I also stepped up to the new 175 HP ELPT Mercury motor and installed it with dual Ride-Guide steering. I mounted the tach in an aluminum housing on the front deck for clear visibility. I mounted a 12 gallon spun-aluminum 'Moon' tank in the rear on brackets bolted to the transom. Just like my MX-15, my V-Mate I was built primarily as a 'ski' boat, so I rigged it the same way. What a deal!Īgain, jack plates were not a common item in 1976, so this time I ordered a 2" rise off the transom directly from the factory.Īttach the tie-downs and we are on the road back to Texas! In 1976, Checkmate would sand the 'hook' out of the bottom and apply two (2) coats of 'SpeedCoat" paint for an extra $100. The hardware was soon installed and my V-Mate I was loaded on the trailer. My wife and I each took a week of vacation and we drove all the way from Texas to the Checkmate factory near Bucyrus, Ohio, to take delivery.īecause my V-Mate I was not completely finished when we arrived, we were offered a tour of the factory floor. My wife usually yacks about this, but she quietly sat in the truck, reading her book (a good thing).As you may remember, I sold my 1974 Checkmate MX-15 ( ) and ordered a 1976 V-Mate I. No problem, after an hour and a half, (a half hour debating his right to get in my boat with combat boots) the boat passed the full inspection with flying colors, his big concern was the motor, and since he wasn’t knowledgeable in the older “Rudes”, I somehow forgot everything I know about motors too. And here we go, I need to see your boating registration card, life jackets, yada yada. I was focused on what I was doing, when I hear a hey you! I turn around and notice the Sherriff’s boat tied at the ramp, now with the lights flashing. We get to the boat ramp, loaded on the trailer, pulling the plug and strapping the boat to the trailer, ya know the stuff ya do before going down the road. The ride is disturbed by the no wake zone by the Warf, a high 5 and light up a smoke, my wife says, here comes that Sherriff, I thought nothing of it, and at the end of the no wake zone, pined that old 175 again. What a ride! The one day I wished for a hydraulic jack plate, was yesterday. That old cross flow trimmed and spinning 6300rpm we are knocking at 70mph and that old tri hull is sitting perfectly balanced on the back end. A really nice run staying around 63 – 64 mph the whole time, when we wound around the lake and headed towards Clear Creek, the water layed down to “glass” front fuel tank low, and the east wind catching the port side tri hull section perfect, the Mate starts dancing, trim up some more and pin the throttle. Trim in, and I slam the throttle on the 175, pop up out of the water like a jackrabbit and head to the North shoreline taking the longest way possible around the lake back to the ramp. We are floating, engine running, but not in gear, he’s looking, watching, almost a glare, not one word out of his mouth, and he was close enough to shake his hand. We were booting and strapping the top down and this cop is sticking with me. You got it, a fun run with no particular direction to go. Since it’s rare the conditions are perfect for my lil 16’ SkiMate, I decided to drop the Bimini, and prepare for WOT run across the lake, and in my mind, as long as the general direction headed to the ramp, we were ok. East winds about 10mph and a slight chop, maybe 6 inches or less. A quick look around the boat to make sure nothing would fly out a glance of Clear Lake ahead of us looked like a very promising ride. ![]() We decided to head to the ramp, and call it a day.Īs we neared the end of the no wake zone, I peered one more time in the mirror, looking for the blue light special, they weren’t on, and he was a little too close for comfort, about 5’ from my motor. My wife was monitoring the weather radar on her phone, and as the daytime heating kicked in, the number of popcorn thunderstorms grew too. (Usually don’t see any) None the less, we have all the required safety equipment and then some.Īll the way through the no wake zone, we had a local police boat behind us, I was watching in the ski mirror, just waiting for the “blue” light special to come on. Coming back in from Galveston Bay, we noticed an unusual amount of water cops. A beautiful day yesterday despite the scattered severe thunderstorms, we were able to “run and shoot” around them using the weather maps on our cell phone.
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