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View Full Version : What Made You Decide to Get into Boating?



Trailer Park Casanova
07-09-2003, 08:21 PM
When I was a little kid, my mom and dad were engineers with a Nuclear Reactor company here in LA/Simi.
They came home one day after a bad Nuclear accident, in those days called a spill. While my dads hand was shaking as he lifted his Kent Cigarette to his mouth, he explained Plutonium.
Over the next few months, dad flipped out from the stress and left us. My mom,, sank into alcohol and depression.
Then,, one day a relative swooped us kids up and put us on a train for Florida.
Through the deep segregated south (another story) us kids traveled to a Uncles house that lived in Key West.
Teriffic guy this uncle, a dickman extordinare. He lived to get laid,, and to enjoy power boats. He wrote the; "Mans Operating Manual of Women,, Complete Instructions." O.K. He coulda written it,, His theories weren't lost on the Casanova,, made me the swordsman I am today.
He took us kids in and took good loveing care of us ('till my mom turned her life back around),, and what a life us kids had.
My uncle had a place on the water, and Chris Crafts were the BFD boat back then. Especially big Block Hemi engines and a Planing hull.
I learned everything about everything about boating from my uncle,, and have loved boating, girls, the sun and water ever since.
I go to a tax prep lady in Thousand Oaks. I've been going to her house to have my taxes prepaired for 20 years.
She bought a new boat about 16 years ago,,, used it once, and it's sat unused next to her house ever since. I can glance out her upstairs window,, and each tax season,, I glance down and see it in it's latest state of obliteration.
From a brand new shiny boat; Now the seats are just about gone,, the trailer tires long since rotted, blue gel coat like white chalk, frame complete rust.
I'll never be the person that does that.
How did you get into boating? What caught your interest? Whats your history with boating??

Havasu Hangin'
07-09-2003, 08:25 PM
I like all the shiny objects.

Tom Brown
07-09-2003, 08:30 PM
Great story, TPC! I really enjoyed it. I feel bad for you and your parents but the story is wonderfully told. :)
For as long as I can remember, I've loved boats and lived for the summer. My parents have had a boat since about the time I was born. That was back during the depression. Around here, not many people had boats back then. Most of my family has enjoyed lake life ever since.
So... yeah, I bought my boat to get laid. So far, however,... no luck. :(
-- Tom :)

jlnorthrup122
07-09-2003, 08:31 PM
Well I duno um I wasn't anymore than 1 years old when I started and I just havent stopped!!

NorCal Gameshow
07-09-2003, 08:36 PM
after riding in a flatbottom hondo i was hooked :D
i heard that was the first nuclear reactor in the country. i grew up listening to the rocket engine tests watching the mountain range shake...

sandblasted
07-09-2003, 08:37 PM
My old man and his best friend bought a used Glastron back in the 70's, I think about 18 ft with an old Johnson outboard..They painted it flat yellow and called it "Ole Yeller". Friggin ugliest boat I ever saw!! Being that they both lived to hunt and fish this boat was mainly for the pursuit of the ever elusive big game fish. I mean trout and bass...We fished all over California and on the river, mostly out of cottonwood cove. We even used it to water ski on mission bay in san Diego a few times..some of the best memories of my childhood involved that ugly ass boat!
Eventually they moved away from each other and they sold the boat...
About 4-5 years ago some good friends of ours bought a 21' Ultra and began inviting us to the river..My wife and i enjoyed it so much we went out and bought our own boat. I truly feel blessed that my friends involved us in their hobby. I re-discovered a passion for being on the water and around boats..My kids seem to enjoy it as much as I do, and that makes me feel great...

mbrown2
07-09-2003, 09:02 PM
Parents took us to Parker and Havasu in 1978, parents continued to take us there....no better outlet from work, and no better place to spend time with the people you love. Nuff said.

mtndewdrops
07-09-2003, 09:06 PM
Me and a couple of my good friends in Jr High were fishing at a nearby Lake (Calaveras) and we found this little dinghy floating out there with no one on board. eek! We swam and retrieved it and it desperately needed some patch work on the hull. We dragged that thing home, made some repairs and fashioned a trailer to haul it back and forth by foot.
When 3 of us would fish in the boat the waterline rose to dangerous levels...hence the name HIGH TIDE. wink
2 of the 3 now own boats today... :cool:

superdave013
07-09-2003, 09:17 PM
My dad has a pic of my brother and I in cut down high chairs strapped to the colman cooler in the back of his star craft.
I would think that cooler was full of beer too! I was not a year old yet. Guess that's when it all started for me.
We had a 12' alum fishing boat with a 20 merc on it. The thing would really haul ass. My dad told me when I could start it I could drive it. I tried for a few years to fire it up. I think I was 12 or 13 when I finally got the oats to light it off. (I still say he had the plug gaps opened up to make it harder for me!)
Ah those were the days. I put some cup in the prop with a ballpeen hammer and 2" block of wood on top of the transom (get that X dim up ya know)! My buddy and I would both ride in the back seat to get the nose light. We beat rivits out of that sucka! That boat even went over the ski jump countless times.
Now kids are going off on the seedoos. We used to play bumper cars with those alum fishing boats. My dad's fishing boat would do a good 360 too.

NorCal Gameshow
07-09-2003, 09:26 PM
superdave013:
My dad has a pic of my brother and I in cut down high chairs strapped to the colman cooler in the back of his star craft.
I would think that cooler was full of beer too! :D :D :D that's classic :D :D :D

MagicMtnDan
07-09-2003, 09:29 PM
Pasties! :D
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/366PASTIE_TAN.jpg
(Photo borrowed from Steven)

WILDERTHANU54
07-09-2003, 09:31 PM
......WELL WHEN YOUR RAISED WITH YOUR OWN RIVER HOUSE IT KINDA JUST SNOWBALLS FROM BUILDING SANDCASTLES TO DRIVING 100+ V-DRIVES. MY OLD MAN RACED SO THAT KINDA KICK-STARTED THE SPEED/WATER THING.

jet496
07-09-2003, 09:45 PM
Grew up on the Mississippi River (Iowa/Illinois/Missouri/Minnesota)& all the little rivers that feed it. Was setting catfish/trout lines as long as I remember, going out in the middle of the night to check them. Bought my first boat when I was 18, a 1959, 16 ft, Cherokee Run-about with a 75 hp envinrude outboard.
I'm addicted to water.

Charley
07-09-2003, 10:11 PM
the chix...but that was 22 years ago wink

Hud
07-09-2003, 10:19 PM
There were no cops on the water when I started back in, 68! :D

HCS
07-09-2003, 10:20 PM
I was born and raised with boats.
Then these came along. Now I can't quit! http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/images/smilies/worshippy.gif
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/366PASTIE_TAN.jpg

U-Haul
07-10-2003, 06:13 AM
My old man is a tournament bass fisherman and we have had a bass boat for as long as I can remember. My grandpa had a Miller when my dad was growing up and they used to waterski all of the time. I learned to ski when I was 5 behind a houseboat, they just held me on top of the water and when the slack was gone they let me go and bam I'm skiing. I have just been around boats ever since. My new wife is not used to boating and the flatty just kills her so I may be looking for a cruiser pretty soon so that we can have fun out there together. Then again maybe I'll just have fun. Just kidding!

Waldo
07-10-2003, 06:54 AM
Boating is in the blood. Been going since I was a few months old. My dad always had the daycruiser and my uncle built blown flatbottoms which he later raced. Now my daughter is not even two and she wants to wakeboard already.

HAULNZ
07-10-2003, 06:59 AM
My parents took us to the lake when we were teenagers. Dad always had a kick ass flatbottom, friends had ski boats or pontoon boats. We went to the lake every other weekend for years. The lake kept us out of trouble. I have a 2 1/2 year old that has been on the boat since he was 6 months old. He loves it, he cries when we take the boat in for service.

Blown 472
07-10-2003, 07:02 AM
I was building a nine second car and then realized that sitting at the drags or going out first round would not be alot of fun for the family, so I sold the car and bought the boat.

91nordic29
07-10-2003, 07:09 AM
My parents have had a boat for as long as i can remember. I have pictures of me, my sister and cousins at cattail cove before it was a campground. We practically spent all our vacations and long holidays at havasu. That was “back in the day” (late 60's early 70's) when it truly was a family/fishing type place. When they first dug the channel and put the bridge in, we were there. Got to be one of the first to walk across. I remember riding across the lake, in the dark, from black meadow landing (we lived in redondo beach calif then) my sister and i sitting in lawn chairs, wearing those funky orange life vests, on top of all the camping gear, boat barely out of the water. We werent even scared. Guess we too young to know any better.
My mom didnt like to drive the boat so when i was 10, i learned to drive the boat and pull my dad on skis. I thought i was big stuff, boy. I remember we had those foam “ski belts” we used to wear.
I remember my older cousin laying on the front of my uncle’s boat and they were trying to catch a duck. That was the silliest thing i ever saw i think!
Also remember going to elsinore, bass lake, isabella.

Just Tool'n
07-10-2003, 07:10 AM
Started at 10years old, Dad & his new wife got a new boat in 1970, the thing had a 160hp merc in line straight 6 cyl. I thought it was the coolest thing on the water back then.
Then got to be an adult & my buddy & me started racing his Flat Bottom Sanger, then the speed bug hit, after racing for 6 years decieded to get my own boat.
Now as middle age hits, I still try too keep up with what I did when I was 25!

Havasu_Dreamin
07-10-2003, 07:15 AM
First boat trip was at just about 9 months old, been doing some type of on the water activity ever since.

1stepcloser
07-10-2003, 07:26 AM
My dad bought a 18' Glaspar with a Merc 1000 in 1969, used it for fishing in Long Beach.
A couple of years later my parents were divorced, my mom ended up with custody of me and the boat, married a guy who was really into cars, boats, planes, motorcycles, lawnmowers, anything with an engine.
We spent many a day at Elsinore in that boat, went to parker for the first time around 1974, (Echo) where a friend of my stepdad, Fred, took me for a ride in his boat, a Big-Block powered flat. (I was too young to know any details of the boat, sorry.) He scared the crap out of me that day, and every time he would go out for the rest of that weekend , I just had to go!
I was hooked.
I've ad a lifelong interest in things mechanical ever since.
In 1989 I bought my first boat, a 1970 Marlin tri-hull, powered (if you would call it power) by a 85 horse Chrysler 3 cyl. That boat would top out at 26 mph. :)
I returned to the river, actually Havasu, that year, with my own family, and have been there ever since. Albeit with a few different boats.
I sometimes think about my stepfather and the impact he had in my life and wonder if he know's. :)
Havasu Hangin':
I like all the shiny objects. Yeah, and there's that too. wink

1stepcloser
07-10-2003, 07:30 AM
91nordic29:
I remember we had those foam “ski belts” we used to wear.[/b] LOL! we had those things too. What a joke.

STV_Keith
07-10-2003, 08:10 AM
My earliest recollection in life (at about 3-1/2) is standing between my dads legs driving the boat. I can't think of a time growing up where we didn't have at least one boat. I got away from it when I moved away from the parents at 18, but at 30, I just HAD to have one again. The deal has been sealed.

Boozer
07-10-2003, 08:11 AM
My parents never owned a boat. I have never had any family members own a boat.
I went to Havasu for Spring Break about 4 years ago. Stayed at my buddies house who at the time was working for advantage boats. While he was at work A friend and I went down to the channel and were hangin out drinkin beers and just makin conversation with people. 2 guys pulled up in a 28 Party Cat and said they just dropped off the women and wanted to know if we wanted to go out for a speed run with them. We were like sure! Hopped on and took off. 2 hours later we returned and I had at that poitn decided sooner or later I was going to buy a boat. The next day my buddy was allowed to "demo" one of the boats at advantage. We took out a 25' Citation for 2 days and had a blast on it.
4 years later I bought a Cookie Cutter Boat. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I did that because now I'm about to buy a bigger boat. From cheap to.. well... Most of you know how it goes :)

RiverToysJas
07-10-2003, 08:14 AM
My parents had a boat when I was very young. We lived in IL. then and would boat the Illinios river out of Morris. In the following photo you can see my head, I'm sitting on Mom's lap.
http://www.rivertoys.com/about_rt/images/rtjas_dads.jpg
(Dad outfitted this heavy old Correct Craft with a small block Chevy and like to shock the early 70s jet boats with it)
They sold that boat while I was still pretty young but we'd vacation a couple of times each summer at my Aunt's cabin on a small lake in Michigan. That's where I learned to ski.
When I was 12 we moved to So Cal and didn't boat for years. At 19 I started working with a group of old school river rats. I took a few trips with them (one had a house on the water in BHC and the other a trailer near the dam in Parker). Decided I needed to get my own boat.
After I got married the wife and I talked about what we should do on our weekends, desert toys or river toys. I thought long and hard but my love of the water won out. Then I happened along on a good deal on my old 1976 Hawaiian which served us well for many years, even after we had a family and started boating on Lake Mojave...
http://www.rivertoys.com/about_rt/images/rtjas_hawaiian.jpg
Soon the family grew and we needed more room and bigger water capabilities...
http://www.rivertoys.com/about_rt/images/rtj_lavey.jpg
So here I am, rivertoy junky!!! wink
RTJas :D
[ July 10, 2003, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: RiverToysJas ]

VillainDave
07-10-2003, 08:15 AM
I grew up on a lake, so boats have always been in my blood!

MRS FLYIN VEE
07-10-2003, 08:24 AM
My father use to work for chris craft down here in marina del rey. He use to put me in my car seat at 8 months old and test drive all the boats he fixed to catalina island. As far as i know I have been into boats before i could walk Then at 13 years old is when i was taught by my dad how to back the trailor into the water so i didn't have to depend on anyone to do it for me when i was older. So far it's been lots of fun and just can't get enough. :D

Seadog
07-10-2003, 08:30 AM
I was big into canoes since I was a Boy Scout. I still am. My wife and I had one, but central Oklahoma is not great for canoes. My wife found a great deal on a used pontoon a long time ago and we have been hooked since.
[ July 10, 2003, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: Seadog ]

spectratoad
07-10-2003, 08:41 AM
Just been doing it all my life with my family and now I do it with my kids. Finally got our own boat 3 years ago.
Hey Casanova, just curious, what were you doing looking out of your tax preparers upstairs window? :D :D

JetBoatN
07-10-2003, 09:00 AM
When I was 1 years old my parents bought a house on Lake Ontario and at that time my dad had a 18' glastron carlson jet which he strapped my car seat in and drove me around in. When dad got rid of his jet boat I would bum rides off my next door neighbor who had a 890 hp, twin turbo glastron carlson jet.
Now at 25 years old. I bought that same house I grew up in and own my own (you guessed it) glastron carlson jet boat.
It's funny how some things never change!

Liberator TJ1984
07-10-2003, 09:04 AM
I likes to aggrivate people and bum beer , everybody would leave me all alone on the bank cry
they can't get away now :D

78Eliminator
07-10-2003, 09:15 AM
My old man used to take me to the river.
Drop me in the water.

Hallett19
07-10-2003, 09:21 AM
My dad had his 78 22 Mandella V-drive flattie deleivered from Brummett Marine in Pasadena the day I was delivered from Glendale Adventist Hospital, so I guess I have been boating since day one. Had the boat in the family till I was 15, then when I turned 21, started looking for a boat, bought one a few weeks later, here I am, 24 and boating.
[ July 10, 2003, 10:22 AM: Message edited by: Hallett19 ]

RiverToysJas
07-10-2003, 12:29 PM
Hallett19:
My dad had his 78 22 Mandella V-drive flattie ...A 22' flattie? Do you have a photo of that boat??? Sounds incredible!!!
RTJas :D

572Daytona
07-10-2003, 01:55 PM
Here is a pic of me on my mom's lap in one of my earlier boat rides circa 1964 at my grandma's house in Michigan. I was driving that 9.5hp Johnson when I was around 8 or 9. Defintely a lot of fun in those days, no speed limits, no noise ordinances, no safety checks, no field sobriety tests, only rare checks by the game warden to make sure you weren't catching over your limit or undersized fish
http://home.alltel.net/jthieme/Boat1964.jpg

Metal_King
07-10-2003, 02:14 PM
My dad had me water skiing at 9 years old and I have not looked back since. I could not imagine going thorugh life not being on the water...how dumb would that be??

Reaper1
07-10-2003, 02:28 PM
My Dad's been taking me to the river since I could barely walk and I just started taking my daughter who is 1. Thanks Pops!
Theres something about being on the water that just clears your head. wink

LaveyJet
07-10-2003, 02:34 PM
When I joined the Navy.

schiada96
07-10-2003, 02:47 PM
I like to throw away money. So I built a boat.
[ July 10, 2003, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: schiada96 ]

Trailer Park Casanova
07-10-2003, 04:17 PM
Teriffic stories. Old boat/first boat stories are the best.

DaveA
07-10-2003, 07:52 PM
572Daytona:
<snip> Defintely a lot of fun in those days, no speed limits, no noise ordinances, no safety checks, no field sobriety tests...<snip again> And no worries of the above with that smokin' 9.5 either.. :D Ah, those were the days.
I guess boating (along with airplanes, cars, etc) is hereditary with me. As the oldest of 6 kids, I'm the only one that carried on with it from Dad.
Earliest recollection of a boat- 1965 Grady White mahogany 17' (gawdawfully beeyootyfool finish) with a 50hp Johnson. That was too slow for my father the former boat racer, so he bought the first 100hp Johnson that ever showed up in Greensboro NC and hung it on. Had the X dimension up so high that it would cavitate in a hard turn, but it would fly for a heavy old woodie. He finally had something that would haul his big butt on slalom, and handle his need for speed (relatively speaking, of course).
Earliest boating venues I recall: Bugs Island/Kerr Lake in NC/VA; Philpott Resv in VA; High Rock, Badin Lake, and Lake Lure in NC; White Lake down east in NC (blackest water you ever saw to have that name)and finally started going regularly to Lake Norman. Now I live on it.

wineguy069
07-10-2003, 08:14 PM
I once saw a naked chick on a boat.....
Actually, as a kid my dad had a racing boat (v-drive) times got tough and he sold it....
Then one day my daughter went to the lake with our neighbor and their parents boat. She got up skiing on her first try and that settled it for me.... I figure I will still be a cool dad as long as I can take the her (and her siblings) freinds to the lake....
Ciao Wineguy

Sand Dawg
07-10-2003, 08:18 PM
Well I'll tell you boys what, while snowmobiling in the Great Northwest one day I thought to myself, self, what would it be like to go out on this snow after it melted, and there you have it,-----Hillclimbing in the winter and Boating in the summer....later

sorry dog
07-11-2003, 04:29 AM
I had too many points on my license and changed hobbies to get my speed fix.