Airboat Rescued Powerstroke

[Gbenzx]

Lot's of you have prob heard this but still thimk it's one of the best.

Bobby & Marsha couple years back hooked up to their Airboat & took out down 75 to hwy200 to the Gulf for a good nice weekend.

On the way back the big new shiny Powerstroke didn't get quite the mileage that was advertised & abt halfway back on 200 it burped a couple times & shut down. Knowing very well it couldn't be the fuel Bobby cranked & cranked but the big P/S refused to say a word.

Finally he said to Marsha, We're gonna have to push this thing to get it started & all you have todo is guide it down the road.

With those orders settled, Bobby goes back to the Airboat checks the hitch, the tiedowns & cranks up the big 455 Olds. And when the traffic cleard a little you know the rest if you know Bobby. Marsha said at one time they were going over 60mph. I could just see little Marsha up there wrestling with the steering wheel.

Can anyone tell us another one?

 

[Larry]

Three times in the last 23 years that I have been going to the glades my father a I came home under airboat power from alligator alley to Davie. First time was about 1981, a ford utlity truck with the tool boxes in back being pushed by a 12' taylor with a straight valve 540. Used a rope tied to the throttle pedal on the boat and pulled it with a left arm out the window. Everything was fine until we hit a dip pulling into the driveway and the boat jumped off the trailer and landed on top of the trucks toolboxes. The other 2 times were with a 500 caddy with 10" straight pipes. Pulling away from the tool booth we were warning them they better close up those booths real quick! For some strange reason noone wants to get anywheres near you when you running an airboat down the highway, don't know why??
With the caddy we were able to crusie 60-65 no problem, but our nieghbors thought a plane was crashing down as we were criusing down the block. Did I mention we lived in the Ft Lauderdale airport flight path. Sorry bout the long post but I like telling these old stories.


Larry

 

[marshmaster pat]

Back about a dozen years ago, I had just stopped driving an airboat for seismic surveys and was doing construction. My Ford had died and replaced it with a Nissan pickup.

We had just finished the job when a friend called saying a driver had quit running his boat. He needed a driver and I took it on. Pulling a 14 foot Diamondback behind a Nissan was a joke, the Nissan 4 cylinder only could hit 40 at best. Thank goodness the launch point and night parking were close together.

I was dry launching, which worked ok, but loading was a hoot. Found a little levee at an abandoned oil drilling site that I could push the trailer off at an angle. Could hit the trailer and run it up to the trailer front just about the time the truck tires would start getting pushed across the gravel.

With no tilt trailer, when I loaded it on dry ground, the back tires would almost completely off the ground and the truck slid all over the place even with the brake on and in gear.

At idle that boat would push my truck at about 6 mph. Learned that point when I forgot the brake, had the prop turning to cool down the motor and the truck popped out of gear. I was taking off my boots and realized that the truck was rolling. The old retired guy down the road laughed at me as I was chasing the truck down. Never tried to see what the Nissan would do with that airboat pushing behind it.

But for some reason I had to replace the rear springs after that 4 months.