Abandoned on our neighbor’s beach we pass by this old boat on our daily walks–a 1957 Feathercraft

The Feathercraft Company produced these boats in the 1940’s-1960s. After World War II wound down, aircraft companies produced things like aluminum toasters, airstream trailers, canoes, and other cool riveted items. Since I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff, I tow this over to my dock and hoist it up out of the water–just in the nick of time as it leaks:

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On the bottom is a big plywood patch–not good craftsmanship–it was fastened with rivets, screws and such that covered an 18″ split on the bottom:

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It’s -6 F temperature this week so I’ve got to get out the blowtorch

Here’s the bottom after it’s cleaned up–the ‘cure’ was worse than the ‘disease.’

Now, I’ve got about 68 holes to patch and the local TIG welder lives across the narrows–hmmm, I’ve got to give this one some thought. Our plan is to get this to float and bring it back to Seattle on our Tug, Katahdin in summer 2010. We’ll name her “Nancy Drew” and use her for a runabout on Lake Union. Stay tuned for future repairs and visit this site if you like Feathercrafts.