Word to the Wise
I just read Mike Smith’s article “More Is Better” in the January 2016 issue. It had a lot of good information about fire extinguishers, but I want to pass on a little something I just learned this year, although I have been in the boating business for nearly 40 years.
This past summer, one of my customers was sent back to port by the USCG because the portable extinguishers on his 1993 Sea Ray were not accepted even though all had gauges reading in the green.
Upon further research, we both learned that they all have something similar to the following written in red on the label: “This product must be removed from service 12 years after date of manufacturing per NFPA 10. Year of manufacturing located on the bottom of cylinder.”
And indeed it was. Those units were dated 1993, obviously over 12 years old. At a recent trade show, the local rep for a wellknown extinguisher company was also unaware of the regulation. So, advice to all boaters: check the date on each extinguisher before your trip is cut short.
—John Polek President, Sunset Harbor Marina
Essex, Maryland nesota, about as far as one can get from an ocean on this planet. But, we had a cabin “up north” and as a little boy I was in awe of the birth of fast boats when the outboard horsepower races took off in the early fifties. I remember Cheteks, Shell Lakes, Switzers, and, of course, AristoCrafts. In 1959 I built a hydroplane in sophomore woodshop and started with a 22-horsepower Scott Atwater but was disappointed when it didn’t do much more than 30 mph. I found a used ’56 Mark 30H and it was a different world, hitting about 55 as near as we could measure based on a timed trip from our bay out to an island in the middle. When I got to work after college, I bought a Glastron G3 and put a 100 Merc on it. When water-skiing wore off I graduated to a Checkmate MX-15 with a short-shaft Merc 1350, power trim, and a 14 x 28 hubless surfacing prop that on a light chop was measured at 71 mph with virtually none of the boat in the water. The rooster tails were awesome and the nasal roar of the Merc when the exhaust broke surface as the motor was trimmed out still echoes in my heart. I ran the Checkmate on the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers and thankfully, law enforcement had a sense of humor in those days.
Well, those days are long gone and today I drive a 58 Bluewater Cockpit Motor Yacht on the Mississippi. But, the yearn for a fast boat never dies once it takes root in your soul. Just before Thanksgiving 2014, I was searching the Internet for plans for a 1950s runabout to build and a hit took me to eBay where a 1954 AristoCraft Torpedo with a 1958 Kiekhaefer Mercury Mark 78 “Dockbuster” and a 1954 Sterling trailer were up for sale. The boat had been in a warehouse for 30 years awaiting restoration and the owner died before getting the proverbial I was told the deceased owner got it from another guy who had it stored for a decade and figured he’d die before getting a chance to restore it, so he sold it. Supreme Marine in Minneapolis has a greybeard who knows the Mark motors and he got the Merc running in October, and it is now out for a complete clean, bead-blast, and repaint to original 1958 Mercury Burgundy and Sand Tan. Someone tried to make the ’58 Mark look like a 1961 Merc. AristoCraft is still in business in Alpharetta, Georgia, and the boat will go there in January to be restored to original condition. The AristoCraft will never be as fast as the Checkmate, but every time I get behind the wheel it will be a 12-year-old boy driving who never in his wildest dreams ever thought that someday he would get to drive an AristoCraft.
—Bob Boesel Hudson, Wisconsin
Hello Michael, I read your article, “Speed Thrills,” with great interest in the January issue. I purchased, and still own, one of Don Aronow’s famous project boats, the 1981 triple-outboard 35-foot Cannonball Express. I invite you to revisit my Inbox story from the June 2013 issue. I have admired your work, and your writing, for many years.
—Larry Russo Sr. Danvers, Massachusetts