TOPIC: 59 Larson Homecoming.

In 1967 my parents bought this boat from a guy in Deephaven MN. They paid $125 for it and saved it from certain death from where it lay on the ground next to this guys garage. That spring and summer, both my mom and dad worked daily on it to restore it to working condition. Structurally it was sound, but the inside had many layers of flaking battleship gray paint. This boat has a fiberglass hard top and was 'glassed on the bottom from the factory.

The boat was our main power boat from 1968 to 1981. I did a freshen up varnish and repair of lights and the horn in the 1970's to surprise my dad. By the disco era, the deck was rotten and some more serious attention was needed. In 1981 we bought a Larson Citation 5500 Delta-conic. (like new, in the boat house today) The old wooden boat went to the shed. In the 90s the shed suffered a collapse from an enormous snow load and partly crushed in the top of the boat and squashing the hull out of shape some.

The shed was repaired but the boat was not. As my dad aged, I realized we would never get around to fixing the old hardtop. I convinced him to sell the boat to free up premium space in the shed. The boat remained at the Monahan boat works in Little Falls for a season and then disappeared. Years passed and so did my father this spring.

Several months back my mother handed my a brochure for the Paul Mikkelson auction. To my surprise, there was our boat pictured in the Friday auction of un-restored items. Suddenly, it seemed that I should reclaim our family relic. Armed with a fist full of money my dad had hidden from my mom in his sock drawer specifically for the purchase of boats, I headed to Wilmar with an empty trailer in tow. The auction finally turned to this smashed rotten boat and for $550 it was now mine again. Sever nice fellows including Fiberglassics members, helped me load it from a rolling dolly onto my trailer.

So here it is last night at my shop in St.Cloud. Today, it went back to the very same shed where it resided all those years before.

Now....I have to get rid of some stuff, like that SeaLion Cruiser I bought last fall...Ugh! So I can start my restoration.

That boat sure has your name indelibly stamped all over it.
Good story Jepster, nice looking boat, certainly worth continuing to the full resto.

Oh sure, 4:30 in the morning and you just put a lump in my throat! Seriously Jepster, very cool story - CONGRATS on the score! (That must have been quite the auction from what I've heard/read.) I know it's going to take a while, but hope you share the resto progress on this one.

Happy ending!

I was there, wish we could have met.

Andreas

Andreas, I wish so as well.

Mark,
Not surprisingly, the camera crew there filming a new cable "reality" show about auctions, picked me up as the human interest story.

great story, and i'm glad you were able to get it back! congrats!

what show was being filmed? i'll keep an eye out for it in the future.

I think he said it would premier on TruTV and it would also be picked up by PBS later. The time line was several months from now.
I don't recall the name of the show.

They gave me a business card: Icon Television Music, Inc. of Sherman Oaks, CA. Glenn Aveni, president

www.icontvmusic.com

They were filming and taking still photos of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE

Andreas

Bid America.

Now, question, they are all over me for my dad's footage of Falls flyers in action. Is this something I should "donate" in the name of history? Or should I copy rite the film and grant use of it for a royalty? I would authorize use of this stuff freely to the MN historical society or a local boating museum, but these guys are going to profit from "my story" so I think I should get part of that. I'm not greedy. I won't over play my hand, but still, they said over and over, moving pictures of these boats would make their show so much better.

Thoughts from other boat people? Remember there is quite a bit of work involved finding and filming all this stuff onto digital. (time I could spend fixing my boat)

jepstr67 wrote:

I would authorize use of this stuff freely to the MN historical society or a local boating museum, but these guys are going to profit from "my story" so I think I should get part of that. I'm not greedy. I won't over play my hand, but still, they said over and over, moving pictures of these boats would make their show so much better.

FWIW, I agree with you completely my friend. To donate it to a good cause would be very noble, to allow somebody else to profit from it is a different story IMHO. At least a "little something for your time and trouble.

Good story. I'm a sucker for happy endings.

P.S. Yes you should get something for your footage. About $550 + gas. LOL

glad you got your boat back, i was going to be there friday and sat, then i got the flu thursday and missed it as i would have been in the port-a-potty . am going to miss work tomorrow also. i guess when you get old you can not shake this crap. i to think you should get something for the work that you would be doing for the film crew. it's not like they do it for free, so for them to say it will make a better storie for them with your help, they should comp. you in some way. lets see some pic,s of the new/old boat. sure looks cool. frog

glad you got your boat back, i was going to be there friday and sat, then i got the flu thursday and missed it as i would have been in the port-a-potty . am going to miss work tomorrow also. i guess when you get old you can not shake this crap. i to think you should get something for the work that you would be doing for the film crew. it's not like they do it for free, so for them to say it will make a better storie for them with your help, they should comp. you in some way. lets see some pic,s of the new/old boat. sure looks cool. frog

glad you got your boat back, i was going to be there friday and sat, then i got the flu thursday and missed it as i would have been in the port-a-potty . am going to miss work tomorrow also. i guess when you get old you can not shake this crap. i to think you should get something for the work that you would be doing for the film crew. it's not like they do it for free, so for them to say it will make a better storie for them with your help, they should comp. you in some way. lets see some pic,s of the new/old boat. sure looks cool. frog

Jeepstr, very cool story and glad you were able to get her back. I agree with Mark, you should get something for your time, especially if they're going to profit from it.

Bob

Glad you got her back! Looks like a nice boat- and there is no way to replace the history

Ahh yes, great story, great looking boat. Bet you are happy nobody tried to outbid you, [aka storage wars]
Any resto is worthwhile, but having the personal angle truly will make that special. Congrats.

When I actually start this fall, I'll make a thread in the project section. Until then I want to throw out a question for discussion.

I'm going to need to replace part or all of the transom on this boat. Currently it is a 15".

Pros and cons....

Pros. 15" is original. My motors are 15". I like the lower profile.

Cons. Tendency of waves to swamp the stern. Harder to build an internal motor well, like newer boats have.

I do plan to make some authentic looking modifications in the style of what was done at Larson back in that time period. Adding a back the the back seat for example. I will add some kind of anti-swamping baffle as well and probably some places for gas tanks that are up front rather than way in the back. The piece of 1/4" plywood my dad added to the floor has to go.

Well I would say I guess it depends on if you have a motor that wold fit the higher transom or the parts to make the ones you have a long shaft. The boat is your so do what you'd like with it. Unless your going to keep it completely original then any changes basically make it custom so to speak, so why not customize it to what you want. Just my humble opinion.

Bob

I'll probably leave it 15". There are ways to eliminate the danger of swamping without going to the effort of making the motors long shaft. Plus, I like the motors tucked down there rather then sticking up higher above the rear decks.

One of the most irritating things is a drain hole was drilled in the boat transom recently. Odd size. Drilled crooked. Drilled about 2-1/2 inches above the bottom. In addition to the peeling factory fiberglass coating, slight rotting problems and deep motor mounting compressions, that hole is another big reason I want to replace the transom. With the new drain plug laws, I'm leaning toward filling and refinishing over the drain plugs in several of my boats. I seldom if ever use them and getting rid of them will totally eliminate any of the hassles of fooling with them.