By Josh Brown
I bought the loon boat for $300 from a guy on Mercer Island in 2011 who advertised it on Craigslist. The original owner built it from scratch out of wood and fiberglass.
It is 13 feet long and weighs about 300 lbs. It will hold as many as four adults provided that they don’t mind being very close to each other. We cruised it around a bit over the last two summers, and then decided to make some improvements. I added skegs to the bottom for better tracking and then built out some benches on the inside. Next, we added deck plates fore and aft for convenient storage.
After that we added the running light eyeballs and the electrical system. It has a bilge pump, hailer, and a 12 volt outlet. The control panel is visible in one of the pictures.
I bought an electronic loon call online and we broadcast it through the hailer, it’s a laugh riot! Finally, we repainted it with a more authentic loon paint job.
Right now my wife is upholstering the seat cushions and they will be added soon.
We put a little five horse outboard on it and use it to cruise around on Lake Union when we want to visit our friends in other marinas or just take a relaxing cruise.
Next summer we plan to hassle the duck dodge racers with it. It has already been agreed that the loon boat will count as an honorary duck for duck dodge purposes.
Right now everybody just calls it the loon boat, but I am thinking that I might name it “Bad Loon Rising”.
Media and loon boats aren’t Josh’s only creations. Seattleites may see a yellow submarine driving around as well.
Thanks, Josh! Duck Dodgers will love it, especially the audio. Josh’s company, artisticmedia.biz, has a new website with many of his signage and other creations on display. Josh and his wife live aboard a 46′ 1956 Chris Craft.
