Paul Calls Them “Memories”

17 years ago next month, I bought my boat. I retired in July and made the purchase in August. I had looked for quite a while and was prepared to buy a new, but less expensive, boat. I was trying to avoid spending too much money and thought a quality boat, like my Lund, was too much money for me.

Fortunately a nearby person ran a classified ad in the newspaper ( remember them?) and I caught it early in the morning. I called and arranged a meeting, and bought it without negotiating the price. I did manage to convince him to let me have a 2 Hp motor as part of the deal. The 2 Hp could be used where the bigger 25 HP was banned (like Lake Evergreen). I later replaced it for a bigger (still legal) 9.9 Hp

The boat was three years old when I bought it, but had only been used two seasons. The seller had thought he would fish more and hadn’t. It had been used the first season by fishing guide Paul Center, who I knew. Paul is quite meticulous with his boats as they are always resold after one season.

Many consider the Lund brand to be the finest aluminum boat for the average fisherman.  They are extremely popular in Minnesota and Wisconsin and are renowned for  durability and stability in wind. Some manufacturers advertise their welded boats are the strongest. Lund says they use rivets, like aircraft manufacturers where failure would be catastrophic.

My boat is a beautiful dark green with grey trim. When I bought it, it looked brand new. I was able to find only one photo from that first year, and it wasn’t a close up. Paul and I were launching the boat at Clinton Lake.

I was able to enlarge the photo slightly around the decals to show the condition of the boat that first year. With Paul in the photo, you can see no scratches or dents around the Lund decals.

Compare that to this recent photo taken in my garage.

My boat has been on more trips than I can count. We took it to Tennessee, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Texas. We have fished virtually every major lake (except Michigan) in Illinois. I believe it would handle Lake Michigan, but haven’t made the trip.

One thing all of these trips have in common, is the marking of my boat with “memories”. We have hit docks, rocks, stumps, ramps, the  banks, and other boats. Every trip we hit tree branches and I have to remove branches and sticks from the deck. We follow the old adage "If you aren't hitting something or snagged, you aren't fishing in the right place" The Lund has handled them all, but she is showing the results.

This latest "smile" is from a hard hit on the dock on a windy day. It is pretty deep, but it didn't penetrate the hull.

Paul calls them memories. There are so many, I can’t count them. Unfortunately we are getting too old to remember them. I only included a few of the many. Repainting a 20 year old boat is not an option. She is looking kind of sad, but she is still strong.