After selling my 25' boat last spring, I knew there would be growing pains in getting re-established in my winter fishing life in the Keys. I had lots and lots of backup plans and no concern that I would be land bound for long. Well, a couple things went right and the rest went not so right and it became obvious I needed a small craft of some kind to satisfy my fishing addiction.

While lamenting my story of land entrapment to a friend and my most recent failed attempt at buying a floating device, Mike, outdoor project manager at the Jolly Roger, offered a solution. He and Deb had lovingly restored a 16' boat (with a 6' beam!) ten years ago, but it fell on hard times, including a hurricane and they were going to scrap it. Long story short, Claiborn, Mike and I invested our mornings in ripping it back to basics and reworking it into a fishing machine. Claiborne, being Denny Hamlins Godfather, had spent a lifetime cutting, welding and greasing Denny's racing machines. After trashing the majority of the rotted trailer, he had re constructed a basic rolling device, to get the project a hundred yards from our campsite to the boat ramp.

Mike #2 and I handled carpentry and hardware issues as they arose and he applied the newly purchased goodies, as we moved through the stages of making her almost new again.

Sea trials were yesterday and since we weren't front page disaster news this morning, I can happily report that she is water tight and moved gracefully through the water.

The fish will jump in the boat!!!