TOPIC: Not sure why??? SIGH

Snagged a free-bee "Sidewinder" clone, and decided to hack into the obviously rotten transom, to see what I could find.
Holey Moley,...Is it ever rotten to the core!!!
I'm not sure how far I am going to go forward with this one yet.
H-m-m-m-m?,...Maybe a "Rat Rod" that I'll power with 1500xs, or maybe<...A Twister???
Like I don't have enough half finished projects I'm tripping over. GULP
doc




Sidewinder_clone_RatRod (2).jpg[attachment=56842]Sidewinder_clone_RatRod (2).jpg

Looks like just maybe it's beyond a Sea-Cast repair, eh!

Probably about how rotten the transom on my old 16SS Sidewinder was, the 1350 I had on it was making the transom flex really bad the last time I took it out on Tiger Lake before selling the hull. :0

Youch, yeah that will be a project for sure!

Bob

The Doc's work is never done!

At least he is a Doctor and not a butcher like me lol. I always loved the looks of those boats and the copycats. They would typically be running fast and looked fast too… seems I remember them chine walking when trimmed out, but I never drove one. Most had tower motors on them, but I saw one with a v6 Merc and my friends dad had one with a turbocharged 4 cylinder with mercruiser drive that would run over 60… it was purple metallic with the huge tall motor cowl that was taller than the windshield. I am sure the good Doctor can improve on that rotten transom. Go Doc Go!

Oh, yeah, my old 15-9" (model 16SS) Sidewinder was a Beast with that 1350 hanging on the back. We skied the living tar out of that thing in the 80's. You had to be careful pulling a skier around corners, if you didn't trim the engine down the boat would roll right up on its side. Very dramatic and it lived-up to its name! My daughter was very young when we were running that boat at Tiger Lake, and she still has vivid memories of being on the Port side when the boat rolled up, with the water right there at her side!

After the transom died, I kept the 1350 and sold the boat to a guy who had the transom rebuilt and he hung another 1350 on the back! So it lived on and probably does even to this day.

My old 1350 went on a Seaswirl Spyder 17'4" closed-bow ski boat that was the best-handling boat I ever owned. Absolutely no wake, just a slight hump to ski over. Turned flat and hard like a tournament boat. Much heavier than the Sidewinder, it really needed a V6 for great performance. That'd be really expensive with gas nowadays. IDK how anyone can afford to go boating with hi-powered engines! $100/hour or more for fuel at full blast. The Doc has a small lake to run around on, and gets his hits of Speed in small doses!!

And yeah, lots of really nice Stuff comes out of the Doc's Skunk Works!!

Cheers..........ed