2016 Annual Lake Houston Wet/Swap Meet
By Tom Oncken
As has been customary for Texas Chapter activities in 2016, Mother Nature threatened to cancel our annual wet/swap meet being held at Indian Shores Community Center on Lake Houston on June 11th. The Houston Metropolitan Area had been inundated again with torrential rains the week before our scheduled meet, and just when it seemed completely hopeless, the clouds broke up, and the rains stopped . . . well, sort of.
I left my Pasadena home shortly before 8:00am on Saturday morning. The skies were mostly clear with a few white puffy clouds and temperatures near 85 degrees. I noticed some dark thunderheads following me off in the distance back toward Galveston, but it remained clear as I arrived at the meet location at approximately 8:30am. As I stepped out of my Suburban, it did not take long to realize that although the rain had stopped on the prior morning, the overwhelming humidity (close to 100%) had taken over and the wind was non-existent. I soaked my shirt with sweat by simply walking down the ramp to the boat docks. It appeared that we were in for a very hot day.
As I unloaded a few motors from my truck, other members quickly began to arrive. It’s funny how you forget about the weather when the toys begin showing up. Todd Cook brought a pickup truck with quite a few nice motors for sale and/or trade. A couple of his more notable motors where a pair of Bendix air-cooled four-cycle outboards. Much less notable was a poor lonely little ESKA (visions of an ESKA Toss entered my mind). John and Cindy Slator drove up with a bunch of motors and parts for sale as usual. I quickly snatched up an outboard that I had always dreamed of finding, a 1939 Johnson HD-10 in excellent condition. Louisiana member Nick Dimaio and his wife, Lena, arrived early. The back of their truck contained a wonderful display of beautifully restored Mercury outboards that they had picked up the day before at John and Cindy Slator’s house. I heard a lot of positive comments as members checked out those motors. Several boats began showing up and launching, and before you knew it, we were officially having another successful meet.
Our host, John Plato, had arrived earlier in the morning and set up some of his boats including the Minimost that he had built with his grandson, Jack Toole. Powered by its 1984 Evinrude 6hp, it is an excellent example of what a grandfather and grandson can do when they put their heads (and hands) together. John had already launched his 1988 Lowe Line Big Jon 16’ boat powered by a 1959 Evinrude Lightwin 3hp. The boat was made available to anyone who needed a boat on which to run one of their motors. A pram built from 1940’s plans similar to the Kids-Build-A-Boat was also available to anyone wishing to row around the docks. This is John’s personal workout boat.
Our President and First Lady, Adam and Susie Finn, arrived with a car full of goodies for the noontime meal. Adam and Susie spent a great deal of time preparing the clubhouse for the meal and organizing the food to be grilled. I am not aware if they even had much of an opportunity to play on the water this day. It sure was good to have both of them back after they missed the last LBJ wet meet. I really missed you guys!
By the time Adam began preparing the grill for the hotdogs, a light breeze finally began to blow over the grounds. It was not much, but it felt great as it pushed out a little bit of the humidity and provided a cooling effect. It had been so hot earlier that even the skinny guys were dripping with sweat! Any breeze was a blessing.
Chef Adam expertly grilled up all-beef hotdogs for lunch. Master Chef Susie made sure that a serving table was setup in the air conditioned clubhouse on which she and Adam loaded grilled hotdogs, buns, condiments, chili, and all the fixings needed to make a masterpiece hotdog and a side order of Frito chili pie if one desired it. Fresh watermelon, dessert, and drinks were provided as well for a minimum contribution of $5.00 per person. It was nice and cool as we ate a wonderful lunch inside.
When Adam finally got his opportunity to sit down and enjoy his lunch, Tom Oncken called for everyone’s attention for a brief announcement. Last April, the Texas Chapter provided an outboard motor display at the Keels and Wheels show for the first time in many, many years. As a result of the effort of several members who volunteered to display outboards from their collections, Tom Oncken was presented with a Corinthian Award to the Texas Chapter by the Keels and Wheels organizers. On behalf of all of the outboard exhibitors participating at Keels and Wheels including Jerry Ball, Mark Betner, Di Johnson, and John Plato, Tom Oncken presented the Corinthian Award to Adam Finn with the explanation that the President of the Texas Chapter should proudly display the trophy in his home or office. There was nobody more excited when we received the award back in April than Adam, and it was only appropriate that he should take it home with him.
While we were at lunch in the clubhouse, a rain shower came over the clubhouse and quickly wet the area down. By the time we finished eating, the rain had stopped almost as quickly as it started and the pavement even had time to dry before we came out to play again. We could not have planned this any better. On the down side, the humidity and heat took over again.
During the meet, there was a number of boats on the water. Jerry Ball was the first one in with his 1960 Elgin 16’ aluminum boat powered by a 1974 Johnson 15hp. Jerry ran all over the lake and even found time to fish, catching one fish that he referred to as a “hardhead”; however, it was probably a channel cat or yellow cat. Jerry fishes in Galveston Bay and is not used to catching an edible catfish. This time, to the fish’s surprise and delight, Jerry practiced catch and release. Jerry stayed on the water so long that he actually missed out on lunch. As the meet was coming to an end, the spring on Jerry’s rewind broke and he decided that he was ready to call it a day.
Morten Lovstad brought his hand-built flats poling skiff powered by its 50hp Mercury inline four cylinder outboard. He was accompanied by his daughter, Heidi Lovstad, his granddaughter, Kiara Mallard, and his friend, Jim Johnson, who all spent a lot of time in the boat and at the docks. I suspect they all enjoyed the boat rides all around Lake Houston. Robert Macaluso brought his 1957 Yellow Jacket Catalina powered by its 1959 Mercury Mark 55A outboard motor. Bob was accompanied by his son (and long-time Texas Chapter member), Brenden Macaluso, and one of Brenden’s friends, Mars Mashburn. I watched that little wooden boat streaking across the lake almost all afternoon. Everyone waited their turn to take a ride in that Yellow Jacket. She was beauty in motion!
Joe McCauley ran his 1968 Glastron V153 powered by a 1991 Johnson 70hp inline 3 cylinder outboard. A bystander mentioned that it was being readied for a future tow job, but I am not quite sure what was meant by that comment. (Someone also mentioned that Chip Rathbun could provide that answer.) Jerry Ball was impressed with Mark Betner’s launching technique. Mark has a trailer ball mounted on the front of his truck and he was able to launch his Starcraft aluminum boat with its 1959 Mercury Mark 58A by driving straight down the ramp without having to look over his shoulder. Very impressive, Mark! You made it look incredibly easy.
We signed up a new member as a result of this meet. Louis Rothermel introduced Glenn Seureau of Star Motor Cars in Houston to our members. Glenn was accompanied by his wife, Lee Seureau, and his grandson, Peter Seureau. If I am not mistaken, John Slator had a nice Mercury KG-7 Super 10 Hurricane in the back of his truck that eventually found its way into Glenn’s vehicle. Welcome to AOMCI, Glenn! I declare you officially infected with the old outboard motor bug. We look forward to seeing that old Merc running on the lake someday. Let us know how we can help.
David Coffey, Jr. has been busy again as he had a couple of unusual motors on display at this meet. One was a manual outboard that looked like a standard lower unit with a crank handle attached on top in order to hand crank the propeller. David’s little hand operated motor resembled some of the old “Ro-Peller” outboard motors described in Peter Hunn’s book. These manual motors were geared in such a ratio that light turning of the handle rotated the prop at a higher RPM, but would eventually wear down any user if used for a long haul. David’s other motor was a nicely restored four-cycle Johnson “Iron Horse”. The “Iron Horse” motors were single cylinder, air-cooled landlubber motors used to power everything from lawn mowers to washing machines. Some were also used to power generators and even refrigerators. Those are fantastic additions to your collection, David!
Overall attendance was excellent for this summer meet with 34 individuals appearing at one time or another. Those individuals who were not specifically mentioned in the above paragraphs included Alan Bischof, David Coffey, Sr., Captain Gary Keeney, Dan Peoples and his baby son Luke Peoples, Chuck Ward, Josh Ward, Jeff Workman and his son John Workman, and one unidentified lady who spent a great deal of time visiting with me. Unfortunately, I was not sharp enough to ask her name. Sorry about that. I am sure all these individuals also contributed greatly to the success of our meet; however, in my advanced age, I simply could not remember everything that everyone did, and accordingly, ask for their forgiveness. Thanks to all who made the effort to attend, and a special thanks to those who traveled so far to participate.
As you may have guessed, Mother Nature had the last laugh on us again. The meet began to shut down around 3:30pm rather than the advertised 5:00pm as the customary summer afternoon thunderstorms of the Houston Metropolitan Area began to taunt us. Ironically, as I returned to Pasadena in heavy showers, the clouds quickly began to break up and become puffy and white again, and the rain stopped just as I got home. That seems to be par for the course this year. Regardless, we had another successful meet with motors finding new homes, boats playing on the water, and plentiful food and drink on hand. What more can you ask for? (OK, no rain.) We hope to see you all at Lake Houston again next year!
To view all of the pictures submitted from this meet, please follow this link: http://www.texaschapteraomci.com/gallery/2016-lake-houston-wetswap-meet/