Boat Out of Place #5: Othello
Vessel: Unfinished, 50-foot wooden Alaskan seiner (a fishing boat). Location: In an open wheat field about 12 miles east of Othello on the south side of Highway 26. Site Description: Boat hauled into field by owner Lester Lyle, now 90. Forty five years ago, he began building the seiner from plans drawn by Edwin Monk, a Seattle marine architect, but never finished the project. “Ran out of time,” he says. “Life changed. I simply out-lived things like that. But then I’ve out-lived a lot of things.” He kept the hull in a nearby outbuilding until recently. Closest Water: Potholes Reservoir is about 20 miles northeast, and Moses Lake a few miles beyond that. To the south is Scooteney Reservoir and Eagle Lakes. Puget Sound is about 160 miles west. Of note: The boat is for sale. Mr. Lyle says he may even have the original plans stashed away somewhere but, if not, the plans should be available from the designer’s firm. He hasn’t set a firm price for the vessel, but figures he’s got about $7,000 in materials into the project. What he’d really like to see, he says, is for someone to finish the construction and get some pleasure out of it. One last thing: “She should hit 20, maybe 25 knots,” he says with confidence.