As boat stories go........ We were just finishing up the Span America Skiette, screwing on the last of the shined up hardware, when we got to talking about a motor for it. Our son-in-law who worked at the local boat trailer company was getting a new trailer built for it, but we needed a vintage motor. Randy started to search the local papers and flyers and stumbled on a classified ad for this boat. “Well, I didn't see any outboards for sale, yet, Honey. But I did find another boat that interests me.” ‘’ “Another boat? What do we need another boat for?, was my flashed replay. I should have seen it coming. Yup. I should have recognized the signs. In about a week, we found time after work to travel off to take a look at this boat. It wasn't too far, probably, about an hour away. She didn’t look too bad. Physically she was very sound. The gentleman who owned it had started the process of restoring it. He had gotten as far as stripping off all of the hardware and few pieces of wood molding in places. The small parts were all in separate plastic bags to help keep things organized. But to me it looked like an impossible jig-saw puzzle. He said that he didn't really want to sell it but he was getting divorced and needed the money. I got a glance of Randy’s face. I could tell, Yup. I could see it in his eyes! He was falling in love, right there in front of me. He could see this boat all shinny and floating on the lake.... No wonder this couple was getting divorced. Boats can steal a man’s hearts! I guess that's why they refer to them as "She's". A price was spoken of but we left without making a purchase. Randy didn’t say but I think he felt it was going to be a challenging jig-saw puzzle, too. Also, there was the problem of where he was going to be able to work on it and store it. Would it fit in the shop? Probably, a month went by before he convinced me that we could do this project and we went to fetched her home. We still weren’t sure that she would fit in the shop. But it was summer and it was a boat after all. We would figure out something, right? When we got her home, with a little finagling, we did get her safely under the roof of the shop. And there she stayed for a couple of years or better until we needed the shop for another project. So we found a storage facility not far away and made arrangements for storage. It was 3 more years down the road when the storage people moved the boat to another building. Sometime, during the next winter, we had a real heavy wet snow that brought down the roof of that building and crushed down on the boat and a camper parked next to it. We headed over to take a look at the damage. Wow, we couldn’t believe our eyes. The cabin roof was crushed down, the starboard sideboard was busted, the boat was sprung open like a pea pod. And the axle of the trailer was bowed like a willow in the wind. Oh, boy. We limped her home not knowing for sure what we were going to do now. Once again we were short of indoor space. We were doing work on a 1962 Century for a friend. So we parked her and tarped her. What did we have to lose? Well, we could have a bond-fire! Oh no. What was I thinking? After all, Randy, had seen the vision! Eventually, it was her turn. Now another 5 years have gone by working on her over our weekends. However, we have also had a couple more projects going on during these five years. Randy has had both of his hips replaced and a brain surgery to remove a tumor. Thank goodness, no complications just recovery time. Hobbies are hobbies, and we only do work on our boats when we feel like it. It stays fun that way! We only have to wire up the motor and finish the bimini and we'll be looking for a new project. Which one should we do next??? This one has been a challenge, but oh so rewarding. |
| Trial fitting the bimini top. Then design the side window curtains and camper topper. |
| The beautiful stainless dash with all of the chrome gauges is set in a beautifull background of Mehogany. It was this dash that saved this boat from the bond-fire! |
Contact Randy oldboats09@yahoo.com |
| CHAPTER FOUR THE OWENS FLAGSHIP |