It is September, 1977 and your Mom and I had just purchased our first cottage. Included in the sale was a small row boat that had a two horsepower Evinrude engine. It wasn’t designed to pull water skiers but it was easier than rowing. It was clear to me that if you wanted the full “lake experience”, we needed a bigger, faster boat. With the onset of winter, a different boat wasn’t a burning issue.
We now move forward to the Spring of 1978. I had limited knowledge of boats and outboard engines so I was determined to find a used “rig”. I kept watching the classifieds and I remember an ad for a poweri boat that had a Mercury engine and a trailer for about $1600.
Late one warm April afternoon, Christopher and I went out to Sheboygan Falls to look at the boat. It was kind of cute. It was red in color with a black 65 hp Mercury engine. It was mounted on a narrow trailer that seemed in pretty good shape. We bought it on the spot and I remember paying $1400 cash. If my memory serves me right, I had the foresight to have a trailer hitch mounted on our car earlier in the month so we could tow it.
Chris says the boat was a Mercer. What the hell is a Mercer? I know there are Glastrons and hundreds of prestigious names in boats but I had never heard of a Mercer. If memory serves me right, there is a town in Wisconsin named Mercer and one company built boats. Of course they were called the Mercers. Dah! Ah, the creative genius of Wisconsites.
Our little red Mercer was a good first purchase. We knew nothing about boats and we could make mistakes with little financial risk. It turns out the back of the boat where the engine was mounted had been damaged. Neither Chris or I noticed the cracks in the transom and they would become a problem. The 65 hp Mercury engine turned out to be worth every penny we paid.
That little boat was tough. It sank in a storm along side our pier. We had to repair the back transom as the cracks got bigger. Our neighbor on 6th street, Ken Hansom helped to reinforce the motor mounting plates and rebuild the back with fiberglass gel. It was stronger than ever but it was a “scarred craft”.
By the time we bought the goldflecked Glastron, we had a lot more experience in boats and we transferred the 65 hp engine to the Glastron. It turns out the combination of the new boat and the 65 hp engine was a special combination. It was balanced and trimmed out to go about 55 mph. Whoa! That was a long way from our first 2 hp Evenrude.
But who could forget our first little red boat. It was priced right. It was tough. It never failed us. It was the little red boat that could! When we traded the red boat, I asked what the trade value was. I can still hear the laughter of the salesman. Would you believe “0”. For months after trading it, you could see it sitting on a pile of junk in back of the boat dealership. The boat will always hold a special place in my heart.
Your mom says we should have dug a hole in our back yard to place the boat in. Then if we filled it with sand, we would have had the sexiest sandbox in the neighborhood. It would have been a neat idea.
May the little red boat rest in peace!
Love,
Dad