Neverquit
Seaman
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2018
- Messages
- 51
Have been enjoying reading the posts on this site but with snow on the ground in many regions not too many new posts to read.
So I got to thinking about how and with what I got started with in this disease called boating and figured I would share it with anyone who cares to read it.
My story began with my dad's 12 foot aluminum which was upgraded to a 14 foot foot springbok when I was still quite young.
We found an old old old 15 HP Evinrude for it which we repainted and stenciled 9.9 on the side of to avoid having to get registration for it. No idea if we were fooling anyone or just got lucky but we never did get called out on it.
The next step up or should I say backwards came during a duck hunt, waters were almost frozen up except for a small pool at the end of a dam on a reservoir we frequently bird hunted at.
Looking a half mile down the dam the little open puddle of water was black with birds fighting for their spot in the water, a long walk down the bottom of the dam before going over the top resulted in hitting 3 nice Mallard's.
The first duck we were able to retrieve using a fishing net with a long aluminum extension pole on it.
As luck would have it the duck was double branded, the first brand was the usual research band, the second band was engraved with Reward $100 write Washington. Wow never seen one of those before.
What a bonus I thought then greed struck.
What if one of those other birds in the water that I could not reach had a band just like the first one, I mean when birds are banded they usually band more than one in a netted flock.
Home was 2 hours away so off we went to the nearest town about 20 miles away to the sporting goods store, being the end of November nothing was on the shelves for water sports but as luck would have it they managed to dig a Campmaster 200 inflatable 2 man raft out of the basement for us.
Bought it and loaded it on to the truck and back to the swamps we went.
Pulled it out of the box, screwed the oars together and then discovered it did not come with a pump.
45 minutes of blowing into a hole later 2 of us were hyperventilating so bad it was a miracle someone did not pass out.
Tied on a rope to the boat and the other end to the truck and off I went, the first thing I learned was how hard it was to row a raft across the ice to the water.
Finally into the water I rowed over to the other two ducks.
The first one was easy to reach in and pick up but the second was out of my reach as the rope was not quite long enough.
No problem I had brought along the net to scoop them out with, again basically a fishing net with about a 10 foot long aluminum pipe on it.
Dipped the net into the water and picked up the duck then lifted it straight up, bad idea as that 1 inch pipe 10 feet long held a very large quantity of ice water which rapidly emptied out onto my groin region.
Freezing privates motivated me to paddle faster than I ever had before which was fine until I reached the ice.
Paddling a boat out of the water on to ice does not work period.
Luckily pulling on the rope tied off to the truck was enough to get the boat (if you can call it that) back onto the ice.
Remove wet clothing and sit in the truck with heater on high for 20 minutes finally stopped my teeth from chattering.
Checked the other two ducks and as would be guessed no they were not branded with reward tags.
Probably has been up in the barn loft for 20+ years but even if I had a pump for it the desire to use it has been non existent.
Went a few more years using the 14 foot aluminum then found a great deal on a 15 foot fiberglass Anchor.
Hauled it off a local lake on a homemade trailer, cleaned it up and built a new trailer for it, never did get it in the water as funds were tight at the time so selling it was the best option.
Made good money off of it and the new owner was quite happy to get it.
A few more years passed then I came across the coolest boat I had ever seen and I decided right then and there I had to have it, it was a 1952 Aroline Cabinaire made in Manitoba with a 45 Chrysler on the back of it.
So what got you all started and what was your first floating toy?
So I got to thinking about how and with what I got started with in this disease called boating and figured I would share it with anyone who cares to read it.
My story began with my dad's 12 foot aluminum which was upgraded to a 14 foot foot springbok when I was still quite young.
We found an old old old 15 HP Evinrude for it which we repainted and stenciled 9.9 on the side of to avoid having to get registration for it. No idea if we were fooling anyone or just got lucky but we never did get called out on it.
The next step up or should I say backwards came during a duck hunt, waters were almost frozen up except for a small pool at the end of a dam on a reservoir we frequently bird hunted at.
Looking a half mile down the dam the little open puddle of water was black with birds fighting for their spot in the water, a long walk down the bottom of the dam before going over the top resulted in hitting 3 nice Mallard's.
The first duck we were able to retrieve using a fishing net with a long aluminum extension pole on it.
As luck would have it the duck was double branded, the first brand was the usual research band, the second band was engraved with Reward $100 write Washington. Wow never seen one of those before.
What a bonus I thought then greed struck.
What if one of those other birds in the water that I could not reach had a band just like the first one, I mean when birds are banded they usually band more than one in a netted flock.
Home was 2 hours away so off we went to the nearest town about 20 miles away to the sporting goods store, being the end of November nothing was on the shelves for water sports but as luck would have it they managed to dig a Campmaster 200 inflatable 2 man raft out of the basement for us.
Bought it and loaded it on to the truck and back to the swamps we went.
Pulled it out of the box, screwed the oars together and then discovered it did not come with a pump.
45 minutes of blowing into a hole later 2 of us were hyperventilating so bad it was a miracle someone did not pass out.
Tied on a rope to the boat and the other end to the truck and off I went, the first thing I learned was how hard it was to row a raft across the ice to the water.
Finally into the water I rowed over to the other two ducks.
The first one was easy to reach in and pick up but the second was out of my reach as the rope was not quite long enough.
No problem I had brought along the net to scoop them out with, again basically a fishing net with about a 10 foot long aluminum pipe on it.
Dipped the net into the water and picked up the duck then lifted it straight up, bad idea as that 1 inch pipe 10 feet long held a very large quantity of ice water which rapidly emptied out onto my groin region.
Freezing privates motivated me to paddle faster than I ever had before which was fine until I reached the ice.
Paddling a boat out of the water on to ice does not work period.
Luckily pulling on the rope tied off to the truck was enough to get the boat (if you can call it that) back onto the ice.
Remove wet clothing and sit in the truck with heater on high for 20 minutes finally stopped my teeth from chattering.
Checked the other two ducks and as would be guessed no they were not branded with reward tags.
Probably has been up in the barn loft for 20+ years but even if I had a pump for it the desire to use it has been non existent.
Went a few more years using the 14 foot aluminum then found a great deal on a 15 foot fiberglass Anchor.
Hauled it off a local lake on a homemade trailer, cleaned it up and built a new trailer for it, never did get it in the water as funds were tight at the time so selling it was the best option.
Made good money off of it and the new owner was quite happy to get it.
A few more years passed then I came across the coolest boat I had ever seen and I decided right then and there I had to have it, it was a 1952 Aroline Cabinaire made in Manitoba with a 45 Chrysler on the back of it.
So what got you all started and what was your first floating toy?
