Glacier Lakes Chapter
Wisconsin

Premonition Fulfilled
By Mary Schwister

A New Boat comes to Pewaukee Lake

I met Don in January of 1993. About six months later he introduced me to wooden boats on Pewaukee Lake. That is when I sensed that both Don and a wooden boat would find a place in my future!

Nine years after we were married, Don suggested that we might want to stop in at a boat dealer in Cincinnati on our way home to Wisconsin. No matter that the Antique Boat Center was about 200 miles out of our way. Don had seen a Fish Bros boat on the internet and thought it might be interesting to check it out.

We ended up spending two days at the dealer while Don climbed over, crawled under and sat in a Fish Bros replica of a 1940 Christ-Craft Barrelback runabout. Needless to say, although the papers had not yet been signed, by the time we reached Wisconsin, Don had made up his mind that "this was the boat he really wanted"! Two days later he called the Antique Boat Center and placed the order.

The summer was spent making plans for the new boat. Of course, we could not let just anyone deliver the boat to our door - who knows what calamity could happen on the way! So plans were made to drive out to Lake George, NY - for you see, although the boat was ordered in Cincinnati, it was being built by Fish Bros. in Queensbury, NY.

Finally the time arrived and we set off on a thousand mile journey to get our new Barrelback! On the morning of October 17, 2008 we arrived at Fish Bros and there it was shining in all its glory! One look at it and we knew we had chosen the perfect boat for us! It was beautiful and the workmanship was superb. The wood finishes gleamed like glass and the green interior perfectly matched the green underside. When Herb Carpenter, Peter and Bill Fish took us out for the test drive the motor sprang into action and hummed along while its sleek mahogany hull slid through the water.

But by the time we fished at Fish Bros and took possession of the Barrelback, it was too late for us to put her back in the water. Instead we scouted out a good site to launch her in the morning. But wouldn't you know it, a cold October wind kicked up the next morning and produced 3 ft waves on Lake George. But it made no difference to us when we saw only two or three other small boats on the Lake. We launched our Barrelback and headed to meet our friends for a guided tour of the Lake. Although we spent nearly two hours motoring along the shoreline, we did not really mind the raw wind and huge waves that managed to wash over our bow.

After all, we had truly found Our Dream Boat!