On the Lake

I mentioned in my first post that this whole fascination with boats started with water. I grew up on a lake in Minnesota, and as far back as I can remember was either fishing, swimming, or on the boat with my family. Dad and I used to go out fishing at dawn on his pontoon--a rather scrappy looking thing, but common in those days. (Those are my grandparents in the picture.)

He had this old green 9 hp Johnson outboard on it, and the look of it resembled one of the motors I now own--a 1958 10 hp Evinrude Sportwin. It's a great motor for my small fishing boat. As one fellow boater said recently as I was launching "it runs great once you get it started!"

So, I guess this fascination with boats began back when I was having my first experiences on the lake. However, that doesn't fully explain why I had to have my current project boat, or why its vintage is so appealing to me. Nobody that I know had such a boat when I was growing up. We were more of a fishing and leisure (as in pontoon and folding chairs) family.