Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003
Subject: Wild Thing Launch
Dear Barry,
Well we finally completed the Wild Thing and had the official Launch on August 17,2003. I've attached a few more photos showing before and after painting and the official launch. It has been a long Year and a half of construction on weekends and when ever we could steal some time here or there, but the pleasure was in the doing. Once the boat was painted and the 9.9 hp Nissan Outboard motor installed, I checked out all of the components and everything work liked planned. So, now it was time to enjoy the finished product. So we packed the family up and headed up to Clear Lake for the official launch.
After the official launch and with the boat in the water and tied up to the dock, I attempted to start the motor. Well, wouldn't you know it, the darn thing wouldn't start, I checked and rechecked everything, it was turning over and it was getting gas but wouldn't start. After about 20 minutes of aggravation, I was just about ready to pull the boat back out of the water and go home and decided to give it one more try, I checked everything again to make sure that the kill switch was attached and that the fuel line was attached and then noticed that I had forgot to pull the choke. I pulled the coke out and turned the key and what do you know she started and purred like a kitten. Boy did I feel foolish.
I did the first test run and everything was working like it was supposed to, the boat maneuvered well and got on plane surprisingly easy, especially with my size and weight. I turned the boat over to my son for his first run and he was about 200 yards off shore when he stopped. The throttle linkage had come loose, he idled back to the dock, we reconnected the linkage and off he went. Well we didn't see him for the next hour and when he did return he was about a quarter mile from the dock when he stopped again. In anticipation of the boat breaking down I had loaded up my break down paddles from our ten foot inflatable dingy in the center console. Well he got them out and began paddling toward shore when the shore patrol saw him and gave him a tow. Another first, we had the first launch and had the first tow all in the same day. It turned out that he had run out of gas, boy three gallons just does not go very far. I now have two 3 gallon tanks installed just in case.
I again want to thank you for the plans that were easy to read and understand and your quick delivery of supplies and answers to my questions. We truly are having fun and enjoying the fruits of our labor. I hope you enjoy the pictures, as you can see we modified the cowling plans somewhat. Now that I have the Wild Thing finished I have room to begin working on the Tempest again. I'll provide more pictures of the Tempest as we move forward with the frame building.
Thanks again, Phillip Harrison
