The Tiny Pontoon - June 25, 2021

 

When my sons and their friends were teenagers, and full of themselves, one of the friends drove up in his pickup truck and unloaded a tiny aluminum pontoon boat.  The boys took it to the small pond on our property and put it in the water.  Presumably, they poled around on it a little bit, then dragged it onto the bank of the pond, where it has sat for the past 20 years or so.

This past weekend, Son #1 fired up the tractor and bush-hogged around the pond.  The pontoon was in the way, so he tied it to the tractor and dragged it to the edge of our yard . . . 

. . . where Cousin Roger spied it.

Roger called over to our house the next day, wanting to know if he could have it, said he wants it for a "project" if we don't want it.  We told him that it's not ours, that it probably leaks, and to call Son #1 to find out who actually owns it and if it can be given away.  

Yesterday, Roger came over on his lawnmower to get the boat, said he'd talked to our son and had permission to get it.  The boat had been sitting, right-side-up, under some trees all these years.  It was full of dirt, saplings, and poison ivy.  He needed help moving it.

I put on some shoes and followed him to where the boat was.  There was an old rope tied to it.  I tied the rope to the hitch-hole on the back of his lawnmower, and Roger proceeded to drag it up the hill.  When he got to a steep spot, the lawnmower lost traction, and I had to push the boat to get it on up the hill.  Roger dragged the boat across our yard to the edge of the woods, where we took hold of one side of the boat and dumped it over to empty it of the dirt and leaves.  

Roger wanted to know how the boat was originally out-fitted, what kind of floor it had, etc.  I had no idea and did not want to stand around discussing it, as the mosquitoes were feasting on me.  "I'm going back to the house!" I told him, and ran for the porch.

The boat made an awful noise as Roger dragged it up the road to his house.  It is now propped on its side outside his workshop.  

It'll be interesting to see what he does with it.  I should have taken a "before" picture.