First boat

[Scott215]

Thanks Ollie

 

[highslice]

Two family friends had 18' Mark Twain bow riders when I was growing up. Drove one of those for the first time when I was 5 or 6. They were great boats. Another family friend decided he was going to show them up and bought a 20' Bayliner with a stern drive. I think it was an OMC. That POS left the dock every day on its own power. I can't ever remember it not being towed in.

 

[blaster]

I had a Shakespeare wondercraft by moody. It was a 1973 14’ with a small center console and remote controls. It was powered by a 1973 Mercury 110 9.8 HP engine. I bought it in 1987 for $900 using the money I earned cutting grass. I took it out on the Potomac river above and below the falls. I also frequently had it out on the Occoquan reservoir. I really loved that boat. It was constructed of ABS plastic over foam. I finally retired it when I got my 15’ Boston Whaler Dauntless.

In 2017 I cut the old Shakespeare up with a sawzall and put it in a dumpster. I sold the old Merc for parts to my friend who owned Alexandria marine. I still have the trailer, a 1971 magic tilt.

 

[GypsmJim]

I was a kid, so technically my Dad's boat, but we had a home made wooden skiff with a 9.5 Johnson that I ran around in (had to be 14 to run a boat over 10hp on the lake where we had our cabin) and jet ski's weren't even a thing, so all the kids ran around in little 12' boats with 10hp motors. "Big" boats were a 16' Glastron with a Johnson 115 and my grandfather'
s 1945 Chris Craft. The first boat that was really mine, bought with my $$ was the 2000 290DA. I still to this day can remember every detail and especially the smell of those wooden boats and 2 cycle motors. It's in my signature, but really at this point what I wouldn't do to somehow have that Chris Craft back - it was pristine, my grandfather's hobby was old wooden boats.

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Our "family" boat is a SeaRay, but my Avatar picture is my pride and joy. Almost as old as I am. It has both the smell of wood and the fragrance of an oil burning outboard.

I love going boating in my SeaRay, but I simply get excited when in the old girl.