tSee that boat being hot roded by my good friends Mike Andrews and Chris Fejes? Well that's a 20 foot Alumaweld guide special that I spent 20 years in, friends have jokingly called it the 'million dollar boat' because thats how much money they all figure I made with it. This boat is a real statement for the manufacturer, it was built in 1981 and is on the river to this day, without ever suffering a crack of broken weld. The boat came with a 90 horse Mercury, the venerable 'tower or power', it was an in-line 6 cylinder made in the 70's and early 80's and that baby was flat fast. Then the horsepower limit came along in 85 and it had a 50 horse Merc for a while then 2 different 40/35 horse Johnson's. In 1991 I worked a sponsorship deal with Honda and it then has several of the newest and best, Honda 4-stroke 50 horses. The last Honda on it which is still on it today burns some oil and has 7500 hours on it....But, about 6 years ago it was time to upgrade. All my competitors were driving the nice new Willie boats like this on of my friend Zach's and although I'm not a herd animal I decided a new to me boat would be cool.
That Willie boat is by far the most popular on the river, they're just great serviceable boats for what we do here...but you know me, I gotta be different, I just can't do things the way the rest do. Plus, having learned from the 'million dollar boat' that Alumaweld (which Willie founded) builds a fantastic boat I went out and found this 21' Alumaweld Super Vee. If I'm anything in this old world its loyal, I try to be that way with my relationships and with my business so it fit my honor code perfectly to buy the Alumaweld from my friend Toby Liter who was leaving the State.
Its actually a bit bigger than the Willies and as you can see it has the wide 'coming gunwhale', that combined with the high 30 inch sides it makes you feel that you're 'in' the boat rather than 'on' the boat. The side of the gunwhale matches up vertically with the chine of the boat and is comfortable to lean on and safely stand on the edge of the boat. The boat is equipped with Bentley seats and has all the electronics necessary. There as absolutely no wood in the boat, maintenance free aluminum everywhere. Its called a 'Super Vee' for its 6 degree v that flattens to a 'pad' at the stern that gives it slow speed planing characteristics. The 6 degree V is just enough to flatten the ride when crossing boat wakes or in a chop but is still flat enough to give it good 'tracking' manners.
I didn't do a good job of keeping up on my Honda sponsorship and my friend who was connected to Honda died so in 2007 I re powered with new state of the art Yamaha high thrust motors. The big motor is a 50 horse with a larger prop and lower unit to help it get on step faster, the 'high thrust' is basically gearing, more power less speed. The motor has electronic fuel ignition, it has a slow speed idle button and capability. I use an 8 horsepower high thrust for auxiliary. This motor is really one of the secrets to catching fish on the Kenai river. It allows you to slow down so well that when fishing the tide we're often farther downriver in less current than the rest. Also being tiller handle it is quicker to respond than conventional steering and it doesn't hurt to know that having the redundancy of 2 motors is safety. I have an hour meter on the big motor and as the 2011 season starts its still a spanking new motor with 1200 hours on it.
This last pic was taken in the fall and gives you an idea of the width. Its 6 feet wide at the chine. I comfortably fish 4 people and myself. I routinely take up to 10 fishing rods and tackle boxes, coolers, a garbage can, two nets, extra clothes, an anchor...no worries lots of room for it all. Well that's a tour of the Minnow 4, I've spent all week getting it rigged and ready. A new stereo system, a new was down pump as well as preventative maintenance with a new water pump and spark plugs as well as pressure testing the lower unit to make sure the seals are good...." Proper preparation prevents poor performance"...that's me. All this boat talk has got me ready to go, go , go...
Is that "Million Dollar Boat" the one with the new prop on it! There is something about a tiller I love but they don't look as cool as you can stand up on the center consels. There is a famous guide on Leech Lake that drives his tiller standing up. Now that looks cool. My 115 Suzuki runs smooth enough to allow me to do this.
ReplyDeleteyup, the same boat. Some day we'll get together and re enact that evenings grounding. I still stick with the theory that it was a tidaly submerged Eagle rock that got the old Minnow...All of us have hit things, we call it the 'brail' method of river running.
ReplyDeleteLove your posts, Unc! I happen to know that you are indeed a great guide - I hear you know every single rock in the river from personal experience.
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