Is It Just Me, Or Is This Clorox Bottle Cool?
And now after two weeks of Clayton and lake Tahoe, We bring you something completely different. Dang, look at the lines on this 1973 Mark Twain V Sonic. Nice lines on the hull sides. Very cool original interior in a perfect color from the period. Ya want to hitch up a big Buick Electra to this one.
The cool part is that nice line down the side, and time capsule element. Not to mention for under $4,000 you can be boating in 70’s style. You can look at it here on ebay today, buy it tomorrow -ish and show it off next weekend at some show!
Yeah its an outdrive! Looks nice in the photos
It’s you.
I am going to have to support Cliff on this one. I am all for glass with class, but that boat looks pretty generic to me.
Just you. Does raise a good question though… If you had to speculate on the next generation of desirable boats, what would they be? Donzi and XKs? Tri-hills? Add in the bigger deck boats? Or a boat like this because it has a line on the side? What will be the next U22??
my dad took us (6 kids) to the chicago boat show one cold day in the late 60’s, by the time we left we were proud owners of a 18 or 19 foot mark twain. by the end of the evening after going home to mom, we were not!!!
back to using grandpas 22ft triple. he would never let us ski on it, finally about 1985 after the triple was sitting in the yard for years and grandpa gone, someone came by and offered my dad $1000 for it and he took it! oh well.
lesson learned, i just buy the boats and ask for forgiveness eventually when the admiral discovers it.
dont think im buying this one.
MikeK, thanks for the story. Gave me a good chuckle. I pity your dad that day though. If men had tails, his would have been hanging pretty low.
If you were to look around this area, you have to pick a center console as the next U-22.
A Whaler is the next utility
maybe I fell in love with the interior? HA
Take 2 aspirins and hopefully you’ll feel better in the morning.
With the genuine simulated ersatz sharkskin inserts no less. Or maybe it was the V-Sonic dash plaque. Ha.
Don’t get me wrong, Matt. Pal. I see it. I like it. I get it. I even contemplated it. But I’ve only had two beers… Your timing was off.
Unlike the Cavalier sales pitch. That day, at that moment, vacationing with my family, Ida bought a freakin’ grey Trumpy.
I agree with Cliff, not worthy!
I don’t know, Matt……I kinda like it. Don’t know that I’d buy it unless I had way too much surplus cash laying around. But then if that was my financial situation, I’d probably buy a few other boats first. Many as a matter of fact. Nice interior though.
How about the next antique and classic boat show put all the Woodys on one pier and the Clorox bottles on another pier and see which pier gets the most traffic.
That would be an interesting experiment! I think the outcome would be greatly affected by the age of the crowd at the show.
At this level it is about entry level, price and usability – what kind of operable wooden classic could be bought for this price? Nothing, really.
If a guy wants something vaguely interesting and with some sort of history, but also wants to go and use it, non-wood is it at the low end. There has to be some perspective to comparisons between boats – not withstanding hull material. Price and intended use by the owner are a couple, to start with.
A guy thinking of buying this is not likely scratching his head and deciding whether he should buy the 1974 Mark Twain V Sonic or a 1930 30′ Hacker. We wants something to go boating with that is “different” and that’s all right with me.
I like survivors and while not interested in this, I can appreciate why some folks would be.
Resorter FG 1968 MO Ozarks. I worked for Henderson Marina in Gravois Mills, MO summers 69, 70. Mark Twain was our biggest competitor. Page Boat Yard had that line. We were the Glastron dealer, higher price and better made. I still remember “hand laid glass” compared to “gun boat”. They had Taperflex, we had Cypress Garden. They had OMC, we had Mercury. Those were the days…. M&M
No.
Tell us how you really feel.
Paul has a valid point. I looked at an 18 Donzi across the Straits for 6k I don’t seem able to pull the trigger but I have made a new friend with the owner. He still has the boat and I may just pull that trigger. I have been in that boat half a dozen times and because it can be used in saltwater I may be kicking myself if I don’t pull that trigger.
yuk! bon fire not bon voyage….
John in Va.
This pulled up next to me at the docks last Saturday: A Seebold Eagle cat from the late 80’s. Quite a contrast.
Rabbit, please re-post the pic. Smaller file. I’m curious.
Forgot to mention that while I have never owned a Mark Twain boat, I did own several examples of the Buick LeSabre that you included, Matt. I also destroyed my first car at 16 when one of those ground-sloth’s masquerading as a car turned left in front of me and I broadsided it.
Okay, I had one of these given to me when my Greavette restoration was not water ready and we had already rented a cottage.
They may be ugly but, they make up for it by being slow, rough and unable to handle the slightest wave. It’s a wet ride and could hardly pull my kids on a tube. Burning it just releases toxins into the air… so I can’t think of another good thing to say.
On the other hand… as far as entry level WOOD boats go, I just picked this great 15′ Greavette lapstrake outboard up by trading an electric guitar + and old project canoe for it. You can’t get much more entry level than that!
There’s plenty of WOODIES available (even in Muskoka) for not very much $. for the plastic-classics… Donzis seem to be very reasonable right now. just saw a 1966 Ski Sporter sell for 3,500 in running (and in decent shape) condition.
Interior Luxury?
Not quite… but, it is brown.
Definitely not “rich Corinthian leather” Sean (whatever that may be).
That boat is extremely clean, obviously well taken care of. Nice to see people who take good care of these ‘older’ glass boats. One would be hard pressed to find another boat of this vintage in original condition (and at this low price).
Actually, this Mark Twain was a total mess and uncared for. We rented the cottage for two weeks and it took me that long to clean this thing (I’m not much of a sunbather). When we got it we named it the “Garbage Scow”
The one thing about plastic is that it cleans up nicely. And, fortunately this boat did have a cover that was actually used. But, this boat was still so disgusting I couldn’t drive it looking that way. It was embarrassing!
So I cleaned the windshield. That made the deck look real dirty so… I cleaned (and polished) the deck. I thought we should clean the seats as we had to sit on them (without our bus pants). But first I had to remove them to replace some floorboards for strength and refasten them. Then I cleaned them thoroughly. After that I felt I should finish the job so, I cleaned and detailed the bilge & engine.
When all was said and done… it was still a piece of Sh…… :).
I must say that at least it was operational and reliable with it’s 165 I6 Mercruiser when I would not have had a boat those two weeks without it. For that I’m grateful.
I love it, especially the interior. That’s some time capsule vinyl. As for the critics, yes it is a pretty generic trihull for the early/mid 70’s but you don’t find them much cleaner more original than this example.
I have no problem with that boat.
A well-cared for boat of any make and material can get your ass out on the water. Which is what it’s all about anyway… right?
I’ll try this again. This is a 1988 Seebold Eagle catamaran that pulled up next to me at the dock of our lake’s restaurant. As an observer said: It’s like ‘On Golden Pond’ meets ‘Star Wars.’
It was one cool Clorox bottle. But all observers preferred the woody.
My brother has one of these Seabold Eagles. They’re rather unique and the Seabold family only built a handful of them. My brother’s will run in the mid 80’s with two adults on board. Plus the tunnel hulls don’t care what the water conditions are, and they’ll turn sharper at 80 miles an hour than a woody will at any speed!!
We had one exactely like that (even blue) when I was a kid. I learned to ski behind it. At the time (I was fourteen) our family thought it was the coolest thing on the water. It had a 120hp Mercruiser I/0, and it was pretty darn fast too. They were pretty much bullet-proof boats.
Here’s an ’86 Ski Nautique I just reworked. I’ve always thought that a little mahogany can go a long way to enhance a vintage boat. It actually draws crowds at our local lakeside restaurant.
Now THAT is a nice glass boat.
Here’s another “clorox bottle” that I gave “the treatment.”
http://www.nautilusrestorations.com/main/1963-correct-craft/
Nautilus,
Just checked out your website. You do Amazing work!!!
Very cool!
That Mark Twain V Sonic has a great-looking hull and a lot of possibilities…if you trash the entire interior and start over. Those double/convertible rear-facing seats are the design eqivalent of a “spork.” “Anything that is designed to do two things does both of them half-assed.” (You may quote me.) They are lousy seats and convert to a lousy bed/lounge. That windshield has also got to go. It’s “boxy” and destroys all the rounded lines of the boat. The interior should be fitted with a 24″ cushioned lounge area over the engine with storage beneath port and starboard, a rear bench seat and two seats forward, helm and passenger. This will make it a roomy four-seater instead of a crowded six. Want to seat more? Buy a bigger boat. Some kind of striping should be incorporated into the new white upholstery to give the interior a spash of color, preferably maroon. Lastly, a liberal dose of mahogany trim to complete the transformation. Sorry for the rant but bad design just plain irritates me.
Of all the words ever put to pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.”
I have a better idea – Why not just leave the interior (and the rest of the original looking 1973 Mark Twain V Sonic) the way it is, which reflects the design (and simplicity) of the period?
It doesn’t always have to be about how to “Pimp My Ride” – not to mention the additional expense which the owner will never recover.
What’s wrong with simply owning an inexpensive, unmolested 40 year-old classic that you can use and enjoy in it’s original configuration?
That’s not a better idea. It’s a different idea which represents a different school of thought. Probably half the vintage boats extant have modern engines or at least different engines from the original…modern outboards, instruments, ignition systems, bilge pumps, seats, trailer, etc. It’s not about recovering expense. Boats never are. It’s about the freedom of personal preference. I prefer to improve upon the simplicity of vintage fiberglass boats, as do my clients. You do not. So what? I’m OK; you’re OK.
why are some readers saying the mark twain is a tri hull are they looking at a different boat than me. i see a v hull
Look what I found at the Antique Boat Shop in Melbourne, Australia yesterday. I stop by and Nick was so kind to show me around and show me some of the boats in process. This was a CC sedan getting a boating put on.
Cheers!
Thats cool Pete, take some pics of the shop and outside of the shop!