Randy Corson's Liberator - Part II, Page 2

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

"After that I took the motors all apart, sandblasted them to bare metal, put on epoxy primer, and painted them. The flames were thought up during one of my mental states. After the motors were mounted (five inches above the bottom), it was time for the Imco hydraulic steering. I used all stainless braided lines instead of rubber - remember, COOL is what I am after. The transom hose fittings were made by a local machine shop. I knew from experience that with the motors that high, I'd have to use a transom mounted water pickup to cool the motors. Once I had the steering and motors on, I could start the wiring process."


Left: 16 gauges means a lot of complex rigging. Middle: Custom made flamed carpet design. Right: Rear compartment shows powder coated battery boxed and power hatch actuator.

"If you figure 16 gauges, with 4-5 wires each, that's a lot of wiring. Another problem was trying to fit all the accessories in the back of the boat. There were two batteries, two fuel pumps, two trim pumps, three bilge pumps, two water separators, two fuel filters, four wiring blocks, two battery switches, a hydraulic hatch cylinder, all the fuel, bilge, and trim hoses, and all the wiring and harnesses. That was probably the hardest thing to try to work out. Next, I hooked up the Gaffrig throttles and the In-Control split twin foot throttle. This allows me to rev one motor more than the other. It works great in turning the boat at speed. By the way, It doesn’t turn at all over 65 mph with the motors that high!"


Left: Custom matched interior. Middle: One-off powder coated standoff brackets. Right: Flamed paint work on lower unit nosecones.

"Then it was time for the stereo. When Dave Adams at Liberator built the boat, I had him make a specific size subwoofer box and fiberglass it to the front bulkhead before the deck was glassed on the hull. I have a 12-inch subwoofer in this box, and two stainless steel Poly-Planar 6x9 speakers in the back. These are all powered by a 600 watt, four channel amplifier."

"After all this, it was time for the carpet. I chose a deep purple 40 oz. marine carpet for this. Then I really had an idea - I know of an interior decorating place that also makes sculpted custom carpets. I made some flame templates and got silver 40 oz. carpet and took it to them. I showed them what I wanted, and they fabricated the carpet."


Some views of the completed project.

"Now, the boat was almost done, and it was mid-September. I'm looking at my new machine and can hardly contain myself. I finally got it done at midnight the night before the September 22 East Lake Get-Together. When I got there the next day, it ran fine - for three miles! I was running about 75 mph when one motor decided to shift into reverse. Well, there went the prop shaft, drive shaft, and all the gears. Since then I've had several other motor problems. It runs great now, but one motor has a 7800 rev-limiter and won't let the other go any higher either. I'm running 113 mph with 32 Mercury cleavers at 7800rpm. The old boat ran 124 mph at 8300 rpm with the 32's, so I'm hoping for close to that when I get my new ECU box."

"Well, all in all, the new flamer project was a success, and I thank all of you who voted for me for Flying Machine of the Year."