Here's a note from Steve of the Crystal River Rats. This is the Civil War scow they just finished, looks like it actually floats.

Check out what our buddy Larry Page gave us, a 5 hp 1915 Acadia boat motor. We'll have to build an appropriate boat to put it in and take it out to some of the old timey boat events and kick some butt. Here's a video of one of these motors running.

John tried to explain the the difference between horse power and torque and how these motors could push big boats but I still don't get it. I expect for Howard to turn this thing into a brand new motor. Larry said that it ran pretty good 20 years ago.

Speaking of real old things, here's me in 1974, still got the hair anyway.

Back to reality, I've sent pictures of Brooke before when he was building this boat in Alaska. And isn't it a perfect looking boat for water that's always freezing cold? We really love guys who think outside the box and make things that seem perfect for the conditions at their location. He built a boat shed that looks just like the boat, maybe it turned out to be the boat. This thing may be way bigger than it first looks, check out how big he looks sitting in the back, maybe he designed landing craft in another age. He said that he may come down to see us here at the shop, now this is a guy I'd like to meet.

Charles Hodges did come to see us. He's from Georgia and built this launch from some modified Bolger plans. I think he said that it's 34 feet long. The truly unique thing about this boat is that he controls everything with a controller of a PlayStation. Everything has a servo running it so he can walk anywhere on the boat and still be in control. Would you imagine that he's a radio control airplane guy? He and his wife were here a couple weeks ago the same time as Chuck the Duck and Sandra. They both talked for a while, had a lot in common and left not knowing who the other really was. We get a lot of that here. If you come for a visit you may be sitting on the dock swilling beer with the king of the universe and not know it; braggarts and jerks get pushed in the water and leave.

Speaking of jerks, oh I'm sorry, this is Steve. We love to make the big loop around some islands by the girl scout camp when the tide is good; it's like going on a trip through the Amazon, it twists and curves in some really virgin woods and swamps, scary to the first timers. There's never any arm twisting to get any of us to go, Helen and Cessna are the first to the boats.

I'm still working on John's EC boat. Put the front centerboard in last week to check for the fit. Looks pretty mean doesn't it? We're trying to anticipate everything that would make this a perfect boat for this race. John says that I'm goofing off a lot (his words are a lot harsher) but it takes a while to figure out how to do it and make it perfect (and I seem to get side tracked a lot).

I love playing with expanding foam. This stuff says it expands 30 times and it's really fun watching it grow. I'm filling the front and back of the EC boat and am having a hard time holding back from doing the whole boat. It's closed cell and approved by the Coast Guard for flotation, it's 2 pound foam. It costs about $75 for two gallons of this stuff which should make about 10 cubic feet, I think.

I told you about my brother and I building the Skipjack "Carpenter" and got some responses. It turns out that a lot of you want this boat also. Even Bob Hicks of MAIB's wanted one and built a half scale back bone for one. He didn't have time to actually finish it and sold it to Greg of New York who did finish it and here it is. Half scale is a lot smaller than whole scale but it looks neat.

Helen Marie in "Helen Marie" This boat continues to be the best boat ever built; especially if you live on a wild shallow river and like to go out every day and enjoy mother nature. Cessna is real bossy and makes us go.

Steve and Lenna had a kitchen warming party and invited a bunch of wild and crazy women. The more I'm exposed to wild women the more I'm afraid of them; a few drinks and they want to fool with me, where were they when I was 20 years old?