Happy new owners!

[Btharbold]

Hello everyone,

I figured I would introduce myself even though I have been a member on SOS for awhile now. We are thrilled to finally be part of the Apache Community with our recent purchase of Ghost Runner. I still am in shock and disbelief. My wife and I, and our good friend / business partner have boated together for years working on an old Scarab and dreaming of someday owning a 41 Apache. We had been looking at pleasure cabin setups, mostly advocated by my wife :) and wouldnt you know it she discovered the listing for our new staggered 6 pack!

Ghost Runner came along, all the pieces fell into place and somehow we are the proud new owners of this awesome 41. We picked her up last Tuesday in SC and brought it back to MD that day.

We boat mostly on the Upper Chesapeake Bay, but might have to take the occasional trip down to OC, MD to get out in some bigger water. For now the plan is to go over it from top to bottom, and make sure its ready for the water. Its been sitting a few years so things like valve springs, fluids and so on need to be addressed.

I want to personally thank Mark Rinda of MER Performance Marine in Little River SC for all of his assistance throughout this whole process. Mark is a stand up guy and knows his stuff. I would recomend his services to anyone.

Currently Ghost Runner has a pair of 1100's in it with wet 6's. There is a ton of rigging for us to get our heads around but were loving every minute of it and looking forward to getting it wet.

Thanks,

Brad Harbold

[Ratickle]

Incredible, congratulations..........:hurray::hurray::hurray:



Can't wait to see some pics and hear about your first trip out in that bad boy......

[Ratickle]

For All....

[Btharbold]

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff456/btharbold/th_IMG_20110707_123616.jpg (http://s1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff456/btharbold/?action=view&current=IMG_20110707_123616.jpg)
http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff456/btharbold/th_3605834_0_20110510144200_9_0.jpg (http://s1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff456/btharbold/?action=view&current=3605834_0_20110510144200_9_0.jpg)

My new home for the next few months; Ghost Runner's bilge ;) I was worried that the rig might not fit in our yard, but it did.

[DrGaryDC]

Welcome to the family

[Sean Stinson]

Congrats you will not be dissappointed

[smallblock]

glad to see ya got your 41...see ya in oceancity

[Btharbold]

Thanks everyone! Just got in from some more cleaning in the bilge.

[Bobcat]

As Ratickle said " Incredible" Such a beautiful boat . Congrats and keep us updated !:drool5:

[Slandrew]

Nice boat good luck!

[Btharbold]

Thanks again everyone. Based on our experiences with the horrible E-10 based fuels we have around here, probably want to do full carb rebuilds, and diaphragms in pumps and regulators. We watched that stuff destroy good regulators in a season on our other boat, crazy. Guess you have to rig everything for alcohol now even to run regular gas. Looks like I've got four 1050 King Demons to go through :)

[rogersspeedshop]

Welcome to the world of Apaches Good luck with your project and if you ever need advice please contact us Gary

[Sean Stinson]

Brad the boat looks great.....nice meeting all of you today and the pizza joint was great!!!

[Btharbold]

Great to meet you too Sean. Stop by anytime. The pizza place is pretty good here, there are actually a few really great places to eat here in the area believe it or not. Interesting town, 700 people, 5 churches, 5 bars/restaurants, and plenty of entertainment one way or another.

[Btharbold]

Headers and pipes are all out, waiting on valve springs. Spent 4 hours buffing stainless, tons more to do. Took a chip of nipple pink and lime green to match for some bilge touch up duty.

[Sean Stinson]

Headers and pipes are all out, waiting on valve springs. Spent 4 hours buffing stainless, tons more to do. Took a chip of nipple pink and lime green to match for some bilge touch up duty.

It's not nipple pink...IT"S TITTIE PINK....lmao

[Btharbold]

Yes, kind of seems like its almost a trademark of Ghost Runner now. Guess we would struggle to ever decide to change the color!

[Sean Stinson]

For those that have known me for years they know what I am talking about when I say something in reference to tittie pink!!!!

[Btharbold]

Question for you guys: There is at least one Apache out there that I have seen pictures of with the Throttle/shifter handles that appear to be CNC'd with the Apache Logo. Anyone know who had these done and if they are available?

Also was looking at some of the other throttle/shifter handles that have been engraved and annodized. Some people have had the flame arrestors done too. Does everyone use Anolaze or is there another company you would recommend

Thanks,

Brad

[xlr8by]

Congrats!!!!
Have you thought about doing the rock the bay poker run at the end of August? It would be great to see a 41' do the run, and its a nice setting.... http://www.rockthebay.com/

[Btharbold]

Thank you. You never know but as of right now just looking to get it in the water first and see how that goes. At the rate I am going it won't see water till mid Aug early Sept.

[Btharbold]

Hey everyone,

Yes we are still aliv, finally got the boat in the water a few weeks ago, never made it in last year. This thing is a monster, my first time driving an Apache and it was great. We have had a couple runs so far, haven't leaned on it hard yet, hope to this weekend. So far so good, no major problems. The tail it throws is awesome, makes me smile every time I turn around. Our local hi and dri couldn't lift the boat, turned out with the stagger, and the 6s the center of gravity was too far forward and the ass of the fork lift was barely on the ground. So, we wound up in a wet slip on a 15k lift, not so bad. Trying to get a feel for fuel usage, only a couple places around me to get 93 on the water. Looking forward to a fun summer.

Brad

[Ratickle]

Did you get a pic of the time they tried with the forklift????:eek:

[Bobcat]

I'd have been sh*tting a little on that one!:cool:

[Ratickle]

Did you keep the 1100's as is?

[Btharbold]

I dont have any pics of the fork truck trying the lift, I have pics of the pair of fork trucks slinging it off the trailer. There was a lot of boat in front of those forks! Problem is with the size of a #6 it put the weight to far in front of the mast, plus the stagger didnt help at all. You could really see clearly the pivot point of the boat though, which is much further forward that I would have thought. Myco did a great job setting up the trailer, I understand now why the axles are further forward, right under where the focal point of the weight is.

The motors are as they were, we replaced valve springs, rebuilt carbs, fuel pumps, sea water pumps, replaced belts, changed all fluids, upgraded fuel pressure regulators, and had the drives gone through by Craig Colabella. Pulled the helmets, did bellows, polished and greased all the hinge pins, etc.

[Ratickle]

You may want to have a supply of Torco Fuel Accelerator always on hand. I don't think there is one better. Maybe some of the others have different opinions.

[Sean Stinson]

Glad it's finally wet!!!!!

[Btharbold]

Me too! Three runs so far, haven't broke it yet. Haven't totally hammered it yet either though, about 5200 rpm so far. It does really wake up in the upper rpms. Bought a transfer tank for the truck, gonna do a little fueling @ the ramp. Best we can figure with idle time included were doing 2 gal a mile

[Ratickle]

Best we can figure with idle time included were doing 2 gal a mile

Well, you're not babying it too much then!:sifone: