Too Much

Seen here lying on the banks of Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey in the mid 1980’s,
the boat was one match away from being reduced to ashes along with its rich racing history.

The original cutwater, as handcrafted by the first riding mechanic Jim Aiello, remains in tact as well as the steering box, lifting eyes and foot pedal.
Surprisingly, the bottom planks, engine stringers and most hull frames were found to be sound.

1988, TOO MUCH, aka Just-E-Nuff, arrives at Noel Blair’s workshop and begins what ends up to be a 4 year restoration.
The goal was to retain as much of the original wood as possible and restore the boat to it's 1957 configuration.

After a thorough survey of what we had to work with, the transom is removed and replaced. This restored integral support to the aft structure prior to working on the bottom. Several half frames and a new stem were also fabricated. One by one each joint was dismantled, inspected, prepped and joined again with new fasteners and epoxy where applicable.

The original plywood sides remained on to maintain shape, while the bottom was restored. Each bottom plank was carefully removed and surface planed to clean up both sides. A new layer of 5mm mahogany ply was installed and planking was screwed and glued back on.

With the bottom in place, the plywood sides are removed and framing prepped for new.

Sides installed and screw heads filled.

Carter Blair fares and preps the bottom for coating.

Relying on his years spent as a chemical engineer developing polyamide resin systems, dad formulates a graphite impregnated epoxy coating for the riding surface.

Looking like a derived trebuchet, this contraption gently rolled the hull to its upright position.

A new dash and several deck frames are crafted prior to installing the new deck. Forest Johnson seemed to move the cockpit around from hull to hull. This one is located farther forward than most we have seen.

The engine hatch is ready to receive a cold-molded lamination of veneers to create the boat’s defining cowling.

This provides relief for the dual 4-barrel Carter AFB carburetors that sit atop the Cal Connell Cadillac Crusader.

The new deck is sealed and interior woodwork receives an epoxy paint.

Carter sanding again readies the cowling and deck for primer.

Application of the first coat of primer is surfaced.

The transom is block sanded and prepped for the pink topcoat.

The next 2 years were spent fabricating running hardware, a trailer and locating period Cadillac parts. Dad turned each turnbuckle and milled the attaching boss’ for the ride plate. He used a rudder from one of his old racing runabouts and manufactured the strut, turn fin and every other system needed on the boat. The engine proved to be a challenge too, finding original Cal Connell Cadillac marine equipment was difficult. With the help of John Freeman some of those hard to find parts found their way to M-12.

Click here to read a newpaper article on this famous racing boat.
Click here to view the historical page.

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