[LIforrelaxin]

My first boat was my favorite boat. A 1975 Bayliner Quartermaster with a 115 hp mecury model 1150 tower of power. She was a stunning 18.5 feet long although the factory would call her 19 feet. My father actually purchased the boat right from the Bayliner factory in Redmond Washington. For any of you that don't know the History of Bayliner, this was long before Brunswick Marine bought the company.

She was made to run the river of the west coast on plane she only needed about 13 inches of water, and at rest maybe about 24 with the engine all the way trimmed down!!! She was a bright glimmering yellow with a beautiful black stripe. We never really new how fast she went we had no gauges in the boat until around 1990 when we did a major overhaul. We just ran until one of those 6 gallon tanks went dry, put the other one on and headed home. We could carve corners and lay her right over on her side, she would dig in and hold the corner as sharp as we wanted. I only ever felt her slip once, at WOT there was some limit.

Around 1990 we overhauled the boat new seats, added gauges, and spruced up the hull. The gel coat was waxed, back almost to its original shine, and all the teak sanded and oiled so that it looked new. We where convinced she would last another 15 years. So we kept running her hard. We could finally see that at 15 years old, and an estimated 600 -- 700 hours we could run at about 45 mph at WOT. Who knows where we where back when she was new.

Like a good work horse old yellow kept on going, I skied and tubed with friends all through high school and college. Never a complaint never a day off sick. New plugs in the spring, and a run around the Island at WOT every so often was all she ever asked for. Like anything though our relationship wouldn't last for ever.

It was about 2000 or so I started to notice that old yellow wasn't quite making it to 45, 44, 43, or even 42 mph anymore. She was doing all she could to get me and my Golden Retriver up to 40 mph. Oh how he loved to put his nose through the window and feel the wind. I tuned the engine, had the carbs rebuilt, tried everything I could think of over the next several years. But By 2005 on thing was clear old yellow and the 1150 merc where finally showing there age. Top speed was down to 36 maybe 37 mph if I was running alone. It seemed as though she wanted to perform but she just couldn't. I struggle all summer trying to make her feel better. All the memories in that boat. Most importantly the memories with my father in that boat, who had past away just a few years before.

As I sat having breakfast the day I took her out that fall. I watched as she bobbed up and down at the dock. I listened to her hull slap the water. And as I hooked up the trailer I some how new this was the last time I was going to pull her out of the water. So I got the trailer down to the ramp, and parked it. My neighbor gave me a ride back. Down I went, started her up, and headed out. WOT around the Island one last time.


This boat was bought the year after I was born. Until I gave the boat to Charity in the fall of 2005 there isn't a summer memory I have that it isn't in. It still ran, but it didn't perform they way I wanted it too. I could have installed a new engine but it wouldn't have been the same. After an estimated 1300 hours it was time to retire old yellow and start a new set of memories with a totally new boat. There was a uniqueness to her that was unremarkable. I know Bayliner produced more then one of these boats. But it was the only one I was ever in. It became a fabric of our family. The day the man from the charity came to pick her, up I watched my mother cry, my sister weep, and my niece run away, while we hooked old yellow up to his truck. He asked me if I was sure it was a 1975 boat, it was in to good of condition. I showed him the VIN. I watched her drive out of sight that day. Knowing that the last memory I had of her, was looking just the same as she always had. Bright Yellow with her black Stripe, and that proud Merc 1150 Tower of Power mounted on the back.

Hopefully someone has take her in. Mounted a new engine on her transom, and is now making memories of their own.