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Diaries | Details
This boat's story has been posted by the owner. Please contact the owner with any questions. You may use the form below to send the owner an email.
Updated:
1/27/2014 (10 years ago)
Originally Posted: 9/30/2008
Total Views: 2,390
Owner: Randall B
Forum Nickname: randall
Location: Birmingham, AL
Model: 1973 Mustang
Length: 16.5
Engine: Ford 302
HP: 220
Hours:
Modify this Diaries Listing
Forum Nickname: randall
Location: Birmingham, AL
Model: 1973 Mustang
Length: 16.5
Engine: Ford 302
HP: 220
Hours:
Modify this Diaries Listing
I grew up water skiing in the estuaries of the Mississippi Gulf Coast where inboard ski boats are a rarity. I was an older teenager before I skied behind a family friend’s Correct Craft on Lake Jordan Alabama. I always knew I wanted a Correct Craft one day and for my two boys to have an opportunity to water ski as they grow up.
I was looking for an older Correct Craft in the summer of 2001. My internet ad searches led me to within 2 blocks of my house! It wasn’t love at first sight. It only partially caught my attention the first time I saw it sitting on the old trailer. About a week later, the owner called me and said he was taking it out for a quick run to check it and invited me come along. He had just taken another buyer out a week earlier and it was running rough. The other buyer delayed and said he wanted to go out again after he changed the carburetor. After driving it that afternoon, I made a fairly quick and what turned out to be a GREAT decision. I gave him a deposit that night, and the rest is history. The story is that the other looker was VERY MAD that someone bought his boat.
The previous owner had the Ford 302 rebuilt around 1998 by a very competent mechanic that was a Ford enthusiast. The rebuild has proved to be a very good job.
I have done a lot of cosmetic and basic mechanical updates to the boat:
I had the vinyl replaced on the dog house and side trim. All new gas hoses and bilge pump hose. I replaced the steering cable, throttle and transmission cables, driver control, new cleats, horn, gas cap, and added raw water strainer. I installed new dashboard switches and fuse holders, changed all electrical connections behind dashboard, replaced the carpet, new drive shaft and ACME 540 prop. The gel coat and paint strips are original and are only waxed each year. Someone prior did the alternate front seats and I believe the ladder has been changed. I have the original front seat in possession. I painted the trailer (original trailer is gone) and put on new springs, tires, sideboards and lights.
I believe I am the 3rd owner. I can account for roughly the last 15-18 years that the boat has been kept in a basement garage and totally out of the weather. The previous years for the boat are reported to have been on the Tennessee river near Decatur AL.
It gets looks and compliments everywhere I go, on water and in transport. Many times I have been parked at a gas station and have cars drive by, turn around, and come back to look and talk with me. Once, I came out of a fast food restaurant to find a guy standing there taking pictures of it. People talk of memories from years back with a similar Mustang or Ski Tique. People ask if I bought it new… I tell them that would have been hard I was only 3 years old!
“Orange Thunder” (nickname) sounds better than it looks!
But mostly it is great for making memories on the water with family and friends.
I was looking for an older Correct Craft in the summer of 2001. My internet ad searches led me to within 2 blocks of my house! It wasn’t love at first sight. It only partially caught my attention the first time I saw it sitting on the old trailer. About a week later, the owner called me and said he was taking it out for a quick run to check it and invited me come along. He had just taken another buyer out a week earlier and it was running rough. The other buyer delayed and said he wanted to go out again after he changed the carburetor. After driving it that afternoon, I made a fairly quick and what turned out to be a GREAT decision. I gave him a deposit that night, and the rest is history. The story is that the other looker was VERY MAD that someone bought his boat.
The previous owner had the Ford 302 rebuilt around 1998 by a very competent mechanic that was a Ford enthusiast. The rebuild has proved to be a very good job.
I have done a lot of cosmetic and basic mechanical updates to the boat:
I had the vinyl replaced on the dog house and side trim. All new gas hoses and bilge pump hose. I replaced the steering cable, throttle and transmission cables, driver control, new cleats, horn, gas cap, and added raw water strainer. I installed new dashboard switches and fuse holders, changed all electrical connections behind dashboard, replaced the carpet, new drive shaft and ACME 540 prop. The gel coat and paint strips are original and are only waxed each year. Someone prior did the alternate front seats and I believe the ladder has been changed. I have the original front seat in possession. I painted the trailer (original trailer is gone) and put on new springs, tires, sideboards and lights.
I believe I am the 3rd owner. I can account for roughly the last 15-18 years that the boat has been kept in a basement garage and totally out of the weather. The previous years for the boat are reported to have been on the Tennessee river near Decatur AL.
It gets looks and compliments everywhere I go, on water and in transport. Many times I have been parked at a gas station and have cars drive by, turn around, and come back to look and talk with me. Once, I came out of a fast food restaurant to find a guy standing there taking pictures of it. People talk of memories from years back with a similar Mustang or Ski Tique. People ask if I bought it new… I tell them that would have been hard I was only 3 years old!
“Orange Thunder” (nickname) sounds better than it looks!
But mostly it is great for making memories on the water with family and friends.
