going vessels, it’ll be worth it, and I think I’m on track.

Came home with this 2016 Allison Grand Sport on Friday. Currently our 4th side piece.

Allison boats are incredible. Nice!

Oh, I totally agree. I really, seriously can't imagine NOT having a boat. Each time I have sold one, it has been somewhat emotional for me. The '92 Baja 208 Islander I bought I had for...28 years?...and even though it was going to a good home, with a guy I knew would love it like I did...man, that was TOUGH!

Brad, wow...so cool you have those photos! Definitely brings back memories for me, thanks for sharing. That boat had to be a back breaker in any sort of chop, I assume? But what a blast it must have been...

Baja,

That's why we spent most of our time up the South Fork, rather than the bigger end of the lake. I didn't notice, being young and made of rubber and rebar, but yeah, the old fokkers didn't seem to like the chop too much. It was all but flat bottom. I can't imagine taking it out on the Main Lake on PokerRun weekend. Ain't no way.

I think that top pic is actually after dad sold it and bought the SeaRay. He ain't even in the boat, and I can't ever recall that happening while we owned it.

Man, did it ever give a tube ride, though. A little turn of the wheel and a little flick of the throttle foot, and GONE.

Talk about stretching out your arms. I would KILL to find a new Tub-N-It.

Thanks. Brad.

Obviously, I have very fond memories of that boat. I paid homage to it with my first AR build.

Thanks. Brad.