: I found that by chance and it reminded me of one of the funniest
: stories of my childhood. Our neighbors across the way had a
: little pond and on the pond there was a john boat and a canoe.
: The john boat said prominently "UNSINKABLE" in big
: black letters. Well, being curious kids, we just had to test
: that. We took it out in the middle of the pond and swamped it.
: Sure enough, it filled full of water, but it didn't sink.
: Finally getting the boat back to shore we learned that it's not
: easy getting a boat full of water back ashore, but we bailed it
: out and got it back on dry ground.

: Having tested the John Boat, we decided, "Hey, I wonder if
: this aluminum canoe is unsinkable too!" So in our youth and
: lack of wisdom, we paddled out and proceeded to dip the rails of
: the canoe, and I mean quicker than you could say
: "Oachita" (The brand name of the canoe which I still
: remember to this day), we were swimming, and the canoe was
: resting on the bottom of the pond. I have never quite seen
: something sink so fast.

: We learened a lot about physics that day. We learned that an object
: filled with water is much heavier than one not filled with
: water. We also learned that the mud on the bottom of the pond is
: like glue and holds on to anything that happens to land in it
: with a vengeance.

: We managed to dive down, walk the canoe, come up for air, dive
: down, walk it some more, come up for air... and so forth and so
: on. We finally got the canoe into the shallows, and after much
: effort finally got it dumped of water and back ashore.

: We came home covered from head to toe in smelly backwater mud, and
: my mom had a caniption fit. She stripped me buck naked and
: whooped me with a belt. I'll never forget my friend standing at
: the end of the hall laughing. My mom looked at him and said
: "What are you laughing at? You're next." She proceeded
: to grab my friend, strip him, and whoop his butt too. That was
: the last time my friend ever came over to my house!!!

: Funny thing, the canoe in that video is the same color as the old
: aluminum Ouachita that we nearly layed to rest years ago. I sure
: wish we had dive gear back then. It would have been much easier
: getting it ashore.

Btw, you can tell this happened quite a few years ago, now days the canoe would have been left on the bottom and the johnboat would have been left full of water.

Bill H.