Hidden Body

Let's cut to the chase. There is precisely one, and only one, reason why any of us gives a rat's ass about Levi Johnston or any of his Palinbrat pals: he knows where the bodies are buried. Whether there is only one Trig or one separate Tripp or several of each, Levi knows enough to stop the madness, even if he is honestly ignorant about some of the details. His recantation this morning was about as surprising as a snowfall in Alaska, just as the news breaks of his girlfriend's new gig as an exciting new prime time celebrity. Wow! I have never seen this movie before. Who would have ever dreamed that the circus had kept its tent up for an extended engagement? We have to keep Joy Behar's millions coming in on the most provocative channel on cable! We wouldn't want her to actually have to tell the truth that the public really wants to hear. We have to all pretend that we care so deeply about the Palinbrat Circus that we watch it every day just for its unlimited excitement. Blow it out your millionaire ass, Joy, I'm sick of being provoked. If you cannot give us real news that matters, we'll be glad to change the channel.

I pick on Joy Behar because she used to be one of the good people, like Whoreanna Fuckington, Gloria Borger, Jay Leno, Barbara Wa-wa, and Oprah. Jay owns many of the exact models of sports cars and motorcycles that I can only worship from afar, but after decades of watching him and listening to his humor, he has been permanently placed on my no watch, no listen list. Since the day he interviewed Sarah Palin without asking a single question relevant to any pertinent scope of reality, Jay has been off my television screen. I refuse to watch even a single minute of his show. The same goes for the others I named, and more such interviewers with terminal amnesia whose names, only for the sake of brevity, I have not listed here. In my household, if you, Mr. or Ms. Millionaire A-hole Interviewer, talks on TV with Sarah Palin without asking a single tough question of the consistently lying and obfuscating witch, you are no longer welcome on my TV screen, and I mean forever.

If only we could all make this choice, maybe we could encourage some of the corporate news media to pay attention. Don't bring up that Maddow and Olbermann nonsense, either. Since when has either of them told the truth about Babygate? Do you think they were somehow excused from the meetings with the boss? Anyone who feels the same way I do about these truths should personally boycott any and all of these talking heads immediately. Yes, I understand if you want to give M & O a pass on a total boycott, but you could at least throw a pillow at the screen every time one of them is presented with a golden opportunity to mention Babygate and doesn't. Even if you make these choices within your own homes, at least your nerves could settle down a bit. If there is no decent news on television at the time, just as it seems in my house more and more these days, you could at least read a book. There are a number of these out there that will tell you the truth about SP, even if none yet specifically tell you the tale of Babygate that you yearn so deeply to read.

Whether it is a deceased Ruffles, an acquired Trig, or a Tripp born in early 2008, Levi knows the truth that will stop her. If we did not think this fact was at least more than a little likely, he could do a striptease on the news and most of us would go, Eeewww! and change the channel. Well, the male viewers would, anyway. We could care less who is the next Mayor of Wasilla or the dancing partner of a has-been star. We are all weary of counting babies and examining baby faces, ears, and toes. How many more newscasters, interviewers, and talk show hosts can we tune out? We are running out of viable news channels on our remote controls. Just tell us where the bodies are buried, take the media payoff or book deal, and run like hell to a warmer climate, Levi.

When Few Were Paying Attention

The latest poll results are in and they are no surprise to me, although the poll itself, like the photo at left, is a mysterious illusion. We know this is not Sarah Palin in this picture, and we know now that SP did not give birth in early 2008. We also know that somebody did, but outside that obvious statement, a ball of confusion has reigned over America for the past two years. Just as Tina Fey has become a symbol of something most of us were not even aware existed until August 2008, we didn't know exactly where to look for the keys to the mystery until long after the perpetrators had intentionally scrambled the evidence. Everybody went back to Saturday Night Live to see Tina imitate an idiot two years after she had left the show. Now we are all closely examining a couple or three babies to try to discover their true birthdays after the fact.

The poll question itself was strangely worded: When were the Trigs born? The poll results were easily predictable: January (41), February (65), March (16), and April (7). These represent the supposed months in 2008 in which any baby playing the part of Trig might have actually been born. The strange part is that the month is not actually as pertinent as exactly which babies are we talking about? I set up this poll at a time when I was fairly certain that Ruffles was a Trig instead of a Tripp. Now that I think it is even more likely that Ruffles is a Tripp instead of a Trig, the plot implied by this poll either thickens considerably or simplifies, depending on your point of view. From the moment I created this poll, I expected the results to show the order exactly as they have, with February being the first choice of most of my readers, and January in second place. The bigger question is what Trig or Trigs, or even Tripp, was in the mind of each voter as she made her selection in the poll? Let's assume for the moment that most of the responders were thinking of Round Ear, some were thinking of Ruffles, some were considering both, and maybe a few were even adding Elfie into the mix, but few or none were considering Tripp.

We are going to take a little detour for a moment to a right-wing blog that discussed Governor Palin as McCain's VP pick in May and June 2008. This article at Wizbang clearly delineates that hopeful Alaskan Palin fans, and some from outside the state, were keenly aware that McCain might very well unleash the pitbull. Most of the commenters were thrilled with the idea. If you read through those comments, you will begin to better understand the title of this post. Yes, I know that most of them are laughable in their naivete about Palin's personality, accomplishments, and future issues, but the time frame of these comments should send a chill through your sane mind. If the witch's Alaskan Fan Club knew this much this early about McCain's plans, exactly how much and how early did Sarah Palin know? Needless to say, this article reminds me just how much I have been singing this tune for nearly two years: it was all a plot, people!

Now the next little detour I want you to take is to go to the Tripp slideshow in the sidebar. If you have already examined it, please take another look because I added a few more photos just before writing this post. There are purposely no captions or identifying dates listed in this slideshow, but the order of the pictures is important. I have positioned each of them in as chronological a manner as I can just by looking at Tripp and ignoring all the other information. Yes, there could be a few minor discrepancies within this order. I tried to group them by subject and size just to make the slideshow flow smoothly, but the point is to closely examine the age Tripp appears to be, while ignoring whatever preconceptions you might have about the time of the shooting or publication of any particular photographs. Open your mind and you might discover a few new avenues of thought.

The poll indicates clearly that most of us think whatever babies are involved in the Babygate mystery were born earlier in 2008 than has been publicly stated. As I am sure some of you have surmised, once you have opened your mind to the possibility that Ruffles is actually Tripp, and Tripp is approximately eight months older than publicly claimed, many Freudian slips from both The Johnstons and The Palins will fall a little more neatly into place. So do many baby pictures we have seen displayed during television interviews and in many other media sources. As with your opinion of Tina Fey, who once was just another funny SNL comedienne, you might find that your opinion of the mystery of Babygate has also shifted. What seemed so obvious two years ago looks like an illusion now, doesn't it?

Disposition

The poll numbers concerning the whereabouts of Ruffles show little agreement. In fact, they are all over the map. Both my wife and I voted for deceased, with institutionalized as our second choice. From the 260 votes cast, 73 were for Living with Someone Else, 55 for Living with His Real Mom, 54 Deceased, 29 Living with Another Relative, 23 Stashed at the Compound, 18 Institutionalized, 5 Living with Bristol, and 3 Disguised as DS Trig.

Beginning at the bottom, obviously few of the PB readers think that Ruffles has reappeared as another Trig, either Round ear or with elfin ears. I think the general consensus has been from the start that if there had been any ear surgery or molding done on Ruffles, it would have been to create the elfin ears. Few people really think that Ruffles could have possibly been turned into Round Ear, which is the leading issue that has propelled the Two Babies theory in the first place. Ruffles is one baby and Round Ear is a second baby, regardless of the existence or not of a third child who has played the part of Trig. The general hypothesis I get from this tiny poll number is that support for the ear modified, third Trig theory is waning; however, the psychologist in me is going to have a pertinent comment or two about this concept after the all the results have been detailed.

Five people suggested that Ruffles is now living with Bristol. Unless you are also hypothesizing that Tripp or another Trig is the same child as Ruffles, I do not see how this theory can hold. It is, indeed, a choice that had to be included in the poll for thoroughness, but there are several problems with it in this case. First of all, the only photos of Bristol pushing a twin stroller show Trig and Tripp at some time well after 12/27/08. There have been absolutely no reports or sightings of two babies present except for the obvious combination of Trig and Tripp. There has been every indication that Bristol took Tripp when she moved into the condo, and then she returned to the compound with Tripp, with no indication of a second baby being involved.

I was surprised that only eighteen chose Institutionalized. My best guess is that this assumes that Ruffles has FAS, and that is still a fairly firm part of my own theory. If Ruffles was simply a little weak or premature, but otherwise a normal baby, then this depressing future for Ruffles is a decreased likelihood. I suspect that at least a few of the poll voters may have avoided this choice simply because it is depressing, and they had rather hold higher hopes for Ruffles. I would suppose that if Ruffles does not have FAS, then he could probably be adopted out to a nice home.

Is Ruffles still very much alive and stashed at the compound? Has he remained a closely guarded secret all this time? I was quite surprised that 23 people selected this choice. Whenever I have broached the subject of his being hidden away as a deep, dark secret in the past, there seemed to be little agreement on this theory. Now I am not sure what to think of these latest results. Maybe more people are now leaning in that direction?

If Ruffles was sent to live with another relative, then 29 voters got it right. There are certainly at least a handful of such relatives to choose from, but I still vote against this choice. I am not sure why, but something just does not add up. There seems to have been no mention lately of contact between Bristol and these other relatives, for one thing, however, that might not mean much. Are those who selected this choice thinking of Sarah's sister Molly or Aunt Heather? What about the relative who lives in Seattle?

Fifty-four of us voted that the child is deceased. If this depressing scenario turns out to be the truth, I have three suggestions for the cause, in decreasing order of likelihood. The first of course is that the baby was born very weak and premature and simply died of whatever complications might have ensued. The second is that he died as a result of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The third is that he smothered in the sling that Sarah may have carried him in to her office or elsewhere. The information about the sling recall was in the news many months ago, long before I began this blog. I took note of the issue at that time, but I have been hesitant to mention this possibility due to its possible unfairness, as well as its incendiary nature. Please note that I have listed this only as the least likely possibility. When I chose deceased in the poll, I was distinctly basing that choice on the first two listed causes, or possibly even a combination of the two. The third choice is always possible, but highly unlikely.

Fifty-five voters think Ruffles has already been placed back in the home of his real mother, whomever that might be. I assume from this that a large number of you still think Sarah might have borrowed a baby. If the only evidence we had of Ruffles was the kitchen photo shoot, then I could allow this theory more credibility, however, this is not the case. We know that Ruffles appeared in two different photo shoots that same weekend, and most likely took part in two additional, official governor's business events, too! No way in hell is any mother, even a devoted friend and Palinbot, going to lend out her premature newborn to be carried into and around Anchorage and passed off as the governor's baby! Who was reported as seen holding that newborn at one of these events? Piper. Give me a break, people. This whole borrowed baby nonsense is officially off my radar screen until proven otherwise.

Could Ruffles simply be living with someone else? More of you agree on this premise than any other, and I cannot say that this choice is far off the mark. Although this would be my third choice, 73 of you voted for it, and you could certainly be right. If there was not a problem adopting out Ruffles, then why not? This would be the humane, wonderful solution we would all like to see. Not only would Ruffles have new loving parents, he would be spared the psychosis of growing up Palin! The fly in the ointment here is why would Bristol allow him to be adopted out if he was a normal, healthy child? Yes, I would love to think this scenario is the the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but I am skeptical nonetheless. I certainly give this choice higher credence than most of the others. I have a problem with the baby being borrowed or kept hidden within the family in some manner, but if he was born and then simply adopted out, he would be out of the public eye forever. The story could end right there for Ruffles. He would grow up to be a normal kid known only for his unusual ears, not his crazy celebrity family.

The psychologist has a few closing comments. The relentless manner in which modern Americans seem to leap from one conclusion to another, depending on whatever is most recently displayed in a blog post, or even a comment to a blog post, has become rather appalling in its short-sighted and immediate level of gratification. Some other bloggers and commenters I know have aroused suspicions over the birth of another child on 4/18/08, and now the innertubes are buzzing with delight. The opinions are flying furiously as to whether or not this birth announcement has any relevance to Babygate. I am not making a judgment call on this issue in either direction at this point, but I am attempting to direct your energies into a more generalized direction. There was a time a few months ago when the concept of a third Trig was all the rage. When Tipp's birth date was announced, yet no one saw him until two months later, even I was referring to him as The Invisible Baby. We have to be careful of some of this theory hopping according to whatever happens to be in our faces at the moment. The only thing we all agree upon is that Sarah Palin is the most despicable politician in American history and we want her out of our faces, off the national political stage, off our television sets, away from our innertubes, and preferably wearing orange and residing in a small cell with a large African-American lesbian named Maybelle!

Trigarama

Just when I thought the dust had settled a bit on the multiple Trig theories, up pops a batch of photos I had not seen before! The photo at right is a cropped version of the very large shot Gryphen just posted yesterday. This is another one of the poses shot for the OK Magazine cover at the 5/4/08 baby shower. I was just about to post a few side by side cropped shots for a discussion of whether or not the April-May '08 Trigs are the same baby or not when annes_123 posted a link to a new Flickr photostream that I think explodes all over the page! It is always possible that I am lost in the ozone again, and these pictures have all been seen before and I have just missed them, but I don't think so. I have been in contact with the creator of this array: all the photos originated from Team Sarah. You can go to Flickr to examine these surprising photos within their complete array with an assortment of photos of Sarah without Trig or you can click the slide show in the sidebar to see only the large shots of Batwing Trig that I have selected for the relevance of this post.

For the sake of all my new readers here at PB, I can only hope that I am not jumping up and down like a little girl, making a fool of myself over what I am only assuming at this point is a new discovery. The thing that shocks me the most are the shots that seem to show the reprisal of Batwing Trig to a degree that I had heretofore never seen! The first ones you will see are labeled (#) 5 and playing with socks on book tour, and #2 is a very clear shot of the batwing ear. There are more surprises scattered throughout the subsequent pages of the photo array, although a lot of these shots are already very familiar to most of us. I am not going to jump to any further conclusions until I learn more about the origins of these unfamiliar pictures. At this point in time, I am quite simply flabbergasted at this stunning new evidence of the existence of Batwing Trig!

Floyd's Lap Dance

Pardon me while I whip this out! This post has been a long time coming, and I may meander a bit in telling the story. Try to stay with me: this cat's tale is a convoluted one.

First of all, I want to thank all those who helped make July 10, 2010, what might turn out to be the ultimate high point of my blogging days. These include Bree Palin, Gryphen and Patrick, who apparently decided it was time to recognize Palin Babygate, the regular readers who commented and sent me direct messages, and of course, all the newbies who finally discovered that there might be something interesting to read over at PB. I can only hope that a significant percentage of you will continue to visit and comment.

That brings us all to an annoying little pebble in the mattress that I do not think we shall ever completely remove, the comment system at PB. After reading through many of your issues posted here and at IM yesterday, I spent considerable time further researching the problem. The short answer is that I do not think I can find a better solution than we already have. All those little known and even less utilized comment options have been deleted. You must now unequivocally set up a Google account to comment on this blog. I do not think this option is as scary or problematic as you might fear. You can provide as much or as little information as you choose, and you can change it at any later time, too. When someone clicks the link on your comment to learn more about you, all that must be listed is your screen name and how many times others have sought the same information. If sharing any information with Google privately that is not displayed scares you, I am afraid I do not have a better alternative. I have been using the Google system on all my blogs for years, and I have no complaints whatsoever, as either a blog author or commenter on other blogs.

To continue this discussion about comments, I must include the two big boys of our industry, PG and IM, two blogs that are as significantly different from PB as they are from each other. PG uses the Disqus system for comments and IM allows anonymous comments with moderation. Especially considering the subject matter and lack of anonymity, I am sure any of you would agree that I would have to be truly nuts to offer anonymous comments without moderation. I personally do not like moderation, from the standpoint of either a blogger or a commenter. If something changes in the future, I shall, of course, change with it, but for now, the Google system probably works best for me. Yes, I have often considered copying PG's Disqus system idea, but whenever I analyze the big picture, I decide against it. If that's what the gang over at PG wants, fine, that's their business, but the swirling circles of chit-chat that this sort of system encourages is just not my thing. Yes, I want to have a lot of influence over the mood and direction of our movement, but that does not necessarily include a large herd of regular commenters. I would much prefer a large herd of regular readers, some of whom have already conversed with me via direct e-mail on a regular basis. Gryphen has his thing, Patrick and Kathleen have theirs, and I have mine. I hope none of you are offended by this analogy because no offense is intended. I hope thousands of you flood my in-box with comments. I read every one of them. However, I want to read them as they come in and are posted at PB. I do not want you to have to wait for me to come home from an errand, sort through all the messages, and then release the appropriate ones to the blog. I also do not wish to return home to a relentless spam or Palinbot attack, either, courtesy of having the convenience of Anonymous comments.

For all of my newcomers, please allow me to indulge in the repetition of what you regulars most likely already know. I am not, nor have I ever been or ever had interest in becoming, a journalist, a rock star, a television or radio personality, or a scientific researcher (all right, that one I did at one time aspire to be, but that's another story). I have a lot more in common with Karl Rove than President Obama, aside from the political side of the fence Mr. Rove has wallowed in for decades! I am a behind the scenes sort of guy. I have never had the looks for television or the voice for radio. What I am is a writer. Bree mentioned in the interview how she always just threw her blog posts together quickly without thinking much about them, and that is indeed how most bloggers write, but not me. I have to be in a special imaginative, creative frame of mind. I have to have a catchy title, a hook like a Top Forty single, a purpose, and an emotional ending of some sort to tie it all together. Nearly everything I write has been mulled over in my mind beforehand, sometimes for months, never for merely moments. When I get my story together, I nail it down in the computer, along with all my previous inspirations. I do the majority of the editing in my head long before I begin to write, so there is usually little to be changed after the composition has been made. Everything is proofread because pesky errors will always find their way into even the best planned posts.

I have never written fiction. I have read some of it, but I prefer nonfiction of many different types. Every book I have written is a compilation of many such inspired short pieces as described above. Yes, I am planning another book. I have been planning it since 2002, but this particular story has already been delayed several times. This next book will not be an expose of the scams of Sarah Palin, although a large majority of many blog posts that I have made at PB and NIAFS in recent years will be edited into the content, along with other material that I began writing long before I had ever heard the witch's name. As I said, I am not a journalist. That is just not my thing. I am a psychosocial, political and economic, commentator. There is a little Bill Hicks, Bill Maher, Bill Engvall, George Carlin, Bill O'Reilly, Jean Shepherd, Lewis Black, Michael Moore, Al Franken, James Howard Kunstler, Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Robert Rimmer, Peter Egan, and Kurt Vonnegut in practically everything I write.

There is one key point that I wish to make about my position on Babygate. No book or politician is going to bring the bitch down. Books are written to tell you all the gory details of the story after the central scam has been exposed. Yes, Romney, Huckleberry, and others have plenty of reasons and ammunition to stop her, but they ain't gonna do it! Why? I don't know, but that is the story of the century, folks, and that is precisely why I started this blog. We have to scream it from the rooftops. The MSM is in on the scam, and the bigger the media entity or personality, the deeper they are in on it. She is not being brought down for lack of evidence, and I think this misguided concept is why Palingates bugs me. The evidence already produced has been overwhelming. One more picture or one more secret document is not going to do the trick. It is great that PG is assembling and publicizing all this stuff, but it ain't going to muzzle the pitbull. Live by the sword, die by the sword, and this screechy voice of hate is supported by the only media that can take her down. We have to convince them that the truth is about to escape and they have to grab onto the caboose of the gravy train.

In-depth interviews are one of my favorite things to read as well as write. I left Charlie Rose out of the list above so I could mention him here. I would love to repeat yesterday's performance over and over, but my tubes are tied. Like the cat above, I am ready to party, but I need someone to party with. I know many secrets and I am good at keeping them, but more key players need to come forward. One idea I think that would work concerns how so many have pleaded with Gryphen to just tell us all more of what he knows, even when it is only rumor and supposition. Why not let me send him one of my interview questionnaires and he can send copies to some of his anonymous sources? Then he could send the replies back to me and I could edit the result into one inclusive interview with several sources at once. All the interview subjects' identities would be known only by Gryphen. What's wrong with that idea? I would be happy to interview Audrey, Gryphen, Morgan, Patrick, Barb Dwyer, or any other of the famous names of Babygate, too. All they have to do is contact me and say yes.

Where is all this going? I don't have the foggiest notion. I have no more Aces or Jokers up my sleeve at this point. I am as wide-eyed and bushy-tailed as the cat in the picture. Where is my lap dance?

What Sort of Person Reads Palin Babygate?

Back in the good old days of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, Playboy Magazine ran a long series of self-promotional ads with the title What Sort of Man Reads Playboy? This was a very clever ad campaign, mentioning one or more elements prevalent in the fantasized Playboy lifestyle, usually with an attractive lady in soft focus in the background. The stuff in the foreground ranged from classic cars, sports cars, and motorcycles to elegant tuxedos and exquisitely styled stereo gear, or hi-fi as it was called in those days. Now if we know nothing else, we know the fantasy baseball player pictured here is not what sort of person reads Palin Babygate! I call this photo Tiny Bat, Giant Batty. Can you think of a better caption for it?

Most of the PB readers probably are women, or ladies, to be more precise. Many of them are most likely real nerds, not hillbillies trying to impersonate librarians. I would expect the education level and the IQ of most PB readers to be quite high, far above the norm, at least far beyond that of any cadre of Palinbots. Do these ladies represent The Cultural Elite? I certainly hope so! I want my readers to be as informed and literate as possible. I am sure some of the readers are baseball fans and some are football fans, but I doubt that any of them would be caught dead wearing fancy makeup or sporting manicured nails or flashy jewelry on a fishing trip. This is not meant to exclude the male readership in any way; I just think the whole Babygate phenomenon attracts more women than men with its outlandish Wild Ride and The Guiding Light of Wasilla.

The average PB reader may have discovered this blog from a link that I may have placed elsewhere on the net, but the return visitors most likely arrived on their own power. Few other blogs display the link to Palin Babygate in their blog lists. The better known the anti-Palin blog, the less likely a link to PB can be found there. Of course the silver lining of this is that few of the Palinbots ever find this little cultural elite hideout, either, so we have few spammers to delete or trolls to ignore. It's all sociocultural theory and all civil discourse here at Palin Babygate. There are no ads, no pleading for donations, no mugs or t-shirts hawked, and most of all, no unnecessary promotional brainwashing. No story is ever exclusive; nothing is ever provocative; and there are no video clip reruns from YouTube or elsewhere to clog up your downloads or assault your ears with the screech of The Skinny Northern She-Owl. You can read it with your own eyes here: it's just all Babygate all the time.

Why do the readers come here where there is no breaking news nor pages of secret documents exposed? I think, and I hope, they come here for the quality of the material, the openness of thought, the unexpected avenues to explore and ponder. The women and men who read Palin Babygate are probably a cut above even those masses who read the more popular blogs. These are ladies and gentlemen who instinctively know without being told to leave their snark, if they had any in the first place, at the door when they enter PB. This is the blog where we have only one agenda, to stop the madness that has enveloped our once intelligent nation. We used to be proud of our intelligence. Now a tacky woman with a small bat and a big ball has fed America's particular brand of psychosis like the invasion of a MRSA bug. The smart people do not want to just knock her out of the political ballpark or make a double play by naming her promiscuous daughter as a double mom. We want to stop the whole diabolical system of preplanned insanity and clean out the infection once and for all. The readers of PB are the deeply progressive thinkers of our time. If more Americans were seriously intelligent thinkers like the readers of Palin Babygate, we would not all be trapped on this cruise to oblivion with Gopher trying to take the helm away from Captain Stubing!

Jazz & Reflexx / Unlimited 17 & 19

A lot of people have been visiting this site lately, obviously looking for more information on four particularly rare boats built only in the 1993-98 era. The Jazz and Reflexx mini-jet boats were built by Bayliner during this period, and Four Winns produced the Unlimited speedboat in 17 and 19-foot lengths in 1996 and '97. All four of these models have always been some of my favorite boats, and you will not find any more extensive coverage of these rare models than in Ker-Splash 2: The High Performance Powerboat Book. In fact, they were singled out for attention simply because so little has ever been written about them.

Bayliner introduced its open-bow Jazz as a very simple, bare-bones sort of jet boat in 1993. The Jazz is the only one of these four boats that was produced during the entire period from '93 through '98. Its companion closed-bow model was built only in 1994 and '95. I assume that some Reflexxes were powered by the 120-horsepower four-cylinder in '95, but I have never seen one. The Jazz model began with the 90-hp Triple and the Four became standard in 1995, even as the Reflexx continued with the smaller engine. An all new hull and interior was introduced in the 1996 Jazz and the new V-6 became standard the following year.

For a brief period in the mid-Nineties, the same parent company owned both Four Winns and Donzi. The decision was made to offer a Four Winns version of the Donzi Classics. There were many similarities and differences between the Classics and the Four Winns Unlimiteds. None of the same hull sizes were duplicated, and the Classics were more expensive, while at the same time more traditionally dated in their styling and features, however all these models were very similarly shaped, designed, and powered speedboats. The Donzis have of course been continually produced for decades, but the Unlimiteds were built for only two precious years. Coincidental to the decision made by Ford to step out of the marine engine market after the 1996 model year, the first-year Unlimiteds were powered by Fords and the second year by Chevrolets. Since Four Winns employed Volvo Penta drives on all Unlimiteds, the models equipped with the Duo-prop option became particularly rare and interesting.

To read a lot more about the Unlimteds and the Bayliner jet models, as well as extensive details about all the brands and models of mini-jets built back in their exciting heyday of The Nineties, get a copy of Ker-Splash 2: The High Performance Powerboat Book. It is available at Amazon, B&N, and other online sources in both print and Kindle versions. The print version offers all the photos in their original sizes and print quality levels. The Kindle version has a few minor typos removed and a tiny number of informational changes made available in the short time frame between the release of the two versions.