Sprucing up "Miss Pam"...

I don't know if that's the right term, but I didn't think "plywooding up "Miss Pam" would sound right. Anyway, I took the boat to the lake last week and put it in, just to check it out and make sure it would run. I got the battery all charged up, and off I went. Started up on the first crank.

One thing I like about this boat is I can handle it by myself. I see guys struggle getting their big bass boats in and out of the lake. I have one that I can get in and out in a couple of minutes. When Pam is with me, it takes even less time than that because she ties it up when I dump it off the trailer.

Something that has annoyed me for a couple of years, however, is all the stuff lying around on the deck when I'm trying to fish. I also didn't like all that stuff in the back of the boat because when I was in it by myself, it had a pretty big angle when we were moving through the no wake areas. So, I decided to do something about it. I built a seat/storage area mid-ship to store the battery, the gas can and my "stuff" box.

It all came out rather nicely if I do say so myself. One 4x8 piece of plywood and an afternoon of cutting and putting it together produced a pretty nice addition.

I did flunk "Hinges 101" and had to ask my neighbor, Jim, to come over and give me an idea on how to put them on so the top of the box could best be used as a seat without posing a problem.

Additionally, I put two dividers in the box to add support for seating and to keep things in their proper place. We can take the "stuff" box out of the center and put a cooler for pop and water for a longer fishing day, or keep the bait out of the sun.

Oh, one other thing. On the back of the boat, I have a little thing which holds the motor up during transportation so the bottom won't hit anything and possibly break a prop blade. Like it? Well there's another one just like it at the bottom of the ramp area at the lake. Yep -- I forgot to take it off the last time I took the boat over. Backed the boat down, started to pull the trailer out and the little gizmo was gone. I tried to find it, but failed. Just in case you were wondering -- $29.95, cold legs, and wet shoes and shorts are the going rate for stupidity these days.

This is what you do on a rainy afternoon in retirement land, just in case you were wondering.

"Noah was a brave man to sail in a wooden boat with two termites."

Hooah