My newest form of recreation

[upcruiser]

About 8 years ago, I inherited a boat when my grandfather passed away. It's a 1970 15' StarCraft. Nothing special, but a nice little aluminum boat. Due to time constraints, and money for that matter, its been sitting at my cottage since, needing a new pinion in the lower unit since I took ownership. Since that time the trailer tires rotted off, the seats disentegrated and it started to look like it was going to end up being a junkyard relic. Well, this summer I dragged up north to my house and started working on it. I focused first on rebuilding the lower unit. Having zero experience working on anything marine with a motor, it was a new experience. I sourced a new pinion for the '67 Johnson 40hp motor currently on it and got the thing back to together. To my surprise, with some fresh gas, the thing fired right up! My girlfried Dana and I took it out for a shake down on a local lake and it ran great. Now that I knew it was going to work, I started to dig into the rest of it. New fuel tank, fire extinguiser, anchor line, I rebuilt the seats, repainted the exterior and interior, rewired the lights, rewired the fish finder, put new tires and wheel bearings on the trailer, and did most of this last Saturday. Now I'm proud to say, that everything on it works perfectly, and it actually looks pretty good! I spent the last 4 days out on Lake Superior with it doing some shoreline touring and island hopping. I was fortuante enough to have calm seas and perfect weather. I can't say quite enough, how happy I've been with the boat. From hitting up some cool remote beaches to cruising down to a Blue's Festival at the lower harbor, its been great. Anyway, I thought I'd share some pictures.

1 and 2 at the boat launch
3. rounding Presque Isle
4. Between Partridge and Granite islands
5. Dana and the boat on the beach
6. Checking out a rocky cove
7. beached
8. The skipper and craft
9. Another cove shot
10. Under power

 

[upcruiser]

Couple more of a close encounter with a 1,000ft freighter.

 

[calamaridog]

Very cool:clapsmile

 

[Maddmatt]

Great Job, looks like a fun exploration vehicle. The view of a boats wake behind a small outboard like that is one of my favorite things in the world. Reminds me of my childhood and water, two things that are far removed from my life right now. Time to plan a water trip......

 

[VikingVince]

Your boat/lake pics are just awesome! I love the cove pics...sure would be easy to spend time in spots like that. They also made me go look up Marquette in my Atlas! You must be really happy with the effort you put into fixing up that boat...it looks great. I'd say you have a nice little "corner of the world."

 

[upcruiser]

Great Job, looks like a fun exploration vehicle. The view of a boats wake behind a small outboard like that is one of my favorite things in the world. Reminds me of my childhood and water, two things that are far removed from my life right now. Time to plan a water trip......

It has proven to be fun. Its small and light enough to get into tight areas and be able to beach easily. I'm thinking that in the next week or so of taking a day trip along the Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore which is about 45 minutes east of here by car. Some incredible scenery along there along with sea caves to explore.

 

[upcruiser]

Your boat/lake pics are just awesome! I love the cove pics...sure would be easy to spend time in spots like that. They also made me go look up Marquette in my Atlas! You must be really happy with the effort you put into fixing up that boat...it looks great. I'd say you have a nice little "corner of the world."

Thanks for the compliments! Yeah, finding those secluded beaches is great. The ones in those pictures were on the mainland but there are some cool ones on some of the islands as well. Marquette is an incredible area, I can't say enough good things about it. Lots of wilderness, 4 distinct seasons, and a freshwater ocean. The city has something like 6 miles of lakeshore park for the waterfront, so there is tons of great beaching and cool rock formations. Lots of recreational opportunities, if fact, my biggest problem is deciding what I want to do on a given day. ha ha

 

[jim65wagon]

Nice! We bought a 97 Basstracker and have spent almost every weekend fishing on the Rappahannock river. Its exactly what I needed...another hobby!

 

[atavuss]

nice lookin boat!
a couple of months ago I bought a 14' Gregor aluminum boat to use in the high Sierra mountain lakes to troll for trout. we have been going out about once a week. here is a picture of my son with his first trout:

even the dog gets in on the fun!

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Kristian, what a beautiful little boat. Well done.

 

[upcruiser]

Nice shots Atuvus! Thanks Jonathon.

On an interesting note, last night, around 12:30am I hear this crashing sound outside. I walk out onto the porch and my girlfriend is pulling up. I walk around the house and see my boat, wheeled out partway into my neighbors driveway. As she was pulling up, two guys sprinted away. Now, I'm not sure what they were up to, but I'm willing to believe that they were planning on sneeking it out of my driveway and taking it. They were on foot, but maybe they were planning on setting it somewhere on the road down the block, grabbing a truck and taking it. I was soooo mad. I hopped in the Silverado and cruised looking for the perps but had no luck. I went back and decided to tie a cowbell onto the boat, inside, so I'd hear if anyone tried to move it. No, I didn't have a hitch lock on it, but there is virtually no crime where I live, and I don't even lock my house when I'm out of town. Ugh, if I find those bastards, I'm going to have some words with them.

 

[calamaridog]

Thieves suck. Lock your stuff up!

Anchor a post into the ground with a hitch ball welded on top and lock the trailer down. Also you can lock the wheels to the frame with a cable so it doesn't roll.

 

[LUISJG]

NICE BOAT.

BOATS , BOATS,,, i love boats..

here is how much i love boats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlKVsyKDg5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FciDDKm7d5E