The Pink Flamingo in Arizona

The Pink Flamingo has quite the history to say the least.  It’s a 1971 Chris Craft 34′ Aquahome houseboat that had a complete remodel during 2008-2012.

Prior to our group it was owned by 7 single guys on the lower river at The Broken Oar.  The story from what I remember was the guys bought it and figured that it was never going to be the prettiest boat on the lakes so they were going to make it the most recognizable.  Hence they decided to paint it pink and call it The Pink Flamingo.  Their deal was whenever someone got married they had to sell their share back to the remaining partners.  Hence the last guy was getting married and had to sell it even though his wife begged him not to.

A friend at work brought it to my attention knowing my Eliminator at the time could only sit 5 people and while fun wasn’t much of a party boat.  For some reason in my early 20’s he thought this would be perfect for me and my friends.  Already strapped with boat and truck payments the last thing I needed was another boat but I knew my best friend Kevin and his father had always talked about a houseboat.  So on New Years day we stopped by to see it after a long night of partying in Chicago and I think the first things out of Kevin’s mouth was “Please don’t tell me it’s that pink boat”.

As soon as the boat was dropped in the water in the spring Kevin and his parents came down for a test drive and I think his dad immediately started writing out a check for his half.  Somehow I brokered a deal (smart one on my part) where they bought it, paid for repairs, and myself and friends would pay for the slip and do most of the work on it.  I think the idea was to leave it in Fox Lake for a few years and fix some things up and then move it to Green Bay where Kevin lived and then his parents eventually wanting to take it down the Mississippi.

Since I lived a few blocks from the Marina of course I benefitted from this deal the most.  I don’t think it took long for Kevin to get sick of everyone calling it my boat although he did have the benefit of the best spot to sleep when he was down along with not having to drive most of the time.  But a few years later they realized that a houseboat would not work well in Green Bay and would never make it far down the Mississippi without myself or my brother Brian to fix it since it tended to break down every month.

So again I had to bring out my negotiating skills and ended up with Kevin, my brother Brian, and our friends Mark and Shorty as partners in it.  Throughout the years everyone else got bought out except for Shorty who refuses to sell.  Due to repairs, inflation, shipping costs, and remodel costs Shorty’s share has diminished from 1/5 of the boat to the front cleat or maybe just the bolts holding the cleat on.

We could write a book about all the great times and great friends we have made because of The Pink Flamingo.  It held host to the Swing Crew Party in Fox Lake from 1997 to 2009 in which time the part grew from 10 boats to 1200+.  www.swingcrewparty.com

In 2008 my friend Jimmy forced me to finally do the remodel I had been talking about when he took the sawsall to the railings (half of which were falling off).  This turned into a 4 year remodel job but I must admit I very much enjoy the “new” Flamingo.  Again there are too many friends to thank for all of their help during the remodel and I couldn’t have done it without all of the support.  One of these days I’ll get around to blogging about the remodel.

In 2011 The Pink Flaming was shipped out to Arizona to be included in our new life in the desert.  It took until June 1, 2012 to get the majority of the work done on her and although I’m sure I’ll never be done working on the Flamingo it’s now in the water and ready to start having fun on again.