Reel-Fun

 Since an early age, I have always been infatuated with older boats. The handcrafted wooden hull cruisers, to be more precise. Living next to the mighty Niagara River, boating was a seasonal pastime for many other boat lovers who spent their late spring to the end of summer cruising both the river and the Erie Canal. On any given weekend, the waterways resembled a thoroughfare that had to be navigated with excellent knowledge of channels, as even a slight miscalculation could result in a hefty tow charge back to the dock. The impending cold weather meant pulling a wooden-hulled boat out of the water and covering it with a tarp, or, if you were lucky enough to have a boat house or a covered storage facility, where you could work on major repairs. Some chose to use a heater system that prevented ice from forming on the hull, but the cost of electricity was prohibitive for most skippers, who instead pulled the boats out and safely onto shore.

My youth was spent mainly at the marina, where my Dad kept his twenty-eight-foot Trojan cabin cruiser. It was a labor of love for him, a transformation of a tired vessel into a sleek and powerful boat that caught the attention of many. My role was far from easy, involving endless sanding until the wooden hull was down to bare wood, revealing small areas of rot that had to be fixed to Dad's satisfaction before any bottom paint could be applied. He taught me the art of applying varnish until it gleamed like glass, a result that could only be achieved through hours of light sanding and numerous coats of varnish. The sense of accomplishment when we finally saw the boat restored to its former glory was genuinely inspiring. 

We worked side by side with him, the teacher, and me, the student, with a thirst for knowledge that grew right along beside me.

There was a harbor master who ran the marina, an old salt who knew all the ins and outs of boats of any kind, but his passion was also the old wooden hull cruisers. He had a name, but everybody called him Captain. He showed me how to build an engine on Dad's boat, a monster 350 that would get her anywhere you wanted to go and get there fast.

It took two years to complete the Reel-Fun, a name I suggested by the way. And when the day arrived for the shake-down cruise, I arrived early to make sure she was ready. She was in the sling just feet away from the water when Dad and the Captain showed up. Once submerged, we checked the hull for any leaks and started the engine for any last-minute adjustments. Once we were satisfied, the sling pulled out, and we were on our own.

It was a cool but sunny day when we crossed the channel and entered open water. The Captain said, 'Let's see what this beauty can do. He gave it some throttle, and the 350 roared into action with the bow up, then planed nicely like a stick of butter through water. And that's not full throttle, he said as the forward movement blew his long white beard behind him. I think that's enough for today, he said. Everything seems shipshape to me.

That boat became a weekend getaway for the family. We'd motor out to some small islands and camp, or take a sunset cruise down the canal, sometimes as a family and other times when Mom and Dad wanted some alone time. Fasting forward as life does, Dad had to sell the boat, and I knew that broke his heart. But as he said, we had a lot of good times on the water in a boat we worked on together.

Decades passed, and I bought a boat the same year and model as Dad's. I discovered it at a marina covered with a tarp and inquired with the harbor master if he knew anything about her. He told me it started as a project boat, like so many others, that never got done. He provided me with the owner's information and informed me that he'd let it go for the cost of his last six months' storage fees. The day I took possession, my son and I pulled off the tarp, and a rush of emotion hit me like a ton of bricks. It was as if I was looking at Dad's boat all over again. Then my son removed the other tarp that was covering the stern, and to my shock and disbelief, the name Reel Fun appeared. This was my Dad's boat that somehow found its way back to me.

My son and I worked on that boat for almost three years to restore her to the original beauty I remembered. Every time I take her out, I see my Dad's face and a smile as he takes another cruise on the boat he thought was lost forever.

Mike 2025