A Chat with the Skipper of the Sea-Weed Jr.

by Brian Bahouth

Walking the dock at the 20th annual Toledo Wooden Boat show is a pleasing tour of immaculate and well-loved wooden vessels. None is more loved than the 10’ 9” Sea-weed Jr., a mini tugboat built by Richard Mitsch. Susan Hathaway now owns the boat and gave me a tour and some history.

“The Sea-weed Junior, it is 10 foot nine inches long, and I am four foot, nine inches on a good day. So I fit. I’m the only one that fits in the cabin, except for little kids,” Hathaway said while standing in the Sea-Weed Jr. 

“And so I fell in love with it from day one. And Richard built tugboats, big ones. And then as he got older, they started getting smaller and smaller and smaller. And he would take them, we belong to the Old Coots Wooden Boat Club, and I guess I’m an old coot now, and we would come to the meetings and come to these shows, Depoe Bay and here and all over the place. 

“And I saw this, and I just, I just, that’s my, I have to have that boat, because I love tug boats. I grew up on a tugboat, and he said, ‘Well, I’m making this for my grandkids.’ And he had Alzheimer’s, and this was his last boat, but he built this, with onset Alzheimer’s and no plans, and he built this cute little boat. 

“And then when he went in the nursing home, they called me and they said, ‘the family can’t take all the boats, so do you want him?’ And I went, Oh, my God, can I come now? 

“And so we came and got him, and I’m just tickled to death. I love him to death. And that’s my husband’s boat there. And I bought that for him last year. Actually, he took my savings out of the bank and didn’t tell me, and came home with it, and I was mad, until he drove in and I saw it. 

“And the big tugboat that he has is 18 feet,” Hathaway continued. “It’s rigged for fishing, and we camp in it. But this one’s a toy. This one’s my toy, and we rigged it with an antique little miniature steering wheel. And the bumpers here are little toy rubber tires for the toy cars the kids ride on. 

“And then we rigged it with cables to run the steering wheel, and we’ve got a throttle, an antique throttle and clutch from an old Evinrude, and the cables go to the back to my four horse, almost new 1969 four horse that I run off the back. And then I got a little electric one just in case. 

“And my giant bobber here is my lunchbox, which makes it fun, and this little light on the roof, that is a salt and pepper shaker off my grandma’s kitchen table. And the front that’s not a fancy device up there for the boats, that’s a mop. And I’m always keeping the mop. I found this antique bell at a boat swap meet for $5 and, um, I just love this little boat to death, because I fit.

“We just do as much fun as we can while we’re here. You only live once. You don’t get seconds.”