In three words, I WAS DRAFTED!!!!!
Now, to make that make sense, I need to put some context to it. After my ex-wife had destroyed my boats(took them into the parking lot of the apartment complex we were living at and ran her car back and forth over them until they were nothing but splinters), she went to live with another guy who talked her into moving with him 1300Km away to Reno Nevada. I was forced to move back to my parents house(not a good thing) where I started working on another boat, I think that one was a 1989 Budweiser. Anyway, I came across a question I had about the plans and, since I knew Roger Newton personally, I decided to give him a call and ask. He wasn't home but his wife told me he was at the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in South Seattle. Since I had nothing to do, I drove the 80Km to the HARM, only to find a group of 10 or so guys working on a vintage boat, in this case, the Slo-Mo-Shun V. When I went to ask Roger my question, he answered it and then asked me "Are you doing anything this evening?" When I said no, he handed me a grinder and a block of wood and told me to make the wood disappear or, more accurately, turn it into sawdust so it could be used as thickener in the glue they were using to put the boat together. I spent every Wednesday evening and all day Saturday for the next several months at the HARM working on rebuilding the boat. It was a lot of work but the people made it fun and, more importantly, it got me out of my parents house and away from my very condescending mother. I've helped on other boats since, just not to the same extent as I did on the "Mo". What made all the months of work worth it was when owner/driver Ken Muscatel fired up the Merlin engine and the boat pulled away from the dock.
How times have changed. The HARM has moved from it's storage shed like original location in south Seattle to a very nice location Kent(20 minutes south of Seattle) with an engine shop, maintenance and restoration area historical archives and showroom. Unfortunately it's presently closed except for the people working on a couple of boats due to Covid 19. Worse still, my friend Roger Newton is no longer with us and the Slo-Mo-Shun boats haven't been on the water in ages. This is where I can say THANK YOU YOUTUBE!!!! I can still get to see some of the things at the HARM by video, such as this one that shows my favorite two boats, the Slo-Mo-Shun V(which I always refer to as my boat, regardless of who actually owns it) and the boat that got me into R/C boating, the original winged boat, the 1973 Pay'N Pak