Eagle127 wrote: A gallon of aircraft stripper........The crankcase recovery system and the ozone layer have been negated...

The whales better watch out, too. I'll need another 1/4-1/2 gallon to finish the project.

A gallon of aircraft stripper........The crankcase recovery system and the ozone layer have been negated...

A gallon of aircraft paint stripper later and have most of the paint removed from the Cruisemaster. I also found a bunch of 40 hp Johnson's. I'm still looking for another 1958 Johnson Super Seahorse cowl like the one in the photo below if anyone has one for sale. All in all it was a productive weekend.

I drove 1,800 miles round trip to pick up my Flyer, pulled a 24' enclosed car trailer behind a V10 F 250, spent 4 times the cost of the Flyer on gas. Would do it again in a heart beat

Thanks Ian.

I do have some more if I can find them in the computer.

VinTin

Thanks for posting the pictures, sometimes wives cannot see through the mess we drag home. The wooden interior has my wife pumped that this can be a great boat for weekends. Some time in the future, I'll find one. Right now I need to get some of my current projects finished. Post some more if you have any.

Ian

Man! What a great thread. Yep 3600 miles round trip is a long way for a boat. We have probably all done crazy stuff like that. I drove to san Antonio from phoenix az 2000 round trip for a 56 feathercraft many years ago. Congrats to all of you guys that have these big cruisers, They are perfect for staying overnight in comfort.

I really like all the neat pics of the cruisemasters,almost bought one years ago but have settled for it's smaller cousin, the sportskraft cabin cruiser. I will post pics of it in the water when I get a motor on it.

Vin Tin, The window hardware is still available from vintagetrailersupply.com. I wish I had the front roll out windows instead of fixed plate glass.

I am indeed lucky to have Ian as a friend. He's a talented man and a partner in crime. I wouldn't have even considered the trip without his prodding. When we find a Cruisemaster for him he knows I'll strap myself in the seat next to him no matter if it is "a tenth of the way to Austrailia" like mine was.

There were two kids working on the tires when we got there. The one you see in the photo is "Beavis" the other we called "Butthead". Those names weren't given to be cruel they were surprisingly accurate. Those kids could have been the real life incarnation of a Mike Judge cartoon. It was immediately apparent that they didn't have the skills to provide any significant help to us, however we still needed their tools too get us rolling so we shut our mouths. The last thing we needed was to make an enemy of the only people were knew in Dallas. We knew we could fix the trailer as long as we could get it out of the yard.

And the reason I'm going with OMC is for ease of repair and parts even though I like the 40/44 cube Mercs better. If I breakdown far from home I can repair an OMC with minimal tools and get parts anywhere. I can't say the same for the Mercs. Also, those ugly glass tops are the quietest for the era and that is the most important thing to my wife.

Sorry- just one or two more thoughts that occurred to me as I re-read this entire thread.

#1. It must be very comforting to wbeaton to have a friend like Ian- who was willing to not only drive a zillion miles over what had to be several days to fetch a boat- but also had the wherewithal to figure out how to get it back home incl the incendiary device ...Ian and Rocket Nick must be blood brothers somehow.

#2. If I drove 25hr/1800mi to find out that cowboy sitting on his ass playing pokimon on his cell phone with his flat tires never touched the trailer AFTER HE SAID HE WOULD-
I would have had my faithful friend Ian hold him by the neck whilst I KICKED HIM REPEATEDLY IN THE BALLS

merc geo out