wrote:
On Sun, 22 May 2016 06:55:44 -0400, Justan Olphart
wrote:

On 5/21/2016 9:54 PM, Alex wrote:
True North wrote:
Justan Olphart
- show quoted text -
" Yabut he boats mainly in a protected cesspool of a harboUr."

Only a small fraction of my boating is in the harbour. That's why I
have a trailer boat. We have two large bays a short distance southwest
of the city plus numerous lakes, a few rivers and numerous coastal areas.


Yet you log 20 hours, or so, per year. What a waste.
He should sell his car-trailer-boat combo and get one of those old army
ducks if he likes to travel hither and yon to find water to float in. I
don't know why all little boats under 20' aren't fitted with wheels at
the least. The Amphicar was a great idea. I wonder why the concept
wasn't expanded upon. Harry could have used his family fortune to
develop a powered wheeled boat for consumer use instead of ****ing it
away on his personal toys. He could have been rich and Donnie could have
been happy with something that meets all of his vehicular needs.
Alas, I guess it wasn't meant to be. :-)

The problem with most of these combo vehicles is they suck at both
tasks. One of my IBM buddies knew the guy who ran the Naples "duck".
It was a maintenance nightmare. These things were combat vehicles that
were designed to last a few days in a war before they were blown up.
Day in and day out, splashing in salt water several times a day takes
a toll. They are lousy trucks and lousy boats ... but they do both.
The same was true of the Amphicar and all of those car/airplane deals.


Neighbor is helping to restore a Duck now. Is going to be used for local
wine tours. It was partially restored before buying and still has been
months getting it near working. Probably not be used as a boat.
Interesting about the design. Was 60 days from Stevens being approached
about designing an amphibious vehicle until first use. He decided on a
deuce and a half as the basic vehicle as GM was building so many f them.