Fishing boats

The $1,000 Investment

I purchased my first 20 foot aluminum riverboat sight unseen while attending my second year of college. More correctly, my younger brother called about the boat along with a rickety trailer and 25 horse 2-stroke Evinrude outboard motor with a jet unit he found listed in a newspaper classified add. I asked if he would check it out for me, and if it looked any good . . . buy it! Boat, motor, a couple 6-gallon gas tanks, and a trailer good enough to drag everything home cost me $1,000 at the time, which seemed like a killer deal. On the other hand, it also seemed like a large chunk of my savings account at the time.

It turned out to be a fine investment, as I used it primarily on Little Susitna River, and my salmon fishing success, at that location, improved significantly with the better access to miles of fishable river provided by my first boat. When my brother, a partner, and I started guiding salmon fishing trips on Little Susitna River my brother was using a very old beat up MonArk 20 footer, and our partner had a narrow 36-inch bottom 16 foot Sears Jonboat that had guests pointing and questioning, “Are we going in that?” For dramatic effect, they would invariably rock the boat back and forth bit, as if “pretending” they were climbing in a coffin — for perhaps their one, and only, guided Alaska fishing trip. We always assured guests things would be fine, and since no one ever leaned hard to either side, the “coffin boat” always made it safely both going and returning from several fishing spots along the river.

The Boat from a Partial Hull

Our next, and at the time, best guide boat was found sitting around without a transom. My brother and partner offed some ridiculously low figure for it and ended up dragging it home, where my brother cut down a sheet of aluminum and along with enough structure to support a 30 horse outboard jet motor welded it on to make a complete boat hull. This was a newer and much less dented 20 foot MonArk with a 52-inch flat bottom. Even just 4 inches more width on the bottom gave the boat considerably more room and stability than any of our other boats. This was the one boat we all wanted to guide trips from, so when I found another 2052 used MonArk (complete with a transom intact) I plunked down $1500 for the boat and a much stouter trailer. I soon after upgraded to a 40 horsepower Yamaha motor for the new boat, and sold my narrower Duracraft with the 25 horsepower Evinrude to a friend. These boat all worked fine for us, although they were all thin riveted aluminum and sooner or later the rivets would become loose and require some tightening to reduce the amount of water slowly leaking into one or more boats.

Welded Heavier Aluminum, Higher Sides, Wider Bottom

The next upgrade was significant, once again, when we checked out a classified add for a 20 foot 60-inch bottom welded Gruman flat bottom riverboat with both heavier aluminum and higher sides. My first trip while operating this boat, some long-time clients commented how much more stable the new boat was, and how much they enjoyed fishing from it. For the next couple years I heard the same or similar comments from many guests — and I admit I also loved more room, higher sides, more stability, and no leaks!

From Customizations to Custom Built

My brother, Duane, made many custom features for our boats, including tackle trays, seat boxes, large bow hatches, and stout/quiet UHMW oar blocks. That approach changed from customizations to entirely custom-built when he built a boat to travel through extremely shallow water with low horsepower, and to carry a huge payload for moose hunting. He followed that by custom-building a longer, wider high-sided guide boat for me in the backyard, without many tools that could have made the process easier. Once again, my guests noticed and commented positively on the new edition boat.

Greatland Welding and Machine

Duane started working for Gary Feaster at Greatland Welding and Machine located along the Palmer - Wasilla Highway, and I had them build me the first two custom-built boats from their shop. That was a very good experience, and since those first two boats I’ve had Greatland build me 4 additional guide boats over the years. Each time I’ve had boats built for specific purposes or with specific different modifications. It has been good to support a local business and they have provided me with great products and very good value for my money. I’ve always enjoyed the opportunity to try out new boat options and have another one in mind as I write.

Boat and Fish On!