Last weekend I made perhaps my last trip to Jeff's house to look for keepsakes. In his file cabinet I found the 1987 Old Guide Catalog where he first saw Devlin duckboats. Shortly after he contacted Sam Devlin for more info which lead to the construction of his beloved Black Brant II (BBII). Several years later I contacted Sam with interest in building one of his duckboats and Sam told me that a guy named Jeff Smith who happened to live in Huntsville built one and to contact him. Wasn't too much later I was hunting with a friend who told me his hunting buddy, who I had never met, planned to meet us on the river. That hunting buddy was Jeff and I saw his boat and hunted out of it that very day. I was sold on Devlin boats and Jeff and I immediately connected. Two years later in 1998 Jeff helped me build my first duckboat, Devlin's Scaup,and during that construction this site was launched. I never fathomed it would become what it did. The last picture below is of Jeff's BBII today. I intended to bring back to my shop and hang it from the rafters but I think she is too far gone. Sadly sitting outside for nearly 30 years without a cover and unmaintained in the later years led to its ruin. I don't think it can be saved, by my memories are fully intact.
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