We have power!

Granted, this post has no interesting boatbuilding information, but one has to blither incessantly somewhere, and my wife has heard all of it already.

The motor has arrived. It is a two part story though.

Firstly, I parted ways with my mistress. Shes Italian, incredibly sexy, fiery tempered, but curvaceous. My wife knew all along about her, but we both decided that between what it cost to keep her in my life (very high maintenance, but worth it!) it was best to part ways. She was very quiet about it, but left without too much of an uproar, at least until her new beau threw a little money at her.



She was a 1998 Ducati 748 Monoposto, which I had spent a great deal of time riding and caring for. We were very close. Its a sad loss, but it was time. Between the speeds that I learned to ride on her and the maintenance of a bike like her, when compared with how little I had ridden last year, it didn't make fiscal sense. We live with the decisions we make.....

The other bike, for my nutter friends in the UK, was a Triumph Sprint ST that someone stacked up pretty badly. I took her from ball of metal to streetfighter meanness in a monthlong building frenzy. Sold her for a bit of a profit, and just couldn't find another deal as sweet. Not to mention riding her was the dog's bollocks!




Part B:

With the proceeds of the bike come the new motor! I managed to find a 2004 50hp Yamaha 4 stroke tiller engine for the price of $3000 (By the way, if anyone is interested, please contact me, there are more available). It needs to be converted from a tiller handle to a remote controlled motor (steering wheel and remote throttle), but thats a bridge we will cross when we get there. Im sure its nothing a Yamaha dealer can't help with. These are used motors from RIB's used on tour boats. 400 hrs, industrial use, but with industrial care. It'e all you can ask when the motor is $1000 below book value.

One of the best cowlings:



For those who have had a pint or two, this will look normal. For the sober, this is the best I could do with the dead camera battery:



But for the exterior's poor appearance, check out the powerhead!



With the designer's blessing this is the largest motor the boat can handle. Though she's designed to move at around 15-18 mph, I am targeting 30mph based on a similar boat built in the UK to an older design (Atkin's NINIGRET). Their boat saw 27kts over land, and we are hoping to see similar results.

Really, this post is more of a gloat, O my readers. My apologies, but it will be a fundamental part of the build later on. We are expecting weather next week that will be unpleasant at best to work in, being that the high approaches 15F and the lows near zero. Ugh. What I wouldn't give for a real shop, with INSULATION! HEAT! Check back often!