Thought I would throw this up here in case any of you have considered messing with this stuff.

My boat has a metal dashpanel that I've never cared for so we decided to change things up.

My son Ian started with some 5.7 ounce Unidirectional Carbon Fiber fabric that I picked up at Tap Plastics.



Layed that out over the panel.  It's a bit challenging to lay it out and you absolutely HAVE to be cautious with this stuff as weave gets messed up easily if you get too heavy handed. 

Once it's how you want, mix up your epoxy resin.  We used West Systems 105 resin with 207 Special Clear hardener.  Just lightly dab it on to wet the fabric but again, dont get too heavy handed with it.

Once that tacks up, start applying additional coats.    He ended up using 3 coats of the epoxy and it's shown below.



Popped in the gauges to see how it's gonna look and I'm really happy with the look.



Next, we wet sanded it down and I'm gonna try blowing some clear on it too for even more depth and UV protection.   FYI, most epoxy needs UV protection or it will yellow.   Supposedly, the 207 is pretty UV resistant but a few coats of clear should insure that I dont have any UV issues.   

Stay tuned..................john

Hey guys, got a quick question for you and I don’t know if I have a problem or I'm making a big deal over nuthin.

I charged the battery up after sitting all winter and for grins, I hooked my 12 volt test light between the positive post and the feed line to the boat (starter and alternator is on a separate line) just to make sure I didn’t have any problems that surfaced over the  winter.
I did ha e a slight momentary glow from the bulb and then it would dim out.  I figured this was likely just the memory from the radio but for grins, I hooked up my digital voltmeter so I could actually measure it.

I got approx. 12.53 volts and it stayed reasonably stable.  I started pulling fuses to determine what would be drawing and found that if I pulled each of the fuses for the bilge pump, radio and the electric fuel pressure gauge it would drop to 0 volts.

While I understand why the radio would have a draw due to the channel memory, why would the bilge pump and fuel pressure gauge have a draw.

Also, given that when I put a load (the 12v test light), the voltage is only momentary as the bulb only stays lit (dim) for about 1 second before it goes out leading me to believe that the bulb is pulling that voltage down.

Also, when I hook up the cables to the battery post, I am not getting a arc which I would expect I would get if there truly was a 12+ volt draw

Am I making a big deal about this or have I got a problem that needs to be chased out. 

Thanks everyone……….john

What do you guys think?  You know more about the guy than I sure do (not even sure if I spelled his name right). 

Hey, to help sell some of the NW gang on coming south, some pics would be cool.

You have any favorites you'd be willing to post up so I can show the gang what we'd be seeing???


Thanks guys........john

All the forecasts say mother nature is about to bitchslap us sumthin fierce.

It's currently 16 degrees here and they're predicting up to 22" of snow to fall and sustained winds of 60mph with gusts from 70 - 90mph beginning tonight.  Gonna finish it off with a nice little addition of an icestorm.....

Everybody is battening down the hatches to try to ride this out.  The stores and roads are packed with people stocking up.

They're even predicting blizzards and drifting snow at the ocean beaches............when is summer??

Work has passed the word to all of us to expect to be on storm response for over a week at a time and to pack accordingly.  I use to love this stuff 30 years ago but I'm too fat and old for this now................

A bunch of the gang served as patrol boats for Shawn Reeds Pro Mod "Top Secret" for a test and tune.  They had safety boats and Austin is a certified diver so it was as safe as could be expected given where they did it.

Here's some pics (including Mount Rainier in the back of some poking above the cloud..

Well, we survived. The boat is hurt but certainly repairable and performed fantastic.  The pump setup that Josh, Rhonda and Tommy set me up with worked fantastic!  Thanks so much guys

We ended up with 107 Jet's and Vdrives. We set up a full 1/4 mile course with markers and bouys and it was a blast till the Sheriff showed up. As soon as he showed up everybody booked and then it turns out he was bummed and stopped and asked why everyone was leaving!!!

He had said he was watching up for a long time and was really impressed how organized we were and that everyone was wearing a jacket!  Hell, he said the only reason he came up to us was he was going to offer to close off the shutdown area so we didnt have any jetskis or family boats get in the way....what a cool Dude!

We had a bit of a Coyote Ugly thing going on Saturday night when I cooked my poppers up for everyone. Ended up with over 80 people around our camp site. Four people bit it bad tripping over things and ended up semi bent up but it was all good. I got up early and cleaned up all the bottles and cans before anybody else came by.

There was also a bit of a flashing session on the bow of my boat but thankfully no scratchs or cracks. I was afraid that the crowd might have gotten a bit unruly if I kicked the ladys off the bow.

Here's some pics without the nudity.

What a great time.  We ended up with over 700 pictures so here's some and if I missed somebody, please let me know and I'll see if I can find pics of them.















































This was probably the coolest race where a airboat and a fishing boat squared off on the course after watching us for awhile














Oh, and then there's these too





Yup, there's a boat in there somewhere, you can kinda see a glimps of the blue


Winner of the womens division with a total of six


Winner of the mens division with a total of eight


There was a formal challenge since Jeremy ate the last popper and did not allow Ian to counter with his own attempt at eight. The referees have determined that the challenge will be continued Labor Day 09

Okay, I need this boat like a gunshot to the head but, I live an 1/8th of a mile from an awesome saltwater boat launch that allows me to go anywhere in some very proctected waters.  I've taken the Brendella out there for years but would prefer not to if possible. The nearest fresh water is almost two hours away so I'd like to find a salt boat that had some style too.

Lo and behold I saw this at an auction place and thinking to myself,

• Room for Jan and I? Check
• Room for Kids and Grandkids? Check

• Room for Coats, Blankets (yah, I'm in washington remember)? Check
• Room for Coolers? Oh Yah!!!

• Bitchin Style? Serious
• No more worrying about getting swamped like that stupid Trophy tried to do to us in the middle of the bay? Check

• Potentially cheap to pick up? Check
• Able to Cocktail cruise but not much more speed than that so anybody could borrow it? Check

I'm diggin this boat but I don't know what it is. Anybody got any ideas?  Jets are rare in these parts....

Thanks guys.....john

Does anybody have a Holley baseplate for a 4781 Dbl Pumper?  Turns out that I have two different list number carbs and the linkages changed.

I'm looking for the type of linkage that looks like this and has no connnection to the mainbody.



Where as the other style that I don't need is this type where there is a pivot point that mounts to the main body like this.



Anybody got one of the first styles laying around? .........john

First of all, let me apologize in advance for the crass appearing subject of this post but rest assured, it's not what you think.

In anticipation of the annual fishing derby/beer fest/eat till you puke  event at some friends house tomorrow for the opening day of fishing season on the lakes, I went to the store to find the secret weapon of choice for tomorrow.
Let me tell you that NOBODY has marketing like the fishin bunch. There are more lures, line and shit that you can imagine.
I searched far and wide at the local Sportsman Warehouse before I found with is bound to be THE fishing accessory for tomorrow.

Yup, it's called Butt Juice......  Supposedly it's a attractint gel but all I know is if it's got a name like that, I'm buying it.

The checkout person tried to explain that it was not for trout fishing but for Halibut fishing.  After I thanked him for his concern I informed him that I didnt care if it's something I put on the roof of my house, with a name like Butt Juice, I'm buying it......

Once again they've come through. Got some goodies on order and can't wait for the brown truck to show up.  If you guys havent done it yet, give Tommy and the family at Jet Boat Performance a call. They will take care of you properly................thanks again Tommy

A friend of ours (yup, Rork actually found a friend) kid is a senior and they are playing for the state championship.  Kiro is doing a poll to see which game to broadcast. Would any of you be willing to vote?   

If you wouldn't mind, please click on the link below and you will be taken to the KIRO TV High School Sports web page.  Once there, please click the link that says,

   Vote for your favorite High School team now!

That will open the online ballot so you can vote for the Meadowdale High School vs. O'Dea High School football game.

Please feel free to forward this info on to anyone else you can think of too!  :-)

Thanks a bunch......john

http://www.kirotv.com/hsfootball/index.html