My wife’s grandfather recently gave us a small bass boat that he has had for a few years. Note that we weren’t actually looking for a bass boat. We live in Colorado, which isn’t exactly a mecca for bass fishing, and we really don’t have the “slush fund” money that owning a boat like this requires.
Let me take you on a tour of our 1968 Seasprite. Let’s start with the trailer. It’s a 1964 Elgin, purchased from Sears and Roebuck. Apparently sold as a maintenance free unit as it has the original bunk beds, rollers and paint (bunk bed carpet replaced with orange shag around ’74). The lights are carefully mounted on top of the guides. A keen eye will notice that a “master fabricator” machined the mounting brackets for the lights and the license plate (formed from an aluminum guillotine plate!). Loading the boat is a piece of cake…as long as I line the boat up correctly, I don’t leave a 3 foot long scratch in the paint.
God forbid you scratch the paint; it would take hours to match the roller and brush strokes that are there now. But I digress. The trailer has those nice little 8″ x 4″ tires. These have many advantages over the 14-15″ tires that modern trailers have. For example, buying 3 new tires is only $27.54. I saved more money by putting them on myself. Ok…so I had to put them on myself because no one in the city still has machines to mount 8″ wheels. Another benefit those tires offer is the ability to cook on them when I arrive at my destination. They get hot enough to fry an egg…although the life of the bearings and grease is a little shorter than I’d like. The refill conveniently fits just about anywhere I want it to.
Now, let’s go to the ship itself. She is a 1968 SeaSprite with a Mercury 500 (50 hp). This boat has been kept in a covered facility since she was new (covered by nothing more than an oak tree…on the front lawn). This had the effect of allowing most of the components to rot at an even rate. The “rocking chair” effect isn’t a standard feature…it’s actually the seat backs peeling off the seat bottoms and the pillars peeling off the dry, rotten floor (watch where you step). It makes setting the hook that much more exciting. The hatch hinges are no longer attached to the floor, making them much easier to load! Shoes are a must on the SeaSprite, unless you want carpet, plywood, staples, acorns, red wire scraps, and finishing nails on your feet. Did I mention the paint… it has different shades of green on top of what I think was white at one time. It was applied by roller and brush, with a few spray touch-ups. Be careful leaning against him or you’ll look like you’ve been hit!
Probably the most admired feature of our boat is the wiring. The guy who rewired it must have had about 250 feet of red wire. That’s right… ALL the wires on that boat are red… switches (some work), lights (don’t work), ignition, horn (also doesn’t work), trolling motor… everything. Reduces the time it takes me to find a replacement cable to do a repair. One reel is all it takes! However, that time is more than made up by the amount of time spent tracing down the bad cable, or even “fixing” the wrong cable.
The gauges would be a nice luxury. For now, I use the following to monitor the state of things:
Speed: My hat goes flying in the forward position at 18 mph,
bow spray chest at 22 mph. bow spray in the face at 24 mph. I haven’t gone faster than that, since I can’t see at that point. Speeds are approximate.
Ammeter: When the big motor won’t start, the battery doesn’t have enough amps.
Fuel gauge: Open the tailgate and see if there is fuel in the tank. There is a reserve in the 15 foot fuel line.
As for my trolling motor, the shaft is short enough that any wave action produces a very nice cooling spray. It’s a nice feature in the heat. It worked backwards when I got it so I just switched the red wires and it works great! In one of the storage compartments I found a small bilge pump that connects to the battery with alligator clips, and you guessed it, red wires. On our first ride I found out why it was there and that it should be permanently mounted and MUCH bigger.
While it may sound like I’m complaining about our ship, nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a joy to be out on the lake with my wife and dog whether we fish or not. I can’t help but smile when I realize how much fun her grandfather had on this boat. I’m honored that the SeaSprite was passed down to us and I can’t wait to make our own memories on it! Now, has anyone seen my duct tape???