Cool stories / Finding an old Boat LONG after selling etc ?
After posting about the old "pre-pinging" days in the other thread, and reading Crasny's comment it got me thinking about a cool find I had late last year.
It's a bit of a sentimental story, and many will think "get a grip mate", but I'm sure there must be a few other stories like this out there ?
Well technically this story doesn't include MY old boat, but is was a WTF moment for me, so here it is :
Some of my greatest memories were spent with my Grandad in the mid-late 70's fishing Geographe Bay in his original Pacemaker Trendsetter 175, "The Seaker".
Sadly the big C got him when I was 7, and the boat went to my Uncle where it sat in a shed for around 10 years before my aunty made him sell it.
(In the end the f#cking cow had an affair and took him for everything he had)
We were offered first choice, but my parents weren't in a position to buy or store it, and I needed to get myself a car.
I always kept an eye out for it, but it apparently went to Bunbury - so being in Perth made chances of finding it again pretty slim.
(I had thought about trying to find the owner via a rego search, but never did so)
Well a few years went by and I finished my degree etc, so was in a position to buy it, but I never got a sniff of its whereabouts.
I figured by this time it'd be well and truly past its use-by date.
Then another 20 odd years passed ........
About 6 months after I bought my current boat I was walking past the Hillarys ramps and saw this pale, faded baby-shit-brown boat with the white racing stripe about to depart the jetty.
"Nah", I thought....... surely not.
But something prompted me to run over there like a f#cking maniac and stop them leaving.
The boat was loaded with a pile of young Irish blokes who must have been thinking I was an axe-murderer, and (probably to their relief) I told them I reckoned this was my Grandad's old boat.
Sure enough, I looked down the side, and could see the unfaded section still showing the outline of the original painted name "The Seaker".
They were spun out about its history and were kind enough to hang around while I called my Mum to tell her I was looking at her dad's old boat.
Texted her a few pics and received a very happy / emotional call back - it made her millenium knowing it was still around nearly 43yrs after he originally bought it in 1969.
There was definitely a bit of fate involved finding it - we had a few delays in leaving the house, then got held up by a car accident, then i had an argument with the Missus because we were already running late but I still wanted to park near the ramps for a squiz as we walked past.
Funny thing was I asked them where & when they bought it, it turns out an ad I called a few months earlier was probably the same boat - but the seller sent me a crap video that wasn't worth a pinch of shit so I never followed up on it.
Anyways, thought I'd share the story - here's a few pics of the old tub in her hayday, and getting ready to leave with a bunch of Irish blokes earlier this year :
First test on a lake somewhere near Collie, circa 1969 :
After a day's fishing in Geographe Bay (old Acacia Caravan Park), circa 1976 :
And November 2011 :
She's in a pretty sorry state, gelcoat baked to hell - but it's pretty cool to know it's still going strong 43+ yrs on...
Bit of a testament to the old Pacemakers !
There's a few old fishing pics in albums at my olds' house with some pretty impressive catches, might scan & upload them one day ...
PilbaraBrad
Posts: 3628
Date Joined: 16/05/07
Thats pretty cool mate, dont
Thats pretty cool mate, dont think too many of the modern boats will stand the test of time like that old girl
thanks for sharing
Brad
Bruce
Posts: 527
Date Joined: 11/04/12
Thats pretty good
I remember selling a little yellow dinghy when I was 6, then 10 years later I see it up for sale on gumtree!
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Great story, the boys giving
Great story, the boys giving you first dibs when they part ways with her? What a restoration project
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
Yeah Lamby - I gave them my
Yeah Lamby - I gave them my number and email etc to contact me if / when they were going to sell.
Would be awesome to restore it & take my old girl out for a ride in it again.
Though it might be a bit hard to source a good Chrysler outboard of that era (for some reason my Grandad loved his Chrysler gear, had a flash Chrysler / Valiant "Regal" car too)
Willlo
Posts: 1490
Date Joined: 07/10/11
Classic story,looks like its
Classic story,looks like its still the same donk as well.
Call Sign - BZ785
Haynes Hunter Prowler CC
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
unfortunately not. The
unfortunately not.
The original Chrysler is long gone and it has got an oldish Evinrude on it now.
Nauti Buoy
Posts: 595
Date Joined: 20/04/09
Awesome
Great story, hope you can buy it off them one of these days.
Paully
Posts: 3246
Date Joined: 15/08/09
Small world stuff
mate, it's a sign - thanks for sharing, hope you manage to get hold of it one day. I hope to come across my grandfathers boat one day.
Walfootrot
Posts: 1386
Date Joined: 23/07/12
Thats cool! hope you get to
Thats cool! hope you get to own her one day!
Pacemakers are a great boat, one of the best IMO along with Swift Craft.
My mate is doing up a 21' Pacemaker at the moment, Rocko boat, was called R&R. been totaly stripped, floor redone, looks like it just came out of the mould, new motor going in and new sounders etc. good to see some of the old boats getting a new life
More drum lines, kill the bloody sharks!
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
Yeah they are a great
Yeah they are a great tub.
The 21 footers (210 offshores) are a great rig - I know the boat you are talking about, there was a thread about it on here a while back
http://fishwrecked.com/forum/pacemaker-21
My tub is Chivers version of the same hull after they bought the Pacemaker moulds.
Walfootrot
Posts: 1386
Date Joined: 23/07/12
Yer thats the one, in the
Yer thats the one, in the thread someone said it came off a trailer and had holes in the hull.
No repairs on the hull on this one, Cobalt Blue have done all the glass work on this one, floor up, ribs checked, transom raised, and hulls good no repairs.
More drum lines, kill the bloody sharks!
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
Good news - sounds like the
Good news - sounds like the one in the other thread is a case of mistaken identity :)
Sammy the Salmon
Posts: 229
Date Joined: 24/12/11
Great story and cool old
Great story and cool old pictures too!
Thanks for taking the time to share!
hunterdive
Posts: 363
Date Joined: 24/02/09
Great Hull those Pacemakers,
Great Hull those Pacemakers, Father in law did a reno job on one of them a few years ago and it was a sweet boat. Good solid hull, maybe a bit out of date by new hull technology, but a nice heavy ride
On a similar note, my Father in law was just about born on a boat, they went to Rotto every chance they could back in the day when there was only 3 boats in Geordie Bay. His Dads boat was CY Oconner's survey boat the Cygnet that he used to survey the Freo Harbour, they re powered it with a Ford Prefect 4 Cyl motor and off they went to Garden Isl, and Rotto every change they could. This is the in the early 60s and at this stage the boat was very old and a mess. Its sister ship is in the Freo Maritime Museum
http://museum.wa.gov.au/research/collections/maritime-history/maritime-history-boats-and-watercraft/ti-tu-steam-pleasure-lau
Anyway that is background. Father in law (John from now on) decided to build a new boat in their backyard in Dalkeith. Over the next year or so he and his dad built a 38 off foot twin masted fibre glass motor sailer. An incredible feat in your backyard shed. They named it Nukamunu after an island in the Pacific that his dad served at during WW2. They launched it and it was a success in a lot of ways. They had plans to sail it to the Pacific etc but sadly John's dad died suddenly of a heart attack leaving John with this boat, and a pretty big mess for a bloke of 24 to sort out. Anyway, the Nukamunu was sold sadly and that was that.
Move forward about 25 years and John's son Greg was down at an engineering workshop in the back of Cockburn and to his huge suprise saw a very familar looking boat in a pretty bad way down the side of a workshop there. It was the Nuke, we went down and checked it out, went on board and met the owner, who was the original 2nd owner that John's dad sold it to. We tossed up whether to buy her and do a full reno job, but it just wasn't possible. So to bring an long story to an end, the owner did a full reno on the boat and it is now back at Freo Sailing club, John went on board and checked it out a year or two ago and said it was back to its former glory. Pretty amazing to build a boat like that in your backyard, crane it out, fit it out, launch it and sail it as a 24 year old, then to see it again 25 or so years later. I'll try and get some pictures of her. Thanks for reading
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
Great story too
Great story too - probably even luckier being a big boat as there's just SO much more to do restoration-wise.
Some may have found it easier to just call it quits.
sea-kem
Posts: 14859
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Mate that is epic. I had a
Mate that is epic. I had a Pacemaker and they are awesome boats. Everyone I took on it reckoned it was the best and driest seaboat they'd ever been on.Just shows they have stood the test of time.Hope you can get hold of it and do the old girl proud.
Love the West!
SABRE
Posts: 404
Date Joined: 17/05/12
cool story and hope you get
cool story and hope you get the chance to bring it home someday
If fishing is a sport I,m an elite athlete
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Cool find!
Cool find!
grantarctic1
Posts: 2546
Date Joined: 03/03/11
Classic
Classic story , thanks for the share .
Carry
Posts: 657
Date Joined: 22/04/09
photo
that first photo is a ripper i love the old photos classic memories for sure good luck getting hold of the old girl again.
We feel nothing but a certain difficulty in continuing to stand
marble
Posts: 773
Date Joined: 03/09/09
Couple of weekends ago got
Couple of weekends ago got to Tantabiddi in the morning and my very first boat was sitting in the water ready to head out, be at least 20 years since I sold it maybe more. On the other lane was a boat I used to fish gamex in and caught heaps of dhuies out of in geo bay and hamelin years ago, real trip down memory lane that morning was.
PMY 25 Centre Console DF300 Suzuki
Browny
Posts: 316
Date Joined: 04/01/11
Great stuff Diz!Good read.
Great stuff Diz!
Good read.
I just love Exmouth: Its a quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem!
Brock O
Posts: 3166
Date Joined: 11/01/08
Cool Story
Dizzy, that would have brought back memories with a smile.
It seems your boat in your avatar looks to resemble the old pacemaker a little, the old days fishing with your grandad looks to have rubbed off a little.
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
Sure did mate,
Sure did mate, was grinning from ear to ear, but sorta sad at the same time as he died very young and there could have been a lot more memories.
The short time he was around he influenced me a LOT, from boats and my affinity with the ocean, to Footy (he was a champion ruckman who had East Perth chasing him to relocate from Collie)
90% of the caravan park fleet down there were Pacemakers, so I never really knew anything different.
I was actually looking for a 21ft Pacemaker 210 Offshore when I bought my boat, then found the Chivers - which came from the same Pacemaker moulds.
Brock O
Posts: 3166
Date Joined: 11/01/08
Nice looking Rig
There Dizzy,
When i was looking for my boat a few blokes at work said you cant go past the pacemaker or swiftcraft hulls.
If i was to rebuild an old boat and make like new it would be one of them too!!
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
.
.
red dawn
Posts: 104
Date Joined: 29/11/10
Great story mate
My first boat was a 150 Bonito (voyager hull) which I had for a few years. It was a great little boat with a 60 hp evinrude on it. We loved it, but when we had our firsty child I sold it for about the same as I bought it for. A few years later we went bought a 12 ft tinny which we kept for 2 or 3 years, and then we decided to go back to a real boat. And, you guessed it, my Bonito popped up on the market. I arranged to have a look at it, as on the photos it looked to be in a good nick still, but before I could make it there, It had been sold. I ended up buying a bigger boat, but I had a pleasant surprise last year at Tantabiddi. As we were heading in to the ramp one afternoon I saw her heading out. I did not have a chance to catch up with them, but she still looked just as good as the day I sold her.
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
Awesome stuff.
Awesome stuff.
Walfootrot
Posts: 1386
Date Joined: 23/07/12
And after all this time it
And after all this time it still has the same reg number!!
More drum lines, kill the bloody sharks!
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
Yeah !One of the reasons I
Yeah !
One of the reasons I didn't try and locate it via the reg was that I thought there was no chance of it having the same number. I thought my uncle let the rego lapse. Maybe boat Regos work differently ??
(ie no need to hand in plates)
Splashback
Posts: 82
Date Joined: 25/06/12
Great story
Thanks for sharing that. It really explains the boat thing perfectly. I am grinning from ear to ear now.
Regos are kept for the hull unless it is reported as stolen/sunk etc. Not like a car, you can just call up a year or more out of rego and reregister it. As long as its hin'd.
I love the chivers too, had a 96 laid down seamaster sports with the 350 but due to being a bit awkward to retrailer alone I now run a nice old 19ft commonly known as the sportsfisherman. Hard top and 3lt inboard. Handles above its size out wide with the inboard engine.
And believe it or not, petroleum jelly does wonders for old gelcoat like your Grandads.
Good luck getting her back.
Josh
Rods: a few
Reels: a few too
Personal best: eaten and forgotten
Location: North Mandurah
glastronomic
Posts: 892
Date Joined: 16/02/11
Look at a great many old
Go and buy that boat back at all cost if it pulls the strings!
Lookes like it will clean up rather well with a bit of elbow grease and some gelcoat buf/restorer.
Great fishing rig and wil be a smooth ride in choppy conditions
Look at a great many old boats from the 197ish there still are after being been renovated/repowered.
This could be because they were building them to last (if you looked after them) for a great many decades.
The Hull shape is still right up to date on these "relics" and the ride is second to None.
Hains Hunters, Chivers, Barons, Pacemakers Formula 233 are all still there on a great many launch ramps when the fishing comps are on and they are there for a reason.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 17870
Date Joined: 11/03/08
that would have been great
that would have been great for you to find the old tub after all these years. hope you end up owning the old girl .bet it brought up some fond memories from years past.
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Perry Home
Posts: 434
Date Joined: 07/10/10
Great work Dizzy
I really enjoyed reading the known journey of your Grandad's boat - I wonder if there is a reader of Fishwrecked who can fill in some of the blanks for you between the years. I 've just bought my second pacemaker about 6 weeks ago. Same one as the previous boat that I reluctantly sold so I'm rapt to pick up this one in even better condition than the first.
It's the Pacemaker Charger 560 sitting on a 2008 dual axle Dunbier trailer. 18ft 6 in in the old money in a runabout configuration which means massive deck space for an 18 footer. For a boat made in 1992 being 20 years old it's in sparkling condition. Have just put a Honda 90 with Hydraulic steering on the back with Hayway Marine - 25 inch leg so the transom was raised by Genesis Boats who did a top quality job. Thanks also to Fishwrecked member Till who I was able to get a keel guard from - it's fitted up on the boat nicely now. Running a JRC FF50 sounder and Furuno GP1650 chartplotter I'll attempt to post some decent pictures of the rig.