Randy Corson's Liberator - Part II, Page 1

The Return Of The Flamed Beast
Randy Corson's New Liberator Tunnel - Part Two

As most of you know, Randy Corson, also known as "Wildman" on our forums has just completed his new Liberator 21 Tunnel. Of course, in typical Randy Corson fashion, the boat had to be exotic, unique, and of course, very fast. This feature represents the final rigging process involved, as well as some performance notes on the new boat.
Over the years, I've come to know Randy, and as in the past with his boat features, I thought it would be best to let him tell the story in his own words. Randy just has a way with words that matches this project perfectly. Congratulations on being selected for the Scream And Fly Flying Machine of 2002 - a title that is well deserved.

- Greg

"Well, here we go! After damaging my 1996 twin 2.5 powered Liberator at the 2002 Radical Boat Reunion, I decided to start over with a brand new 2003 21 foot hull. I ordered it the week after the reunion, and got the stark white hull in June 2002. After spending 6 ½ weeks on the paint-job, it was time for rigging, which took almost 6 weeks. I wanted to make this boat better than the last, but that was going to be difficult. The only way to accomplish this was to use more time, patience, and money!"

"I've got this thing for being different, so the first thing I did was order a purple windshield. I had to buy a full 4x8 sheet of purple Plexiglas before they would make it. The next thing was to build a shifter box for the new Gaffrig shifters. I built it out of marine plywood and then glassed it in the right spot for easy access. I also made it big enough for a drink holder and a couple of kill switches (just in case!). Next I decided that the twin saddle gas tanks would look better hidden. At first I considered carpeting them like my last 21’. Nah, this boat had to be cool! I went to a friend’s sign shop and ordered a 4x10 sheet of 1/8 inch polished aluminum diamond-plate. When it came in, I went back with cardboard templates and cut and bent side panels to cover the tanks. I also made a polished support shelf for my twin Optima batteries and bought powder coated battery trays from Eddie Marine."

"The first problem was to try to put 16 Gaffrig gauges into a dash that was too small to fit them. I guess I could have cut it back to one motor, but I needed the shock factor, so I forgot about that! Well, after trying to arrange the gauges in different positions, I started looking back at pictures of old drag boats and decided to see if top mounted snorkel mounts would work. I ended up putting the Gaffrig GPS speedometer, 10,000 rpm tachometers, and twin pyrometers up on top. I got my ignition, trim switches, and hatch plates from Eddie Marine as well - they'll engrave them any way you want."

"Next I had to mount the Mercury 260's on the boat. I kept them from my 1996 boat, but bought new style Alien cowls from Mercury. They sure aren't cheap, but the original is all that will get. I drew up several sketches of setback brackets to have custom built. I knew where the motors had to be, so I didn’t use jack plates. I talked to Chuck at Hydro-dynamics and he said he could mill the setback units out of ½ inch aluminum plate. I also had him mill three and four inch diameter transom washers. I had all of these along with the bezels, washers, handles, and trim all powder coated hot pink pearl. I just have to be different."