Steve & our boat Chelsea

Some of you may remember our boat Chelsea, handmade with a riding lawnmower engine?? See a blip of it from 2014 here. It was is a great river cruising boat. A year & a half ago we got a larger boat, the Scout 175 and Chelsea came out of the water for the time being. Steve also has a skiff so we had to juggle placement at the dock.

Steve has taken the lawn mower engine out of Chelsea as something needed repair. He got the idea to switch the old engine with a lightweight, rechargeable electric engine (see blip above). He reconfigured it enough that when our friends Garth & Nora came to visit last week, we tested the electric engine. It works great and is SO very quiet compared to the lawn mower engine, sweet! We can have a conversation while cruising without shouting. ;O) 

It is the perfect boat for the upper Braden river. The Scout is great for going downriver to the Manatee River and over to visit my mom - it can go  25-35 mph depending on the conditions. Chelsea on the other hand goes a blissful 2.5 - 5 mph -ha! I love it. 

There is a bit more finishing & adjusting of Chelsea to do, so it is out of the water again -painting too. I do have a few pics from our time with garth & nora, testing and I will add those as blips soon. happy cruising!