Last day, tough day. It comes with the territory. It was final exam day. In the end two of my students weren't successful and will have to repeat the same course next year. It kills me when this happens. One thing I do is take it to heart. I review the final exam several times to make
sure there wasn't a trend in poor performance on any particular question and I check myself to see what I could have done better. It's kind of like, "No Child Left Behind", but I felt like I did just that. But they are resilient and strong, and will be successful next year.
And since I was bummed out for the day I took the opportunity to do something to lift my spirits. With the days ticking down it was finally time to pry the tires of the Jones Brother's boat off the concrete pad where it has sat for several years now. I say it's my boat, but it will always be Jim, of BrineFly and Pulse Disc fames, Matson's pride and joy.
Jim purchased it in 1996 and used it over the years until his passing in 2018. It sat for two more years before I purchased it from his wife Laura. It was an interesting take over. Jim, as I called him the mad scientist, had this boat rigged up in ways boat mechanics and electricians couldn't make heads or tails of.
It had radar, it had every scan you could imagine, enough batteries to power New York City, motors in the front and back, and more switches and wires then your old grandfather's train layout
from the 1960's that he kept down in the dungeon of a basement. I used the boat several times but each time it was was nerve wracking. Luckily I always had a bud with me to help out when things went sideways.
Would it start? Would it stay running? Can we shut it off? And for Popovics, "Did I put the plug in?". And no day was more challenging than that December morning, December 4th to be exact, in 2020. Bunky and I had a good morning out there and did everything correct when taking her out at the Atlantic Highlands Marina, including chocking the wheel with the emergency brakes on. And there you go....
But for most of my ownership life it's sat under cover throughout the seasons. I went and sold the 175 HPDI engine off of her, as it was an older, finicky, and hard to find parts and anyone to work on it type engine, and the radar tower is gone. It's pretty much a shell of a boat that is ready, like I am, for the next, and maybe final chapter of her life. Soon I will be dropping Donnie Jones a letter telling him the story of me, my history with JB's dating back to 2011, and the story of Jim's boat. I'll need his guidance on what to do and who to do it to get her back, and recreate that picture of Jim with the boat in 1996. But the one will be of me, probably in 2027.
My Suburban doesn't have the tow bar installed so my brother had to come over and move the boat so I could clean her up and get her ready for the ride. Before I go I'll be bringing her to a trailer place to have it lubed and wired up and safe for the trip south. In the meantime a pressure washed bath is what was needed yesterday.
Even with the boat cover and tarp stuff from the trees made its way underneath. As I did this I couldn't help but picture Jim looking down shaking his head, disappointedly, that this is what had become of his beloved Jone's Brother's 19'10" Cape Fisherman. But like I told Laura when I made my final payment, "One day she'll be as good as new again".
I won't go into my Jone's Brother's history but I have one. It dates back to Dave Choinard and The Fly Hatch. It continued over the years meeting donnie Jones at The Fly Fishing shows where he used to bring a boat up from Morehead City, NC. Just about all my friends, well you know how I hate that word- more acquaintances, have had JB's. Choinard, Eidman, Dapra, Hoblitzell, Shave, Tondra, Muholland x 2, Ferraro, and now Sciortino and Nicosia. I'm sure there's more but it's 0452 and my mind is already racing. I bought my first in 2011, sold it in 2019, and then took possession of Jim's boat in October 2020, making the last payment a few years later.
So, like I planned six years ago, this is what I'd like to see happen. Get a new trailer. Remove the bottom paint. Replace the metal gas tank. Fix the spongy deck. Get her rewired. Mount the trolling motor. Repower her with another Yamaha 150. Leave or take off the Bob's Jack Plate, have to do some research about the benefits with that in skinny water vs the added ass-end weight, and reinstall the poling platform. Jim, of course, went ahead and removed the stock platform from the rear, and designed and built a better one.
He kept the pieces to it in the barn and when I went to try and figure it out, yet again, my small mind couldn't, so all it went into the metal recycling pile. I love this guy, but he killed me at every turn when it came to this boat. So I'll be looking to reinstall an original platform, and my friend Captain Paul Eidman has just what I need. He's been my JB's guide and mentor since 2011. It was with Paul that I took his Cape Fishermen up to Connecticut to have the tank switched out and some deck work done. He went and repowered and went to a 200 HP Suzuki, which has higher headroom. So he had to remove the casting platform that covers the engine.
So his old one is waiting for me and to take the ride down to North our South Carolina, wherever Donnie says we should drop the boat off for it's makeover.
And then I wondered, "Am I meant to begin the new chapter of my life restoring the boat on my own?". I'll have, God willing, The Shrimp Shack, and that glorious space to work on it down in Ridgeland, SC. How hard could it be?
I could just see her backed in there with a big fan on me as I take her down to the bare bones and start from scratch. But in the end it'll only take me five years, way over budget, and probably done half-assed, and of course not 100% completed. In the end she'll probably leak or short out or something. But isn't that how I roll? Maybe, finally, for once in my adult life, I will let someone else do something, and do it right, from start to finish.