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From
Mild to Wild
Randy
Corson's 120+ MPH Twin-Engine Liberator 21
Article and Photos by
Randy Corson
"I
stripped off every single screw. Then I sanded and primed it with epoxy.
Next I blocked it to make sure there were no ripples or imperfections. I own
a body shop in Port Orange, Florida, named Custom Body Works, so this was
nothing new, except I didn’t get paid for the six weeks it took me to do
this boat. I first painted the boat bright yellow and put a lime green fade
in the front. Next, I spent four days taping out the flame job. After
painting it and putting on several clear coats, I sanded and buffed it for 2
1/2 days. Next, I powder coated or painted every fitting or trim piece blue
(it was all red before)."
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Left: The boat after painting. The next step
is to remove the tape and add the clearcoat.
Middle: Tape
removed, and the clearcoat added.
Right: Sanding and
buffing for three days to achieve the mirror finish. |
"I
ordered an entirely new interior from Dave at Liberator, who was very
helpful in the whole re-rigging process. I got new royal blue 40oz carpet
from Fountain Boats. I got a new lime green windshield (very cool) and a
600-watt stereo system. Next we built a custom trailer with polished
aluminum fenders, step-plates, and taillight panel. The final touch came
last month with my new license plate which reads, appropriately, 120 PLUS."
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Left: Re-rigging with blue gauge bezels and trim, and
40oz. blue carpet.
Middle Two: The
reward of six weeks of dedicated work. Note the flame pattern on the
bottom of the hull. Attention to detail here is an understatement.
Right: Making a
pass and testing the new rigging. |
"The motors are 1996 Mercury 2.5's, with the only mod being cut heads. It now
has 170-175 lbs of compression and still runs great on 93 octane fuel.
Performance is 118 mph turning 30-inch Spinelli cleavers at 8900 rpm. I
know, too high!, or 124 mph turning 32-inch Mercury cleavers at 8200 rpm. I
can still run 109-111 with four people. The motors are mounted in the
tunnels and raised five inches above the center sponson. At over 100 mph, I
used to run out of water pressure, so now I run a Stainless Marine
transom-mounted water pickup. At that speed, it's only 1/8 inch in the water
and it still feeds both motors at 15-20 lbs."
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Randy's 21
Liberator certainly is wild, and it's even faster than it looks.
Maybe that's where his nickname, "Wildman" comes from? |
"I like this boat so much that I recently became the
East Coast dealer for Liberator tunnel boats. They build 18-24 ft tunnels,
so if you're in the market, email the old WILDMAN at
liberatorboats@yahoo.com."
See-ya on the wet side...
Randy Corson
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