Life outside Boating

Alan,
Real nice work as always! Since my wife dropped her laptop the screen is all screwed up so I can't tell. Is the veneer wavy, figured, burl or 1/4 sawn white oak?

May give that a shot Alan!

This past year there has been little life outside of the boat. Between all the fixes and updates last year and engine rebuild this winter I'm about done with boat work. Thinking about ordering 3 skins to clean up the cracks in the vinyl but I don't understand the instructions from Christy's on how to do the speakers so I am avoiding the vinyl for the moment. In the mean time I'm snowboarding at Breckenridge, Vail and Keystone. Hiking and Mountain biking with the dog when the trails are dry and of course working. We painted the living room, kitchen and entry way last weekend. Also fixed all the cracks in the ceiling and painted it the past few weekends and evenings. I do miss the water and my waterski morning runs. Trying to keep busy but finding myself a little bored at times. I tried Candy Crush for a filler but I hit a level that I'm pretty sure requires either someone smarter than me or paying money for extra moves and that isn't going to happen.

Justin, I forgot to ask if you have taken the Power Squadron course and received your boating license yet. You are old enough, and even if you don't have access to a boat right now, it is a good thing to have. The course is offered in most areas, frequently at community colleges. Both of my daughters took the course when they were 12 and received their licenses. It is good basic classroom information for anyone interested in boating.

Chevy350 wrote: My dad called the DNR in Indiana and asked if i can have an Illinois license and use it in Indiana, sadly they said no. I go to a lake called lake of the woods. It's near Bremen, Indiana. DNR rarely visits the lake so I drive the boat all the time.

Justin,
Don't take the chance. If authorities do show up, I feel they will head directly to you! Look into the power squadron as John suggested. It's a fantastic program.

OldSchoolBlue84 wrote: Chevy350 wrote: I only use our boat at our campground in Indiana What part of Indiana? Notice you profile says IL. Have a good one.

Bremen, Indiana. Well its near there, bout 5 minutes away. I noticed you live in Valparaiso, Indiana. I lived there for the first 2-3 years of my life. Don't know where we exactly lived. It was by a school called liberty elementary school.

Justin, your dream cars are in the dreams of many. I enjoy many makes, models, and years, sports and not so sporty. I am not a truck guy, but do like to see an old original or restomod. I have no desire to own one. If you have followed CCF for a while you may know that many chuckle at my daily driver / tow vehicle. I like to post it now and then for the reactions.
Since you asked about cars, I"ll share one I play with now and then. It is a bit off the beaten path, but so am I. It is a 1989 Chrysler LeBaron Turbo GTC. It is one of the first "tuner cars"and has the suspension and drive train from a Shelby Daytona Turbo Z, It is one of 906 of these LeBarons Chrysler built. These cars were all identically equipped, Getrag 5 speed, 2.2 intercooled turbo, four wheel discs, fast steering rack, and a few other differences, The only option offered was white or red in color. The Chrysler / Dodge project came together due to the friendship between Lee Iacocca and Carroll Shelby to breathe some life into an almost dead Chrysler Corp. I gave this car to daughter 1 for her 16th birthday. When she went away to college I didn't want her to leave it outside behind the dorm so I put it in storage and gave her an appropriate "dorm car". I took it out about 10-15 years later and tweaked it. I don't drive it much but try to get out to a few of the Shelby Dodge Auto Club (SDAC) events. I am a member. Visually the car looks very stock, but as with many tuner cars (as opposed to ricers) it is easy to get a lot of performance out of it. The Shelby Dodge cars included the Horizon / Omni GLH (goes like hell) and GLHS (goes like hell some more), named that by Shelby, the CSX, CSXT, Shelby Daytona Turbo Z, Spirit RT, and a couple others. Chrysler also built some turbocharged minivans. I bought my wife one of them and installed a Mopar Performance computer and a few other mods to haul the kids around in. It was a great car and lots of fun to dust the ricers in. They make great sleepers and are relatively inexpensive.
I will tell you more about other cars I enjoy if you are interested. I just thought that since this was for a sixteen year old girl you would relate. It is known within the club as the LeBacon, because a white Chrysler LeBaron is decidedly feminine to most (as immortalized in the Cake song Short Skirt Long Jacket) but every guy likes bacon so that makes it more masculine in the eyes of the club members. This is the LeBaron and a video of one of the Chrysler Turbo minivans owned by an SDAC member in action. Sad to say they would dust your 70 Hemi charger. Mine was just like it but red and not quite as fast.

Chrysler minivan drag race

It's not "quite the car" Justin. It is a relatively inexpensive toy that is a great sleeper and fun to drive but will never be a high end collectable. Funny you would mention an M3. I am lucky to be able to enjoy some are that I do not own. On a recent trip down to my brothers house we played with a few of his toys. The M3 was just traded for a new car which is parked alongside his oldest car in his driveway. I handled the restoration of the 58 Corvette over the past year, but did not do much of the work myself. I much prefer the new toy over the M3 or the Boxster S not shown. Here is the last photo of the M3 where it was left at the Porsche dealer. The M3 would give the LeBacon a good run in a straight line.

Thanks for sharing that Kristof. The ring is on many bucket lists, but remains there for eternity for most. As you know, we have nothing like that here. We have some road courses that can be rented for a track day, but nothing a person can drive onto and race at their leisure. Our SDAC track days consist of a trip to the drag strip, renting a small track for a day (last year we did our road course on a GoKart track, seriously) or Autocross in an old parking lot. The Ring must be a fantastic experience, especially in the BMWs pictured.

Justin, here is what my SDAC club does on Sunday get togethers. Autocross is relatively cheap and builds skills very quickly. Drag racing breaks a lot of stuff. I don't autocross the LeBacon because, being an old Chrysler convertible, the car has the torsional rigidity of overcooked pasta. Our club is VERY opposed to any kind of street racing. You may notice some of the cars in the videos are not Shelby Dodges, but are Chrysler SRT products. The newest Shelby Dodge cars are 25 years old they are getting harder to find and some owners don't want to modify them for racing. The SRT cars are welcome at our events.
This stuff is low budget compared to Kristof!

SDAC drag racing

SDAC autocross

john b wrote: It's not "quite the car" Justin. It is a relatively inexpensive toy that is a great sleeper and fun to drive but will never be a high end collectable. Funny you would mention an M3. I am lucky to be able to enjoy some are that I do not own. On a recent trip down to my brothers house we played with a few of his toys. The M3 was just traded for a new car which is parked alongside his oldest car in his driveway. I handled the restoration of the 58 Corvette over the past year, but did not do much of the work myself. I much prefer the new toy over the M3 or the Boxster S not shown. Here is the last photo of the M3 where it was left at the Porsche dealer. The M3 would give the LeBacon a good run in a straight line.

That Corvette is amazing. Great job on it John. What's in it? That M3 looks spotless also.

Thought I bring this thread to life again. It's cool to know the life of others outside boating. I just wish I'd be able to share my boating life like all of you do at reunions. My dad's just not as big of a fan as I am, I'm starting to realize. I'm hoping to go to green lake but he's not budging. Even though this thread is about non boating I'm just super excited to be back on the water with my cousins this summer. Hope to see you guys at an event soon.

Hansel wrote: Kristof, what BMW boards are you active on?

- Bimmerboard.be (Belgium) (Most active)
- Bimmerportal.nl (Holland)
- 5series.net (UK)
- e60-forum.de (Germany)

I'm just catching up with this thread now, nice subject Justin! A few points .....

I did get the reference to plastics.

I had a Schwinn Sprint, identical to a Continental 10 speed but had a curved down tube so the wheelbase was shorter and handled a bit better. I rode and rode and rode, loved it. Those bikes were tanks, not sure of actual weight but had to be double today's road bikes.

Outside of work I always have projects, am not so good at completing them. Right now I'm pulling the Berkeley 12-JG jet drive out of my Eliminator for a rebuild. I have a Cub Cadet 2084 tractor with the engine out of it, some ignition problems plus just a general cleanup. Tomorrow I'm putting a new lift pump in my '98 GMC 3/4 ton 6.5 diesel, old one died and I'm upgrading to a Walbro. I play a lot of volleyball and generally stay very active. I also spend a lot of time going to my kids various events, from crew races to plays to latin competitions and track meets, etc.

I can tell you aren't just interested in cars and boats etc., you spend the time to read and learn about them. That passion will serve you well in the future!