noli

.















.

Twin O/B Sonic

Very cool!

We rolled the hull of my 24’ Sonic and it scared baJesus out of me!

boostbros

Those are beautiful boats and they still know how to put the engines inside the hull awesome!

tommymonza

I used to have a parasailing business out of Corolla and Kitty Hawk on the Outerbanks back in the mid 90s.

My little brother was my crew and was a cabinet man by trade and I had grown up building boats with my older brother in Michigan.

Anyways there were about 5-6 backyard builders on the Outerbanks back in the day that would build full framed juniper planked epoxy sheathed 55 foot single engines for their summer sportfishing summer, than sell at the end and build another.

So we had found one builder in particular that was in the process of building an upright 60 footer when we stopped by late summer.

Paul Mann was his name and he was all about us coming to work for him in the fall as he had orders piling up from former Bertram , Ocean and Hatteras owners as his boats smoked theirs out to fishing grounds during tournaments.

This was his first boat he built upside down and after we got done with a week of hand long boarding down 200 gallons of fairing compound it was time to flip this 60
footer.

A couple lifting eyes in the side with struts going across the hull and double slings to roll it with. Rolled it right there in the yard over the trailer we pulled it out of the barn with

pretty awesome how easily it was done. I have video of it on my old 8mm somewhere.

Paul went on to become the leader in building much larger custom sport fishing boats . At the time he was a sick young guy waiting on a liver but he persevered and worked everyday regardless.

I spoke with him a couple years ago and he was speaking of retiring and closing up shop. Absolutely one of the nicest guys you could meet.

His site is still up showing some Cool fast Monsters.

https://www.paulmanncustomboats.com/

HOSSMAN

Jarrett Bay is the Cats A$$. If I ever won the lottery twice I would be all over one. Our goal is to retire on a Sportfish someday so I daydream and internet eye-F&*k most of them monthly lol.

AmiableDave

Up-side-up? 😂

tommymonza

I couldn’t afford the fuel to get out of the inlet . I have a buddy who has a buddy of his rebuilding a gutted out 54 mid 70s Hatteras at his shop at the Glades .

What a project I’ll be amazed if he finishes it before he dies , Twin 12-71s are no joke to feed either.

I’ll take my little 37 foot trawler with twin 57 hp getting 3.5 mpg over those beasts any day though if I won the lottery I’m getting Big MTUs and surface drives with a possible 5000 turbine through the Kamwae water jet so I can hit 80 knots.

HOSSMAN

Love it! Beautiful trawler for sure man! My grandfather always wanted an old Grand Banks. Yeah the fuel is no joke for sure. We have a buddy who Captains for one of the big guys in the tournaments on a boat named "Scandalous", keeps it part of the time in Costa Rica and then moves it to the Gulf Coast for others. We are headed to Costa Rica in July to fish and do some R&R. I'll never afford a Jarrett Bay or even better a F&S but when the time comes an older Hatty or Viking 52-55' range won't be out of the picture hopefully.

I grew up working on my grandfathers (both of them) old wooden Chris Craft cruisers up North on the Hudson in the Spring and Summers, replacing planks, painting, sanding etc etc etc. ton of upkeep but really rewarding. My dads dad bought his Sea Skiff at the 1958 NY boat show and had it till he died back in the late 80's/early 90's. My moms dad was a WWII and Korea Navy vet on a destroyer and was my hero. I didn't realize how much he taught me back then but over 30 years later the appreciation I have for those days and learning is priceless.

tommymonza

Yea this thing is far from pretty but not having any outside wood or an exposed fly bridge makes it mostly hassle free and work free.

My younger brother lives on his 34 Marine Trader
next to where I dock my boat .

He just got done ripping up all the teak decks and cutting out the plywood coring and recoring and reglassing. I would have set the thing on fire.

He’s got all the teak handrails and doors off for refinishing.

Meanwhile he is using my washer and dryer on my boat every other day.

The difference between his 34 and my 37 is I have 3-4 times living space and ten times more storage.

I worked 2 seasons on a 1964 36 Chris who Ben who owns Chief motors in Spring Lake Mi. Owned.

Mostly replacing and scarfing in partial plank repairs with epoxy . Boat was in nice shape for its age but the double bottom was at its end of useful life being it was 50 years old.

When I was a kid I grew up on my parents 48 foot sailboat during summers at the Macatawa yacht club in Holland Michigan .

We lived out at the boat full time and during the middle of the week it got boring as most kids were only there on weekends , granted I had daily deck and teak scrubbing and I sailed my ass off on my little sailboat.

Anyways the old boatyard immediately next door to the yacht club was originally building pt boats during ww2 but was bought out by the Eldean brothers in the 70s who started buying up old wooden classics and restoring them.

1975 a 11 yo me wanderd into the shop of 5-6 old guys working on a couple stripped old Chris Crafts .

These were guys left over from the days of building them at the Holland plant back in the day and the Eldeans had the foresight to hire this lost skill.

Through the process of my many inquisitive visits one of the old guys started up a conversation with me, as before I just wandered in and observed and left without a word spoken .

During our conversation he asked if I wanted to help Oh **** I would sweep the floor to hang around these old guys .

So I ended up being the plug kid , oriented the grain and glued them In. Rarely talked just listened to the guys banter being they were long since retired and just having fun.

Great Memories.

HOSSMAN

Great story my friend, like my mom said about Glamour Shots back in the day "A little powder and a lil paint will make you what you really ain't" lol.... It isn't always about what it looks like on the outside it's what's inside that counts. Sometimes I think I was born 20 years too late but there is a true appreciation for the old woody's and boats (and people) who have helped shape our future. Your story about meeting Paul Mann...that's cool....helova boat for sure!

I can still remember my first time as a kid helping put my grandfathers 36 Constellation in the water for the first time in the spring and water seeping in and freaking out and him laughing telling me what I forgot to do then telling me to settle down and after few days all was swollen and good, had no idea at the time. He also had a few old Owens before that one and a few other Chris'.

Anyway man thanks for the feedback and cheers!