Boats I Have Owned... a thread to give us some humor and fun in these difficult times

I?m not sure I can come up with a list and very few photos of many on that list. I will however, relate a story about my very first wooden runabout. A boat I purchased on a shoestring as I was freshly married and my wife was still going thru nursing school.
Daily I scoured the newspaper ads looking for something I could afford. It was still very early in the year and I was hoping to find an early season bargain. One particular ad caught my eye. A 14 ft. wood runabout with a 45 hp Evinrude motor on a home built trailer. Wow, this was even more than I was looking for. We could water ski behind this rig, a bonus!
I went to check it out. Arriving there, I found the boat with snow, ice and water about 5 inches deep in the interior. A good sign or so I thought. I reasoned, if it holds water in- it holds water out. I was more than a bit dubious about the trailer, but I figured beggars can?t be choosers. Paid him some cash and pulled it home.
As I say it was early in the year. The hull sorely needed fresh paint and a little tender loving care. I cleaned out an area in the back of my dad?s shop and got the hull off the trailer, flipped upside down and up on some saw horses. Over the next several weeks I proceeded to strip it down to bare wood, sand and paint it, etc. Of course, being from the coastal state of Iowa,,,,, I knew NOTHING about wooden boats built with planks. I?m sure you can see where this is heading.
Long story short, I ended up with a really really snazzy looking rig. Called up my BIL, who was 10 years older and who I admired as an excellent fisherman. Picked him up and off to the river we went. Backed the boat at the ramp, no dock, and I went to park the trailer. No actual parking lot and I had to park up the street a bit and around the corner. Walking back and looking at my boat, I?m thinking it seemed to be sitting quite low in the water.
I get up to the boat to find;

  1. The boat is in water ⅔ the way up the sides, but sitting on the bottom.

  2. My BIL is sitting in the boat, water up to his waist.

  3. Calmly ?bailing? with a coffee can, obviously making no headway.

  4. He has this shit-eating grin on his face but says nothing.
I go get the trailer and back down to the boat and start winching the now water filled boat onto this flimsy, barely adequate homebuilt trailer. We winch it up an inch at a time. Meanwhile the water is pouring out the seams between the planks, like water thru a flour sieve.
Putty, caulking cotton, raking iron, what is all that stuff? I ended up salvaging the motor which I put on another wooden home built runabout.
 
Boats I have owned?

Wilderness Systems Chesapeake - Gone
12ft Kayak, similar to a Poke-Boat. Never should have sold it. John Bourbon and I used them to sled decoys across a field and into the marsh to a platform blind we built. Wore through the keel a few times and learned glass/epoxy on that hull!

16ft Plywood Garvey - Gone
First "Duckboat". Bought it from a guy entering the service. Had a dead outboard on it, cowl large enough I could bath in it! Spent the summer preparing it for the season, and searching for a steal on an outboard. Was a real workhorse. Carried John, myself, my dog, our decoys and a couple middle schoolers for the Soccer Team I coached. Hard to believe today?
Side story?. In the late 80s, early 90s, I coached the Middle School's Boys Soccer team. As the season progressed, my truck would transform into duck mode. The kayak was on the roof rack, decoys and such in the back. The guys would be interested, and I would run the dogs through drills after practice. A couple guys were really interested, so I told their parents that if they took them through Hunter Safety, I would take them hunting. Imagine today, a guy rolls up to your house at 4 in the morning, and you let your 11 or 12 year old take off with a gun with him! Usually it was myself and the 2 boys. I honestly don?t think I would expose myself to that same situation today. And that is too bad.
I moved this boat to Virginia with me in 1996, thinking I was going to hunt the Chesapeake with it. Then I realized how far it was from Northern VA, and that I needed to register it in MD, and have a MD resident with me? so I towed it back to Vermont to a buddy who wanted it.

15ft Glastron Tr-Hull - Gone
Bought to get the 50hp outboard I needed for the Garvey above. I cruised the local marinas in September when I still had not found a motor deal. Picked up a complete package, boat, motor, and trailer, for $1350! I swapped the motor back and forth each year so we had a family tubing boat, and I had a duck boat. That was the beginning of the multiple boats in my household!

14ft SportsPal Canoe - Gone
Swapped the Cheaspeake above for it when the kids came along. Thought it would be more practical. I never used it nearly as much as the kayak. I could not bang it around so I rarely used.

1950s Sam Hunt BBSB - Still in Possession
First restoration/refurb. Put too much money and too much materials into her. Much heavier than a BBSB should be, breaks ice better than anything else, and is backbreaking getting out of the mud! Learned a lot from this site while doing the rebuild. Meet many good friends as a result of posting my progress here.

16ft Cedar Cackler on Steroids - Still in Possession
This is a hull that was built by Dave Clark. My understanding is that he started this build for a customer during the time he was developing the Estuary. With the hull built, the customer stopped in to see the progress, saw the Estuary, and decided he wanted that instead. This hull sat in Dave?s way for a few years, was handed off to a guy in the Syracuse, NY area, who sat on it for a few years, and then I swapped for it. I had plans to make it into a tender/camper someday. So far, it still sits unmolested in my possession. It anyone has a need, it can be had! I doubt I will ever do anything with it, though it is a great starting point, round and cove, end nailed and glued up. A tank! ~$3000 in cedar sitting there.

13ft 1970 Myron Smart Cedar Strip Canoe - Milo, ME - Still in Possession
This was a $150 CL find. It needs very little, the outwales are dried out and splintered, and some wear on the keel that needs to be addressed. I have held onto this for a few years and was thinking about moving it on, but then thought it would be an awesome grandchild project that we could do together and then hand off to them. It weighs nothing and would be sweet as a pack in boat if needed, I just don?t have a ?need?. So while both of my children are married, there are no grandchildren yet, so this will sit at least another 8 or so years I imagine. Who knows?

1980 John Kalash one man layout - Still in my Possession, though not mine!
This was purchased by Rufus Brinn for John in 1980. It was moved to NC and stored in a tobacco barn until it was brought to me for restoration/refurb. It was very dry, the edge glass had blistered and peeled, and it had at least 30 lbs of mud dauber nest inside! I cleaned it all out, stripped off all the glass, and fixed all the damaged wood. The hull was glassed, cockpit enlarged slightly, new spray shield and shield supports installed, and all hardware replace. I added a skeg to the hull so that we could tow it, piggybacked up on a 10ft row boat that served as a stool boat too. Using BBSBs to work a layout means you need to be creative! We rarely have used it, owing to the number of guys needed to be effective. It still resides at my house, ready to go for the most part. Last time I inspected, the mice had nested in the sprayshield and made a mess. It will take a good scrubbing and patch if it will get used again.

1905 Dodge and Krowl - Great South Bay Ice Scooter - Still in Possession
Picked this up a few years back while attending the LI Decoy Show in March. I had gone prepared to look at another hull, a pumpkinseed style layout, but when I got there, it was already spoken for. They guy had 2 scooters as well, and while I was not looking for one, it spoke to me. I went back the next day and made a deal for one. I detailed the restoration on this site, and have rowed it and motored it on the soft water, and poled it and sailed it on the hard water. I have it rigged to use as a layout, but again, we don?t usually have the posse to make the effort.

13' Grumman Canoe - House warming gift to my Daughter and SIL
This is the canoe Larry wrote of. It was an opportunity to meet Larry and his lovely wife Kathy, worship together with his congregation, visit with another dear friend and past Pastor who happened to be on Hilton Head, all while I was struggling with my father?s final struggles with cancer. Our Lord puts people in our lives at the right time! The canoe is used on a reservoir in my daughter?s neighborhood, and the trolling motor, bracket, and battery are in my possession. I anticipate that if grandkids come along, that I might swap a larger canoe to my daughter and reprocess this 13ft for my use as a hunting rig again someday.

2005 Devlin Scaup - Still in Possession
Built in NH, but a buddy of Troy Fields. Acquired in August 2019, to be used as my "hosting" vessel. I usually hunt with Brian Garman, out of his 18ft boat, which can hunt 3 guys, but usually it is just 2 of us and his Lab, Ruger. Brian is a gracious host, and usually ready to go at any time, but I wanted the ability to make invites to my friends, and not always impose on Brian. So when Troy posted up the Scaup, I was already keeping an eye out for an appropriate duck boat. Since purchase, I have made numerous repairs and enhancements, with a small list of off-season additions yet for next season. Top of the list is to evaluate more power. This hull is rated for 40hp, and I believe the generally thought is that Sam Devlin tends to rate them underpowered. I have a 25hp on her now, and run her WOT most of the time. Without enough hull speed, she plows, and is a wet ride, if/when I get her trimmed, and on plane, it is much smoother and drier. I think a 40hp with tilt/trim will allow me to be in the sweet spot much easier and not flog the motor so much.

The next boat?..Not yet in Possession
This will be a 1 man, and maybe a dog sized, sneak boat; will float on spit, run on 15hp or less, grass/hide well, and allow me to haul 2 to 3 doz decoys. Specifically to hunt Chincoteague and similar areas of shallow, grass meadow, and an occasional open water layout in the same areas.
 
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No sooner did I send my list when I realized I forgot:

Burdick Scull Boat
Higbee/Hilliard Pondbox
Susquehanna Rollboat

All boats I passed on. Kick myself for not keeping the Scull, the past couple years it would be handy to chase after and break up the huge rafts we see that won't decoy.
 
I started duck hunting in my early 20s, but I always hitched a ride, hunted from land, or put of kayak (super sketchy). I bought my first duck boat in 2019 at the age of 33. A modified barnegat bay sneakbox. I don't remember the name but I'm told it was manufactured in Tennessee by a company of two brothers. I fixed it up some and it got me hunting on my own. By the end of the season I also purchased my 2nd boat, the south bay which I'm now refurbishing and journaling.
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