1960 Atom Skier Fin Boat Recondition

Finally got back to working on the foot pedal accelerator. As the boat came converted I was on my own to make a suitable linkage. This is my Rube mockup. I hope it saves me some time lying on my back in the helm.

Pete, the boat came with a Morse lever mounted on the gunnel. I do believe it was originally a foot pedal but no trace left of the mechanism. Has a column shifter.

That's a lot of nice work jack. It is far more complicated than the original design.

I too wonder how it was set up originally? That single lever Morse doesn't look bad at all. You don't feel it came from the factory? Did you ever consider keeping it?

Jack,
I just noticed the holes close to the sole on the foot rest. Does it look like they were for a cable at one time?

This is the only picture I have of one. The back is a bracket that bolts to the kick board. The pedal pivots on a hinge in the middle. There's a notch in the top of the kick board for the cable. There's a holder connected to the frame and an old style cable with a brass ball connector attaches to the pedal. We had to cut the ball off the old cable, drill and tap it in order to adapt it to a modern cable.

Notice the setup on the 1958 Starflite.

Notch is cut into the side of kickboard.

Well we have a new story in the storied past of the Skier. Got back to Ct last week and a few days in town said to Burton let's take it for a ride. Was evening coming on when we slid her in the water. I had the dog house open and as Burton pulled the trailer to park I slipped the front flame arrester off to hold the choke and cold start . This only necessary for cold start and have done it many times LOL. Well true to form and fitting to its name the fireball backfired and we had a pretty good fire going. Mad scramble for fire extinguishers and trouble with the one on board. Fellow at the dock made a quick dash and in the water with his. He got to the boat Burton following with our other extinguisher from the truck. All is well that ends well but we loaded up and went home. As it turns out most of the mess in the end was from extinguisher and had a couple melted wires not to bad. It has since been cleaned and I will finish installing the manual choke tonight. Have developed a healthy new respect for having good working safety equipment onboard and taking gas delivery systems very seriously when boat related. I have had carb fires on cars in the past. No big deal. This is serious business. The boat fired up last night and will be on the water again very soon. see you all there.

Pete, the automatic chokes are pita so we never used them. Should have put the manual choke on a while ago. I have been pulliny the arrestor on the front carb and holding the choke closed to get cold start over with. Will not do that anymore.

You got me on the manuals not being original bubba but I still like them better ATM. The four barrel wasn't either that it had when I got it. One thing at a time think I'll manual choke it for the summer and take it from there. Boat is pretty much original at the moment I think.

john b wrote: I'm happy to hear the Fin Boat is ok. It would be tragic to lose it, it's very high on my list of all time favorite boats.

I believe you are the one that gave it the name Nomad, John. Seems we have been bitten by the Fin bug. Would be a shame to lose the old girl after chasing around for it and with it for a few years now. This fire was a real eye opener and there were some lessons learned.

Jack,
I'm 99% sure it will be 1/4".

I have been following this thread, as most of us have, since it started....

Now, I'm a traditionalist when it comes to old things....the more original the better...

But I gotta say, before you drop another penny in that damn motor, or worse yet, burn the damn boat to the ground like you nearly did....

Yank that motor and put it in a nice display case. As soon as you finish that, pick up the phone and order yourself a nice new fuel-injected crate motor and tranny from your favorite manufacture, and be done with it!

There, fixed!

I'll take both Tim and Pete advice and get both sizes. Between 5 CC boats Burton and I have likely there will be need for it sometime.