24' daycruiser Scarlet Begonia

[U4ia]

Hi, I am the owner of the 24' DC that has been mentioned in a couple of threads here this summer and earlier.

According to my trawl through the online Campbell records, the factory built a total of six 24' daycruisers. This boat was built in 1983 with a blown BBC when the factory was going through bankruptcy and it was involved in some sort of financial shenanigans for several years before being sold at auction w/o an engine. She was named "No Business", re-powered with a twin turbo 468 and used by a couple of owners before I bought it in Payson, Az with a cracked block. At some point it had been involved in a (perhaps) fatal accident on, I believe, Paradise Lake, which ended up with the boat on the beach with a twisted bow rail and a forehead sized star shaped crack in the gel oat in front of the helm.

I did a mechanical restoration after I bought her during the summer of '09, including a Larry Peto built all alloy Dart BBC and a NOS TRS drive. I also removed, cleaned and reinstalled the interior, fixed a tiny bit of rot in the transom and re-plumbed the 4 fuel tanks for use on Lake Powell. Along the way we had Campbell in Lake Havasu arrange for new canvas and a new bow rail as well as a forward raked windscreen. We then used the boat out of Bullfrog, Az for several years, but lately it has languished in a storage lot in Valencia.

The time has come to finally take the next step and complete the restomod of this family treasure. I want to make some changes to the instrument panel, move the helm over a bit, redesign and replace the interior and seats and make a new sealed engine compartment with teak trim instead of a vinyl sun pad on the cover to match the new floors. It also will be rewired at this time too.

Can anyone recommend a good shop? I have spoken to Marty Raymond and will be considering him as well as George and Mario at So Cal Speed and Marine, but I would like to get bids/estimates from others as well. I am located in the SFV and will take the boat to wherever it needs to go......

 

[Rickybobby]

Welcome aboard SB. There a handful of rare Campbells and you boat is one of them (in my humble opinion) and because you just dont see any other examples !!!! Thanks for posting up and sharing the story of your boat. Please post up as many pics of her and the interior/work you are doing so we can drool over what you have. Hope to see you at one of the Campbell events and see it in person.
rb

ps
What is the story behind the name???

 

[U4ia]

I'm a big Deadhead and when it came time to pick a new name I gave my wife a choice between my two favorite songs: Easy Wind and Scarlet Begonias. You can see how THAT worked out! I really, really wanted Easy Wind, but "if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" ya know?

I put an extra tall windshield and some kind of sound silencer exhausts on the boat to keep her happy too.

I guess it was worth it when she told me last month that she missed riding in the Campbell and that she'd been putting away money for a while and we had enough to get the whole boat redone/restored, just the way we wanted. Her only stipulation was that we totally re-wire the boat and that we find a way to switch between the 4 fuel tanks w/o losing prime. So it looks like we're getting some electric fuel pumps....

Rumbling through the snake canyons on Lake Powell at 30/35 mph was like rolling through Monument Valley at sundown in a 1960 Cadillac convertible! The big Campbell's are unique in taking the low splash shield and windscreen of a small daycruiser and scaling it up to cabin size. The 24' Daycruiser just takes that concept to maximum size one can go without losing porportion IMHO, and either you like that low hull/high superstructure look or you don't. A Campbell 24 is so obviously a big river cruiser, not a small ocean boat and that's just the what we want.