larslindroth

Good read on Jones and his interest for boats, like quite a few other F1 champs. Brasilian Emerson Fittipaldi, for example, started in boats and moved on to cars. Really liked both of your boats Jon. The twin Yammie 26 was fantastic and must have been lots of fun to fly around in. The large sports cruiser was a very impressive yacht, just striking!

As far as photos of my Larry Smith Scarab I don't have much. Bought her just a couple of years ago even though the timing was not ideal for me, since I knew that it would be very little leisure time for a while. However she's a unique boat in that Pete Rothschild knew that this would most likely be the last boat that his great friend, and old racing buddy, Larry would build him. He was very particular with many practical solutions and the attention to detail in the build is just fabulous, so I pulled the trigger. That he also decided to go outboard for the first time was also perfect for me since eggbeaters or diesels is pretty much the only way to reliability in the long term for most purposes. I posted a small album a while back on my signature page, however the photos are not very good. Here's a link to the photos and a couple of images.

Photo album: https://www.offshoreonly.com/g/album/10880253

Twin O/B Sonic

Wildman_grafix

Wow Twin,,,,,, I had almost forgot about Eddie Lawson. Before all the controls they have on the bikes. Him and of course Kenny Roberts before him. I still remember reading how Kenny was pissed when they moved to 4 strokes.

rak rua

Sorry for messing with an excellent thread but just to respond....
Lars, love your Scarab, very cool and that dessert lake setting Havasu or somewhere similar? Is hard to comprehend. The U.S. really does have boating nailed.

The bigger Volante cruiser was a great day boat for a party but I got more action on the smaller outboard rig than I've seen on all my other boats put together! I don't think it was me but girls just flocked to that boat when I pulled up at Melbourne's busiest beaches. (Probably why I kept it longer than any other boat I've owned)

Back to the Checkmate build........
RR

.

larslindroth

"...and that dessert lake setting Havasu or somewhere similar? Is hard to comprehend. The U.S. really does have boating nailed."
Yes, lots of varied waterways in the U.S., especially in the South West. We're truly spoiled. The photos are from Lake Powell.


"...but I got more action on the smaller outboard rig than I've seen on all my other boats put together! I don't think it was me but girls just flocked to that boat when I pulled up at Melbourne's busiest beaches. (Probably why I kept it longer than any other boat I've owned) "
Certainly being able to see how come that recipe worked well with the ladies. Cool performance boat with a cuddy and intimidating power.

"The O/B part of the boat is what got my attention. Love it. What does she have for power? Please let it be two strokes 😉"
Yes, she's got 2001 OX66 V-250's, so no 4 stroke OB's for me yet. Last 2 strokes have been on my little ski/pleasure boats for the Colorado River/Lake Havasu, 2001 Evinrude 225 Rude Ram and a 2006 Evinrude E-Tec 225 H.O. The Yammies on the Scarab will no doubt hold up for some time, which is needed for me, I'm no Rothschild. Next time I'd like some more power since the Scarab 31 has got the 8'6" beam of the 38' boats and barely hits 60 mph. Though currently there are plenty of new exciting motors that have got the power, they have far from proved yet how reliable they are as you know, and I can't afford to buy the wrong ones.

Twin O/B Sonic

Wow, what a cool thread this has turned into!

Wildman, agreed. I stopped watching when they went to four strokes.
KR called them diesels
My favorite Eddie Lawson story I read.
Was out putzing in his garage when a California motorcycle patrolman saw his door open and stopped to BS w/him.
They both ended up on the cops bike, Eddie driving, cop on back. A pig of a bike of course.
Eddie lived in an area w/winding roads/great place to ride.

He scared the cop so bad he bit through his lip!
There was a picture of the cop holding his lip out so you could see the hole in it!
He was a stud.

rak rua, see you one, raise you one.
When I had ny first twin O/B 24' Sonic stored in my pole barn behind my house at Lake Erie, and my girlfriend would visit on/for the weekends, Id put a space heater in the cuddy in the unheated barn........., and we would go visit it.
That cuddy got hrs and hrs of use in the winter, in Ohio

Lars, I need to come visit!

OX 66's are killer motors!

What is middle boat?

Bottom one a Stoker?

rak rua

larslindroth

Plenty of beavers in both Ohio and Melbourne it seems. We got 'em along the Colorado River/Lake Havasu too, but we don't invite them down into the cuddy until it cools off late in the evening. The Native Americans are now asking for more assistance with keeping the beaver population in check. I thought it only was a Spring Break problem in Lake Havasu with surroundings, but I guess it's a permanent issue now.


P.S. "What is middle boat? Bottom one a Stoker?"
You got it, a 1996 Stoker 20.4 SST, and the middle boat a 1981 Schiada 20SS. Both sold now and it's time to spend more time offshore. The Stokers are incredible boats though, would gladly have kept that if I had the time and money to use it too. I believe the father & son duo John & Al Stoker perfected the 20'-22' lake high-performance boat with their tunnel vee hulls. They run best in 1'-2' chop, but a 22' or 26' Stoker actually kick butt in the ocean too. Looking forward to the next attempt at an oceangoing tunnel design by famous Hawaiian yard Navatek, Sea Blade SBX36 with twin OB's. Way off topic now, but that happens to boat fanatics like me at this time of the year even in California. D.S.

Twin O/B Sonic

Lars, love the small boats!
Some of the west coast boats are spectacular.

Ive had several and still my fav's.

BTW, Al Stoker is one of my heros and a friend of mine.
You probably know of his boat racing history in the Mod VP days.
He and his dad built their own Johnson/Evinrudes and raced and beat the Merc factory teams over/over, pissing them off to no end.
Three time National Champion in that class.
I love underdogs and I have videos of his races with 20 boat fields, he was the only OMC/non Merc and beat them!

Here are a couple of my previous weapons.
17' Hydrostream that I recored/restored and got hull weight down to 543 lbs.
101 GPS w/a JohnRude I built in the garage, on pump gas.





Last one was this STV River Rocket.
Built FrankenRude II for it, also in the garage.
I was playing w/it at same time I was restoring my 2nd 24' Sonic in Fla, outside, no shelter and getting my ass kicked.
Lost 9 lbs in one day working on it...........

Anyhow......, got that motor dialed (SDS fully programable EFI) well enough to drag race but never top end. Low 100;s but nothing further.
When it was 70% complete I went to a run, idled into the Merc crowd and asked who was first.
A buddy stepped to the plate in his fly weight drag boat w/a Diamond Marine Merc on it.
We ran twice and he beat me by a boat length both times.
After the fact, over beers....., he and I calculated I was 400lbs+ heavier than him, had zero tune in the motor and ran a prop w/2" too low in pitch.
The EFI was set (I didnt know it) to dump additional fuel in the motor at anything above 140* engine temp.
I was running it at 160
As propped it was running out of steam at 7K and I was going through the traps at 7500.
W/2" more pitch (which I had in the truck....) the outcome would have reversed.

Anyhow...., way fun boat.
W/that motor, you could go from a 22" prop to a 32" and it didnt care!
It was a beast.

larslindroth

Just amazing boats Gary! Think I remember Your Vector from the ScreamAndFly site, but your serious STV I've never seen photos of. Always loved the look of those Vector boats. Still totally bummed out about Al & John closing their shop after all those years. Was there only a handful of days before their last day. The last boat left in the shop was my ex. Stoker in the photos above. One of Al's old-time customers bought it from me and put a Merc. on it. I'm not a mechanic, so I always scout very very diligently for the top guys when I need help, and that's very often. Al is bright beyond belief, as you know so well, and being both a mechanics wizard and all that racing experience under his belt, we customers were completely spoiled. Pretty much why Al got a little tired of it all, a lot of customers didn't understand that they knew almost as little as myself, and should have just listened to Al and learned, instead of running their mouths. So here's a photo of the last Stoker out of John's Custom Marine, a year after Al had left for Florida. God bless Him & His pop John, none better fellows. So glad you got the videos of Al racing in the Mod-VP series.

Now let's get this narrow beam Checkmate ready for this season. When did the Checkmate Convincor 25 get the one foot wider beam, and what made you chose this earlier generation Gary?