Rocket Man's 02 Denali Build Thread AKA "THE BEAST"

[adventurenali92]

Been tossing around the idea of buying a boat again after I sell my bike. Something less dangerous than riding a bike on the streets but still fun. I used to have a jet boat with a 460 Ford with a 6-71 blower that I built the engine for, back in the 80’s. I have always wanted a v-drive though ever since that boat. Fast off the line and I like how they look with the engines mounted backwards. Just bad a** boats. This one just sold near me for $8500. They can be real expensive but I think I can find one I like for under $10k. I would just use it on occasion to go out when the water is flat and there aren’t a bunch of other boats. Which would be easy now that im retired. I want one with either a BBC or if I could maybe find one with no motor and see about doing an LS turbo build. @randeez ’s motor would be perfect in one.

Boats are tons of fun!! I love them! Saving up for my own wakeboard someday…. Lol

 

[Tonyv__]

I live this close to the river. And my wife always says. “Wtf are you listening to?”. I can hear the wide open v8s just ripping down the river and it’s like music to my ears. Would love to get into boating one day.

 

[randeez]

i hear if your engine doesnt cost 3x your boat, you aint doin it right.

 

[Sparksalot]

Been tossing around the idea of buying a boat again after I sell my bike. Something less dangerous than riding a bike on the streets but still fun. I used to have a jet boat with a 460 Ford with a 6-71 blower that I built the engine for, back in the 80’s. I have always wanted a v-drive though ever since that boat. Fast off the line and I like how they look with the engines mounted backwards. Just bad a** boats. This one just sold near me for $8500. They can be real expensive but I think I can find one I like for under $10k. I would just use it on occasion to go out when the water is flat and there aren’t a bunch of other boats. Which would be easy now that im retired. I want one with either a BBC or if I could maybe find one with no motor and see about doing an LS turbo build. @randeez ’s motor would be perfect in one.View attachment 366218

Fun! I’d love to do one of these.

Cocktail Class Skua Racing power boat

 

[89Suburban]

I live this close to the river. And my wife always says. “Wtf are you listening to?”. I can hear the wide open v8s just ripping down the river and it’s like music to my ears. Would love to get into boating one day.

View attachment 366221

Nothing like being on the water in your own boat. My kids and I lived on the river basically until they grew up and took off. Best memories of my life are on that river. We would anchor up or just beach it somewhere and hang out and swim all day. Play water toy games. Snorkel in the shallows. Pull the tube around. Used to take my little alum boat out with the kids up front with nets and we would go treasure hunting along the shore lines. We had a blast. We were river rats.

 

[George B]

Nothing like being on the water in your own boat. My kids and I lived on the river basically until they grew up and took off. Best memories of my life are on that river. We would anchor up or just beach it somewhere and hang out and swim all day. Play water toy games. Snorkel in the shallows. Pull the tube around. Used to take my little alum boat out with the kids up front with nets and we would go treasure hunting along the shore lines. We had a blast. We were river rats.

I grew up as a river rat from 8 years old until I moved out. My summers revolve around the boat, the lakes and the rivers to this day.

 

[Rocket Man]

I spent 7 years of my life as a total river rat in every sense. I bought an old boathouse that had been converted into a floating home. It used to hold a 55’ powerboat inside it so the boat well was huge. The original living area was small, meant for overnights but not long term. Part of the boat well was filled in and made into living space and it was moved into a floating home moorage. I replaced the stringers, filled in a bit more of the boat well but still left room for 2 ski boats side-by-side. I had a ski boat and a wave runner with a carpeted ramp for my wave runner. I built a big float for out behind the boat well that swung out of the way for taking boats in or out. I could be on a nice sandy beach in 10 minutes after getting home. I was into drugs and alcohol then though and a neighbor moved in that always had coke. It led me into a downward spiral that ended up with me being kicked off the moorage property which included the ramps and walkways needed to get to my home. They let me keep my home there and pay moorage though yay. I rented it out and they wrecked the place and I ended selling at a loss. The moorage was purchased right about then by a new company anyway and moorage prices tripled in the last 2 years I was there. They were trying to make it too expensive for the middle class. My moorage went from $500 to $1500 a month plus I still had the house payment. Now it’s like buying a house plus add moorage which I think is over $2000-3000 a month. Anyhow…sigh. It was a helluva ride. The best times for sure. I loved jumping in my wave runner and visiting my neighbors, stop by and they always had the beers out on their decks. We would water ski, tow parasails, surf behind the guys boats that were big, get drunk, etc. I found out I could put my wave runner in reverse, rev it up, and slowly shift into forward and it would submarine under the river and I could drive it under there for a bit and then pop up a ways away. I had an garage door opener in my ski boat that I could hit when I came back home from a day on the river and drive my boat into my “garage” and most times my wave runner was tied on the back. I’d pull it with me and take turns using it or driving the boat.

It was hard when I moved back onto land. I lost pretty much everything at that time. It wasn’t the only time I lost it all either. I lived pretty hard most my life, and I crashed equally as hard a few times. I don’t even have pictures from those years. Even lost those, most of those were taken by this super hot girl that was the love of my life when I lived on the floating home. Like everything else during that part of my life, she turned out to be trouble too. Bad trouble that haunted me for years after we broke up. Turns out she didn’t want me with any other women as well as I also found out she had stolen many peoples ID and in the end I’m not even sure if I knew her real name. I could write a book about that part of my life but let’s just say it was insane. Literally. I could go on but I’m saving it for my book lol.

So its been hard for me to even get to the point where I could think about being a regular guy who has a boat, tows it to the river, and uses a boat ramp like normal people. I had the river life. I lost it. But with over 15 years of sobriety now, I’m happier than I’ve ever been and I can do things sober and enjoy them more than when I was fu*ked up all the time. And I won’t have to constantly worry about going to jail like I did back then. But hey, there’s nothin like doing h o o t e r s of coke on your buddy’s boat and then water skiing on a warm summer morning. Ok, yeah that part was fun I’ll admit.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I spent 7 years of my life as a total river rat in every sense. I bought an old boathouse that had been converted into a floating home. It used to hold a 55’ powerboat inside it so the boat well was huge. The original living area was small, meant for overnights but not long term. Part of the boat well was filled in and made into living space and it was moved into a floating home moorage. I replaced the stringers, filled in a bit more of the boat well but still left room for 2 ski boats side-by-side. I had a ski boat and a wave runner with a carpeted ramp for my wave runner. I built a big float for out behind the boat well that swung out of the way for taking boats in or out. I could be on a nice sandy beach in 10 minutes after getting home. I was into drugs and alcohol then though and a neighbor moved in that always had coke. It led me into a downward spiral that ended up with me being kicked off the moorage property which included the ramps and walkways needed to get to my home. They let me keep my home there and pay moorage though yay. I rented it out and they wrecked the place and I ended selling at a loss. The moorage was purchased right about then by a new company anyway and moorage prices tripled in the last 2 years I was there. They were trying to make it too expensive for the middle class. My moorage went from $500 to $1500 a month plus I still had the house payment. Now it’s like buying a house plus add moorage which I think is over $2000-3000 a month. Anyhow…sigh. It was a helluva ride. The best times for sure. I loved jumping in my wave runner and visiting my neighbors, stop by and they always had the beers out on their decks. We would water ski, tow parasails, surf behind the guys boats that were big, get drunk, etc. I found out I could put my wave runner in reverse, rev it up, and slowly shift into forward and it would submarine under the river and I could drive it under there for a bit and then pop up a ways away. I had an garage door opener in my ski boat that I could hit when I came back home from a day on the river and drive my boat into my “garage” and most times my wave runner was tied on the back. I’d pull it with me and take turns using it or driving the boat.

It was hard when I moved back onto land. I lost pretty much everything at that time. It wasn’t the only time I lost it all either. I lived pretty hard most my life, and I crashed equally as hard a few times. I don’t even have pictures from those years. Even lost those, most of those were taken by this super hot black girl that was the love of my life when I lived on the floating home. Like everything else during that part of my life, she turned out to be trouble too. Bad trouble that haunted me for years after we broke up. Turns out she didn’t want me with any other women as well as I also found out she had stolen many peoples ID and in the end I’m not even sure if I knew her real name. I could write a book about that part of my life but let’s just say it was insane. Literally. I could go on but I’m saving it for my book lol.

So its been hard for me to even get to the point where I could think about being a regular guy who has a boat, tows it to the river, and uses a boat ramp like normal people. I had the river life. I lost it. But with over 15 years of sobriety now, I’m happier than I’ve ever been and I can do things sober and enjoy them more than when I was fu*ked up all the time. And I won’t have to constantly worry about going to jail like I did back then. But hey, there’s nothin like doing h o o t e r s of coke on your buddy’s boat and then water skiing on a warm summer morning. Ok, yeah that part was fun I’ll admit.

I'd read that book!

 

[Rocket Man]

Got a little snow today. Here’s The Beast in its native habitat

 

[George B]

I spent 7 years of my life as a total river rat in every sense. I bought an old boathouse that had been converted into a floating home. It used to hold a 55’ powerboat inside it so the boat well was huge. The original living area was small, meant for overnights but not long term. Part of the boat well was filled in and made into living space and it was moved into a floating home moorage. I replaced the stringers, filled in a bit more of the boat well but still left room for 2 ski boats side-by-side. I had a ski boat and a wave runner with a carpeted ramp for my wave runner. I built a big float for out behind the boat well that swung out of the way for taking boats in or out. I could be on a nice sandy beach in 10 minutes after getting home. I was into drugs and alcohol then though and a neighbor moved in that always had coke. It led me into a downward spiral that ended up with me being kicked off the moorage property which included the ramps and walkways needed to get to my home. They let me keep my home there and pay moorage though yay. I rented it out and they wrecked the place and I ended selling at a loss. The moorage was purchased right about then by a new company anyway and moorage prices tripled in the last 2 years I was there. They were trying to make it too expensive for the middle class. My moorage went from $500 to $1500 a month plus I still had the house payment. Now it’s like buying a house plus add moorage which I think is over $2000-3000 a month. Anyhow…sigh. It was a helluva ride. The best times for sure. I loved jumping in my wave runner and visiting my neighbors, stop by and they always had the beers out on their decks. We would water ski, tow parasails, surf behind the guys boats that were big, get drunk, etc. I found out I could put my wave runner in reverse, rev it up, and slowly shift into forward and it would submarine under the river and I could drive it under there for a bit and then pop up a ways away. I had an garage door opener in my ski boat that I could hit when I came back home from a day on the river and drive my boat into my “garage” and most times my wave runner was tied on the back. I’d pull it with me and take turns using it or driving the boat.

It was hard when I moved back onto land. I lost pretty much everything at that time. It wasn’t the only time I lost it all either. I lived pretty hard most my life, and I crashed equally as hard a few times. I don’t even have pictures from those years. Even lost those, most of those were taken by this super hot girl that was the love of my life when I lived on the floating home. Like everything else during that part of my life, she turned out to be trouble too. Bad trouble that haunted me for years after we broke up. Turns out she didn’t want me with any other women as well as I also found out she had stolen many peoples ID and in the end I’m not even sure if I knew her real name. I could write a book about that part of my life but let’s just say it was insane. Literally. I could go on but I’m saving it for my book lol.

So its been hard for me to even get to the point where I could think about being a regular guy who has a boat, tows it to the river, and uses a boat ramp like normal people. I had the river life. I lost it. But with over 15 years of sobriety now, I’m happier than I’ve ever been and I can do things sober and enjoy them more than when I was fu*ked up all the time. And I won’t have to constantly worry about going to jail like I did back then. But hey, there’s nothin like doing h o o t e r s of coke on your buddy’s boat and then water skiing on a warm summer morning. Ok, yeah that part was fun I’ll admit.

When it’s good, its so good, Until it goes bad.
-Pink-
-Sober-

Epic song about addiction.