How many boats have you owned ?

[lars strom]

That's not FAIR

I see your High school picture..

Thanks..Here is the story from school 1967..

https://svera.se/blogg/smorgardsbord/my-first-power-boat/

[Speed Jr.]

Fun post Mike....

2003 Hydrostream Venom
2010 HydroStream Venom Comp
2009? Quartershot T3R
2000 Rapidcraft Twister
2005? Hydrostream Venom
1994 28 Skater
1996 Donzi 22 Classic
1998? Mirage River Racer
2018 Quartershot T3R
2015 Lowe Tritoon
1988? Hydrostream HST Comp
24 Eliminator Daytona
1997 Triad V21
1998 21 Liberator 300R
2024 22 Liberator 450R - Current boat

Hopefully when I get in my 40s I can step my game up.

[motexas]

Speed JR, post pics of your new Liberator

MO

[David]

My list is meager in comparison, but no regrets.

8’ Hydro with 20 Chrysler
14’ Grew (Slickcraft), first with 55 2 cyl Johnson , the 60 3 cyl Johnson
18’ Hydrostream Virage with 150 XR4
13’ VooDoo with 70 HP Nissan
16’ Baja with 100 crossflow, and then a 115 Etec
20’ Allison SS2000, first with the 150 from the Virage, then a 225 Promax, and now a 200XS ROS, still have

It was shocking how much quicker and faster the Ally was then the Virage with the same motor.

I left out the cedar strip boats our family had into the 1980’s
Maybe I should include the 19’ J Craft that I jointly own with my brothers

[SlingShot]

LENGTH	MAKE	YEAR	MODEL	POWER	FROM	TO	SPEED
8	U-MAKE-IT	1950's	PRAM	MERCURY 5
8	TAFT	1950's	HYDROPLANE	MERCURY 22
12	KLEITZ BUILT	1950's	RUNABOUT	JOHNSON 35	BLUE	CHIP
12	ARISTO CRAFT	1956	RUNABOUT	JOHNSON 35
16	BOSTON WHALER	1975	CURRITUCK	MERCURY 150	1976	1977	45
20	MAKO	1976	CENTER CONSOLE	MERCURY 150	1977	1981	40
28	CIGARETTE	1974	OPEN	MERCURY 165's	1981	1984	46
24	BANANA	1977	I/O	MERCURY 260	1985	1986	48
40	FORMULA	1982	402-SR1	MERCURY 330's	1986	1994	45
13	BOSTON WHALER	1984	SPORT	MERCURY 40	1988	2002	30
22	CHRIS CRAFT	1973	XK-22	CHRIS CRAFT 350	1997	2000	46
26	SUTPHEN	1987	RUM RUNNER	MERCURY 260's	2000	2001	68
40	FOUNTAIN	1988	ICBM 12 METER	MERCURY 420's	2002	2004	77
38	HUSTLER	1999	SLING SHOT	MERCURY 500 EFI's	2004	2006	95
36	CIGARETTE	2003	GLADIATOR	MERCURY 525 EFI's	2006	2009	92
34	SUTPHEN	1994	3400	MERCURY 500 EFI's	2007	2011	87
35	MOTION	2001	POKER RUN	MERCURY 500 EFI's	2009	2011	102
26	SUTPHEN	1987	RUM RUNNER	EVINRUDE 300	2010	2011	55
40	OUTERLIMITS	2010	40 SVX	ILMOR 650/720's	2011	2016	112/118
24	PANTERA	1978	SPORT	MERCURY 330/TRS	2014	2016	60
20	SUTPHEN	1983	SUPER PACER	EVINRUDE 235	2016	???	63
34	SUTPHEN	1994	3400	MERCURY 525SC	2017	2018	78
29	OUTERLIMITS	2018	SV29	MERCURY 565 EFI	2018	2020	95
16	BAYLINER	2014	ELEMENT	MERCURY 60	2018	2020	35
13	MADCAP D HYDRO	2018	CLASS D	MERCURY 402XS	2019	???	40
40	OUTERLIMITS	2007	SV40 OUTERLIMITS	MERCURY565/700EFI's/SCI's	2020	???	103/12?
26	SUTPHEN	1985	RUM RUNNER	MERCURY 330/420/TRS	2020	???	62
13	BOSTON WHALER	1971	SOURPUSS	MERCURY 25 4-STROKE	2022	???	25

[NICE PAIR]

I’m gonna have to think fast, the boss-lady said I could light the BBQ @ 4:00

1. My little brother got this as a gift for his 8th birthday, 1958 ish


2. We, built a Luger kit boat, 12’ Cadet, OK-60 Johnson opposed 2 cyl. (our dads dads motor)
3. I wound up with a Power cat 14’ with twin 50 hp mercs.
4. 8’ hydro built in wood shop 20 merc ported and built by me.
5. 10’ JU runabout merc 20ss
6. 17' factory built Plywood v-drive (Leninger) Pontiac, 6 2 bbls, I bought it off the beach with the 6 strombergs and the 6 cute little scoops barely above the water.
7. 21' Talon, 200 merc — later switched to 300 pro-max.
8. 2001, 22' Talon, 300 merc, (Razors Edge) Started to put twins on it. (changed plans)
9. Built a Sanger shovelnose hydro with a blown 392 hemi. (big fun, lots of river time, boated, skied, fished, camped out of it)
10. Found a very nice Talon, twin 2.5 drags. I blew up most of the 2.5’s left in the states, finally learned how to build them. Lots of help from James Ruck
11. 2007, Stepped up bought a 28 Skater (back when you could almost afford them) twin 300 promax’s (Razors white 1966)
… Detour, I’ve lost my sequence (chit!)
12. 28’ Kayot pontoon boat single 85 merc
13. 28’ Fishercraft houseboat, single 350 chevy/volvo 280 drive.
14. 1965 Glasspar G3 original Johnson V-4 60hp
15. 2014, Remodel old boat, new project, cut up my Skater to put canopies on it, gas tanks, and 300XS’s (sold the Skater in 2021)
16. 2022, 23’ Sea Swirl walk around fish boat. 305 Chev/dual prop Volvo.

Getting tired gonna go light the BBQ

As Joe mentioned, the best part of boating is all the Great people you meet and become friends with.

[Se7]

Well here you go Mike;

1. 14 foot Alumacraft with 7.5 Evinrude, Boys (my brothers and I) swapped to an 18 HP Evinrude, also hot rodded it with twin 18 hp Evinrudes. Very Scary.
2. Upgraded to 15 foot Alumacraft with 40 hp Johnson, not fast. Boys upgraded to 60 HP Johnson. Gained 3 mph major disappointment.
3. 17 foot Grumman Canoe boat with 3.9 Merc. Later Boys upgraded to 7.5 Merc. I Upgraded to 7.5 Merc with 9.8 carb, definitely faster.
4. 16 foot Larson glass runabout with same 60 Johnson. Boys upgraded to 65 Merc 4 banger, gained 3 mph. Boys upgraded to 95 hp Merc gained 6 mph, now that was really nice.
5. Bought a homemade 8 foot duck boat with the 7.5 Merc, would swap ends and swamp if you let off throttle to quickly.
6. Boys upgraded to 16 Glastron V-163 with same Merc 95Hp. Gained 8 mph on same speedo, now we got happy. We raced this boat successfully a couple times in marathons, FJ class. Great rough water boat.
7. Bought my McCall 13.5 foot wood V bottom, came out for FL thru Mercury racing, 50 hp Merc short shaft 44 cube. Successfully campaigned Region 8 Sport E class. Hence SE7.
8. 16 foot Lund fish boat with same short 50 Merc, ran 39 mph on Keller, best run.
9. Had three new Forester 17 foot open runabouts in a row with 3.0 Liter Mercruisers with power steering, easy to resell at end of season.
10. 16 foot Sea Ray open bow runabout with 3 liter Mercruiser and power steering. Great boat had great quality.
11. 18 foot Cobia Glass open bow Runabout. 2.0 liter Merc V-6, converted to XR2 with used parts from Supreme Marine.
12. Bezoats c class Hydro with Merc 30H, had for 6 years. My daughter ran 64 on GPS I ran 62 on GPS. Much fun, great on gas.
13. Mercury Quicksilver inflatable (Bob the boat in a box), 8 foot, with Mariner 4 hp outboard. Chase boat for Bezoats.
14. 18 Foot Hydrostream comp V-king, with 1500 XS Merc Shortie. Had for 18 years now, over 800 hours on current powerhead. Great boat, easy to drive, very good on gas when just cruising
15. Forgot my Glastron Jetflite with Merc 500 and Aristocraft Torpedo with a Merc 500 and then a Modded Mark 58.

This is a great thread you started, thanks for including me.

[Rayzor]

Cool Thread Mike, it's interesting seeing all the boats everyone has had! I already had this list in my computer, two boats are listed twice as I bought my first Skater 28 back for a second go-around and I had 2-year conversion project completed on my Skater 30, derigging it in '16 and getting it back in '18. The one constant that has remained the same for me since 2001 is owning a Skater of some sort at all times, that's the one boat I just can't live without!

1. 1995 - 1978 Ski Nautique 2001 - sold 1996
2. 1997 - 1989 Ski Nautique 2001 - sold 1999
3. 1999 - 1994 Nordic 22 - sold 2000
4. 2000 - 1990 Talon 22 - sold 2001
5. 2001 - 1997 Skater 28 #1 (Speed Racer) - sold 2004
6. 2004 - 1997 Mirage Jaguar - sold 2010
7. 2005 - 2005 Skater 30 (Prototype) - derigged for conversion 2016
8. 2005 - 2001 Sweetwater 26 Pontoon Boat #1 - sold 2012
9. 2007 - 1996 Skater 28 #2 (all white) - sold 2007
10. 2010 - 2005 Revolution SST120 - sold 2011
11. 2010 - 2007 Trick 21 - sold 2012
12. 2012 - 2012 Cougar 23MTR - sold 2012
13. 2012 - 1998 Stoker 20 - sold 2012
14. 2013 - 2007 Skater 28 #3 (grey 28SS) - sold 2017
15. 2014 - 1990 Pontoon Boat #2 (****io Boat) - sold 2015
16. 2014 - 1991 Kurtis 501 Hydro (Hell Rayzor) - sold 2018
17. 2014 - 2011 SeaDoo Sportster (Lisa’s pink boat) - sold 2015
18. 2016 - 1996 Advantage 22 Party Cat (The Don Johnson) - sold 2019
19. 2017 - 1997 Skater 28 #1 (Speed Racer, 2nd time) - sold 2017
20. 2018 - 1993 STV Euro - sold 2018
21. 2018 - 2005 Skater 30 (Prototype outboard conversion) - sold 2020
22. 2019 - 1994 Skater 46 (Freedom US-1) - sold 2021
23. 2019 - 1991 Advantage 26 Party Cat (The Ron Burgundy) - sold 2024
24. 2020 - 1972 Lebel flat bottom (Blondie) - sold 2020
25. 2020 - 2009 Skater 36 (Relentless)
26. 2022 - 1995 Formula 280SS (The Lisa Lisa)
27. 2023 - 2003 Skater 24 (The Gnat)

[skialot2]

The first boat i can remember was Dad's boat. A 17" 1969 Winner 120 I/O. I never used it by myself. I was a little kid.
He also had several cabin boats.
27' Ulrichson
30' Luhrs
28 pacemaker
At 12 years old I started using his boats by myself
14' 1971 McKee Craft 50 Evinrude.
14" 1968 Fabuglas 40 Evinrude
17" Larson 85 Johnson
15" 1971 Checkmate 100 Mercury

At 15 years old I bought my first boat.
I converted a 17' 1971 Skickcraft from outboard to a Volvo Penta I/O that I found in a burnt out hull floating in the bay.
Then I had
14' 1968 Glastron 60 Mercury
20' 19** Lowen 235 Evinrude
16' 1987 Ebbtide Campione 166 115 Mercury (My only new boat.)
22' 1984 Baja Sport 220 235 Evinrude
21' 1988 Superboat Legend 2.4 Bridgeport Carb
15 year gap with no boat
16' 196* Sailboat 7.5 Mercury
17' 1973 Glastron V173 Bayflite 135 Mercury
17' 1989 Checkmate Spectra 171 Worked 150 Mercury (Currently building 200 Mercury)

I never had more than one boat at a time.

I forgot about my 1990 Polaris SL650 and 1988 Kawasaki 650SX standup Jetski's

[mragu]

I was mistaken. Not 38, just 36.

[tlwjkw]

all started n '62.. ended around '08, give or take a few.. dates and total number of 'em is unknown (used up cells) at this time.. was a lot.............

all mercs of whatever was available at tha time..........most were unknow as for HP. we couldn't leave nothing alone..

14' yellow jacket
14' fantasy
14' mustang sled
14' kober kat
17' liberator (2) was member of blow over club!
19' liberator
assortment of laser's (4) was member of "pitch me out club" (me n red, rip)!
assortment of allison's (02's and 03's)
assortment of bullets (20 footer's)
not one trainin' wheel boat, tha 19' lib was a true tunnel, think it was tha only one dave built.................................................

my all time favorite wasn't really mine but was responsible for it!!!!!!
'66 ta '69
31' MK I PBR, twin detroit's, jacuzzies with LOTSA n LOTSA GUNS.......

[Michael J Giesler]

Gentleman & Ladies …

I posted this topic years ago, got **** from Dave H. ( MN - drove his XR02 ), and ended up with a nice thread in winter…. I’m bored so I’ll try again

BTW - I’m 50 so the list has grown

1) At age 8 and in 4th grade - with lawn mowing money, bought a 10 foot homemade wood skiff ( my Dad donated the 15 HP Evinrude ) for $85 - would love to have this now

*** Then my Dad stepped in and bought a 10 ft. hydroplane, Lund C12, Larson DC175, Hobie 16, and a Hydrostream Vasserett with 130, then 220 Yamaha power from Randy Pierson ….

*** Also., along the way, met Keith ( Viking / 175 Merc ) and Pete DeCler ( Hydrosteam Viking & then XTB Allison ) … while in grade school on Lake Alexander in MN - they both changed my life forever, so thank you

By this point, I was hooked, went to school, had met Randy Pierson, Brad Zastrow, Sam Baker, and Scott Gilmore …. It was 1999 and I was hooked …

2) Bought Randy Pierson’s STV Euro / 2.5 Merc

3) Bought an Allison Grandsport / 2.5 Merc

4) Bought Timmy’s American Offshore 26 / twin 300 ProMax

5) Bought Spectre 30 / twin 300 ProMax, then 300 XS

6) Catalina 14 / 2 HP Honda

7) Allison Grandsport / 200 Pro V Yamaha ( Mike Waldera’s rig )

8) Talon 22 / twin 200 XS

9) Skater 28 / twin 300X ( from Dave )

10) Allison SS2000 / 280 Merc

11) Met Joe, sold Skater to my buddy Russ, and have a 32 Doug Wright / 400 V10’s on order …

It’s been one hell of a ride

MDS

PS: Forgot the wood …

1) 1947 Chris Craft 17’ Deluxe

2) 1939 Chris Craft 19’ Barrelback - “Torpedo “

PPS: I have Jen hooked …

1 & 2) In less then a year, she has bought a Boston Whaler 13 ( sold ) and has a Boston Whaler 15 Montauk on order

I think Jeff Cleinmark would most definitely be on the top of the list lop

[CUDA]

You could have said a 31 ft Hatteras jetboat... JEEZ

Vietnam shallow water patrol boat, hence jet drive, Navy Seal boat

I had to Google your ride, ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrol_Boat,_River

So you used one of these in the service?

Did you serve in Nam?

[tlwjkw]

34 months.... I really like military weapons!

[NICE PAIR]

34 months.... I really like military weapons!

Thank-you