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Greetings CBC!
Glad to have found this site. Judging by the gallery pics, you all look like a great group of boat lovers. My wife, son and I look forward to learning about classic boats and hopefully someday get our new boat wet.
***(if you want to skip my boating life story, go to the bottom asterisk)
Pretty much my whole life has centered around modern bass boats. From the time I could walk like a drunk monkey as an infant in the 70s, I've been involved with bass boats. Back then, in what I like to call the birth of modern day bass fishing, there weren't many bass fanatics here in WA. Dad had a great hand in turning that around by starting Capital City Bass and having several "how to" articles written about him in numerous publications.
Every now and then though, Dad would take us out in the Sound and cruise from Olympia up to the Narrows or some other random location, periodically dropping crab pots and just enjoying life. This is where I really fell in love with the salty air and screeching seagulls.
As a teenager I worked at the port (Olympia) for a lumber company. My job was to clean up all of the bark and wash all of the equipment. Most of the day was spent watching the boats go by and wishing I was out there idling around while the waves slapped the hull in that familiar tone. Reality would kick in as the sun would shift over West Oly. I knew I only had a few hours to get the bark cleaned up. Frantically I would kick in to high gear and just beat the sunset, but while doing so I kept dreamin' of the water.
Fast forward to 1 month ago. Dad and I took a trip to Victoria where a friend of his took us out on his 48' Uniflite. This boat was awesome. Twin diesels really pushed this beast. We chased salmon for a while with minimal luck, but alas, I was back in the salty air, listening to the waves and gulls, with Dad.
Wild hair, meet Craigslist.
I searched daily for the right machine. Scouring page after page, looking for something that called out to me. My son would get excited each time I yelled to my wife "look at this one!" or "how about this one?" I can tell you, that got old quick...for her. I was still at it. Pounding the keyboard day after day, burning the electrons and getting kinks in my neck from horrible posture at the desk. Pfft! Nothing a pill can't cure, I've got a boat to find!
Did I really know what I was looking for? It evolved with each potential candidate. Did I know anything about...anything when it came to fixing up a glass boat? No. Still don't. Didn't matter, still had to find a boat! (does this sound like any of you or am I just out in left field?)
Now it's Saturday (as in a few days ago) and I've made arrangements to look at boat. I saw this boat on several late night CL surf sessions but didn't give it a whole lot of thought. Something about it didn't grab me at first. As my vision evolved for a particular style boat, this boat ended up fulfilling that vision. I knew once I saw it in person, I would own it....
***
I'm sure a lot of folks saw the CL ad for the 1959 Uniflite up in Port Ludlow. Some of you may even know the former owners. In any case, we now own it and are enjoying the cleaning up/discovery process as we go over it inch by inch. I have since discovered that it is a 1958, not '59. It needs the usual transom, floor etc.. but is seaworthy as is, minus the empty transom where there's no outboard. My initial intent is to put an early 4 cyl 50-65hp Merc on it to push me around, but I'm always open to experience over desire. My dad is pushing for a Merc, he's a Merc guy and knows all about them. But I like to gather my intel from multiple sources before I make my final decision.
Here are a couple of pics...more to upload later.
Thanks for reading (either version)...
Kelly
[ATTACH]14755[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]14756[/ATTACH]
Glad to have found this site. Judging by the gallery pics, you all look like a great group of boat lovers. My wife, son and I look forward to learning about classic boats and hopefully someday get our new boat wet.
***(if you want to skip my boating life story, go to the bottom asterisk)
Pretty much my whole life has centered around modern bass boats. From the time I could walk like a drunk monkey as an infant in the 70s, I've been involved with bass boats. Back then, in what I like to call the birth of modern day bass fishing, there weren't many bass fanatics here in WA. Dad had a great hand in turning that around by starting Capital City Bass and having several "how to" articles written about him in numerous publications.
Every now and then though, Dad would take us out in the Sound and cruise from Olympia up to the Narrows or some other random location, periodically dropping crab pots and just enjoying life. This is where I really fell in love with the salty air and screeching seagulls.
As a teenager I worked at the port (Olympia) for a lumber company. My job was to clean up all of the bark and wash all of the equipment. Most of the day was spent watching the boats go by and wishing I was out there idling around while the waves slapped the hull in that familiar tone. Reality would kick in as the sun would shift over West Oly. I knew I only had a few hours to get the bark cleaned up. Frantically I would kick in to high gear and just beat the sunset, but while doing so I kept dreamin' of the water.
Fast forward to 1 month ago. Dad and I took a trip to Victoria where a friend of his took us out on his 48' Uniflite. This boat was awesome. Twin diesels really pushed this beast. We chased salmon for a while with minimal luck, but alas, I was back in the salty air, listening to the waves and gulls, with Dad.
Wild hair, meet Craigslist.
I searched daily for the right machine. Scouring page after page, looking for something that called out to me. My son would get excited each time I yelled to my wife "look at this one!" or "how about this one?" I can tell you, that got old quick...for her. I was still at it. Pounding the keyboard day after day, burning the electrons and getting kinks in my neck from horrible posture at the desk. Pfft! Nothing a pill can't cure, I've got a boat to find!
Did I really know what I was looking for? It evolved with each potential candidate. Did I know anything about...anything when it came to fixing up a glass boat? No. Still don't. Didn't matter, still had to find a boat! (does this sound like any of you or am I just out in left field?)
Now it's Saturday (as in a few days ago) and I've made arrangements to look at boat. I saw this boat on several late night CL surf sessions but didn't give it a whole lot of thought. Something about it didn't grab me at first. As my vision evolved for a particular style boat, this boat ended up fulfilling that vision. I knew once I saw it in person, I would own it....
***
I'm sure a lot of folks saw the CL ad for the 1959 Uniflite up in Port Ludlow. Some of you may even know the former owners. In any case, we now own it and are enjoying the cleaning up/discovery process as we go over it inch by inch. I have since discovered that it is a 1958, not '59. It needs the usual transom, floor etc.. but is seaworthy as is, minus the empty transom where there's no outboard. My initial intent is to put an early 4 cyl 50-65hp Merc on it to push me around, but I'm always open to experience over desire. My dad is pushing for a Merc, he's a Merc guy and knows all about them. But I like to gather my intel from multiple sources before I make my final decision.
Here are a couple of pics...more to upload later.
Thanks for reading (either version)...
Kelly
[ATTACH]14755[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]14756[/ATTACH]
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