Launching the “Bat Boat”

June 23^rd of 2002 will stand out in our minds for more than one reason. Barry's daughter announced her engagement to be married and we launched the Bat Boat at our friend Don Sides' lake here in North Mississippi.

Naturally, there must be a christening before anyone takes to the water in a craft, and just as naturally, there must be champagne to christen with. However, this is Mississippi, and we are of the redneck persuasion, so the closest thing we would stoop to use is a bottle of Miller, “The Champagne of Beers.”

That's what Barry is smashing against the hammer I am holding next to the boat. We certainly didn't want to ruin a perfectly good paint job on the first outing! Nor did we want to send thousands of shards of broken glass down the middle of Don's boat ramp, therefore the towel.

Since I had taken the boat to another friend's pond after the epoxy job to test for leaks, we let Barry take her out on her maiden voyage. We really were happy with our middle seat,and how it forced us to keep the center of gravity where it should be. The fact that we raised the seat levels made life much easier on our old knees, also.

After Barry ran her around the lake awhile, they actually let me jump in and give her a try. The 25lb trolling motor pushed her along at a nice clip, and she was ever so stable! No one else I know with an 8 ft. boat can profess to have as stable a craft as this.

Barry tested for the best placement of his body in the boat.

He had to put the trolling motor through its paces.

Me, I had an alternate seating arrangement facing the port side instead of straddling the middle seat.

The “coolest dude” on the lake award goes to Jace, Barry's son. This was such a great picture, Barry had it enlarged and framed.

This is our friend and the lake owner, Don Sides. His scepticism at our boat building skills was a real inspiration for us to do well on this project. He had a good reason to be sceptical. He has heard me talk of building different craft for years without result. I think he was really surprised at how well the Bat Boat turned out.

We had to know what the capacity of our little craft would be, so we began loading her up. This is my daughter Lynn and myself. Note the water line, and that we are still VERY bouyant.

We felt pretty safe with Lynn and I in the boat together, so we tried two “Lard Butts” at the same time. This was the ultimate goal anyway, for Barry & I to be able to fish together in this contraption. If we hadn't been heeled over, we would have been sittng pretty.

And finally, “Rub-a-Dub Dub, Three Men in a tub.” Don, Barry, and Bill. If our little boat could take this, it could take anything!