Hello, I am (obviously), Bernie. I joined because I just purchased a project boat, an Allison 15r. I haven't gone to pick it up yet, it is in east central Florida and I am in Tennessee. This has been a bucket list boat for me since I got interested again in boats and restoring old boats over 10 years ago. Besides the Ally, I currently am down to just two boats, a 28' toon boat that I take my kids and grandkids on, and a 1976 Hydrodyne 18 I-O Tournament Skier that I pull them with. I restored the Dyne about 4 years ago. Before that, I restored a Carlson Contender, before that a Powercat 15t and the one that started it all, and gave me my first exposure to the 15r, a Hydrostream Viper. The previous owner of the Hydrostream, Don Bridges, was also the father of the owner of a pristine survivor 15r with a Merc Twister, Scott Bridges. When I saw Scott's boat I immediately fell in love. I have passively sought a 15r ever since, and even though I live 100 miles from the Allison factory, I have never seen one for sale in the area. I had kind of given up when I found the one in Florida. I am driving down to pick it up on the 22nd.
I swore I would never do fiberglass work again unless it was a special boat. The Ally is one and will most likely be my last project. Fortunately it looks great in the pics so this one will not need paint, with the exception of topside. You never know, but I have been told it is otherwise in good condition. Hope it will not need to be recored but if it does this one is worth it. Anyway, since these forums generally are picture driven, I'll post a few of my old projects and the new one. I'm sure a lot of you are also on Scream and Fly, you may remember some of these pics from there.
And now.....
I have a long way to go on this boat, I have a shot at a Merc 150 inline short shaft that is completely restored, it is going to depend on a couple of things whether I I can swing it. It is out of character for me to spend a lot on a motor, so far they have all been derelicts that I got functional. We shall see. I will be lurking for info for a while and may have a few questions, appologize ahead of time if I don't find the answers in the search feature.
I swore I would never do fiberglass work again unless it was a special boat. The Ally is one and will most likely be my last project. Fortunately it looks great in the pics so this one will not need paint, with the exception of topside. You never know, but I have been told it is otherwise in good condition. Hope it will not need to be recored but if it does this one is worth it. Anyway, since these forums generally are picture driven, I'll post a few of my old projects and the new one. I'm sure a lot of you are also on Scream and Fly, you may remember some of these pics from there.
And now.....
I have a long way to go on this boat, I have a shot at a Merc 150 inline short shaft that is completely restored, it is going to depend on a couple of things whether I I can swing it. It is out of character for me to spend a lot on a motor, so far they have all been derelicts that I got functional. We shall see. I will be lurking for info for a while and may have a few questions, appologize ahead of time if I don't find the answers in the search feature.
