Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

[tuned]

As some of you are aware, I am building a new boat. It is a SouthBay925 I/O. In fact, I just bent my first 8' piece of aluminum underskin into that famous South Bay Curve (sort of). Here's a shot of the bending jig I made:


But I am getting in front of myself. Let's go back a few years:

THE HISTORY OF AL-----
The original Al was built by an old farmer named Al--well duh. It had a rotten shack sitting on a rotten deck which sat on rotten, leaky steel tubes. It had a rotten 35 Johnson on it.
There were 4 holes in the floor INSIDE the shack in order to fish on Rainy River (which IS the Canadian border). Some of the best fishing is in early spring. There is still snow on the ground and the lake is still frozen, but the Sturgeon season is amazing on the river.
I bought this pile of crap while I was waiting for my 454 to be rebuilt in my Crestliner Rampage cutty, which I had blown up while escorting a bunch of girls from the Canadian Olympic gold medal womens' hockey team (they were NOT impressed).
Here's a shot, of the boat, not the girls.

Although barely a real boat, I fell in love with her/him. Stay 'tuned'...much more to come!

[ronb]

I dig the jig, are you going to be making extra peices to sell to other South Bay owners?

I ain't going to lie, based on your story, that thing sounds like it may have been the start of a beautiful REEF...
-ron

[tuned]

I dig the jig, are you going to be making extra peices to sell to other South Bay owners?

I ain't going to lie, based on your story, that thing sounds like it may have been the start of a beautiful REEF...
-ron

I think it is somebody's dock now. How they manage to keep it afloat, I have no idea.

[ronb]

In case anybody has not seen the beauty that is the stock underskinning of a South Bay..

nv41697_3.jpg (19.53 KiB) Viewed 39900 times

Also FWIW, when I called them a while back they told me that theirs is .060 (I forgot to ask what type 3003, 5052, 6061....) and that they currently only underskin the back 3/4 of the new pontoons. Also FWIW, I was told that it would cost me $500 (plus shipping) to get stock underskinning from them for my pontoon.

-ron

[ToonGuy]

As far as skinning only the rear, that may be true on bi-toons (IDK) but the Tri-Fecta package Tri-Toons still have full skin...

[tuned]

Also FWIW, when I called them a while back they told me that theirs is .060 (I forgot to ask what type 3003, 5052, 6061....) and that they currently only underskin the back 3/4 of the new pontoons. Also FWIW, I was told that it would cost me $500 (plus shipping) to get stock underskinning from them for my pontoon.

-ron

I am running .060 5052 most of the way. Leaving 2 bare sections at the front to mount the ladder and the.....TRAIN HORN

[tuned]

OK. Back to the story.
After I don't know how many times of pulling the steel boat out and draining the tubes, I decided that it might be time to upgrade. I was hooked on toons tho.
As my budget was limited at the time (454 rebuild), I was looking around for something cheap, but aluminum at the least. Hoping to find an old ragged out boat. I ended up in a horse barn in Duluth, looking dubiously at a pile of new pontoon parts. Both tubes were dented, everything was covered in I don't know what. A bucket of stainless bolts had been kicked over and scattered long ago. I wasn't even positive that all the parts were there. As it turns out, I was one sheet of wood short so not too bad. The price was right tho and I began my first build. You can still see the 'residue of horse' in this shot, even after three hours on the highway.

As it turns out, the tubes were Premiere 'blems'. The factory is only about an hour from where I got them. I ended up putting the dented sides in and the sides with the seams out. Oh well.

[tuned]

After laying down Nautolex vinyl, it was time for a house transplant. I started replacing rotten wood at this time. Kind of an ongoing project.

LOTS of rotten wood.

Aaaand 'Al the Mirthmaker (Mark 2)' was born.

Iffy the Boat Monkey waiting patiently to take her out

[Texoma Toon]

"Iffy the Boat Monkey"

Can't wait to hear more! Great job and story!

[tuned]

Of course, now that I had a longer pontoon but was still using the old (repainted) rails, I had some gaps to fill.
Now I will NEVER claim to have the aesthetic skills of Dan the Wooden Boatmeister. My skills run more to the practical, verging on Red Greenish. Thus the FischerPrice Child Gates


Aaand the high end furniture

I still use plastic furniture to this day, although nicer ones. I love being able to stack them up for cleaning, frisbee tournaments and major applicance hauling.

BTW, the gates were easily wide enough to roll my sick daddy on board in his wheelchair. Some of the nicest cruises were with him. We buried him at sea off that boat. I miss him.

[tuned]

It was about at this time that I started adding some of the niceties of life, like heat.


The stereo began to grow...

aaand grow


I tried my hand at some metal work. And built a diamond plate BBQ. Also in this shot, my homemade 'power pole' several years before MinKota started marketing them.

[tuned]

(Flash forward to present)
Hmmm. All the wire seems to have fallen out of my SouthBay. This one must have been built on a Monday

[ronb]

(Flash forward to present)
Hmmm. All the wire seems to have fallen out of my SouthBay. This one must have been built on a Monday

That was all just superfluous copper from the company. Everybody knows you can run it above the deck in PVC for easier access and more protection of the wires. Or like the crab boats on 'The Deadliest Catc' across tall masts on deck..

Not sure I would have bought an amplifier called an eunich though.. seems risque!

-ron

[tuned]

(Flash forward to present)
Hmmm. All the wire seems to have fallen out of my SouthBay. This one must have been built on a Monday

That was all just superfluous copper from the company. Everybody knows you can run it above the deck in PVC for easier access and more protection of the wires. Or like the crab boats on 'The Deadliest Catc' across tall masts on deck..
Hopefully it wasn't part of the sacrificial anode system. Cause it got sacrificed all righty

Not sure I would have bought an amplifier called an eunich though.. seems risque!
The 'Unic' got castrated a while back. As did the Boss. Class D all the way baby!

-ron

[tuned]

Going back in time, but moving forward:

About four years ago, I upgraded to a Merc 115 4s.
Picked up a little speed, although not alot.


It sat kinda heavy.


Thusly the WaterGlide phase began.
Being prepped for mount.


First the underskinning


Mounted


Unmounted to adjust for 'tuning'


Remount and repeat. It was a long and time consuming process, but got me this nice sunrise shot (and a REAl speed boost finally).

Yes the WaterGlide does indeed work, but must be tuned very carefully.