My Cave

[GRN96WS6]

That is one sweet piece of property, definitely jealous, though not of the electric bills!

 

[Brian41]

New box and upgraded the man area

 

[70 supersport]

Awesome!!!!!

 

[dubber]

Can't find the appropriate words beyond wow. You have easily been able to fill that huge space with awesomeness. Very cool!!!! or too cool which may be more appropriate.

 

[polexican23]

Holy smokes. is 33 yrs old to old to be an intern at your shop and be paid in beer?

 

[bry@n]

not sure what I like the most, the guns or the box. lol

Congrats on a sweet set up.

 

[mayday0017]

Can we ban this guy? This place and all the toys he gets to play with daily (even the ones he doesn't own) are just unreal.... Wow, just wow....

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

YEs i'm very impressed!!

 

[Magneto]

Holy man cave!

 

[Brian41]

Some more recent projects. A 338 Hustler that was a 5 year total rerig project including new interior, fuel tank, fuel system, engines, drives, transom and engine bay.

 

[dubber]

Is that a Viper engine?

 

[Brian41]

Yes they are 625 HP Viper V-10's

 

[TEMPORARY FIXX]

Glad to see Ilmor doing so well in the Marine industry. We had a 382 FASTech in the shop this summer powered with the Ilmor 725's. We did some prop testing on a local lake and the power from those V10's are insane. I help run the service shop @ Formula and can appreciate the work coming out of your shop.

I am in the planning process of putting up a 40'x64' shop in the spring and your photos have given me ideas and inspiration. Every time we go to the lake I have somebody asking me to work on their boat and the 3 car attached garage I've been doing side work in is no longer working out. I doubt I will get to the scale that you are at, but a guy can dream can he! lol Please keep the photos coming!

 

[55cadillacking]

My mind is having a difficult time wrapping itself around it all, but I am pretty sure this is a world many can't fathom. The Snap-On tool box(es) are amazing as is everything else. I can't image a boat powered by two Viper engines. This is all too much for a simple suburbanite such as me!

 

[Rhyno]

Bought it 5 years ago and its still a work in progress. Here are some before pics just after purchase.

......Thats some serious space.

How does one end up with so much space, and the house looks massive too.

It makes me wanna ask....."how many wives, you got?"



That property needs a lot of bodies to stay maintained.

Thanks for sharing...

 

[Brian41]

Wives would be four.......but 1 at a time. I am a workaholic and finally found 1 that likes it that way (16 years so far). Yes I am a full time maintenance man along with full time wrench. Last year was the first time in my life I have ever paid somebody else to work on anything I own but at 55 years old I was not looking forward to 2 layer tear off and putting down 170 sq of shingles so I paid and glad I did.

 

[sunsation288]

Glad to see you here Brian , you have beautiful toy and awesome garage too , i am pretty sure we know each other on other board (OSO) i have bought CMI sound choice system for my 525 from you , (my screen name on OSO is 25 hors la loi)
please more picture of your toy and working place please

and if i am wrong , my apologize

 

[Brian41]

Sunsation288, Yes you did buy the diverters from me. Looks like install went well. I have a couple of wasted days (holiday) starting tomorrow and I will post a few things from last year. This winter we have 4 great projects in the works, 1 is mine.

 

[Brian41]

Made some changes to the hardware on display and added the go-kart to the pictures on the wall. The go-kart is from my younger days when my fear level was quit low. Over the years I have sold off most of my "this thing is going to kill me" toys but e few still remain and will become wall art as a reminder of "I would have taken better care of myself if I knew I was going to live this long". By the way the Snap On truck is the starter cart for the go-kart. I was a dealer back when I started racing it and at the time the go-kart was also painted in the Snap On theme but when I left Snap On they asked that I no longer race with their name so I painted it red.

 

[Brian41]

Sweet 16 Donzi trailer resto we did 2 weeks ago.We are adding a new additional 22x70 spray booth with 14' ceilings and 2 overhead cranes to building in the spring so we don't have to deal with the dust in the rest of the shop.

 

[Brian41]

Last year we added a 16x70 spray booth where some of the offices were but we are changing that area by putting a 14ft wide overhead door on that end so it becomes a 204 ft drive through repair lane. It has been a pain in the **** with a boat being in the booth we would have to move 3 other boats to get it in or out of the building.

 

[BearCuda]

Some inside building after clean up but there have been a lot of changes since these were taken.

Planning some world ********** are we?

 

[Brian41]

World **********....I can't even win the wars going on in the house (3 girls)

 

[Brian41]

Heres a 22 Donzi Classic Aronow Addition we painted and re-powered with a 700 EFI.

 

[Brian41]

Have more pics but they failed to upload.

 

[ralphy99]

Love that red Donzi! Yes, indeed.

 

[Nimonic]

Incredible space. Nice job in taking the long term view to make something awesome.

How do those Viper mills compare to other motors for marine use? Didn't know they were ever used that way.

 

[dubber]

Yes they are 625 HP Viper V-10's

Holy ****! I've been behind the wheel of a stock viper, couldn't imagine the sensation of one of those bad boys.

 

[sunsation288]

700 hp in the Donzy , naturally aspirated mmmmm , that's my kind of motor
No replacement for displacement

 

[ironman70]

Wow Brian...amazing space. Looks like i may have take a short road trip...i'm down here in Toledo.

I know next to nothing about boats but it seems like such a cool line of work to be in...well done.

 

[JordanFTW]

What a great space! How much land do you have there?

 

[Brian41]

What a great space! How much land do you have there?

I have 3 acres but I am surrounded by farm land. I am currently working on buying the 10 acres to the East of me just as a buffer so nobody can build at a later date.

 

[J-man67]

Good idea. I just purchased an acre behind us to keep the same from happening. Well that and I need more riding space! Could also be the site of my next garage/shop... The current one is filling up much too fast.

You have a great space man.... Def a dream land!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[e-tek]

Great place! Must have been nice to find a foreclosure you could work from and fix up as you go. I'm surprised no one has asked how much the paced cost you vs it's worth.....mind sugaring that info?
A lot of people don't know how much work and money goes into refurbishing something like that, but I'm sure it wasn't a picnic!
Too bad about the sour bat deal. Some guys sure can spend it...they Judy can't PAY for it!

Hope 2014 is an awesome year for you, your family and your business!

 

[Brian41]

The former owner owed $550K on the property and I actually redeemed the house from the bank's through him rather than wait out the 1 year redemption period required after the sheriff sale. I got it for the monies owed on the first mortgage plus 3 years interest and penalties, lawyer fees, back taxes, water bills and everything else the township/banks could through at it and make stick. The total purchase price came to $268K but I put about $150K into it the first year and have continued to improve things ever since.

In the spring I am adding another 1500 sq ft to the building that will become the new glass and paint area to further isolate the dust from the rest of the building.

The bad boat deal is working itself out as I have legal papers now (over 3 years later) that make it mine. The replacement boat turned out to be the better choose and we are well underway to having it done for the upcoming season.

The new year is already looking up, I hired a "professional" glass/gel coat/painter that starts on Monday. This will free me up to do the things I have more of a passion for which is the engine/rigging/design end of the business.

 

[BluCamaro]

Amazing place!!

Heres a 22 Donzi Classic Aronow Addition we painted and re-powered with a 700 EFI.

That thing must be a little rocket! Looks fantastic.

 

[1953mercury]

If you can tell us a little about the stern drive unit. It must be pretty tough to handle that kind of power. Very nice job on the boat. Mike

 

[tncumminsguy]

wow great work, love those donzi classics

 

[Woodman11]

Amazing place Brian!!!

 

[Brian41]

Added some stuff