Vashon Unlimiteds, LLC

Appearances of Miss Thriftway

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BALLARD PARADE
May 17, 2008

To start the day, we took the Miss Thriftway and the 1967 Miss Budweiser to the Ballard Boys and Girls Club to give the next generation some exposure to the ol' thunderboats. Afterwards, we participated the the Norweigian Freedom Fesival parade through the heart of Ballard. We were the official "float" for the reigning Miss Seafair, Emily Suen. In addition to Miss Thriftway, John Goodman's 1967 Miss Budweiser and the turbine U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing were in the parade

We displayed at the Ballard Boys & Girls Club before the parade.	Boats on display	Miss T on tilt	The "crowd"
Photo ops	More...	Man it was HOT!	"Stitch" McDonough was in attendance!
Seattle Commodors	Miss Seafair Emily Suen	Of course, no parade is complete with out the Seafair clowns	Miss Seafair in her parade "float"
Former racer/owner Tad Dean checks out Miss T with Scooter	Mason Williams of Covich-Williams	Steve got into the Ballard Spirit!

SPRING TRAINING WITH THE ULHRA and SEAFAIR
April 17, 2008

We had another successful day on the water! We were fortunate to work with the ULHRA and Seafair to have the opportunity to test our new fuel pump setup and a couple of propellers we were loaned by Dixon Smith.

Our illustrious engine consultant Peter Orton was our designated driver for the day because we needed the same person to report back on the differences between the two props. After we were done with our third run, however, the differences were clear so Chief and Steve were able to go out and get some more "seat time". Miss Thriftway was run harder than she's been run up to this point and it showed a weakness in our engine venting and introduced a bit more of the Bardhal hydroplane oil to the hull than she has in the past.

One of the highlights of the day for us was a "photo op" with Dixon and the 1962 Miss Bardahl. A couple of close passes by the dock proved to yeild some great shots. Check out Chris Denslow and Jim Clarks galleries with the links below. Also, the ULHRA has posted a 60 minute show on thier website: Spring Training

Saturday after the run (April 19th) the crew pulled the engine so we can go over it and check everything for loose nuts and bolts. (it also helps the cleanup!)

Photo Galleries:

Chris Denslow's Photos
Jim Clark

LAKE CHELAN FUN DAY
September 29, 2007

And Oh what FUN it was!!!!
Between the Museum, Dixon Smith, Barb Carper and Ike Kielgass and Vashon Unlimiteds, we had FIVE vintage unlimiteds echoing through-out the Chelan Valley. We got started around 10:30am and by the time it was all said and done, 35 trips were made with over 100 laps done around the makeshift 2 mile course. All boats performed well except for the oberto which, unfortunately, had continued problems. Peter seems to think it's time to put a major overhaul to the engine. She's put in a lot of time and deserves some attention.

As far as Miss Thriftway went, we gave 9 rides including first time driving for Alan, Stu, Steve and Chief. Rob and Larry got a chance to "ride" while we went through the routine of starting, running and docking. In addition Peter took Karen Fuller for an abrevieated ride (got low on fuel) and Mason Williams, Kent Diers, Larry Vanderhoef and Eric Compton all got to see what 120 MPH on the water was like. The Lake cooperated and remained calm for most of the day which made the experiences even that much better.

Chris Denslow's Photos

		Eric Compton
			Peter & Karen

Alan	Stuart	Steve	Mason Williams Covich-Williams Fuel
Chief & Lars	Kent Deer

TRI CITIES COLUMBIA CUP
July 28-30, 2007

After the successful maiden launch and runs on Lake Washington - June 7th, we were confident that we'd be able to put on a great show for the Columbia Cup. The vintage boats had seven scheduled course times so we thought we'd learn a whole lot about the boat. Well, guess what? Miss Thriftway turned into a real race boat. SHE DIDN"T WORK!!!! It turned out that the hotter temperature caused some issues. She acted like there was a fuel problem so we change the carb on Saturday morning. STILL not working! So we thought it might be the magneto. Rob changed that. Then around lunchtime, Jerry Hopp comes by and asks what's going on, so we tell him. He asked to see our fuel setup. After studying it for a few minutes, he started asking questions which led to a return line from the fuel pump. He just asked a simple question: "How do you know it's not pulling air back through the line?" We had just ASSUMED (making and ASS...) that because it was a return line it would only allow fuel to go to the tank. We put a check valve on the line with about 10 minutes left to launch time. It was just like the real boats...scramble, scramble, hurry up! Way too much pressure for a bunch of old guys! That's why we got in to Vintage, not suppose to be pressure! WRONG! The end result was Saturday afternoon, Miss Thriftway, Miss Bardahl and Miss Burien made a beautiful three lap exhibition run with one of the laps averageing around 92 MPH. I guess you can do that when you have the nice long straight aways like Tri-Cities!

Sunday morning brought all teams together to get the Oberto running so we make wholesale changes, Carb, mag, plugs, fuel... test session at 8:30 sent the boat out and Dane got her up and going, made two laps a speed and came in...WE WERE READY! At 10:40, off all four boats went. Right after the start, Larry slowed down and came in. We had blown a water jacked gasket and he could not tell where it was coming from, he just knew it wasn't suppose to spray water from that area! Alan replaced the gasket, and on Sunday afternoon for our "final", all four boats went out and put on a very noisy, exciting show for the fans. Check out the video and you can watch the final "heat".

Once again, Chris Denslow has put up an awesome photo gallery of our activity at Tri Cities...Check it out!

At Snoqualmie Summit	Wednesday afternoon at KNDU TV	Hotel parking lot	In the pits
Columbia Cup winner Dave Villwock	HARM Executive Director David Williams	Greg and Jerry Hopp	Jimmy King was looking for the Master switch!
Miss Tri Cities Kristin Cox with her court	Ronald McDonald and Peter Orton	Gold Cup announcer, KONA Radio pit reporter and Seattle pit reporter Brad Luce	All four boats at speed
What a sight!
Photo by Craig Barney	Photo by Craig Barney

VASHON ISLAND
STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL PARADE
July 14, 2007

There were tractors with grace	Lots of participants!
	Alicia, Kelly and Eve

MAIDEN VOYAGE
June 7, 2007

All photos used have been done so with permission from their respective owners.
Special thanks to Lori Norton.

Here are some links:

Jim Clark
Chris Denslow
Seattle Times Article

First time at Lake Washington! June 7, 2007 7:22am	Pitted next to the 1962 Miss Bardahl	Dave Knowlen and Chip Hanauer	Steve, Roger Olson and Larry Roger and his friend Suzy drove from California to watch the launch.
Larry,Alan, Chief and Stuart - Trailer Firing!	Chief, Richard and Larry	Lori, Larry and Jacob	Larry & Karen Fuller
Shiney Bottom!
Touchdown!	Shirley (Jones) Stewart, Ted's daughter has christened all FOUR Miss Thriftways!	Lars & Chief with last minute discussion	There she goes for the first time under her own power!
Lars at speed	Plenty of cooling!	Steve's first ride	Off we go!
Steve's got the wheel for the first time	Chief's turn!	Wheelers going to drive	Wheelers movin'! Photo by Marc Connelly
Flying already!?	Bill says he thinks he got the shot!	WOW! I guess he did! (speedometer reading 119MPH)	Rob and Ron Jones Sr. coming in after their run.

VASHON THRIFTWAY STORE DISPLAY
June 2, 2007

Just arrived!

Norm Mathews - Store owner

The crowd was steady all day

E-mail comments or questions to: Steve Compton