December 2025
Years ago I stopped in to say hi to the gang at Ft. Myers Marine and noticed a classic 13’ Boston Whaler on the lot. This was an odd boat to be at a popular flats-boat dealer so I asked if it was for sale or being serviced.
This boat came in on trade a couple hours prior, and Chuck, (FMM founder & previous owner,) asked me to stop drooling on it. We talked about how I always wanted one as a kid growing up on a canal in Key Largo. He was more interested in moving it quick so he could get back into the flats-boat business, so he made an offer, and I took it home an hour later.
It was a 1963 hull with a newer 40HP engine, one owner, and garage kept. It looked like it just floated off the assembly line. All original hardware and the teak looked new. It came from the LaBelle area so it likely had limited, if any, exposure to salt. It was quite a find.
I made some quick upgrades like a larger fuel tank, LED lighting, and I installed a stereo. This was the dream-boat I couldn’t afford when I was a young teen so I was having fun with it.
At the time I was the “Waxman” which was a mobile boat waxing business I started in Cape Coral in the late 90’s. I’d get home after a day waxing boats and head to the CC Yacht Club to launch the Whaler and ride around in the dark from Sanibel over to Ft. Myers Beach, and even up to Captiva Pass and back. I was a night-owl and living the dream!
A few months into it I had the boat at FMM for service and while I was waxing a boat Chuck called and asked an odd question-
Chuck: “You’re not watching the news, are you?”
Jim: “No, I’m waxing a boat in Cape Coral.”
Chuck: “Ok, bye.”
Jim: “Hmmm, that was odd.” …back to work.
The next morning I went to FMM to pick up my boat and noticed an employee wearing a life jacket while moving boats around. This would not have been a big deal if they were in a marina, but he was on a Honda 4-wheeler in a parking lot.
The Whaler was on the edge of being overpowered, which was no big deal, but 30 years ago, unlike today’s engines, it was not as much about horsepower as it was about engine weight. On a smaller boat low to the water, if you pull back on the throttle too fast the “stern-wave” could swamp the boat, but if you throttle back gradually, there’s no problem.
Well after servicing my engine, the kid wearing the life jacket was running the boat in the river and not only pulled back too fast on the throttle, but he also turned the boat sharp coming off a plane and the “stern-wave” swamped the boat. A lady in a condo downtown Ft. Myers watched the whole thing, dialed 911, and the show began.
Whalers are sealed with closed-foam preventing them from sinking, so from a distance the kid and the top of the engine cover was all that could be seen floating down the river. Other than being embarrassed, he was fine.
The lady’s call was something like, “Help, help, there was a boat crash in the river and I think someone is drowning.” Within minutes that 19 year-old stranded floater was greeted by the Ft. Myers PD Marine Unit, the Lee County Sheriff Dept Marine Unit, FWC, and for a bit of additional flavor, it wasn’t long before a US Coast Guard Jayhawk was hovering on scene.
This is why Chuck was asking if I was watching the news….
The kid was fine, the Whaler was fine, but the whole boat, including the engine, had to be stripped and cleaned, which put my Whaler in much better condition than when I bought it.
The life jacket at work the next day was punishment, he had to wear it all day at work and explain why to anyone who asked about it.
I regretted selling the boat a couple years later, but it was time for someone else to enjoy it, which was the manager of a marine supply store in West Palm. No doubt the boat is still looking good and probably has been gifted to some lucky teen by now.
So the moral….. keep up with local news! (Some of it is actually true)
Jim Griffiths
Publisher, Nautical Mile
