Cost is a hundred bucks. What you see in the photo is what you get for the hundred, except for the lake. Nice lake too, but where we launched, after about six hundred in upgrades, the lake didn't look like this. Not to complain, with our drought we're happy to have water to boat in.
A friend from Atlanta came here a month earlier to photograph, and that's a whole other story, helped me build a wood floor that folds in half because the bottom of the boat is all some sort of rubber that inflates. The floor fit well and everything worked like it should. I did stand up out on the lake, changed my a chair around and then got back in the chair without falling in the water. Mexican Monkey waited for the splash that never came.
The electric motor did especially well. The battery for it is real heavy though. We launched on the lower lake, the upper, larger lake of Castaic had white tops as far as the eye could see. Even the lower, better sheltered lake, had white caps but near the shoreline more calm. The ranger at the upper lake, after seeing how terrified I looked with Mexican Monkey itching to get us out in troubled waters, suggested killing the old geezer on the lower lake, it wouldn't look so obvious that way. Mexican Monkey agreed.
I was happy, the kid at the gate at the lower lake had a nice manner, and cute enough for a tip jar. We didn't have to go through all the formalities of checking the boat because this was its maiden voyage. Virginity does have virtue. Otherwise we would have to inflate it first there at the station, and let him examine the motor. An invasive mollusk that clogs drainage is around and they're trying to keep it out of lakes. Good luck with that.
Mexican Monkey wanted to steer the boat. He wanted it so bad I could taste the want. So I said, "Go ahead, steer the boat, but do not hit anything. He was so happy, and like a pup with his head out the window, steered us directly into the middle of the lake where the white caps danced. Each wave brought another splash over the bow of the boat that soaked the entire front of me. Pleas of mercy went unattended and I thought, if I don't drown, we will at least take on too much water. Mexican Monkey didn't care though and wanted to make sure to soak me clean through to my underwear before steering to the calmer waters along the shoreline.
Once we settled down to drown some bait, the warmth of the day, the water as it lapped against the boat, all had a calming effect, even on Mexican Monkey. There is a peace that descends when you're on a boat out in a lake. Even fishing from shore gives a serenity that only a fisherman knows. We didn't catch anything but then nothing caught us either and it was a hell of a lot of fun just to get away.
