TRADITION roared to life at 6:00PM, departing Commodore Yacht Club and heading west toward Alan Jackson's fish camp. After making a pass and observing a nice Hackercraft hanging in the floating boat house, we backtracked to Rock Harbor Marina, to the Blue Moon Lagoon Restaurant. The boat worked great, the guests all had a great time, the out of town guests from Chicago were amazed, and the food was good.

One nice thing about getting to a restaurant by boat, you don't mind waiting for a table. We thought about being served on board, but it was a lot better sitting at a table. Live entertainment Nashville style, lots of laughs, and a ride back under cover of darkness.

The aft deck of a 38 was arranged with 8 deck chairs, and with the two helm seats we could seat 10 people VERY comfortably. Most of the time we ran at a low speed of around 1100 or 1200 rpm in order to be able to talk, and also becuase running any faster at night is dangerous. On the way down to the Jackson fish camp, we ran on a plane with8 people aboard around 2600 to 3000 rpm. The big dogs performed well, and hardly knew I had an additional 1500 pounds of gear, coolers, drinks, and people aboard.

Here are a few photos, I really didn't get many good ones unfortunately, and didn't even get photos of everyone aboard. In any case, here are the ones I did take (and I understand more are on the way from some others who took some too, which I'll post later). Here is TRADITION, just before setting out all the deck chairs.





Here we are departing CYC, that's the LADY J in the background!





Out on the water, some guys just can NOT get away from those business calls. We managed to break this habit later in the evening, however. You can see it was an absolute PERFECT day in the South! Temperature and humidity could not have been better. Outdoor dining at the restaurant under the stars was also a lot of fun.





After dinner we had some fun at the dock before departing the restaurant, and also under way on the way home. Out came the cigars, ha ha. Everyone got into the action, even if for just a little bit.






GOOD TIMES like this don't happen by accident. As you ALL know, it takes a huge amount of work on the boat to be able to host a party like this, and when you do, all the work and expense it took to get the boat in shape is instantly forgotten! I'm ready to go again!

regards,

Paul

Some guys have it made, a boat load of good looking chicks! Doesn't get better than that. Great pics and it looks like a great time. I plan on doing some of the same this weekend, its going to be HOT and balmy up here, 90's and a lot of humidity. Actually those are the best kind of boating days in my opinion, as long as theres no work to be done.
Steve

Part of the team is our in-house staff, and part is from Chicago. We hire the best, and all of these people work hard and very well together in an awesome manner. We rarely get a chance to kick back like this, and that made our evening all that much more fun.

Paul

Congratulations on what looks like a great run. Back when I was doing this sort of thing more often, some of the best times we had were in the heat of the summer, late in the afternoon when things were cooling down, or in the very early morning. Those times are special. As far as running a boat in the maximum heat of the day, it ceases to be fun fast if you don't have AC and you are on a slow cook.

Events like this are what Commanders were built for, having fun with your friends and family. My compliments on a job well done!

Tom

The day after.................................


For the length of the boat, the 38' Express has THE biggest aft deck in the business.

Look at these photos, there are TEN SEATS on this aft deck, with room for exit to the dock, room for cooler(s), room to the flybridge, and room to get to the cabin. It is almost like a pickup truck, only bigger. Last night these seats were full, and we were burbling down the river at a slow 1100 to 1200 RPM, not burning much fuel, but having a MAJOR BLAST. In good weather, the outdoors nature of this boat, in a 38' length, is about as good as it gets.

These photos were taken this afternoon after work, as I drove back to the marina to tap into some of that still cold beer in the coolers, and transferred some of it to the refrigerator. Funny thing, while we were at the restaurant, I saw an 18' ski boat drive in with more people aboard than we had, ha ha, they were all standing up, lol. I'm sure there wasn't enough room left aboard for life jackets, lol.

Here's the battlewagon at rest, the day after...........




regards,

Paul

Awww,Paul:
Seeing all these great times makes me feel like I am covered in tar like Ber' Fox was. It seems so slow to get everything taken apart, new parts ordered, arrived and put in place. With the Summer Palace on the hard the last couple of weeks, it is even worse not the feel the comforting rock of the various wakes passing under us.

But we are making progress. I hope to send some photos on Monday. We have replaced all the through-hulls with new ones including new mahogany backing plates glassed, caulked, and through-bolted in place. The same for the rudder and prop through hulls. I do not know how that boat stayed afloat. There were NO two pieces alike on either port or starboard side fittings. There is now and she is really happy about it. There is one more coat of paint to go on down below. Hullside, we have been polishing the polish that we put on the polish to bring out luster and shine on the hull. It is looking much better but is still not quite where Bear Z' Girl is. It may take awl grip in a couple of years to bring her up to par. Her new name goes on this weekend and I hope to put her back in the drink next week.

Next trip out, toast our old boats, and especially ours and we will toast yours!
I love my old boat,
Jerry

You are doing a MAJOR major MAJOR restoration and upgrade. These things can't be rushed. It sounds like you are really paying attentiion to ALL the necessary details. You can not really be in the major project mode and the social entertaining mode (on the same boat). Yes, if you have more than one boat, as you do, you can be doing both

The major project mode, however, is a very worthy expense of time for a boy who needs (and loves) a hobby. We both seem to fall into that category. All the while, you know there will be a day when you're laid back sipping an iced tea or something stronger, enjoying the fruits of your toil now. The thing I always try to remember, and I know you do too, is to savor the moment, because working on a boat is sometimes darn near as much fun as driving one! The reward factor goes all the way off the chart, when it comes time to splash the boat, fire those engines, and power down the channel for the first time.

Good luck, keep the faith!

Paul

Well here it is Friday eve, and I just got back from the boat. I sat there this afternoon and re-read all the comments placed in our ships log, and had a quiet chuckle to myself, remembering far more fun than I could possibly get on film. The problem with a camera, you just don't want to be pushing that in peoples faces all the time. Therefore, I got a few pics, and that was that.

Now I'm looking forward to doing it again, as soon as possible. Yes, indeed, I have boatitis bad, but it is good to be among friends. Thank you for your support!

regards,

Paul

Seeing you having this kind of fun with your boat is an inspiration to do the same. That photo showing the seating for ten people on deck should have been used by Chris Craft to sell boats.

All the work and the expense of restoring and maintaining a classic boat come together for payback very quickly when you pull off an event or two like this. If you can pull off a half dozen or so during the season, and make several nice runs with just the family, it all adds up for one heck of a boating season. 2008 was such a season, but we could have and should have done more!

We often talk about the fact that classic boats are a way to get back in touch with earlier days, but I can tell you, a classic boat is MAKING days to remember each time it leaves port. Tomorrow the temps are going to be in the seventies here in Tenneessee and we're thinking about a run on the Cumberland. It will be windy, but what the heck, a few more memories to stash away when I need em never hurts.

Regards,

Paul

TRADITION
1966 38 Commander Express
Original 427 big dogs