Restoring an Au Sable River Guide Boat

Angling buddies Ron Barch and Paul Eberhart bought the wrecked hull of a 22.5-foot Au Sable River guide boat for $500, got busy with modern epoxies, and are turning it into a floating bit of history, reports Aaron Ogg in the Grand Rapids Press.  “These boats have a rich history in Michigan and on the Au Sable, so it’s easy to romanticize the prospect of fixing one up. Similar crafts were used in the 1870s and 1880s by traders heading downstream with cargo from Grayling, explained Barch, a former schoolteacher who makes his own bamboo fly rods.”