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Alpine Cat Jamboree 2023

This event was fantastic! Great snow great food great people.
Jesse and his crew put on a show for sure!!
Well done.!!!!!
 

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I appologize in advance for this massive photo dump! If you want a full resolution version of any shot let me know, I also have many others.

But wow... what a great event! Humbled by David and his family for letting us tag along in the Frandee, Lloyd is such a great guy with so many stories to tell, Rock'n BK (Mark) was a hoot to ride along with as a fellow pontoon gluten, Yurtmeister (Connelly) is a guy I'm going to get know better for sure since we both own properties in the Wallowas. Tara and I were just blown away by the hospitatlity and the cats on show at this event! Massive shout out to Jesse for organizing another great event, we'll be sure to attend next years when our V8 Tucker shall make her maiden debute :)

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Frandee perspective

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Girls being girls
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Too cool in the taperback to smile

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Tara: "Can we trade our Tucker in a for a Frandee?" :D

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Up to Mt Howard

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How can you own a Tucker like Muther TUcker and not have a smile on your face all the time?

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More Frandee beauty shots before David breaks stuff

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Pontoon TLC

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More pontoone TLC :D

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400s looking good

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Marks reserve

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Cruisin on the flats near the warming hut

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Talking about how there was almost a water recovery with the Sno Tracs

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Lloyd

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Such a cool shot
 
Day 3, 2nd attempt at Mt. Howard. Such a perfect day!

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Couldn't be possible without this guy...The Yurtmeister aka CB
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Hope to see you all again next year!
 

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The Alpine Cat Jamboree Damage Report.

I believe there were 22 cats total that showed up this year, with around 60 total participants.

First, sorry for the delay, I have to many irons in the fire right now for timely posts, but I will see what I can do.
There were so many cats at the jamboree this year that I am sure I did not get everyone's story, so if anyone can add to the report please do so.

I will start with the Rockin' BK, this cat was impressive this year, had a newly rebuilt rear axle housing, much better than the one that was determined to be bent and tracking crocked last year. Sure tracked well this time. This cat also found out that proper tensioned tracks sure make a difference. I had a track tightening tool in the Kitten I had made and lent to them, from what I heard they got those tracks a rolling much better. However, I heard that at one stop they noticed one roller had been donated to the snow gods, good thing he had a spare to pop on. If anyone is driving up Mt. Howard next summer, keep your eyes open for a 3/4" roller with a missing nut. I also heard that his 3 on the tree stopped working, luckily he brought along his master mechanic and in just a few minutes they found that a pin had dropped out of the shifting linkage and a repair was completed.

The kitten did well this year, another 40 miles on the odometer. I almost did not bring it because it had a very very very bad oil leak which I thought was the rear main. While running it and working on the timing I looked down and there was a huge pool of oil under the engine. Further investigation found that the oil pressure sending line (1/8" copper) had a large crack just next to the connection at the engine. A little repair work and it was fixed. Sure glad I didn't have to pull the engine and replace the rear main seal. The new ski rack that was on it's maiden voyage did great UNTIL we got back to the parking lot after 20 miles of running around Mt. Howard. My son went over a hard snow berm and when cresting over the top and coming down the other side (hard of course, it is a kitten and they ride rough as hell) the ski rack, skis, and backpacks mounted to it, all came flying off, hitting the hood and providing some new body details that were not necessarily wanted, but minor and repairable. The rack just needs a bit of a modification and it will be about 100 time more durable. Also found that the same bolt (2 times now) that holds the front side of the alternator bracket on had broken again. Time to get the drill and easy-out ready and start repairing AGAIN.

Jakes Tucker broke a grouser going up Mt. Howard, and luckily he had a spare with him. We stopped the Cat Train and did a quick changeout, thanks to a bag full of cordless impact wrenches (man are they a life saver). I heard he had another one break, but it did not cause a problem. From my understanding this cat is a one off proto-type, I had never seen grousers like these before, but they sure seemed to work just fine.

The Frandee, for some reason my favorite cat, hmmm wonder why. We were driving along in the snow fields after making the loop at Salt Creek Summit and bam, my hood came flying off. Luckily no damage, soft snow. All four of the 10-24 screws holding the hood hinges to the body broke off. Wonder why, I drive it so cautiously (ha ha ha). Drove the rest of the day with the hood in the back seat. I left the hood off for the night, all the moisture froze up the throttle and choke linkage over night, the next day I had to get out the heat gun to thaw things out before I could get it running, then using a bunch of straps I ties the hood back on for the days adventure. The Frandee was humbled once again, on day one it couldn't summit Mt. Howard due to fuel issues and traction issues. On day three we attempted it again and were able to get within a 1/4 mile of the summit, but the deep steep powder was just to much for her. On day two I had the windshield wiper running (6v so slow) and the wiper went flying off and lost in the snow. One near miss, since the Jamboree the Frandee was unloaded and parked, then yesterday I fixed the hood and windshield wiper and test drove it around the yard. We got dumped on the last couple of days so I was loading her up to go play in the snow this afternoon and one of the driver side idler wheels broke off while I was half way up the trailer. Inspection found that the axle steel had crystalized and fractured, hopefully tomorrow I will get a fixture made to hold it in alignment and get it welded back on. I will post some pictures of this later.

Seths SnowMaster. Wednesday night before leaving for the Jamboree Thursday morning he had just completed rebuilding and installing the engine. He maybe had 15 minutes run time on this cat before heading for the Jamboree. First day out and within a couple miles the cat just completely died. Issue was a failed brand new electronic ignition. Seth and the family abandoned the cat and road up Mt. Howard in other cats. Then on the way back Dan's kick ass Tucker towed him back to the trailer and helped get it loaded. Well that is not the end of the story, Seth comes prepared, he had a complete spare cat on his trailer and that night in the parking lot he and several others (mostly Jim the VW expert) pulled the points distributor out of the spare cat and installed it in the newly rebuilt engine. Problem solved and Seth had a great time the next two days tracking up the powder.

Ken had a steering issue with his Tucker, I am not sure if it was the hydraulic ram or orbital (or whatever it is using for steering). He was able to turn around on Mt. Howard and get it back to the trailhead and on the trailer. He had to cut his trip short and head home. To bad, that is a cool cat, and he and Angela are great people to make tracks in the snow with.

The 11 foot wide Tucker cab forward had a tracking issue with the rear set of tracks and made for problems when loading the cat. It did great in the snow, even if it just barely fit on the trail. He had to cut it short and didn't get in on Salt Creek Summit, but maybe next year. Of course he was given plenty of free advice on how to fix it. Jamborees are always great for all that free advice, whether one wants it or not, usually not.

One non-damage, but has to be mentioned. Perski is still using a 2x6 to hold his passenger door shut, I guess there is a hinge problem. I did hear that he has sourced a hinge and hopefully next time we see his cat the specialized door latch (2x6 pine that is) will he used as firewood.

That is all I have for cat damage, I am sure there are more stories, but that is all I have. However, I heard through the rumer mill that one truck lost a transmission or transfer case on the way home and another would not restart after stopping for fuel. Do not know the details of either of these problems.

Overall, not bad for damage, I think everyone had a great time, and by the end of the jamboree all cats were loaded on trailers under their own power.
 
On the way to Joseph, being chased down by Mill666er (aka Rob). We were so lucky to have good road to and from the event. Not much snow here along the river, but plenty where we went catting around.

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British Columbia Canada, well represented by these two and their daughters. They came 700 kilometers, that's 435 miles for the rest of us (one way). They are the only ones that needed passports to attend. This Tucker has a much different exhaust pipe, goes diagonally across the top. The other cat is home made, he is doing an incredible job with it, wish I had his metal working skills.


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Lloyd and Helen Smith. They drove my Kitten around, he had driven one a short distance when he was 12ish, a few years back. His dad worked at Tucker when this cat, as well as many of the others at the Jamboree were built. Most likely his dads hands were on this cat 65 years ago. He drove it around quite a bit. Smiles all day long.

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My cousins husband just purchased a plasma table and likes to make cool things, so I sent him a challenge. I gave him a copy of the Jamboree poster that Jesse had made and he was able to make this way cool steel sign in a week and a half and FedEx it to me the day before we left for the jamboree. We gave it to Jesse after the Jamboree as a memento of our appreciation.

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Can't leave out the cool air cooled cats.

Earl drives this machine, you better stay out of his way or he will run your butt over. This machine made it up Mt. Howard, way beyond where the Frandee had to bail.

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Seth, with a big smile, this is before the ignition went out, maybe he wasn't smiling as much after that.

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But it doesn't mater that the ignition went out, because he brought a 100% spare parts cat, just in case. A couple beers later and the ignition from the purple one was in the red one. Track on man!

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And of course the very sexy one, what a beautiful cat. It even wears a gold ring, can you see that gold bogie wheel?

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Dan's Tucker 2000, what a machine these Tuckers have evolved into. Dan brought along a "side kick" (Austin I believe), and an "Assistant" (name unknown). This is the cat that winched Seth's snowmaster around, towed it back to the trialhead, and loaded it on the trailer. Thanks a million Dan and crew for being there and helping out!

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The professional Kitten driver, Ian. I hear he is going pro. He put about 40 miles on the 222 this year, now I have to open up the left pontoon and adjust the drive clutch, always something. Oh ya, and fix the alternator bracket bolt again.

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