PETRULIONIS FAMILY: The Good ~Ship [Craft] "Pilar" makes its maiden voyage today!

At long last Pilar is ready today-I hope- for its maiden voyage around Lake Raystown.

We found her in a sad state earlier in the summer. Time had forgotten her, holes had been rubbed through her hull, the keel and stringers had rotted away, and the little motor had not been run in decades. Almost nothing on the trailer worked. So we spent the time and money to rip out her decks, replacing the old plywood and this time fiberglassing the bottom of the decking. We carved and lay a new keel and stringers, repaired the fiberglass hull. This time we made sure that the underdecks (bilge areas) could be accessed by making the decks hinged and removable. Then we rewired the electronics for the lights and for the future trolling motor and finally, we turned to the motor. After that we took apart the trailer, replaced hubs, bearings, rollers, and springs.

After a long summer of tinkering, I am now ready to see if she floats. These boats, called work skiffs, are not fast. They do not pull skiers and they can't keep up with speeding craft out bouncing on the open waters. But they do several other things very well. First, they are ideal for standing and fishing, because they are big wide stable platforms. You can walk around, stretch, land a fish and sit down If the sun gets too hot, you can lay down, shade yourself, and take a nice mid day nap. Second, and this is very important, a dog can walk around the decks without jumping over benches, something we have tried and failed at in canoes. Third, they are very shallow draft craft, so fishing for bass is made possible because you can fish in three inches of water. Fourth, a skiff was designed for hauling livestock, building materials, crab and lobster traps, oyster harvesting equipment, people, and other freight. They would have been ideal for running guns into Fascist held territories since they can go almost anywhere quietly and I hope this function may be avoided for this boat. We'll see.

But today we'll see if Pilar can even float, move and be launched by one guy alone. Wish me luck!

Just for the historical record: here is what she looked like a month ago!