Funny Pic of Mowers With Pontoon
The boat was a second-hand Beachcomber, 24 feet of pontoon and deck, stripped bare to become a floating dock.
The riding mower was a tired John Deere with an even more exhausted engine.
The two weren't meant to marry, until the day they did.
"I just kind of come up with stuff," said Ben Fitzwater, captain of the PonDeer. "I just dreamt it up one day."
The Beatrice native and his wife, Anna, had always liked to camp and canoe. When they started building a home near Branched Oak Lake, they realized they needed a boat, too.
But he didn't want to spend too much.
"I decided I'm only going to use things I have at the house," he said. "I just kind of hunted around and found odds and ends that would work."
Like the Beachcomber, obviously, and then the not-so-obvious: the John Deere; and an old Heileman beer keg (and future gas tank); and a water pump and nozzle rescued from an old Hickman Volunteer Fire pumper.
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He got to work last spring, gutting the tractor — shedding the tires and motor — and mounting it to the deck. He rigged the boat's steering system, connecting a Yamaha 40-horse outboard to the tractor's steering wheel.
He mounted the throttle, added a stereo and turned the pump and nozzle into a water cannon, capable of shooting a 70-foot stream.
A tired John Deere mower found a second life on the deck of the PonDeer, the 24-foot pontoon Ben Fitzwater takes out on Branched Oak Lake every couple of weeks. "I get a lot of thumbs up and people waving at me," he said. "It's a good time."
A friend set him up with an old roll tarp from a silage truck, which he mounted on 2-by-4s as a canopy.
A few months and about $3,000 later, with Ben Fitzwater in the tractor's seat, the PonDeer slid into the water, where it became an instant hit, judging by the number of thumbs up it received.
"We don't get to hear what a lot of people say because it's out on the water," said Anna Fitzwater. "But we see shocked faces and lots and lots of waves."
She wasn't surprised her husband built the PonDeer instead of searching for a conventional boat.
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"Ben is just a very talented guy and very handy. He builds and fixes a lot of things. He has really creative ideas."
By day, he installs automatic-guidance and steering systems — "precision GPS stuff" — on tractors and combines.
"I dream up a lot of stuff at work," he said. "It's kind of the nature of my job."
During his time off, he built, and is still building, their "Modern Little House on the Prairie" near Valparaiso. Half of it resembles a single-wide trailer, and they could pick it up and take it with them if they move, he said.
Ben Fitzwater on the deck of the PonDeer, the 24-foot party boat he built from an old pontoon and broken John Deere lawn tractor.
The other half has a basement, main floor and loft, accessible by a handcrafted spiral staircase. He's finishing it in old barn wood, and used irrigation pipe for the heating and air-conditioning ductwork.
But they take time to relax, cruising Branched Oak Lake at least every two weeks, waving to strangers, shooting the water cannon on request.
"I have a lot of wives who are mad at me," he said. "Because I put ideas in their husbands' heads."
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10 Nebraska beaches
The 10 best beaches in Nebraska ... no, really!
Lake Mac
Lake McConaughy has natural white sand beaches.
Calamus Reservoir
Windsurfing off Calamus Reservoir beach is popular.
Wagon Train Lake beach
Sun, sand and water lure visitors to the beach at Wagon Train Lake in 2012.
Niobrara River
A beach along the Niobrara River.
Branched Oak Lake
Hayli Spellman, 5, plays in the sand on the beach of Branched Oak Lake in 2009.
Pawnee Lake
A family recreates along a beach at Pawnee Lake State Recreation Area north of Emerald in 2010.
Box Butte State Recreation Area
Tree provide shade along the beach at Box Butte State Recreation Area.
Brick's Beach
Catelynn Acker, 2, of Wahoo cools off in 2003 while walking along the shore of Brick's Beach at Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area.
Swanson Reservoir
Swanson Reservoir is along U.S. 34 west of McCook.
Two Rivers State Recreation Area
You can fish from the beach at Two Rivers State Recreation Area in Venice.
Lake McConaughy
The beaches of Lake McConaughy provide scenic vistas.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7254 or psalter@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LJSPeterSalter
Source: https://journalstar.com/lifestyles/recreation/watch-now-meet-the-pondeer-the-john-deere-controlled-water-blasting-branched-oak-party-boat/article_3fbf724e-18f3-545a-b35b-4a6611783e80.html
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