February 2003
Enclosed, please find photos of my pride and great joy. My Zip was almost as fun to build as she is to drive. It is my very pretty baby. I have a 1959 Mercury Mark 35A (35hp) pushing her along very nicely. It will pull a water skier, or 2 kids on a tube all day and only use $20.00 (13. 00 U.S.) in fuel. In towing a skier, the boat is on plane before the skier.
I cured the skidding problem that two other builders commented on by bolting on a 1 1/2" x 84" skeg under the keel. In a real hard turn, passengers have to hang on to avoid being thrown out!
My boat is constructed with marine plywood on the bottom painted metallic brick red. All other plywood is ribbon cut mahogany, The entire hull and deck is covered in 4 oz. Deck cloth and topped with automotive clear coat, which is in turn coated with the most expensive polish I could find. All other structural wood was birch, which was custom cut and milled. For the trim I fabricated and polished stainless steel to a mirror finish. I also designed and selected the upholstery but had it custom sewn. The sewing is the only work I didn't do. The windshield is a story in itself It was purchased ($18 can.) used and abused. I cut 2" off the top and bottom, removed 10" from centre, cut and welded trim, then sanded and polished plexiglass and trim back to almost new. Two days of effort saved me $500.00.
Also, as you can see, she sits on a trailer built using your plans also. Looking at the pictures, knowledgeable people would say the tires will rub the fenders, but no; the fenders are mounted to the axle and follow the tires up and down. The trailer is painted the same red as the boat.
