Dad decided to try salmon fishing next. He had Bill Pettis,
a well known local boatbuilder, build him a twenty-six foot boat out of marine plywood. When he was on the Newport City Police force,
his closest friend was Ron Halley. My dad and Ron each had a boat built
(sister ships) and they decided to try their hands at Charter Boat fishing, taking people out, a couple of
times a day to catch salmon. Once Bill Pettis had the boat shell done dad had it moved into the side yard, on Lake St., so he could finish it. It still needed an engine,
propeller, shaft, rudder, keel, paint, glass,
and all the rigging neccessary to make it ready to go to work. He devoted all of his spare time
and money
to working on the boat. The season was approaching and he was trying to get
it ready as soon as possible. He worked on the boat for about three
months before our Landlord had an issue with dads boatbuilding
enterprise in the side yard. We ended up moving about six blocks away to
a large, three bedroom house, on a dead end, at
910 N.W. Cottage street.
Not long after we moved in to our new neighborhood, dad heard noises
coming from the parking area in front of the house, He went out to
investigate and heard some young people running off into the woods
surrounding the house. He looked around in the bushes and found a
five-gallon gas can and a hose. He poured the gas back into Grandmas car
and put an equal amount of water back into the can. He then put the can,
back where he had found it, and came back into the house. We had no idea
who had been syphoning the gas but dad saw a car, belonging to some
local trouble makers, pulled over to the side of the road, on highway 20
eastbound. He decided that the car belonged to the kids who had syphoned
the gas out of Grandmas car and we all had a good laugh.
Dad chose Sea Gull Charters and went
to work for them as a Charter Boat Captain. When dad applied for his
Charter Boat Captains License he had to take a vision test and because
he was color-blind he couldn't pass the test or receive his certificate
to operate a charter boat. He had a couple of close calls with the Coast
Guard but never got caught. Occaisionally, the Coast Guard would set up
a checkpoint in the bay, opposite of the Coast Guard Station, and check
all the Charter Boats, to make sure everybody had their paperwork
together. One time, he heard about the checkpoint on his way back in to
the dock and turned around, and headed back out for another two hours of
fishing, until the Coast Guard quit checking the Charter Boats. Instead
of getting a four hour fishing trip, the passengers got a six hour trip.
The Charter Boat idea lasted for most of one season and dad gave up on
that idea. Next up, he hauled the boat back in front of the house on
Cottage St. and refitted it for Salmon Trolling. This required
installing a hydraulic pump that was attached to the engine by a fan
belt. Next, the pump had to be connected to the two spool bronze girdies
located on each side at the stern of the boat. Then dad went out into
the woods, alongside the house, and picked out two Jack-Pine trees and
shaved all the bark and limbs off and soaked them, over and over again,
with linseed oil. My brother and I had to take turns painting the
linseed oil on
the trolling poles which were layed across saw horses, in the driveway.
