If you are anything like me, you see old jet boats for sale on Marketplace or Craigslist and you fall in love by the second photo. I see these bitchin hot rod boats and think that I would look awesome driving one and would love to just cruise around with open headers looking like a bad ass. There are a lot of these kinds of boats for sale, especially in the western states, and I always wonder just how hard it would be to get one running and cleaned up enough to throw a cooler full of beer in it so I could go enjoy a weekend of fun on the lake or river.
Well, Junkyard Digs is trying to do just that so lets see how it works our for them when they find this rad 1970’s big block jet boat and try to bring it back to life.
Remember, people often make fun of boats, how much they cost, that the best kind of boat to have is the one your friend owns, etc. So will this one be a nightmare? Or will it bring a big smile to their faces and be awesome?
We shall see.
BOAT;
Bring
On
Another
Thousand
Around 1972 my older brother and I were all ready to buy a used 18’ Fresno flat bottom with a mild 427 BBC V drive. It had a gorgeous wood deck and was in pristine condition. The thing that stopped us was neither of us was quite 18 yet and we needed our old man to co sign on the loan. Dad sad he would at first but then changed his mind and wouldn’t co-sign. Needless to say my brother and I were pretty pushed. Looking back 50 years later it was definitely one of the best things dad ever did! We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We were both speed freaks and with our very limited boating experience I have no doubt one of us would have crashed that thing! I totaled the first two cars I owned which included a mint 1970 Mach 1.