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Old 03-11-2019, 11:03 AM   #45
Flybull
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City: USA
Vessel Model: 1983 Trojan F44 FBMY
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 163
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacques Burgalat View Post
Great! First, we had the Hemi-powered Prius, now we've got the Sleeper Dink.

Granted, this was back in the mid-80s, but my soft bottom 3.10 Zodiac stood practically straight up when I slapped the 9.9 Penta on it.
Since I was in a hurry to try out both the new boat and its new motor, and obviously couldn't sit in the back, I had a redneck brain fart.
I duct-taped the extensions that happened to be laying around on my wife's favorite vacuum cleaner onto the tiller and sat with my feet dangling over the bow.
I'd already made it around the lake a couple of times at moderate speed when I decided to see if I could actually get the boat to plane, so I opened the throttle, and it was at that precise moment that I learned that duct tape doesn't hold up all that well when wet.
I was almost on a plane and at WOT when the vacuum cleaner tubes detached themselves from the tiller, the motor swung violently, and the Zodiac did an Olympic-quality double salto.
Unfortunately, it didn't land on its feet like most Olympians do, and I lost the motor to the bottomless pit which is Lake Morisco (a.k.a., 'le lac de la Négresse').
The worst part is that the vacuum cleaner tubes followed right behind, and that my first ex-wife still brings it up at every alimony hearing.

That's hilarious, Jacques...!!! Literally laughing out loud...

That being said, that great story as a basis for why not to go with a 15 or 20 on a dink makes less sense than duct-taping vacuum cleaner tubes to a tiller handle to pilot a dink from the bow...
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