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Posted by mannyc [173.77.209.14] on Friday, September 11, 2009 at 19:01:39 :
went to a fishing club meeting here on long island last night to meet al grover who is a legendary boat builder around here. he holds a world record crossing the atlantic in a 26' outboard powered boat. he built my boat, sister to the record holder, many years ago, but that is another story. he told of his beginnings as a charter boat captain on the south shore where he was in charge of getting fishermen out to the cod grounds. the boats went out, sometimes in less than perfect condition. the boat he was assigned to had two flat head chryslers in it. one would not start. he had the mate run the boat on one engine and removed the spark plugs from the dead engine. he engaged the clutch and the motor began to spin from the prop rotation caused by the drag. one by one he installed the sparkplugs and the appropriate wire and was able to get all six cylinders firing. once the motor was running, it stayed that way all day without incident. he mentioned that more than once during the process, the spark plug was blown out of his hand and hit the ceiling. eventually they all got screwed in. he told many stories of fishing during ww2 where nazi subs patrolled the area and the coast guard had to search for people providing aid to the germans. it was a great night for all who were fortunate to attend. the greatest generation is slowly disappearing. make time to meet and learn from them.
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