Ok, guys. Since this thread has taken on a fishing theme....I ever show you the trout grandpa caught? Image Unavailable, Please Login
DAVE --- While it's great to go on a nice "fishing trip", and certainly the point of fly fishing (to me, anyway) is merely being out on the water in a beautiful, remote setting (actually catching a fish is pure gravy), don't forget you've got some great spots to wet a fly right in your backyard! I'm sure you're familiar with the St. Vrain on your days off, but Boulder Creek itself is a surprisingly great place to catch a lot of fish (in addition to the native trout, it does get stocked often). I used to spend many lunch hours a few blocks away from Ball catching more fish in an hour than I often did on several weekend getaway trips to 11-mile Canyon or the South Platte. You'll find 'em all (Browns, Rainbows, Native Cutthroats, and Brooks) all throughout the creek, but the Brookies prefer it best up above the town where the water is colder, faster, and better oxygenated, and the slower, siltier stretch just out of town attracts the less-delicate Browns. My two favorite (and most productive) spots were the stretch in Boulder Canyon just up-stream from Dome Rock / Elephant Buttress, and the stretch just east of the airport near Sawhill Ponds. Forget about what's hatching --- it never matters there --- I fished exclusively with Stimulators (dry) when the water was clear, and Whooly Buggers when is was silty. True, most of the fish are small, as it's small water, but, believe it or not, I have pulled several very nice Browns --- 14" to 17" --- out of the stretch out by Sawhill. And, my buddy caught a 21" Brown right downtown behind the public library, with a Whooly after a big rain run-off!!! And, use big sizes --- 14's, 12's, 10's, even 8's --- makes them easy to see (for us), and those Boulder trout are pseudo-retarded --- they aren't afraid of big flies
I predicted it days ago..... I told Kris and Niki that grandpa would show his...face. I have the Little Thompson running right behind the house and every spring the state rearing ponds up stream overflow. Makes for some incredible dry fly fun in the holes along that little creek. As it dries up every Aug now with the dams above us, it is the only fishing we do that is not release. That said, it is fun to sit on the top of the cliff's and watch the critters chase them through the deeper pools when they are trapped.
Typical FChat thread....starts with a great product intro and winds up with a donkey dong. Here in Georgia we don't waste money on no fishing boat,no city slicker waders and boots...and as for flys??? that's just somethin that shows up in very large numbers at every doggone picnic. Rods n reels???? Come on guys this is a competition..man vs trout...so forget the $500-$1000 worth of fishing tackel. When we get thru brewing a batch of moonshine we just follow the fish hatchery truck to the creek, when it leaves we just peel down to the birthday suit, grab a baseball bat and within 15 minutes we got more trout than mama can cook. Where do ya think the phrase "night clubbing" came from?? That's north georgia talk for gettin some trout....lol
I guess I'm just too predictable now. But anyway, here in the midwest, we fish for bass. Only a few trout at the spillway at the dam close to here. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Looking out the front window at my shop this afternoon. Every Wed. the lot in front of my shop gets over-run with bass boats. Usually 15-20 boats here for a tournament. I guess they even have "fishing leagues?" Not much of a fisherman myself, but I always heard that if you sit at a bar and drink a case of beer, you'd be called an alcoholic. If you sit in a boat and drink a case of beer, you're a sportsman. One of these weeks I'll have Dr. Bob's 2700hp, 47' Fountain here for work, and might need to follow these guys down there to "test it out". Hahahaha....just a little payback for blocking my parking lot every week. Image Unavailable, Please Login
That could not possibly be your parking lot. There should be substantial oil slicks, piles of rust, and a stray 355 block nearby... eh?
So, THOSE are called "bass"? Huh, we always call them something else....must be a regional dialect thing........
Yabut.... mind you, thats one word..... I finally got to completely screw up my own thread, I never get to do that! Now if Flyboy would show up we would have the Trifecta.
please make your design extra stiff. a flexy flier makes the install difficult to impossible. rgds, Vincenzo
Obviously Dave's parts are fantastic and these cars are in desperate need of the upgrades. Here's a couple pictures I took during the 550M test fitting illustrating why. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Fxr- Incidentally, that bikini is airbrushed on. The original is much nicer. Weakfish=Sea Trout= qualifies. Not too many in CO or NM. Dave- Nice hoses. FBB- No Trinchera Ranch. Had to fix daughter's teeth instead. She is visiting from England with her husband. No trips planned this year. Pretty sad for someone who hit 63 days flyfishing and 32 trout over 20" four years ago. Taz Terry Phillips
JOSH --- Thanks a bunch for getting on your 550 test fit so quickly Now, I'm feeling guilty pressure to get the 308 hose on right away! Sorry Dave, I got tied up last week ---- but, I'll have my fit up done for you this week for sure. I have examined the hose though, and I must say it looks very, very nicely made
Nice to see that the thread didn't degenerate (much) after this awesome picture was posted...I guess fishing and hoses trump boobs...:=) (for some)
Josh helped point out changes required to make the hose's a perfect fit for the 550. We did not set out to make a good product, we set out to make one that was as good as it could possibly be, and this is just part of the process. A PITA to change all of the drawings, tooling, spce's etc... but a required step in the process to meet out goal. Early on I considered eliminating some of the steps in the manufacturing process (autoclave, post curing...) to reduce costs but along with that comes reduced quality. If the goal is the best that can be had then that is just part of the package. Falling short of a perfect fit is just not an option when all of the other steps have been taken. Thank you Josh. """I have examined the hose though, and I must say it looks very, very nicely made""" Thanks David, I look forward to your findings. Those being the pain they are to replace I wanted a perfect fit the first time. Replace them and forget them.
Following my SOP of 'Beating my head against the wall only because it feels good when I stop'......... I am very near to the end of this project with all of the straight and molded hoses covering most everything on the 308, 348, 355, 550, Mondials and TR's. I have been looking forward to coming to the end of this process but new questions and requests have come to me over the last few days. One has to keep in mind that there is a sound reason few are doing what I am here..... in a market place of this size and scope it is a money sucking project with only long term (if ever) payback as there is just no volume. I started this quest as I insisted on having this quality for OUR shop use and frankly never intended it to go beyond that, a matter of what hoses do WE need. Now arises the question, do we make the 360 hoses (surely not those for the 99 ONLY), the molded heater hoses that are so incredibly expensive for these cars, the odd hoses no one ever replaces? Josh did some very nice drawings for the 550 molded heater hoses as well as another shop doing some of the under dash hose drawings for the 550's. We are now seeing a good many failures of the 360 engine hoses and getting a number of requests for them. Every blasted hose on the car is a molded hose requiring special tooling to make each and every one of them, read.... an expensive production. The 550, small diameter molded heater hoses are subjected to the same engine bay conditions as the main hoses and are now proving they are meeting the end of their useful life. The 246 we replaced every engine coolant hose on last winter is showing surface cracking of the cheap rubber molded hoses and it doesn't have 50 miles on it yet. Solve the problem with the main engine hoses by making an absolutely bomb proof coolant hose for those applications and what do you do? Find the next weakest link, the small heater hoses that VERY few are replacing... remember, they are the same age and subjected to the same conditions as the main hoses! Question: Where do we stop? No one is replacing these hoses at this point. With the "blow out safety valve removed and plugged" by replacing the main hoses with quality that can handle the heat and pressures, its only a matter of time. With the time lag involved in making all of the tooling for these..... Break out the Crystal Ball and the Ouija Board. Do I let my head heal or is this a requirement that has to be addressed? Would I sell 1 a month thus assuring only future generations would ever see a payback let alone a profit? As soon as this money sucking black hole is closed I have plenty of other projects to finish.... the molds for the in-tank fuel system parts are still waiting for the finishing touches.... the 348 chain tensioners.... the next step of the Gold Connector Package... Frankly it would be nice to work on something exciting, fun, performance driven..... Hoses were a requirement that needed to be addressed as HP = heat and what was available couldn't handle stock let alone Hot Rodded. Pretty hard to get all wound up about... hose. I just considered this more of a requirement than an elective. Dot every 'I' and cross every 'T', small molded hoses few are dealing with now, 246 hoses where limited volume is an understatement, newer model cars such as the 360 that came with better than average hoses to begin with, or move on to the next project?
Mr. Prall...glad I could help motivate, HAHA. I just got lucky that my customer is a hard a** and the car was broke, test hoses were available and I had no choice but to get it done! Thanks for letting us be a part of the project Dave. I'm really quite pleased to be able to offer this stuff to my clients...it's going to really be advantageous to us and the car owners as far as long term quality goes. You bring up a critical point as well Dave. This is a financial slippery slope. The cost vs. return is questionable, and the more product you develop the steeper the incline becomes. As much as we all want to outfit a car completely with SRI hoses, this is going to get to the point where we'll all need to work together to move as much of the product already available before further development can take place. We'll all need to work together to find the balance between smart business and product availablity.
