I treasure the memories of some friends I have made through the years. One such friend was my good buddy Earl, a true gentleman, a genius of sorts, and a man whose ingenuity and inquisitive nature often led to unintentional disaster.
Earl was born of Scandinavian descent somewhere in the western deserts of Washington state on a large ranch. His father was a ranch hand that specialized in shoeing horses and blacksmith work who died when Earl was 16. Earl took over the blacksmith work and due to an inquisitive nature and natural intelligence expanded his knowledge into all forms of mechanical contraptions. The lack of any formal education never deterred Earl. Anything of a technical nature intrigued and challenged him. His favorite saying was "I dont back down from nothing."
When he was in his 40's, Earl married a widow whose late lamented husband owned and operated an electric motor repair and rewind shop in Tacoma Washington. Earl quickly adapted to the new (to him) technology and had a successful business there when I first met him. At that time, I was a young buck sargeant stationed at McChord AFB near Tacoma and hired on to work for Earl in the afternoons and on weekends. As an aircraft electrician and with some previous radio and TV repair experience, I quickly realized that Earl had made a success of an electrical business without any knowledge what-so-ever of even the most rudimentary form of basic electricity. Earl had one electrical book and when you picked it up it automatically fell open to the pages that had a chart telling you the very basics of motor re-winding.
I think the only reason Earl hired me was because he had suddenly became very interested in Jet engines. Since I worked as an electrician on an airplane with a jet engine, Earl just naturally assumed I knew all about jet engines. He was especially interested in a tiny little pulse jet engine advertized in Popular Mechanics magazine that you could strap onto a bicycle and it would give you a "boost." He bought one and when I arrived at work one evening he had it installed on a bicycle. I read the instructions and told Earl that he should ride it on the beach or an area where there was lots of space but he said "Ahhhh, I will just ride it a little bit here in the back alley." One end of the alley behind Earls shop ended at a very heavily traveled street. Earl headed down the alley, pumped the cycle up to a good speed, and flipped on the switch for the little pulse jet engine. It made a gosh-awful noise and zoooooommmmm, off went Earl at a speed neither of us had ever imagined. Earl zipped into the main street, plastered the bike into the side of a brand new 1952 Chevy while Earl catapulted over the top of the chevy and went tumbling across two lanes of traffic. A major accident occurred which wreaked three more cars as all the drivers were trying not to run over this big fat guy suddenly somersaulting across the street in front of them.
I put in lots of ovetime work keeping Earls business going while he recovered from his jet assisted bicycle stunt. While in recovery, Earl got to reading Boat and Fishing magazines. He began dreaming about those huge King Salmon out in Puget Sound. When I got to work one day, Earls back yard was filled up with a real scroungy looking 19 foot home built boat that he had bought for a song. I didnt know anything about boats but it seemed awful narrow and skinny for a nineteen foot boat even to me. Not to be deterred, we two intrepid warriors spent many hours completely overhauling the boat and engine, adding our own little ingenious touches here and there. A bright blue and white two tone paint job completed the job and Earl painted her name "Old Blue" on her bow. We put her in the water and she didnt sink. So far so good.
The engine in that boat was an old Starr automobile engine, four cylinders and with a 7 inch stroke. It ran so slow and pounded so hard that you could see individual ripples leave the side of the boat each time a cylinder fired. And the throbbing and vibrating of the engine through your feet and legs was tiring.
So it was back to the drawing board. Earl bought an old flat head Ford V8 engine and transmission which we rebuilt. Getting all that crammed into the boat was a major modification but as Earl was proud of saying, "Me and J dont back down from nothing."
So off we go to drop her in the water again. Man oh man!! what a thrill. Talk about smooth running and it slipped through the water like a hot knive cutting thru butter. Earl was giggling and hollering and waving at the other boaters as we sliced our way farther out into the bay. Everything was going fine untill Earl made a sharp left high speed turn. Old Blue was leaning left into the turn like a good boat should untill about half way thru the turn and then it seemed like it tried to flip right, went partly airborn, and landed on its right side halfway under water. I got knocked out of the boat but Earl managed to hang on. Thanks to some nearby boats, we got her bailed out and towed to shore. We were also told that boats had to have a Keel and ours didnt have much of one.
But me and Earl didnt back down from nothing so we added a bigger keel to Old Blue and she performed pretty good after that. Earl was proud of the way he could slip that old Ford transmission into reverse, reverse the propeller and stop Old Blue on a dime. He would go sailing into the dock area at a good clip, drawing everybody,s attention, slam her into reverse, and come to a boiling splashing stop, throwing waves in all directions, rocking all the boats in the marina and banging them against the docks. Earl thought that was great fun untill the day the propeller broke off just as he reversed it...... and we didnt stop. We messed up two expensive boats and part of a dock, trashed Old Blue, and Earl and I lost some skin and collected some bruises. Earls insurance company paid off but canceled Earl as an insurance prospect for life.
We hauled poor Old Blue back to Earls yard and were walking round and round it cataloging the damage and estimating cost of repair when Earls dearly beloved started throwing a fit and laid the law down to Earl. "Earl," she said, "Its either me or that X@%$XX boat, make up your mind," and went flouncing off into the house. While Earl was standing there pondering his decision, I left. Later that night, I was called to the orderly room for a phone call. It was Earl. He said maybe It would be best if I didnt come back to work for a few days untill his old lady calmed down some and he got rid of the boat. It seems that his wife somehow figured that I had been an unstabilizing influence on Earl. Go Figger!!
Earl was born of Scandinavian descent somewhere in the western deserts of Washington state on a large ranch. His father was a ranch hand that specialized in shoeing horses and blacksmith work who died when Earl was 16. Earl took over the blacksmith work and due to an inquisitive nature and natural intelligence expanded his knowledge into all forms of mechanical contraptions. The lack of any formal education never deterred Earl. Anything of a technical nature intrigued and challenged him. His favorite saying was "I dont back down from nothing."
When he was in his 40's, Earl married a widow whose late lamented husband owned and operated an electric motor repair and rewind shop in Tacoma Washington. Earl quickly adapted to the new (to him) technology and had a successful business there when I first met him. At that time, I was a young buck sargeant stationed at McChord AFB near Tacoma and hired on to work for Earl in the afternoons and on weekends. As an aircraft electrician and with some previous radio and TV repair experience, I quickly realized that Earl had made a success of an electrical business without any knowledge what-so-ever of even the most rudimentary form of basic electricity. Earl had one electrical book and when you picked it up it automatically fell open to the pages that had a chart telling you the very basics of motor re-winding.
I think the only reason Earl hired me was because he had suddenly became very interested in Jet engines. Since I worked as an electrician on an airplane with a jet engine, Earl just naturally assumed I knew all about jet engines. He was especially interested in a tiny little pulse jet engine advertized in Popular Mechanics magazine that you could strap onto a bicycle and it would give you a "boost." He bought one and when I arrived at work one evening he had it installed on a bicycle. I read the instructions and told Earl that he should ride it on the beach or an area where there was lots of space but he said "Ahhhh, I will just ride it a little bit here in the back alley." One end of the alley behind Earls shop ended at a very heavily traveled street. Earl headed down the alley, pumped the cycle up to a good speed, and flipped on the switch for the little pulse jet engine. It made a gosh-awful noise and zoooooommmmm, off went Earl at a speed neither of us had ever imagined. Earl zipped into the main street, plastered the bike into the side of a brand new 1952 Chevy while Earl catapulted over the top of the chevy and went tumbling across two lanes of traffic. A major accident occurred which wreaked three more cars as all the drivers were trying not to run over this big fat guy suddenly somersaulting across the street in front of them.
I put in lots of ovetime work keeping Earls business going while he recovered from his jet assisted bicycle stunt. While in recovery, Earl got to reading Boat and Fishing magazines. He began dreaming about those huge King Salmon out in Puget Sound. When I got to work one day, Earls back yard was filled up with a real scroungy looking 19 foot home built boat that he had bought for a song. I didnt know anything about boats but it seemed awful narrow and skinny for a nineteen foot boat even to me. Not to be deterred, we two intrepid warriors spent many hours completely overhauling the boat and engine, adding our own little ingenious touches here and there. A bright blue and white two tone paint job completed the job and Earl painted her name "Old Blue" on her bow. We put her in the water and she didnt sink. So far so good.
The engine in that boat was an old Starr automobile engine, four cylinders and with a 7 inch stroke. It ran so slow and pounded so hard that you could see individual ripples leave the side of the boat each time a cylinder fired. And the throbbing and vibrating of the engine through your feet and legs was tiring.
So it was back to the drawing board. Earl bought an old flat head Ford V8 engine and transmission which we rebuilt. Getting all that crammed into the boat was a major modification but as Earl was proud of saying, "Me and J dont back down from nothing."
So off we go to drop her in the water again. Man oh man!! what a thrill. Talk about smooth running and it slipped through the water like a hot knive cutting thru butter. Earl was giggling and hollering and waving at the other boaters as we sliced our way farther out into the bay. Everything was going fine untill Earl made a sharp left high speed turn. Old Blue was leaning left into the turn like a good boat should untill about half way thru the turn and then it seemed like it tried to flip right, went partly airborn, and landed on its right side halfway under water. I got knocked out of the boat but Earl managed to hang on. Thanks to some nearby boats, we got her bailed out and towed to shore. We were also told that boats had to have a Keel and ours didnt have much of one.
But me and Earl didnt back down from nothing so we added a bigger keel to Old Blue and she performed pretty good after that. Earl was proud of the way he could slip that old Ford transmission into reverse, reverse the propeller and stop Old Blue on a dime. He would go sailing into the dock area at a good clip, drawing everybody,s attention, slam her into reverse, and come to a boiling splashing stop, throwing waves in all directions, rocking all the boats in the marina and banging them against the docks. Earl thought that was great fun untill the day the propeller broke off just as he reversed it...... and we didnt stop. We messed up two expensive boats and part of a dock, trashed Old Blue, and Earl and I lost some skin and collected some bruises. Earls insurance company paid off but canceled Earl as an insurance prospect for life.
We hauled poor Old Blue back to Earls yard and were walking round and round it cataloging the damage and estimating cost of repair when Earls dearly beloved started throwing a fit and laid the law down to Earl. "Earl," she said, "Its either me or that X@%$XX boat, make up your mind," and went flouncing off into the house. While Earl was standing there pondering his decision, I left. Later that night, I was called to the orderly room for a phone call. It was Earl. He said maybe It would be best if I didnt come back to work for a few days untill his old lady calmed down some and he got rid of the boat. It seems that his wife somehow figured that I had been an unstabilizing influence on Earl. Go Figger!!
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