Fishing With the Boy-O

I've been entertaining a grandson for the past couple of days and this morning we decided we'd take the boat out for a little fishing.  He's fairly new to boats, but fishes off a dock with his other grandpa, who lives in Florida.  After a little shake-down on boating etiquette, and the proper way to operate a fishing pole, we settled down to watch a bobber.

That old boat was manufactured by the Appleby Manufacturing Co of Lebanon, MO in the mid '60s and originally belonged to my grandad.  It's been rebuilt several times, the transom replaced a dozen times that I know about, but the boat is still in service, still watertight, still educating grandkids.

After he tired of fishing, we had a quick lesson on paddling a flat-bottomed boat.

 His form isn't real good, but what can you expect from a four-year-old?  Still we got a lesson in about steering inputs in front of the tiller. That's a valuable lesson for anyone.

As I was putting the boat away, I happened to notice the initials in the bow of the boat and marveled that they're still there, still visible.  With my grandson, he's the fifth generation of this family who has used this boat.  My grandad, my father, my generation, my kids, and my grandkids.

Those white initials are ELD and were put there by my grandfather.  The MSRP on that little boat was about $200, which was a pretty good sum in those days.  I believe we've gotten our money's worth out of that little fishing boat.