With what we learned from the drum boat, we were ready to go bigger.  So in 1974 an entirely new boat was started. A hull 44 feet long and 14 feet wide was built in the driveway. The plan was to junk the entire old boat, which was also resting in the front yard, across the street from the Pittsburgh city line. The hull was launched and a 15-foot diameter wheel and larger cabin were installed.  Due to the color of the entire boat we called her the “Tar Baby”.  She was dry-docked in 1975, and the hull width was increased to 20 feet wide to better float the weight we added. We only made two trips on this boat; total miles traveled – five. One trip ended only after bumping into one of Pittsburgh’s many bridges. The boat ran okay but would not steer due to the hull shape. This dampened our enthusiasm and moved our interest back to the old boat.

In 1979, we dry-docked the Tar Baby again and added 2 spud wells and squared off the hull bow.  This ‘mistake’ was converted into a landing boat for the new boat under construction in the family driveway. Although this boat did not work, it was a great learning experience, and is still being used as a landing boat with plans for another dry-docking to clean and paint the hull.