[The Eagle]

This sounds like fun, so here goes!
My first boat, was a "classic!" It was a 19 foot 1970 Glastron, that was stored in an old barn in Winchester MA, for...well, YEARS! Possums, had got into it and ate all the seats. My wife had taken our two kids for a vacation (while I stayed home and worked) She did not like boats and always argued when I wanted to buy one...SO, my friend told me about this "old boat," he inherated with an old house he bought. I went to see it (the old barn was very dark) and it looked pretty good, for an old boat. (Doesn't your first boat ALWAYS look GREAT!) He wanted to "get rid of it," and I wanted a boat. The price was right, he had a truck with a tow, and offered to tow it right to my door. So, I said, "Let's do it!"
Home I went and waited, patiently, for my "new boat," to arrive! Boy was I excited! Until it turned the corner of the street. Have you ever wondered what a boat that had been sunk for years and came back to the surface, and towed in for scrap? Leaning off the rusted trailer, tarp ripped, filthy dirty, parts hanging on for dear life, and flying all around, and dust and dirt blowing off it like a dust storm! Well, I bought it! I figured it was a "pearl in the ruff!" I was handy, and I KNEW I could get this thing cleaned up and running. Once I got about 15-20 years of dirt, cob webs, rust, possum nests, and what have you cleaned out.
Now comes the BEST part of my story....My WIFE came home! (before I could even get the hose out to wash it down) My kids were excited as could be, yelling to all thier friends "My Dad bought us a BOAT!" and my wife said,' (You all guessed it) "What the HELL IS THAT!" I told her that while she was gone, "The Boat Fairy came by!" If looks could Kill...I'd be dead!
I tried for years, and years to get it running, but it was so old, every time I needed a new part, it had to be ordered, and was always, "back Ordered." So my kids ended up using it as a "Fort" in the back yard. I bpught new seats and all, but it never ran. One time we had friends over for a few brews, and just for kicks and giggles, (after we had a few) we got out some water skis, and (you have to just imagine this one) hooked up a tow rope to the stern, I got on the skis, my freinds sat in the boat, on the trailer, in the yard, and yelled ,"Go Man GO!" as I pretended to ski, and one friend sprayed the hose at all of us (the waves crashing over the bow, of course!) We all had a good laugh (the neighbors just looked with a "puzzled look in their eyes) and we...opened anothe brewski! Needless to say, the boat never (that I know of) ever made it back into the water. I sold it to some guy who wanted the outdrive, as that worked perfect. He smashed his outdrive in rocks in his, and my old classic Glastron outdrive, fit his perfectly.
Yes it IS true (in this case, anyways) the two best days of owning a boat is the day you buy it, and the day you sell it! I am now on my third boat (that floats and runs) and the best part of this whole story is, after this "adventure," my wife, never argues with me about buying a "GOOD" boat again. Yes, we are still married after 35 years.

The Eagle