Mike Bleech: Custom wooden boats made in Erie County

It was the late 1950s when Ray Bimber took me to Tidioute to buy a boat from a boat builders shop.

To me, the man looked very old, but then I was very young.

The shop with boats in progress was fascinating. Best of all was the boat Ray bought.

The new wooden boat had a rocker bottom which helped to get it off Allegheny River rocks.

The bow was pointed and the sides arched in so the transom was narrower than the beam, which helped it slip through the water. All of this made it an ideal row boat for fishing on the river.

Our plan was to take the boat up-river to Warren, which is a pretty good distance. Ray had borrowed a small outboard motor so we didn't have to row all of the way.

Before we got through the second eddy, the motor quit running. We tried rowing and pulling, but that didn't work out. The boat went the rest of the way in the back of a pick-up truck.

We kept that boat chained to a tree in Warren, and it was stolen after about a year.

When Ray built a house on the bank of the river, he bought another boat just like it.

It was through these two boats that I gained a deep appreciation for wooden boats made by a serious boat craftsman.

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Mike Bleech: Custom wooden boats made in Erie County