5 minute freewrite 2599 prompt a big boat

This is my post for #freewriters 2599 prompt a big boat hosted by @mariannewest

One day while fishing I saw a big boat (the top photo)in the ICW, (intercoastal waterway), also known as the channel. It was not odd to see big boats in the channel but this one was extra big. We never see this size boat in the channel, they stay in the ocean because in places our channel is only 10 to 15 feet deep, and our inlet is too shallow for them to navigate. I do not know how this one was going to get to wherever it was going. Maybe it is jet driven?

I have seen many barges get stuck when they hit a shallow spot or veered out of the channel, one day a man on a stuck barge waved me to come over to him. I pulled up and he said "is that a bar" he pointed to Earls Bar onshore, I said yes it is, and he said "I knew it, I have been stuck here for three days thinking it was a bar". He wanted a drink but I would have had to anchor and wade to shore to get him one so I told him I was sorry and went on my way fishing.

A vision that is only in my head because it was before cell phones and I did not have a camera. I was standing on Archie Smiths's fish house dock and in the channel was a replica of one of Columbus's ships, what would have made it a great picture was there was not another boat in sight, it looked like it would have looked in that time.

This was the biggest boat to moor at my Dad's dock, it was Kip Wagner's treasure hunting boat. At one time this little dock was filled with big boats, it had this one and Mel Fischer's boat on the north side, on the inside of the dock was 2 shark fishing boats, and on the east side were smaller boats. The dock was full, this was in the 1960s.

This was the first boat we had built, we knew the place that had the mold and asked if they could make it for us, all we had them do was pop it out of the mold and we did the rest of the fiberglass work, they put in one bulkhead to hold it stable and we did the rest. I remember one day we were building the lid for the fishbox and someone asked where I was, I said in here. My husband had me lay inside the fishbox and he put a piece of wood on top of it. I marked the board from the inside and now we knew how to cut the board and have a tight fitting lid.

I wish I had a picture of all of the boats my husband has built, this one was his first build with the motor in the bow.

It was a fun boat to run and a scary boat to run. The first time my husband spun out running it, he came home and built a railing to hold onto while standing on the bow driving. We call it spun out, it is when you hit too shallow of water with a mud bottom. The motor sticks in the mud and it slings the stern around like a spinning top, at this point, you need something to hang onto and he had nothing but kept himself in the boat.

Thank God, when this happened to me, the rails were on. I know I would have been slung across the river like I was launched from a slingshot. And he did not tell me how hard it was going to be to get the motor lifted out of the mud. After a ridiculous amount of time digging with my oar, I had a hole wide enough to get the motor up and pole to deeper water.

When you slowed down to pull into a dock, you had to have your timing right because when you let off the throttle the stern spun around and you backed into your slip or up to the dock. It was easy to maneuver going backward. Like I said, it could be fun or scary.

We were fishing our first boat in the ocean but with it we were limited as to how far we could get from the inlet. When the fish were more than 5 miles south or north of us, we did not go.

We started fishing the fish house boat and paying them a percentage of our catch for use of their boat. We fished this one for many years. Then the fish house got a big boat it was 22 feet, this one was 20, to us that was big and we fished it and one day the fish house asked it we wanted to buy it and we could pay some for it each week, we had already been paying them for using it but now the money went to buy it.

I wish I had a full photo of this boat. It was the biggest we owned, a 30-foot Reynolds, all wood with a 350 Chevy engine. It was the most comfortable boat I have ever rode in. I do not remember how wide it was, but there was plenty of room on it. It also had a top deck that we could drive from. We used it to longline sharks, gillnet, kingfish, and cast netting in The Hole.

I have no idea as to how many boats we have fished or owned, but I believe these will be the last two boats.
I can't write anymore after saying that.
photos are mine