Jerry, your story reminded me of a similar incident in high school. I was out in my twelve foot jon boat that my Dad had given me. He bought it new I believe in 1965, the same year he bought my Town Wagon. I was fishing and decided to go riding around on the main part of the lake,(Lake Wylie NC, SC). Like I said it was only a twelve foot boat with low sides, and I found out later a pretty substantial leak. Cruising along with the five horse Johnson I noticed the boat starting to lag. All of a sudden the boat got swamped. I shut the engine off and jumped to the front of the boat to try to balance it out. No luck. Down she went, motor first. I held on to the bow of the boat as it went completely under. Luckily I had put my life vest on. I treaded water holding on to the boat for what seemed like forever. I finally flagged down a passing boat. When he got to me, a few things were floating around me. I told him to throw me a rope so I could tie it to my boat. He couldn't believe me when I told him I was keeping my boat from going to the bottom. I tied the rope to it and he dragged me up into his boat. We pulled it to shore, drug it on to the beach, bailed the water out, and finally got it floating again. He gathered my floating things for me. I lost my car keys, fishing rod, tackle box and some money. I had to call my Mom to bring me some keys so I could get the boat back home. She freaked out when I told what had happened. The motor was fine, as a matter of fact I still use the boat and motor regularly. I was called Captain Nemo for a while because of that stunt. I think men need to tell stories about there stupidity, it just lets us know we are not alone. Jay


1966 Power Wagon Town Wagon