I have a raft that has been my fishing vessel of choice for many, many years and always thought I would like to someday have a drift boat. I hadn’t seriously considered buying a drift boat because the raft was more versatile. It allowed me to take family and occasionally friends out for a day of recreational floating, otherwise known as the splash and giggle crowd, as well as being a platform from which to fish. In my own defense I have to say that no one was wearing a two piece swim suit that shouldn’t be wearing a two piece swimsuit in my boat. That is unless you are the father of the young girl wearing the two piece swimsuit as I was at time. I was only concerned about the dangers of skin cancer, as any father would be. Honest! Then in later years after the kids grew up and moved out (and away) I didn’t seriously consider a drift boat because I didn’t have anyone to help oar the boat. My old fishing buddies either moved away and/or had kids of their own which lead to spending time going to soccer games and etc. instead of going fishing. I did purchase a watermaster inflatable which is a great way to fish because it allows you to controlling the boat with your lower extremities like the one person pontoon boats. Still I kept thinking that it would be nice to have a drift boat. A few months ago I decided to buy a drift boat and started doing researching. I talked to some local fishing guides/fly shop owners, and spent many hours on the web looking at boats and finally decided on the boat and features I wanted. Then I searched for just the right boat. I finally found it. It was a used boat for sale by a boat manufacturer in a town 100 miles away. I called and arranged to meet the seller one evening, and drove an hour and a half one way after work to look at it. The owner had been a fishing guide prior to becoming a boat builder. The boat was just what I wanted but had some minor damage which the owner agreed to fix and he agreed to make some slight modification. He said the work would be done a week later. Here is where the story gets interesting. I called the seller on a Thursday to verify that the boat would be ready for me to pick up Saturday and he assured me it would be. Beginning to get the picture aren’t you? My plan was to pick the boat up Saturday morning at 8am, and since this would mean driving past one of the best trout fishing rivers in the world I would have to incorporate some fishing time into the itinerary. Some things just can’t be helped. This meant I had to be on the road by 6:30am which meant I had to get up by 4:00am (I had to make lunch, pack fishing gear, cigars, and bourbon). On the way home with the boat I was going to stop and spend the day fishing. I arrived promptly at 8am, but as you have already guessed the boat was not ready. I didn’t even get a phone call to save me the hour and a half drive, one way, past a world famous trout fishery. Damn! Apparently the two owner/boat builders decided the day before that they should take some time off to go fishing and left an employee behind to finish the work on my boat. These guys arrived back at their place of business, as the story goes, about 3:30 am and found their, not so trusty, employee hadn’t finished the work as promised. When I arrived these same two where awaiting my arrival very sheepish looking (one very hung over looking hopefully not the designated driver) and apologized for not having the boat ready. I was quite disappointed and a little pissed about this as you can imagine. They offered to give me a loaner boat so I could at least still go fishing and switch boats later. I declined and told them that I would be back tomorrow to get the boat and we could adjust the price accordingly. Later, after a couple of bourbons and a cigar, I called the seller. We arranged to meet Sunday at mid point and I would pick up the boat. A significant reduction in price was agreed to along with a few smaller concessions. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get him to agree to throw in a bottle of bourbon and some cigars. I now am the proud and happy owner of my first drift boat. What I have learned from this experience is don’t plan on taking delivery Saturday morning from a couple of ex fishing guides that are likely to do on a Friday what I would have done if I would have thought of it. I should have made arrangements to meet them in the little trout town that was the halfway point and let them buy the drinks with the money I gave them for the boat. By the way anyone want to by a raft? Oar a boat?
If you’re on a river or in a bar on a river in Montana
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