Whaler Resto XX - final bye bye

This has been our little secret for the past year.

No we didn't paint it,

we ended up letting it go bye bye...

And dang the new owner basically changed it 

from a family cruiser,

to a bloody decks fish machine.

Bummer to see all that work torn off,

but what can you do.

The duckets came at a crucial time,

we were able to pull off the PDX move much easier.

If we had stayed in SD,

there's no way we would have ditched it.

The old whaler had become a backdrop

to many great memories,

never letting us down.

Gave the kids a bunch of lessons,

maybe the seed to not always be landlubbers.

And the dogs too...

One of the last jaunts was a good ole bay cruise.

We were trying to push pig out!

Dang this phone has lotsa pics!

Obviously the boat became a fixture.

It was normal to have to walk around it.

Sadly it was a turning point in hot rod building.

My focus had veered greatly,

this thing siphoned my energy away 

from our Ford collection.

In typical perich brothers and sisters fashion,

starting with the most beat up,

barely worth the time donor.

Well the new owners got it all gussied up.

He definitely didn't hold back on the white paint.

I don't think I'da painted the engine,

that yamaha was so cool original.

But it's neat to see some clues of its past.

The rails and motor mount are hard to miss.

Someday we'll get another...

TP

The Perich Brother

Nothing helps mark the passage of time

like your kids birthday.

Can't believe it's already Jake's 14th!

How did that happen already!?

Since he's stuck at school today, 

he got to skate Saturday,

and we burnt some gas on Sunday.

Good times.

If your contemplating having kids,

just do it!

It's the best thing ever...

TP

Whaler Resto pt X - fine tune

The sad thing about having a boat,

is realizing how much time we don't have

to actually use it.

When it comes down to it,

would I rather spend a couple hours laying bricks,

or zipping around the bay burning gas?

Yes I have been caught by the wife...

The perfect excuse to go out,

even for an hour buzz,

is tuning up the engine placement.

The third high bolt hole aligned the cavitation plate 

a couple inches above the stern edge,

typically a good spot.

The water would shoot straight up the engine,

spraying the back of the boat.

Now the engine is as high as possible,

almost 4" higher than the stern edge!

That's a lot,

and one of the benefits of the extension bracket.

Supposedly less drag is less friction is better efficiency or speed.

In addition,

The prop is in solid water,

not a the bubbly after-flow.

No more waterworks!

The 50 hp Johnson is a sufficient cruiser,

topping out about 28 mph on a rough day,

and plane cruising about 20.

Sure faster could be more fun,

but using 2-3 gallons for an evening jaunt is nice.

We even christened the Whalers first Humphrey's concert,

Steve Miller Band,

and brought the wife out for the first time in the boat!

The first time in any boat,

which is a weird reality.

She's a landlubber,

but we had a good time.

One thing nice about evening cruises,

is having the launch ramp to myself.

I've been able to practice pegging the trailer,

not one of my favorite things.

In the day people go there just to watch us hacks!

And here's a root cause of a hack.

This Morse Control is a sneaky unit.

This whole time it'd been reversed!

Forward was reverse and reverse was forward,

which really wasn't that bad after a few minutes,

but was like translating English to Spanish.

Thankfully this unit was designed to be ambidextrous,

and flopping the levers over was easy enough.

Good thing the side plate wasn't glued on!

Of course I did it twice,

as the red cut-off switch had to be flipped too.

It's much so much cleaner now,

and easier to maneuver.

Yeah ya think?

And now for the wild card...

I grabbed this bitchin 2-stroke 90 hp yamaha,

on a sweet time-trade deal.

A low hour yacht club Whaler Montauk

the guy wanted a 4-stroke for lake use.

Ya know I like projects,

but deciding whether we need a hot rod boat,

or a gas sipping bay cruiser...

Hmmm.

TP

Lite Brite

Last weeks jaunt in the little whaler 

made it obvious our lighting system needed refinement.

Coming in using our emergency cellphone flashlight was a bit ridiculous.

It seemed like the little closed cell battery

should have lasted much longer than a short couple hours.

Sure I should and could have charged it,

but that would have been too easy.

I was expecting this to be maintenance free.

There are a couple wires that could possibly be charging wires in the outboard,

but since it's a pull start only,

there's no rectifier,

which converts AC to DC.

I'll have to test this when running.

My solution for now were these trick LED bulbs.

Rather difficult to find,

they finally arrived in the mail last night.

This style was packages specific to a boat light,

although it's a typical auto style bulb.

Here's a before and after.

The top shot is the 12 watt incandescent,

a warm yellow burn.

The bottom shot is the new .85 watt LED,

a cold blueish tone about 3/4 the bright level.

Since amp=watt/volt,

than the original 2 bulbs at 12/3.3 watts took 1.275 amps,

and the new LED's at 1.7 watts total only take .14 amps to shine.

Theoretically it'll take 9 times longer to kill that little battery!

Updates soon.

TP

.the shakedown

Success!

After a rollercoaster of a day,

the kids and I went out to burn some gas.

One of the benefits of Southern California,

starting summer fun on a September evening.

We all fit perfect in the little whaler.

Compared to the inflatables,

there was tons of room.

Funny the kids didn't like the seats.

Definitely not a stand up boat.

I'll probably weld up some kind of railing.

We shot around mission bay,

the kids comfortable with the tiller steer.

The 30 hp suzuki hauls butt,

even with the heavy hull and four of us.

Although it was fun to redline it,

the best part was the kids knew their comfort speed.

Good thing,

cause I pushed them out when we went to get the trailer.

Kinda like throwing them into a pool to learn to swim.

The perfect trailer landing!

TP

bike time 137 - green grizzly

The kids have been taking swimming lessons at the local YMCA.
It's been fun to watch them progress from landlubbers to mer-kids.
But that isn't what this post is about!

1986-1988 bianchi grizzly MTB

While I was waiting for Macey to finish up in the locker room,
this ancient mountain bike was ripe for picture taking.
Good thing cause I had already memorized the swim class window literature.

bianchi grizzly

I immediately recognized the celeste green frame as a Bianchi.
The color camouflaging the Japanese production lugwork,
which screamed a late 80's build.

green tange steel

Even better the owner was still running the old U-brake,
that silver thing underneath the bottom racket area.
I remember having one of those in an old Scott Boulder MTB.
Definitely wasn't made for mud!

lugged

I admired the steel frame long enough
to wonder how different these japanese made lugged bikes really were.
Besides some changes in angles and tube lengths,
there seems to be a standard in which these rigid frames were made.
Tange or the rebadged Ritchey tubing was common,
and those lugs looked awfully familiar to Bridgestones.

Was there a specific area in Japan that specialized in frame manufacture?
Or maybe a handful of sister factories that all competed for the same thing.
Whatever it is what a great time to be a bike rebrander.
Drop in to the manufacturing district with a wad of cash or credit,
throw down some frame dimensions, color choices/graphics,
 and choose shimano vs suntour...
A couple months later you're line of perfect MTB's awaits!

bianchi grizzly

Not to knock this era in the slightest,
you know I dig these old hardtails.
There are small design changes among certain brands.
Check out that lugged front fork on this Bianchi.
Something to set it apart from the others.
How many of these deco shocks survived?
I swapped my rigid fork for a RockShox JUDY XC back then,
and loved every minute of it.
Who needs dual suspension!?

thumbies!

This owner had hot rodded his into the perfect commuter bike.
A road bike stem, single gear front crank, and Fat Frank tires,
together with a bulletproof Deore group,
made a simple and light go anywhere bomber.

deore 6-speed

I took enough pictures to be considered a stalker,

but the guy never showed up.

Macey likes to warm up in the hot shower,

so I had some time to sit on the bench out there.

Each guy that left,

I'd think maybe...nope... that's not the lucky owner.

vintage bianchi grizzly

The main idea here,

if you're in need for a solid city or cross-country mountain bike,

pass on charging up your credit card with a new fangled piece of trendy junk.

A local craigslist search will turn up all kinds of cool vintage rides,

and the parts needed to finish them up right - (or ebay).

You can still support your local bike shop,

by having them assemble and tune to your liking.

The best part is having a stand-out ride that will last another 20 years.

macey - 2013

TP