Interesting Do-it-yourself Boat Trailer

[Rich Clemens]

My neighbor and I take off on little fishing excursions from time to time. There is a reservoir about 1.5 hour away the he has had some great success fishing for smallies. He also said there would be a lot of Amish fishing the area as well. When I asked if they fished from shore or in boats, I was surprise he said boats. Curious as to how they transport the boats, when they use horse and buggies for transportation. Well, he said, they just rig a couple steel wheels together, place the boat on top, and hitch the contraption up to the horse, and away they go. So, I had to see this.

 

Sure enough, a little homemade boat trailer, being pulled by a horse. They just unhook the trailer and roll it down near the doc, then lift the boat and place it in the water. No motor of any kind mind you. One person rowing and one or two fishing. The state was after them to license the trailer. But after a court case, they had won and licensing of these 'trailers' is not required. The reason: They are not being pulled by a motorized vehicle. I can also see that they have no lights on these things either. On the buggy, they do have lights, probably by battery (but I'm only guessing).

 

Anyway, I had to share a pic of these things with everyone. Oh yeah, we were fishing in post frontal conditions and the afternoon got fairly hot. All the smallies we caught were of course, too small to warrant a pic.

 

[misfish]

Those wheels have to be worth a pretty dollar.

[Gerritt]

It is amazing how the Amish can adapt without the things that we take for granted each and everyday without even batting an eye. I lived in St. Thomas while I went to school, just outside of St. Thomas is Aylmer.. it has a large Mennonite and Amish base. Some of the most polite and down to earth people I have ever met, not to mention their work ethic is second to none.. I count myself a better person from having befriended many of them.

 

G

[jediangler]

While fishing the Grand many years ago, two amish kids about 12-13yrs old came over and asked if we had any water. They had a 3lb smallie on a stick they were taking home they caught with bamboo rods and old knuckle buster levelwinds. I showed them my cooler bag and told them all I had was Pepsi. They shook their heads no and stated they can't drink that. I told them I wouldn't tell anybody and threw a can to the kid, then turned back to the river. They walked about 10yds away and drank it in seconds. They then brought the can back to me and said thank you. Good, polite, respectful kids. I complimented them on their bass and made a comment about keeping our little secret.

Well I had kept it secret for years. Besides It's not like they've got internet access...do they?

[Wendel]

I need to make one of those to launch the seadoo at Turkey Point!

With those big wheels I could run it down in about 5 minutes and launch right on the beach....

The cottage is one block from the beach, the greedy buggers want 20 bucks to launch there!