01-24-03:
Yesterday, after a very long wait, I was finally able to track down Mr. Ed Sharp. I informed him that I had purchased his old "Bandit" 280. I asked Mr. Sharp of any kind of history the boat might have, and he proceeded to tell me all kinds of information. He informed me that the boat wasn't actually built for him, like I believed, instead it was built for Dave Knowlen. A friend of Ed's actually owned a Norm Berg hull and after discovering that Ed wanted a boat, the friend called Norm Berg at which time he purchased the "Bandit". In 1979 Ed was named "Rookie of the Year" after having much success with the boat. Originally the boat had a wing on the back, but after trial and error, Mr. Sharp decided it ran better without the wing. Mr. Sharp also informed me that the boat was wrecked 3 times while he owned it. Mr. Sharp has agreed to send me a "goodies" package with information and pictures, which I am very grateful for. As more information arrives, I'll keep updating.
01-21-03:
Ok, the updates haven't been great but that's got to change. It's been 2 months since the last update, if it takes that long anymore I'll be dead, because there is a guy at work harassing me about updating. Anywho, there is a lot going on in the Bandit Camp. On Christmas I was blessed with some West Systems, and some other stuff to get back on track with the restoration. I will have the wood at the start of February, at that time the battons will be going in and the "blow holes" will be filled in. I will be getting together with my uncle this weekend and will be discussing the trailor and what I need to get to build it. I will be talking to an old teacher of mine about embroidering some team shirts for me. Also, I am going to talk to a few printing places and have some printed shirts made up. If anyone thinks they might be interested let me know and I will let you know how much they will be as soon as I find out.
11-08-02
After a month of no updates, here's whats been going on in the Johnson camp. I inquired about having the aluminum hot-tanked only to find out that the chemical used would destroy the aluminum, so dad has started stripping the aluminum down by hand. The cockpit cowling has also been cut so that we will be able to add the 7 inches back into the center of it. Dad has made 2 jigs that will be the primary support for the battens that were cut by the previous owner. The "cavatation plate" that the guy had on the bottom has been removed, also the wing is now a figment of our imagination. After dad took about three hours trying to get the wing apart he gave up. That's when I decided it needed to go, we'll just say that a wood chisel, 20 oz ball peened hammer and about 30 minutes of manual labor were brought into play. We weren't able to fill in the blow holes, due to finances being transfered to a dentist bill. The best news of all is that on Friday, November 1st, I bought a new tow vehicle. It's a Black 2000 Ford Explorer Sport Edition.
10-8-02:
This weekend we should get the blow holes filled in and mount all the steering components so that we can finish putting the decking on. I will probably have the hardware "hot-tanked" before installation, to insure the utmost show quality for everyone to see next year on the vintage tour. Also, we are currently looking for a place to have the rudder re-chromed, if anyone can help with this, please drop me a line. Last but most certainly not least, I MUST send a special thank you to Mr. Bob Cline, he is the webmaster for the www.madisoncamerunning.com website. He posted a few pictures on his site that he took when he came out to the house and put a few good words in for dad and I. Thanks again.
10-7-02:
Yesterday dad and I had a full day of work, we removed the backs of the blow holes, cleaned out the inside of the boat, and planned how the battens would be "sistered" up. This morning dad talked to Eric Bell from the Miss Madison boat shop and was told that they have some marine grade mahogany that we may be able to buy from them to fill in the blow holes. More to come......
10-2-02:
We were finally able to get the cockpit cowling off of the boat. It will be put back to original width, because the previous owner removed 7" from the center of the cowling in order to make room for the "blow holes". The next project will be to remove the backs of the blow holes to make way for the original "shaft-type" steering. There will be a for sale page added shortly which will include a set of "Glenwood Marine" aluminum headers for a small block mopar.
